Hrrrumph!

This bicycling thing is becoming too popular!
Everywhere I went today, the bike racks were full to overflowing!

Note Paper Bike at the right.  I swear I'm not stalking it

This rack is OK, but is about 6" too close to the wall for easy locking of front wheel and frame.

The lovely weather this weekend, after weeks of chilly greyness brought bikers out from every nook and cranny of the city,  which is, of course, overall a great thing.

However there are a couple of places that really need to improve their bike parking.   When places like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have absolutely full parking at night in January,  you know that when the weather gets good they're going to need more parking.   I've asked and asked at the customer service at Trader Joe's and finally wrote the main contact email for the whole company in hopes that they'll do something.  It doesn't help that a lot of bike racks, even here where people should know better are "wheelbenders" which are virtually unusable for anyone with a front basket or fenders.

One of the "overflow bikes" (locked to a pole next to the full rack) had a very heavy duty front fork/ handlebar mounted rack, paired with an unusual "basket" It's odd, because that style rack isn't very available here, and most people who search one out would probably look a little further than a milk-crate for their front carrying needs.

 

The Bike Coffee Cup Hunt

I have been trying to find a really spill-proof coffee mug for use in my relatively new bar-mount coffee holder.   The problem I've had with my regular coffee mug, is that even if you don't really drink from it en-route, a few drops can leak through the seal, and then they fly up onto your clothing when you hit a bump. Blech!

My home"brew" solution, which works, but is not exactly elegant.

I had high hopes for this bottle from Thermos, because it has a lid that completely covers the drinking hole. Unfortunately it's too narrow for the bike holder, and slips through the ring! I tried another Thermos brand mug, and it leaked the first time I hit a bump,  and I had to dig the plastic bag I keep under my saddle as a rain cover out to keep it from splattering on me the whole ride.

I finally managed to find the OXO good grips that Portland Design Works (the company that made the holder) recommends for use in the "bar-ista".   My search was complicated by the fact that Target, where I had been looking has some insulated liquid carrying devices in the sports area (think "hydration")  some in the automotive section, and still others in the kitchenware area.   So far so good on the maiden voyage-  no leaks and no spills and it fits snugly in the holder.  I probably wouldn't go to all this trouble, except for I'm trying to reduce my caffeine intake, and the office only has caffeinated coffee.  It will be also nice if I ever make a stop at the new Dwell Time coffee shop on my way in (just a short detour) to get a treat like a latte'.

Do you ride with a cup of coffee onboard?  Is it part of your daily routine? What's your system for portage?

Nothing to see here

Sorry for the lack of posts lately- not much going on.  Riding my bike to work, to the library, to the grocery store, same old same old.

Ever since that glorious week when everything was bursting into bloom and we enjoyed record warm weather it's been cool and windy and often grey.  The one upside of the cool weather has been that the trees have clung tenaciously to their blossoms- much longer than they would have if the weather had stayed warm.   It's not precisely cold,  but it's cool enough that a jacket seems like a good idea when setting off,  only to be shed after the first mile or so.

Ran into Cris, a bike friend, riding home last Friday- there are so many bikers in my office neighborhood, it's a little surprising that I don't run into more of them more often.   We rode through Kendall and made a tentative date for me to pick up a bike wheel that I'd leant to a mutual friend and which had ended up at his house.  

Saturday got away from me.  I ended up actually driving to Home Depot, because I draw the line at carrying full size propane tanks on the bike. With a trailer, no problem, but on the rack, no thanks.

I made a loop up to Market Basket,  a local grocery store, which reminds me of Fiesta in Houston in its multi-ethnicity.  I would go to great lengths not to drive a car to this store on a weekend.   The parking lot is a crazy place, with cars circling and lined up double parking.   The bike parking is kind of lousy- wheelbenders too close to the wall.

 However Somerville did just install one staple rack in a convenient place on the adjacent side street.  For now, it feels like a secret, although I'm sure it will become a popular parking spot.

Heading back home I swung past Cris's house,  lucking out because he just happened to be returning from a ride to Groton (60 miles or so).  It made me feel like a slacker for riding my 3 miles to the store and back.  I picked up the wheel, strapping it on the rack, and headed to Trader Joe's.

The Scientist and I decided to grill,  but as he put on his down jacket to tend the burgers, he admitted that we might have been pushing the season a bit!

This evening I was followed down Cambridge Street by Dave, the director of Mass Bike, and one of his co-workers.  I could hear them remarking on my helmet, so I turned around to say hi.  I wasn't sure if they didn't filter because I didn't filter, or it they're also converts to that approach to biking. I'll just say that not filtering makes my ride slower, but much less stressful than trying to squeeze between parked cars and possibly moving/ turning cars.  

On the final stretch home, I was a little surprised to see a turkey, hanging out in the middle of the street.  The light was too low for good phone photographs,  but when I reprised the last part of my ride walking the dog, she was still hanging out there.  A woman was trying to feed her, and she said that the turkeys have been nesting in the tree outside her house.   Urban wildlife!

Anyway,  so it goes- not much to report, just the everyday bike comings and goings.  Hope everyone else is surviving early spring without too many complaints!

Longfellow street cleaning

A photo of the lousy street cleaning on the Longfellow- there's a stripe of debris (probably with a dose of crushed glass) down the middle of the bike lane.  In conditions like this I am very glad for my flat protected Schwalbes.

This is of course the problem with bike lanes being thought of as shoulders by those who maintain the roads.   I read about a European program (in Copenhagen I believe) that goes out with a robot that scans the pavement in bike lanes for imperfections so that they can keep ahead of the development of cracks and potholes. Obviously we're a long way from that here.

I called MassDOT district 6 offices (617-377-7150)  to complain about the lousy street sweeping.

The receptionist, said,  oh yes, someone called about it yesterday too,  and she said she would put in a work order, and transferred me to someone's voice mail.   If you're annoyed by it too,  call in and complain!

We need to train the maintenance people that that bike lane is real transportation infrastructure,  and shrugging our shoulders and feeling sorry for ourselves for being second class transportation citizens won't change that.

Hudson Update

My Dad informs me that the Hudson I saw in Chinatown last week was probably a Hudson Commodore, probably 48-50.   He notes that Hudsons had famously powerful engines, and when you drove on the freeway, people would try to pass you, just to prove that they could!

On my trip in this morning, I saw a slightly less vintage, but still old VW bug (the 60's type) with a "Yeah, it's got a Hemi" bumpersticker.  I would have been more charmed by the irony if it hadn't belched exhaust in my face as I followed it through the intersection.

Just after Charles circle, there was a tremendous traffic snarl caused by all the tow trucks lining up for the first street cleaning of the year.   Yea street cleaning, but boo the lousy job that Mass DOT did on the longfellow bridge.  It's like they just transferred all the scree into a line down the middle of the lane.
need to figure out who to complain to over there.

Chilly again this morning, and grey, but the rain that made the weekend dreary passed along overnight, so the ride was mostly dry.  I am wishing I had a lighter but still rain-proof jacket.  I realized after reading Velouria's review of her Nau jacket that my trench would be just perfect if it had a zip-out lining.  And maybe some reflective piping.

Chinese food delivery

A couple of weeks ago  the NY Times published this moving profile of a bicycle deliveryman.  They are much maligned for not obeying traffic laws, and there have been a lot of very punitive laws proposed to try to rein them in.  The irony is that it seems that a lot of the people who complain about them, are also quick to complain if their dinner is delayed by even a few minutes.  Or the time it takes to only go the right way on one way streets and wait at red lights.  I'm not saying that deliverymen are blameless, but perhaps there needs to be a better system that rewards safety and not just speed.   I know that there's a safety program aimed at delivery bikers and their employers, founded by a woman whose husband was killed (by hitting his head) after being struck by a delivery rider.

We don't have much of a bike-food delivery culture in Boston- I guess because it's not quite dense enough.  I know that Bertucci's and Upper Crust both have specialized pizza delivery bikes,  and I think that Redbones does some local bike delivery, but I haven't heard about much else in that vein.  It surprises me a bit that there aren't bike deliveries of Chinese food to the Financial district-  Chinatown is close, but far enough that it's a bit of a long walk, and there aren't really any good asian restaurants in the FD.  For that matter the North end is close too, but too far to walk on a regular basis,  but there could be a lot of business in delivering sandwiches.

Anyway, I was craving Chinese food, so I organized my own bicycle transport.  The ride there is a lot more pleasant now that they've striped bike lanes on the Greenway's surface roads.  I actually mostly get Vietnamese takeout from Chinatown (yeah I know).  But this time I tried a Chinese place, and I think it may be a winner.  Will have to do more "research"

I parked next to this fantastically decrepit  Hudson,  which I had to take pictures of, because I think my Dad had one of these back in the day.   The owner and what I'd guess were his grown sons were taking photos of each other with the car and a restaurant in the background.  I volunteered to take a photo of all of them together.  It seemed like a family tradition or get together to drive into Chinatown and eat together.  I should have asked them, but after looking online I think this might be a Hudson Hornet-  anyone out there know for sure?  

groovy steering wheel

fantastic patina

Although for gas milage reasons it's probably a good thing, they really don't "make them like they used to."   it would be nice to have more detail and character on modern cars to get the best of both worlds.

Disaster relief by bike

I'm not the only one who has mused about the potential bicycles hold for evacuation in an emergency situation.    But the city of Portland is taking it a step beyond, exploring setting up cargo bikes as emergency response vehicles.  And Bike Portland reports on a neighborhood preparedness organization which is testing the concept.

Photo from Bike Portland/ Ethan Jewett

It makes a lot of sense. Obviously a bike can't carry as much weight*  but they're more maneuverable, and if gas is scarce they don't have an issue.  This is part of why bikes were so popular in the 30's and 40's: Gas was expensive/ rationed so people biked every trip they could.   There are a lot of people talking about how high gas costs are "driving" (pun intended) to bikes.  I don't think that at current gas prices there is a strong economic reason to bike vs drive.  However I think that there's the "latte effect"  where people cut out expenditures that they think they can easily see, even if they don't have significant impact on their actual financial situation.   Biking can benefit from people trying it when gas prices go up, and finding that they like it enough to do it even if it doesn't affect their overall financial situation.

In any case, I think that the potential for bikes as part of a disaster response, and not just as part of an individual's preparedness is an interesting concept.  One of the rationales that is often used for over-sizing roads in a way that is not bike and pedestrian friendly is to allow for the passage of "emergency vehicles"  which in turn get bigger and bigger until they won't fit through existing road infrastructure.  Rinse, lather, repeat.    I don't know how viable bikes would be for fire-response, but for a lot of first aid, and the distribution of supplies to displaced or stranded people, they could really be useful in a catastrophe.

*although you read stories like this, and the amount of weight you can carry by bike is pretty incredible.