Pants or No Pants?

If you're a bicyclist, you'll know that excellent feeling of accomplishment when you wear the right clothes for the conditions. As a year-round commuter in Massachusetts and now Washington, I adopted the threadbare but still true axiom that there was no bad weather, just wrong clothing choices.

Here are a few examples of the types of weather I've ridden in.

Conditions: Sleet storms when icicles formed on my helmet, sheets of ice coated my arms and bike, and only my monster studded tires kept me upright. (The picture above shows a real snowy day I attempted to ride to work, but it took 20 minutes to ride 1 mile, and I had a 13-mile commute. Part of winning a battle is knowing when to retreat.)
Clothing: Long-sleeve wool jersey, Gore-Tex jacket, two layers of gloves, fluffy ear warmers, bike shorts, long bike pants with nylon fronts and warm fuzzy insides, two pairs of wool socks, Gore-Tex hiking boots.

Conditions: 10°F, sunny, with a 10-mph headwind, when people in cars wore heavy layers and I couldn't keep my glasses from fogging up every time I paused.
Clothing: Too many layers to count, and still my fingers and toes had an alarming white look to them when I finally got to work.

Conditions: Steady, relentless rain and 45°F, with wind so gusty and nasty that I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep my bike on the road.
Clothing: Gore-Tex jacket, thick non-waterproof pants, lightweight long-sleeve shirt and bike shorts; one pair of wool socks and booties.

Conditions: Flood water up to my axles, across roads so deep people in Explorers didn't brave it.
Clothing: Bike shorts and jersey; summer-weight socks and clip-in shoes.

Conditions: Muggy 90°F temperatures that left my arms and legs slick with that nasty sweat-and-sunscreen that seems to have a La Brea tar pit-like fascination to tiny bugs.
Clothing: Bike shorts and jersey; summer-weight socks and clip-in shoes; sunblock.


Of course, I've also ridden in innumerable beautiful days ranging from 30°F to 80°F -- days where I've wondered, "Why would anybody choose to drive on a day this gorgeous?" (The picture at right shows me on my first-ever two-day ride, the MS Cape Cod Getaway in 2008, one of those delightful days when the weather cooperates perfectly.)

All this to say that, in general, I have a pretty good idea of what clothes work well in what conditions. Yet this morning, I completely misjudged the weather. Instead of having a comfortable ride in the rain, I arrived at work more than damp, having eschewed jacket and dry foot covering for an optimistic vest and sandals. Why, why, why (I asked myself) did I not wear a jacket? Because (I answered myself) it is JULY, and I shouldn't still need my jacket and long pants.

Have you ever worn exactly the wrong clothes? What was your excuse rationale for choosing the wrong thing?

Right turn on red: a bad idea whose time has come and gone?

"California's greatest contribution to Western culture," Woody Allen is said to have observed, "is the legal right turn on a red light."

The accuracy of Mr. Allen's Manhattan-centric snub of the West Coast is debatable. But so, too, is his suggestion that allowing drivers to make right turns on red is a positive thing.

Most American drivers, other than people of a certain age who grew up on the East Coast, are probably baffled that anyone would question this basic right, which they no doubt believe is enshrined somewhere in the Constitution.

It’s true that we Americans (except those of us who live in New York City) have been making right turns on red for a long time—beginning with drivers in the State of California in 1939. Other Western states soon followed California’s lead, with those in the East being slower to adapt. Finally, federal legislation prompted by the 1970s energy crises and signed by President Gerald Ford made right-turn-on-red the norm nationwide.

(Interestingly, this artifact of the 70s energy crunch remains intact long after the national 55-mph speed limit, estimated to have saved about 167,000 barrels of oil per day, was eliminated. But I digress.)

Outside of North America, however, right-turn-on-red is not recognized as a universal human right. European Union countries, for instance, generally forbid it outright—much to the consternation of visiting American motorists, and much to the delight of visiting American pedestrians.

What’s so wrong with right turns on red, anyway? Well, nothing, if you transport yourself entirely by automobile. But for pedestrians and cyclists it’s something else entirely.

How many times have you been about to step into a crosswalk, only to be driven back by a right-turning driver rolling through the red light without looking in your direction? Cyclists who use bike paths that parallel city streets face the same danger. When I rode my bike to work on the Alaskan Way pedestrian-bike path in downtown Seattle, I probably would have gotten nailed twice a day by right-turning drivers if I hadn’t been on the lookout.

Recent North American statistics, insofar as they are available and accurate, suggest that right-turn-on-red drivers don’t kill a large number of pedestrians and cyclists. But maybe that’s just because American pedestrians and cyclists are constantly on the lookout for errant motorists. Our motto: "Paranoia breeds confidence."

Other than reducing the paranoia factor of urban American pedestrians (a laudable goal in-and-of-itself), what would banning right turns on red--say, at specific intersections with high pedestrian and bicycle traffic--accomplish?

First, it would allow bicyclists to be given an “advance stop line” [aka "bike box"] allowing them to wait at red lights ahead of motorists where they are more visible without having to watch their back. This is common in Europe (and has been tried in Portland as well).

Second, it would allow engineers to time traffic signals to give pedestrians and cyclists an “advance green,” allowing them to lay claim to the crosswalk and street space (and thereby be more visible) a few seconds before cars started turning right. This is common in pedestrian and cycle-friendly countries like Denmark.

It would even allow cyclists and pedestrians at particularly busy intersections to have their own “protected signal phases,” when they could cross the but cars would be forbidden altogether from turning right. The Netherlands in particular makes use of this technique, in both urban and suburban settings.

I’ll grant you: this would be a hard- sell in our auto-centric society. But in a country with abysmally-low cycling rates and where the pedestrian deserves endangered-species protection, maybe it’s time to start questioning some of our basic driving assumptions.

Rumbling about rumble strips pays off

As a bicycle advocate, I’ll take every victory I can get and one just crossed my desk. But first the back story…

In May, my phone rang with this admonishment, “Rumble strips are being cut into the shoulder of SR 525 on Whidbey Island right now! What’s going on and what are you doing about it?”

Yikes, and I was just talking with Adventure Cycling Association’s National Bicycle Routes staff about Highway 20 as a Washington treasure. I hopped on my trusty bicycle, loaded up my panniers and headed south on Whidbey Island with my husband Andy. We rode for the next two days crying in frustration and anger to see rumble strips carved into the shoulders of a premier cycling route.

Upon returning home, I armed myself with this picture and headed to Olympia confident but very unhappy that rumbles had been cut seemingly without regard to Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) guidelines.

I met with Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond and two of her staff: the WSDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator and the person from WSDOT’s Design Office responsible for writing the Design Manual. I explained what had happened and showed them the photo. I asked that the Design Manual be amended and updated, and I asked for an evaluation of the rumble strip installation on Whidbey Island. That was in June.

Now, in July, some good news! An evaluation by WSDOT headquarters staff validated my appraisal that rumble strips on SR 525 were incorrectly installed along guardrails and other locations, and will be paved over later this summer--SUCCESS! Rumbles on SR 20 were also incorrectly applied and will be paved over next summer--PARTIAL SUCCESS! Changes were made to the Design Manual regarding outreach--MINOR CREDIT! More work needed.

Is it a victory that I rode the length of Whidbey Island in the rain with my crabby husband to tell WSDOT that they had done something incorrect and unnecessary? That rumbles affect bicycle safety and interstate tourism? I’ll claim the victory when rumbles are used sparingly for the safety of all roadway users. Watch for action alerts as the Bicycle Alliance plans to act proactively to stop this type of installation.

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What’s a rumble strip and why should I care? 

If you ride on city streets or county roads, chances are you won’t ride across rumble strips. However, anyone out riding the highways and byways of Washington for recreation, health and happiness should care because a safety feature for motorists can create a serious safety hazard for cyclists.

To paraphrase the US Department of Transportation a shoulder rumble strip is a “longitudinal design feature" which is a series of indented cuts in pavement intended to alert inattentive drivers through vibration and sound that their vehicles have left the travel lane. For more info, check Federal Highways Administration's Rumble Strips FAQ.

Traffic as a Tornado

Jef Mallett is the cartoonist who created Frazz, an accomplished triathlete, and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He recently moved to a new house in a new city and set out to explore the nearby streets and training routes by bike. He posted a blog entry a few days ago in which he said the conditions were surprisingly good, not nearly as bad as people said. Drivers were more tolerant, streets in better shape than he expected. Later that evening, though, a road rage incident on a street near his new place involving a cyclist and motorist resulted in an injury and an assault charge. Jef's post yesterday, here, reviews the event and reflects a bit on what to do when confronted by a similar situation. Jef is a very thoughtful person and his take on dealing with errant road users is the best I've heard. Key quote:

It's not that I've never been harassed or threatened or scared or that I've never done anything dumb myself. It's not that I've never wanted to set someone straight. But to me, drivers are another form of weather. Some good, some bad, some types more common in certain areas than in others. With bad weather, you have a choice: You either prepare for it and accept it, or you stay inside and avoid it. Trying to educate a bad driver on the spot is akin to trying to lecture a tornado away from your trailer park.

The temptation to try to communicate with an errant motorist (or cyclist) is pretty high, and I have succumbed. In traffic you just don't have time to have an effect. I've heard many times the maxim that "You can't change the world, you can only change how you react to it." Picturing an attempt to lecture a tornado is a good way to think about that.

The Tour de Fat Experience

Decorate your bike and don your alter ego…Tour de Fat is returning to Seattle’s Gasworks Park on July 31!

Tour de Fat is not a bike ride or race. It’s a celebration of all things bicycle organized by our bike-loving friends at New Belgium Brewing Company. This rolling carnival travels to select communities around the West and features a costumed bike parade for the young and young-at-heart, music and other live performances, a car-for-bike swap, beer garden, and food vendors. All this wacky fun and goodness benefits the work of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington and Bike Works – woo-hoo!

The event kicks off in the morning with the bike parade ($5 suggested donation for this event benefits Bike Works). Costumed participants will meander from Gasworks Park through Fremont, the self-proclaimed center of the universe, then roll back to the park for the festivities.

Kick back and listen to the bands, be entertained by performances, and sip some tasty New Belgium beers (these proceeds benefit the Bicycle Alliance). Test ride one of the many bike contraptions in the bike pit (the bike with sneaker wheels is a popular one). Sign up for the Slow Ride contest—slowest rider wins! And be sure to bring an old bike tube to contribute to Alchemy Goods recycling bin. You’ll be eligible for a drawing for some of their cool products made from recycled bike tubes and other recycled materials.

Celebrate the bicycle as a sustainable and worthy form of transportation with the announcement of the car-for-bike swap winner in the afternoon. (This could be you if you enter the contest now!) The lucky winner is transformed before all from a car driver to a full-time bike commuter when he/she hands over their car, title and keys in exchange for a tricked out custom commuter bike.

Admission to Tour de Fat is free, but bring cash in your wallet. Proceeds from the parade, Tour de Fat merchandise, and beer sales benefit bicycle advocacy. After all, it is all about the bicycle!

Tour de Fat poster image courtesy of New Belgium.  Bike parade and contraption images courtesy of Carla Gramlich.

A tragedy in Cheney and the “right” to drive

I don’t know anything about William Knight, Jr. of Cheney other than what I read in the news.

What I read in the news, however, makes me very glad that I don’t walk or ride a bike in the town where William Knight, Jr. drives his 1997 Kia.

At 10:45 p.m. on Sunday, June 27, 61-year-old James Dahl was crossing First Street in Cheney when he was struck by the Kia, with Knight behind the wheel. Dahl was airlifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, where he died.

This event was tragic but not unusual. In 2008, 69,000 pedestrians were injured and almost 4,400 killed in the United States. Pedestrian deaths represent a disproportionate 12 percent of American traffic fatalities.

But there’s more to this particular story. Last April 15, 36-year-old Theodore Chauvin was riding his bicycle near Cheney when he was struck by the Kia, again with Knight behind the wheel. Chauvin suffered a broken leg and shoulder and spent four days in the hospital.

The State Patrol didn’t charge Knight with a moving violation for the April 15 collision, although Chauvin was apparently riding his bike legally when Knight hit him. According to the Spokesman-Review, however, police did ticket Knight for failure to have insurance. That case is pending in Spokane Country District Court.

But that’s not the end of it. On April 6, Knight was driving the Kia when a police officer stopped him for improper vehicle registration. (Knight told the officer that he had borrowed the car.) As a result of that stop, Knight is facing tickets for having an expired registration, no insurance and improper use of license plates.

Of course, police are still investigating the June 27 accident, so it’s premature to assign blame. But you do have to ask yourself: given Knight’s encounters with police in April, why was he still legally on the road the night that he struck Dahl?

Yes, everyone deserves due process, and the wheels of justice always seem to grind slowly. But a motor vehicle is a deadly weapon as well as a means of transportation. We should set the rules accordingly, but we don’t. In Washington as in other American states, it doesn’t take much to get your driver’s license, and you have to work really hard to lose it. Driving is seen as more of a right than a privilege.

It’s not that way everywhere--for example, Germany, where getting a license is difficult and losing it is relatively easy. Traffic penalties are also generally higher in Germany and other EU countries. If you exceed the speed limit in Germany by more than 30 km/h (about 20 mph) or more, you can lose your license for up to three months, in addition to paying a stiff fine. In France, going 40 km/h over the speed limit on an autoroute (freeway) can cost you a whopping $1,500 Euros—much to the consternation of some American drivers.

Our country’s lax attitude toward the driving privilege comes at a tremendous cost in lives. In fact, per kilometer walked, an American pedestrian’s chances of being killed are 14 times higher than they are in Germany or the Netherlands. That’s an incredible number of preventable deaths.

I don't know for sure whether tougher driver-licensing requirements or stiffer fines would have saved James Dahl's life. But there's no doubt that they would save the lives of thousands like him every year.

Why I Love the Bicycle Alliance

Nonprofits seem to operate in their own strange sphere in the world, some alternate reality that for-profit and governmental agencies remain almost entirely unaware of. It has taken me quite a while to figure out how to live in this parallel world; maybe the air is more rarefied, or the water a little bit purer, or the nutrients a bit more nutritious. Whatever the reason, I found myself slowly adapting to my new environment. Now, after 6 months with the Bicycle Alliance, I think I can quantify what I've come to appreciate about working there.

1. Diversity. "What?" You may ask. "How can you say 'diversity' in an organization run almost entirely by white, middle-class baby-boomer women?" It's true that if you take a superficial look at the Bicycle Alliance's staff, it does seem to lack a certain breadth or depth. Yet each of the staff brings her (or his) own experiences to the organization and those contributions run the gamut. Name it and one of our staff people has probably done it.
   
   Additionally, the diversity of people who walk in the door astounds me on a daily basis. I've started saying "You never know who'll walk in," and it's true -- working in Pioneer Square means interacting with everybody from homeless men to hot-shot tech people to everything in between. The vibrancy, the life, the variety of perspectives continually astound me.
   
2. Passion. It's quite true that people don't work at nonprofits for the money. You have to truly care about the nonprofit's mission in order to stay and succeed. At my old corporate job, we had no common bond, aside from "It pays the bills." At the Bicycle Alliance, when we sit down for lunch together, we all have the shared love of bicycling drawing us together. Regardless of our differences, we all firmly believe in the importance and value of bicycles as a transportation option in the future, and we believe in making that a reality.
   
3. Cool. I mean cool in the relaxed sense, the hakuna matata sense, the sense that although we're all working hard to achieve important goals, we aren't killing ourselves along the way. It means we're taking time to go for a bike ride on a sunny day. It means that timing vacations just right isn't really that important, but that having a relaxing time and coming back rejuvenated is. It means that I know if I wake up one morning and cannot drag myself in for love or money, that's OK. Nobody's going to flip a lid because I didn't show up. It means that we're having a favorite cinnamon roll contest and everybody will bring in a delicious offering. It means we can take time for personal concerns and not worry about an angry boss looking over our shoulders. It's working to live, not living to work.

Those are just a few of the reasons I love the Bicycle Alliance. I'm not sure how I'll go back to working a boring, cubicle-bound corporate job after my AmeriCorps tenure ends. Fortunately, I've learned another beautiful thing about nonprofits, which is summed up neatly in this exchange from Shakespeare in Love:

Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre [my note: read "nonprofit" here] business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.
Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?
Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.
Hugh Fennyman: How?
Philip Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.