Urban Adventures & More

I rode down a non-motorized park avenue today. Some thoughts:

• While as popular as last year, I felt that this year people were better behaved. There was still plenty of aggressive biking, but most people seemed to be more relaxed than in the past.
• There need to be more repair stations and more people showing bike basics, such as “how to wear your helmet”, “inflate your tires”, “adjust your seat height”, and, my favorite, “oil your chain”. I saw so many people with underinflated tires (and I told them so), but at least as many with horrible fit who just didn’t seem comfortable, and probably had a lot of knee pain as a result.
• The pool looked both fun and moderately used. I would go in it if I had a buddy. Also, there were a lot of pretty ladies.
• Why does it end at 1 pm? More importantly, why does it begin at 7am? If Germany can close an entire freeway for 30 miles for pedestrians for a day, New York can close an unnecessary avenue for more than 6 hours.

Some other thoughts that came to me.

• New York is kicking butt with its new infrastructure. Downtown, a lot of the route had bike lanes. I rode over to Brooklyn and discovered all the work that has gone into the Brooklyn Bridge park, which extends for miles along the waterfront. You can ride on paths from the Brooklyn Bridge almost unbroken to Red Hook; there are many more on-street lanes (unintimidating ones) that go in other directions.
• The Brooklyn Bridge crams too many people into too little space. While cars fly by in six lanes, thousands of people are stuck bursting out of the path. I say, close a lane on the bridge, make it a bike lane, and dedicate the entire path to pedestrians. (If you want to bike up to the observation points, you’ll have to walk, sorry.)
• Boston has nothing on New York for bike infrastructure. And there’s no reason but politics.

It’s been quite a while since I posted here. That’s not for lack of desire, but rather lack of time. Somewhere between the evening activities, the new apartment, and the lovely (and not so lovely)  summer weather, I log about 1 hour per month on the computer outside of work.

A few of my activities in the last eight months:

• Full time bike commuting. I can’t say it’s 100% figured out, but I’m pretty far along. While I have a gym membership to change/shower, I have rarely used it the last few months; I now wear my office pants, and just throw on the shirt when I get there. Sweat isn’t a problem (a big one anyway, even in the high humidity and warmth of the heat waves), as I just ride slowly. I put my gear in a bag and the bag on a rack, so there’s no gross sweaty patch on my back. Leave the heavy lock on a rack at the destination. This also includes doing everything by bike, challenges be damned: just strap the thing to the bike rack. Just today, I moved a bike (!) on my rack, which was surprisingly not so challenging (definitely use a front rack only; probably best to use zip ties, not bungees next time…). I wish someone had taken a picture so I could send it to CETMA.
• Volunteering. I have been putting in regular hours with Bikes Not Bombs on Wednesdays for their volunteer night: stripping parts off donated bikes or flattening bikes for shipping. I have a mental block against sorting small parts, so I now avoid it at all costs. Also, yesterday I went to do mechanic work for Boston Cyclists Union, mostly fixing brakes and shifting issues on a street corner. Finally, I am getting involved in bike advocacy: I have been attending Livable Streets advocacy meetings to get more infrastructure, the Somerville Bike Committee (what they do, I’m still working on figuring out… no offense guys), and also looking forward to doing some Boston Cyclists Union stuff as well. I especially like the approach of the latter, because it is organizing the public to push for the infrastructure, versus working political channels to sneak it in (bureaucrats don’t like doing the right thing when it’s more work).
• Bike work. I’ve got a reputation among my friends as a mechanic, so I’ve been helping people get set up with bikes and the associated gear. Rachel got me a stand, so now I can do this stuff in a relaxed way; my mom got me a truing stand and a wheel to build. Now I’m considering whether to get the rest of the bike toolkit (crank puller, lockring tool, chain while, headset tools. There’s not much else I don’t have now.)
• Expeditions. Yes, of course. There’s been a ton of plain ole riding. We biked to Ipswitch; a few trips to Walden Pond, Bedford, etc.; JP; Roslindale; Newton. I’ve been less inclined to bike destinations lately because I get so much riding in just by getting around, and Boston doesn’t have a great trail system. A few attempts to go to Central MA and camp fell through (rain and illness). Hopefully I’ll do either the NYC Century, the Hub on Wheels, or both, this year. I also discovered that cold weather is OK for shorter rides (getting around), but zero-percent fun in blustery wind and frigid cold.

The future hopefully holds much more biking in store: stay tuned.