Virtual Roadkill San Diego

An Eye For Value...The Hardware Store Switcheroo

2012-02-02T06:51:00.001-08:00

From the first days of bike commuting, I understood the value of good eye protection. Eye covering was to become as mandatory to me as the bike helmet, in dark as well as daylight hours. This led me to purchase my first pair of interchangeable-lens bike glasses (with clear, amber and gray lenses)...which in turn led to a couple unfortunate conclusions:

1. 95% of the time, the only lenses I used were the clear ones.

2. Difficulty of changing lenses made it more convenient to haul a separate pair of regular sunglasses for rare daylight riding

3. Loss or damage to just 16.67% of the lens set (one of the pair of clear lenses) made the glasses 95% useless for biking.

After going through 3 pairs of glasses just this way, I was looking for a cheaper solution. When I stopped in at Performance Bike Shop and asked if I could get replacement lenses for any of the glasses I had bought there, the response was inconclusive and unsatisfying. The employee I spoke with said he MIGHT be able to get one--IF it was one of their in-house brands, IF it was one of the more common current models, IF he called someone and IF I brought the glasses in. With all those conditions outstanding, I had to table the matter at least until my next trip to Performance.

In the meantime, I busied myself with easier bike upgrades. I found that the seatpost-mounted rear reflector on my bike could easily be removed, and the bracket was a perfect fit for a red rear blinkie light I had been clipping onto my jacket.

I was missing only one hex nut to finish the job, so I took the mounting bolt out of the bracket and headed to my friendly local indie hardware store (Ocean Beach Hardware).

After 45 seconds of locating the correct size nut, I cut through a middle aisle towards the checkout and stopped dead in my tracks halfway there. My little epiphany was probably not a common occurrence in that store...my jaw dropped open as I looked at the 3M package hanging on a display hook and thought "Those look just like bike glasses, and they're $6.79."

Of course the hardware store had NOT diversified into discount biking gear. These were ordinary 3M eye protection glasses, the newer streamlined style that looks more like clear sport sunglasses than boxy swim masks. I realized I had seen them on workers many times...both live and on TV shows like American Restoration. I had just never made the connection to consider them for biking eye protection. But in a triumph of logic akin to "Dodgeball"'s famous line "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!" I realized "If the American Restorations guys trust these to keep paint and metal shavings out of their eyes, I should be able to trust them against trail-dust and bugs."

So in the spirit of low-budget experimentation I picked up a pair, and was happy to find that they were just as light and comfortable as they looked. And after almost a month of constant wear, I can now pronounce the "Hardware Store Switcheroo" experiment an absolute success.

And it yields a welcome side benefit...knowing that when (not if) I lose or break them, I'm out less than $7!

Discretion Is The Better Part of Valor--The MTS 3-Bike Challenge

2012-01-10T06:45:00.001-08:00

I was considering possible blog topics Tuesday morning as I biked to the Fashion Valley transit station...such mundane subjects as embarrassing personal riding soundtracks and my post-holiday return to the morning run-&-ride routine. But as I swiped my transit passcard and boarded the 928 bus a pleasant 3 minutes before its departure, I saw an extremely unusual sight that changed my tune for the day...a bike on the bus.

You may need to re-read that last line to understand my surprise. Please note that I said a bike ON a BUS. If you're familiar with my blog and/or the rules of the San Diego Metro Transit System, you'll know that bikes can't go ON buses. They can go on trolleys, and they can go on the 2-bike racks IN FRONT OF buses, but are not allowed onboard. Indeed, in an incident I documented here earlier in the season, it was only with a referral from MTS headquarters that a fellow bike commuter was allowed to bring a folded up folding bike (intended for transit-mix commuting) on a 35 bus.

But with no noticeable delay or argument, the young man in the unenviable position of the 3rd arrival to a 2-bike transit rack had managed to get into a seat near the back doors of the bus with his trusty black-and-yellow bike in the aisle beside him.

I hope my fellow bike commuter didn't get a mistaken impression of disapproval from my frequent glances toward the back of the bus.
Far from it...I was waiting for a nearby seat to open up so I could go ask the young man whether it was strategy or mere good fortune allowing him and his bike on that bus.

Unfortunately, the next time I looked back I saw the black-and-yellow back of my fellow commuter's bike slipping out through the bus doors. So all I could do was ask the bus driver--who will now remain unidentified so as to avoid any official MTS sanctions--"How is it you let a third bike on the bus...is that something at the driver's discretion?" I further explained that I was surprised, because other drivers had told me bikes were absolutely forbidden.

The driver told me that bikes onboard were indeed a matter of driver discretion...."It is the driver's call." The rest of the driver's explanation was in words I wish more transit officials would consider. "This time of day I know everybody's just trying to get to work...people should have a chance to get to work on time."

And as I said "Thank you" and got off the bus to remove my bike, this voice of discretion and valor gave me hope for the next time I'M the third biker to a two-bike rodeo....

"If I'm driving, you have nothing to worry about."

Lighten Up!

2011-12-16T17:03:00.001-08:00

For those with sunnier dispositions, these last pre-Christmas weeks are a time of joy and anticipation. But with my naturally Scrooge-y outlook kicked into high gear by a tough December workload and a commuter route that goes right through Mission Valley (San Diego's "Mall Central" district), it's more a time of snarling frustration.

But this year my best Christmas gift came early--the knowledge, gleaned from the www.sdbikecommuter.com forums, that the days of earliest sunsets are already behind us. And Friday as I left the office I got a good view (if not a good photo) of this return to light. At 4:45 not only did some sunset light remain throughout the sky, it was at just the right angle to make the distant mountains glow for a minute.

This "lightens" my dark holiday mood more than you might imagine possible!

The Bike Commuter's Dilemma, Re-Booted

2011-12-13T16:53:00.001-08:00

As it so often happens in my uninspired moments, I started today's lunchbreak by speed-surfing the forum discussion pages of the www.sdbikecommuter.com website. And this time it paid off with some unexpected inspiration.

I immediately spotted a very new and seemingly popular discussion topic, and went off to check out the "Why Is It ...?" discussion. The forum began with the leader's invitation to complete that sentence, and members jumped in to fill in the blank with their observations...some thoughtful, some indignant, and some just plain funny. They covered biker and bike commuter experiences from the universal to the very uniquely personal, and brought in everything from motorist behavior to bike shops to public health issues. As I scrolled through the posts, I felt a pang of mild envy. "I sure wish I could come up with something that clever," I thought. "But clearly I have absolutely nothing to write about."

I immediately left my desk to sweat away the rest of my lunch hour at the gym, and forgot all about the forum. But a few hours later, as I walked out of my office and headed to the bus stop (painfully bikeless), I realized I had literally stepped right into a posting subject of my very own.

"Why is it..."I wondered, "...that I bought a pair of waterproof rainboots specifically for biking, yet never wore them except for a day I chose to leave my bike at home?"

Light At The End of the Tunnel--or Year

2011-12-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

I have been off the blog a grievous length of time--first because of vacation, then because of other time constraints, also because I can take no bike commute pictures. I was also just acclimating myself to the new winter commute with its constant darkness. But my excuses are over, and luckily so is just a little of my seasonal depression.

Just as I thought I was going to have 3 more weeks of earlier and earlier sunsets until the Winter Solstice, I saw this encouraging post from a fellow commuter going by the username "Sigurd" on one of the www.sdbikecommuter.com forums:

"Tired of it getting dark out earlier and earlier for your commute home? Well, then, celebrate today (November 30th): Today's sunset (@4:42PM in San Diego) is the earliest sunset during the entire sun cycle - from here on it is only getting lighter!

As far as sunrise is concerned, however, we still have a bit of waiting to do as it is not getting any "better" until January 13th, 2012 (again, in San Diego).

PS! Until an usually alert fifth grader pointed this out to me last week, I was thinking that both sunset and sunrise "turned" on Winter Solstice (12/22), but she taught me that neither of them do - the sunset time turns about three weeks "early", and sunrise turns about three weeks late (again, the details apply to San Diego, and other locations will differ)! "

Since it is the afternoon/evening commute darkness that bothers me, not the morning (I usually leave so early my morning commute is dark all year long," this was some very positive news. In a later post I found it would be a few days before the sunset starts getting any LATER--but as "Sigurd" says:

"The short and sweet of it is that it doesn't get any worse than this!"

And at this point in the year, I will take this as good news.

Know When to Fold 'Em...Bike Activist Crisis Averted on 35 Bus

2011-10-15T19:05:00.001-07:00

One of the big advantages of folding bikes is said to be convenient transit access. So imagine my surprise and outrage as it looked like a FOLDED folding bike was about to be barred from a San Diego MTS 35 route bus from Ocean Beach!

In this case my "bike orientation" was not readily evident, as I strolled to the Newport & Cable bus stop in a black dress and knee high boots, ready for an evening of theatre downtown. But I certainly noticed the young man who pulled up to the stop on an oddly proportioned bike that made me think "I wonder if that's a folding bike."

A few minutes later, I feel a pang of sympathy as I see the 35 bus approaching with a full bike rack...followed by relief as I see the young black-clad man start folding up the bike (answering my earlier unasked question.) I find a seat and wait for him to board so I can ask him about the bike...and am shocked to hear the bus driver deny him entry.

"I can't let you bring that bike on the bus," the driver said. It's a safety regulation." As he and the thwarted passenger argued, I came to the front of the bus. "Can I take your picture with the bike?" I asked. As he agreed and I switched to my phone's camera, I added "I write a bike commuter blog, and I have lots of issues with how MTS treats bikers." I then turned to the driver and said "This is ridiculous, he has the bike folded up so it can get on!"

The driver seemed annoyed and told me he was calling in to check with MTS headquarters, presumably wanting to avoid a bad PR move in front of a full audience of passengers and some pushy broad with a camera phone. While I couldn't follow the driver's conversational Spanish, the dispatcher apparently cleared things up with him, as he immediately let the young man board with the folded bike...now taking up about as much space as a suitcase.

As he sat down and put the bike on his lap, I got my fellow bike/transit commuter's name (Ryan) and permission to use his photo on my blog. I then started typing up the story...so intent on my task that I didn't realize when we missed the end of the line at Old Town.

I told Ryan the name of the blog as we exited the bus, and after thanking me for getting involved he got out a pen to write the blog address on his hand. As he did so another passenger, a short blonde man with a Southern accent, approached us. He congratulated me on standing up for Ryan, and I explained that as a bike commuter I was always concerned about how MTS deals with bikers.

The Southern-sounding man added that he was from Tennessee and they "didn't have much of a bike community there." My parting comment was then "And as you can see from this..." (waving at Ryan and his bike, referring to the whole incident), "...it sometimes seems we don't here either!"

The gracefulness of my exit was marred by the fact that I flounced off in the wrong direction and had to be directed to turn around to head for the the Old Town trolley platform. But I left feeling good about doing my bike-activist good deed of the day...and getting a readymade blog story in the process!

It's Not Easy Being Green--Saturday Trolley Irony

2011-10-08T05:08:00.001-07:00

I very recently wrote about a welcome change to the MTS Trolley's special event "Red Line" service...adding the new easy-access low-floor trolley cars already common to the Old Town-to-East County Green Line.

So it was with surprise and a growing sense of irony that I watched the 5:00 AM eastbound Green Line trolley approach the Linda Vista station last Saturday. First one old trolley car with its narrow doors and steep-stairs entryway...then another. Not a low-floor new car in sight.

I didn't have time to wait half an hour for the next trolley and knew there were no buses that could get me to work that early, so I hauled the bike through the doors and up the stairs with a frustrated snarl. I sat down and passed the time snapping a few photos until the trolley reached Qualcomm Stadium.

I can never seem to do a smooth entrance and exit on a single old-trolley trip, and Saturday was no exception. In my hurry to get the bike down the stairs and through the doors, it ended up briefly stuck by the handlebars and required a push from one of the other departing commuters. I tried to regain some dignity with my exit, but overall felt like a bum deboarding with a shopping cart full of leaky cans.

I managed to forget about trolleys during an intense overtime session at my Kearny Mesa office, but the worries returned as I entered the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot and saw the trolley station in the distance--with a train of 3 old cars sitting just outside the platform area in the typical Red Line preroute waiting spot.

"Here we go again," I thought. "With my luck I'll manage to get the CHAIN caught on something this time." It appeared that between the morning's mismatched Green Line and the afternoon's special event Red Line train, I was doomed to a painful and awkward entry and exit both ways.

When I got to the platform I eyed the old red trolley miserably for about 5 minutes, mentally preparing myself to jam the heavy blue bike through its doors and up its narrow stairs. But a surprise arrival came to my rescue...

...a Green Line trolley with nothing but new low-floor cars!

Better Late Than Never (Both MTS AND This Post)

2011-10-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Throughout the 2 baseball seasons since I began commuting, I have complained about the fact that San Diego MTS insists on using the old, narrow-stair-entry trolleys for their "Red Line" event service from Qualcomm Stadium to Petco Park on San Diego Padres game days. If I had a lighter bike without a full rackload of bags, or if I was accustomed to hauling it onto the old trolleys on the Old Town to South Bay Blue Line, this might not seem like a problem. But the comfort of my daily commute depends largely on the use of the low-floor, "roll-on" entrance doors of the new trolley cars that make up the easternmost car of each Green Line trolley from Old Town to East County.

Hauling the fully loaded "Babe The Blue Ox Bike" onto the old trolley cars has caused me more injury and bike damage than any other activity in my entire commuting history. So by this season I generally chose to either bike all the way home, take the bus to Fashion Valley, or wait for a regular Green Line train on game days. So on the last Tuesday of the Padres' miserable losing season (09/27/11, pardon the delay), imagine my surprise when I saw a "Red Line" trolley pull up--with a brand new shiny low-floor car at the rear.

Maybe next season I'll get a break from the loading/unloading injuries after all!

All That Glitters, Continued....Lingering Road-Hazard of the Week

2011-10-03T13:30:00.001-07:00

This morning as I headed north on the bike path from Robb Field to the Sunset Cliffs bridge, I saw it again--the telltale glitter of little bits of glass all over the shoulder and bike lane of southbound Sunset Cliffs Boulevard from the bridge to the light marking the intersection with the I-8 offramp.

I first ran over this field of glass early last week, and remain surprised that I didn't end up with a flat. Since then I've remembered to avoid that stretch of bikelane, but I am even more surprised that this has not been cleaned up after a full week. Maybe some of my more politically active readers know who to call about such an issue--I just know I'm getting tired of making an extra detour every day!

Totally Hosed...Odd Commuting Sight of the Day

2011-09-26T17:07:00.001-07:00

On my way across the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot yesterday afternoon, I fully expected to see trash from the previous day's Chargers football game. I did NOT expect to see 2 firetrucks and a rainbow.

A guy on top of the 2nd truck was wielding a hose as I passed, spraying water with great force but no apparent sense of urgency. They were clearly not fighting a fire here. If it weren't for their narrow directional focus, in fact, I could have sworn they were washing the parking lot.

This tremendous waste of water did create some nice aesthetics for my ride...the cooling sensation of a faint windborne mist and a perfectly distinct miniature rainbow extending across their corner of the parking lot. Unfortunately I missed the camera angle needed to capture it.

As I awaited the elevator to the trolley platform, I asked the transit security guard and ticket seller on duty what the firemen were doing in the parking lot. In a tone that assured me he was simply guessing, the guard replied "Testing their hoses, I think." It looked like it could be that, or maybe a training exercise...but either way, I got the rare experience of a commute where I got to see something other than my fellow commuters get totally hosed!

Out and About...The "Grocery Getter" Bag Earns its Title

2011-09-25T14:29:00.001-07:00

Saturday Morning Live--The Road (And Trolley) Less Taken

2011-09-24T05:06:00.001-07:00

If you're up very early on a Saturday morning, feeling sorry for yourself for having to go to work when everyone you know is sleeping, wanting to reassure yourself that you're not alone in your plight, I have some very good advice...

DO NOT get on the San Diego MTS Green Line Trolley. I did so at 5:03 this Saturday morning, and despite the time savings of my transit shortcut I started to wish I had just biked all 11 miles to the office.

On this 2nd trolley run of the day it's very deserted...I got on the front car and saw only 2 other riders. One long-haired white guy sleeping in a front seat, and one black teenager listening to his IPod in a back seat. I had nothing to do but type this blog and check my watch.

Things did finally liven up a couple stops before I got off at Qualcomm. A young man in khaki cargo shorts and very serious-looking bike shoes wheeled a shiny red Specialized road bike onboard. The red bike was obviously both in top condition and heavily used--clean grime-free gears clashing with the worn and sweat-stained aftermarket handlebar tape.

"Hey," the new passenger said in greeting, and I nodded with another noncommittal greeting in return.

As I stood and prepared to get off the trolley at the Qualcomm Stadium station, I got a rare flash of that fellowship and community spirit that it seems should be shared among bike commuters.

"You going up that hill?" the young man with the red bike asked, pointing in the general direction of the Murphy Canyon bike path I was about to head for.

"Yeah," I answered, "Only way I can get to my office this early for overtime so I can be done early."

"Well, have fun with THAT," he said....and moved his bike out of the way to allow me out of the northside trolley door nearest the exit ramp.

Especially since I didn't see a single other person for the next 6 hours, this friendly encounter with a fellow bike commuter was a welcome break in the silence!

Excusing Myself--Testing My Balance on the Thinnest Available Pretext

2011-09-19T17:09:00.001-07:00

I don't like making excuses. That's not to say I don't DO IT all the time, but I certainly couldn't be said to actively LIKE IT. But here I am, finding a creative new excuse for slacking off on the blog. With no power outages or holidays in the past week, I'm really having to reach.

The excuse of the week involves another unpaid side project taking up my time. After using a friend's fancy new digital SLR and 300mm zoom lens to photograph the 2011 Coronado Chainsaw Massacre Paddleboard Race on September 10 there were 2 major unintended consequences:

From holding up the camera for hours--the worst case of "tennis elbow " in recorded history, leaving me unable to straighten my left arm for days.

From taking hundreds of rapidfire pictures--an extremely daunting and time-intensive photo selection and editing job.

The former kept me from doing any extracurricular computer work for the first half of the week, while the latter took up my extracurricular time for the REST of the week, leaving me no time for bike blogging....

Which brings me to the biggest excuse-making stretch of all...trying to find a justifiable reason for including a link to a bunch of paddleboard race photos in a bike commuter blog. The best connections I could come up with were the following:

I was in this volunteer spot because of biking (someone else's)--I was taking photos with the camera of the co-organizer of the race, who had to go bike the Amtrak Century ride that day.

I could technically claim that I did a partial bike commute that day--I biked to the organizer's house on the other end of Ocean Beach to catch a ride with him.

A bike was given away in the post-race raffle.

But mostly I'm just looking for any thin pretext available to allow me to show off my latest photos! Please see the following public link (no need to be a Facebook member) for 32 of my 161 finished race photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150325350098485.365231.717933484&l=8d6d5dae37&type=1

Blackout Special--A Beautiful Bike Commute

2011-09-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's mid-blackout quote was one of those days that makes you feel like a genius for commuting by bike.

When the power went off throughout San Diego County and beyond, our Kearny Mesa office closed early. I headed down the stairs and out to the bike lockers, watching the traffic jammed up around the nearest unlit traffic light. Thinking of how many lights there were along my normal Linda Vista Road route, I took the slightly longer "back way" home to maximize time on the trails and minimize time on the streets.

The traffic in Mission Valley necessitated a couple crossings and detours of questionable legality, but overall a good trip...especially the long stretches of sunlit trail.

I was scheduled to meet at a friend's house in Ocean Beach after work to go over registration procedures for an upcoming paddleboard race. She was driving home from Mission Valley. I had joked that I might pass her on my way...and that almost came true as I saw her Jeep cross the Voltaire/Cable intersection while I awaited my turn. My commute had taken just under an hour...hers was 1.5 hours.

But the best part was when I returned to work this morning. As I listened to coworkers' tales of commuter woe, of commute times that were triple their normal length and 20-minute trips turned to 1.5 hours, I couldn't help but pop up from my chair and say "You know how long it took ME to get home yesterday?...............Exactly the same amount of time it does EVERY DAY!"

Mellow Yellow---Project "Big Banana" Bike Gets a Professional Finish

2011-09-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

Impatience, spare cash, and lack of tools led me to once again decide to leave some bike repairs to the professionals.

The bright yellow vintage Univega beach cruiser now dubbed the "Electric Banana" needed the rusty seatpost and handlebars replaced, and needed the chain popped and untangled. Saturday afternoon I cinched up the chain with a velcro strap, walked the bike down to Bernie's, and decided on arrival to also replace the rusty metal basket with a new black powdercoated one.

I returned Tuesday to pick up the bike, and was happy to find the total cost was only $55. Of course after adding the cost of the tires and tubes I could have probably bought a whole bike on Craigslist...but it wouldn't be this cool!

Practical Expectations...Project Bike Gets Road-Ready

2011-09-03T17:06:00.001-07:00

Despite lofty expectations, I have not turned into an overnight bike-repair sensation. In a "discretion is the better part of valor" moment of clarity, I decided to leave the last part of the Giant mountain bike project up to the professionals.

With the help of Roger at Bernie's Bike Shop, I picked out a cheap but attractive pair of black rubber handlebar grips and waited while he installed them. A wise decision, as installation required some tools I did not have at home...including an air compressor and a "Whack-a-Mole"-size mallet.

After paying $8 and change for the grips and saying "I think that's the last thing we need" on my way out the door, I rode home from Bernie's in triumph...only to slink back in 3 minutes later with a front shifter lever that had fallen apart in my hands.

If replacing handlebar grips was best left to the pros, I thought, replacing a shifter damn sure was too. Since the rear shifter still seemed OK, Roger considerately broke up a pair and installed a single shifter for me. I left the store a little less triumphant and about $20 lighter...but with a fully functional mountain bike now ready for its final clean and lube!

Intersections That Scare the Photo Update

2011-09-03T10:15:00.001-07:00

Finally, I had time to safely photo-document the scariness that is Midway/Rosecrans. The consistent terrifying traffic kill-zone status of this intersection has already been mentioned by me...and hopefully is noted by other traffic-doc bloggers regularly.

Unfortunately, my most recent experience of onboard photography on this route proved a bit anticlimactic. I arrived to that corner with time to kill and an ugly left turn to await...

Then I completed the following:

Project Bike Progress...1st to Rideability!

2011-09-02T18:31:00.001-07:00

Thanks to my screwup with the yellow beach cruiser's chain, the Giant was actually the first bike to reach rideable status.

Over the weekend I changed tires and tubes (getting much valuable practice as the front tube had to be changed out twice...1 failed patch and 1 replacement). I ran up to Terra Rhythm Bike Shop (our friendly new not-so-local-but-open-Sundays alternative to Bernie's) 2 or 3 times, getting a seat, a tube, and new quick-releases for the wheels.

I rode the bike down to the corner gas station, discovering 2 things:

1) after years of disc brakes, caliper brakes are hard to use.
2) after years of rotting in the side yard, handlebar grips can turn to gooey mush.

I Want My Baby Bag....

2011-08-27T12:06:00.001-07:00

I had no intention of buying anything at Adams Avenue Bicycles this morning. Nothing against them...it's just that by my own admission I was simply killing time there. I had ended up getting to the neighborhood almost 45 minutes before my hair appointment, and figured "What better place to park my bike than a local bike shop?" So I parked, pulled my purse out of the "grocery getter" pannier bag and wandered in.

Cheerful and upbeat employee Andrew offered me an espresso within minutes, which I declined due to having just finished a high-caffeine energy drink. So as not to get his sales commission hopes up, I also warned him that I was just killing time and not really there for anything in particular. So he left me to wander in peace, and seemed surprised to see me approach the counter for a purchase a few minutes later.

I was surprised as well...surprised to find a low-priced and practical impulse buy item that filled a very real commuting need. Banjo Brothers calls this little $5 gem the "Pocket Messenger Bag," but I immediately renamed it the "Baby Bag" due to its compact storage size.

I guess it's not an earthshattering concept...the equivalent of those cheap roll-up nylon shopping bags that seem to be everywhere, only styled like a messenger bag for biking use. But it's a perfect addition to my commuter pannier garment bag for "emergency" extra capacity in case of an unexpected stop for groceries on the way home. $5 is a very small price to avoid the equally unpleasant alternatives of trying to stuff groceries into the garment bag's already-full pockets, hauling an empty backpack to work with me "just in case," or trying to hang plastic grocery bags over my handlebars. And better yet, the "Baby Bag" saves me from ever having to ride home from the store with a "Bread Backpack!"

Project Bike...Baby Steps and the Wheel Truth

2011-08-20T16:34:00.001-07:00

I made a little progress on the bike project, though not as much as I'd like. Especially since I was starting with a bike that had no quick-releases on the wheels, Jesse successfully warned me off the idea of tackling tire removal of both bikes at once. So the yellow Univega beach cruiser was the focus for the afternoon.

First I went to my local bike shop (Bernie's in Ocean Beach) for replacement tires and tubes--$41 total.

Then when Jesse found me the right size wrenches...and with a little of his assistance on one wrong-sized nut, I got the wheels off the bike.

Then with a little more assistance, and advice to lay off introducing too many tire levers, I managed to strip off the old tires, tubes, and a rim liner that protected the tube from the screws on the interior of the wheel. They landed in the same location as my old Trans It pannier garment bag.

And finally I scrubbed and sprayed the wheels until they were as clean as I can get them.

Unfortunately this turned out to be as far as I could go this weekend. After letting the wheels dry over Saturday night, I discovered 2 unfortunate facts....Bernie's is closed on Sunday, and you can't get wheel-hub nuts or rim liner at the hardware store!!

Viral Biking--Catch It!

2011-08-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

In the beginning it was just me and my commuter bike. Since then I've started getting more interested in other bikes and biking, and following more bike-related blogs and websites (especially http://sdbikecommuter.com/ ).

On top of that, I'm now back in action on the bike reconstruction project mentioned in my last post. It seems to have gotten everyone I know more interested in bikes--while I will still get a backup bike out of the deal, this project will now provide a primary bike for my boyfriend...

......and a beach cruiser for his daughter when she visits:

And now I found out that even my dad in Michigan, who hasn't biked in 25 years and has a riding season about 6 months shorter than mine, has caught bike fever. Clearly, however, he did so with a slightly higher budget than we did:

Flipped Out---Contemplating a "Near-Miss" of the I-8 West Van Flip

2011-08-15T13:56:00.001-07:00

I had a lot of clever ideas in the works for this week's bike commuter blog...but the shock of this morning's news put all of them on the back burner. When I saw a mention on a SDBikecommuter.com forum of a van that had flipped from the I-8 West into the river, I thought "Wow, that could be right along my route."

Then I saw the story and its accompanying picture, showing the van to be JUST west of the Sports Arena/W. Mission Bay Drive bridge.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Van-Flipped-Into-River-127735098.html

When I did this, I suddenly thought:

"Thank goodness this didn't happen Friday night!"

While it already worries me that this kind of accident could happen at all, the "near-miss" impression was intensified by the fact that I was not just a moving target but a very SLOW moving target at just that location on Friday. I had given up on reinflating my flat back tire some time ago, and was "wheelbarrow-walking" the bike (rear wheel off the pavement) down the trail until I got off at that bridge to head for Performance Bike Shop.

I'd like to think that I could avoid a rolling car while RIDING my bike--but I have no such illusions that I could have avoided it while WALKING it with a heavy pannier garment bag slung over my shoulders!

Motivationally Speaking...Project Bike Gets a Reboot

2011-08-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

From the day I pulled a bunch of abandoned bikes out of the overgrown space between our house and our neighbor's fence, I've had the ambitious idea of restoring at least one of them to full working order. Having a "backup bike," "grocery getter" or "beater bike" seemed like a smart idea. Since the white Diamondback I bought off the street for $40 last year turned out to be too small to ride comfortably ( I recycled it back to the street, by the way...put it up against the corner electric pole with a sign saying "FREE--It works but doesn't fit me"), I still didn't have a functional backup. But that didn't seem to be enough motivation to get me into action--especially since I knew I was up against the sad fact that I am a non-mechanically-inclined individual who barely knows enough about bikes to grease my own chain.

The motivation ante was seriously upped this weekend, however. When I caught a flat Friday afternoon, had the replacement go flat 10 minutes later (see future blog posts for details), and was stuck bikeless for my trip to and from an overtime session at work on a transit-light Saturday morning, I started thinking a little more seriously about fixing up one of the found bikes.

I got even more serious after a response to my inquiry post on sdbikecommuter.com gave me a reality check. "I don't need to make this perfect," I realized. "I just have to make it work and learn something."

A long overdue review of the 2 most promising bikes gave me some good news. Turns out that both the Univega beach cruiser and the Giant mountain bike seemed to have good moving parts. Most encouraging was my boyfriend's comment of "Seems like more a cleaning project than a restoration project." I may not know jack about bikes, and I may be a true mechanical moron...but if there is one thing this Polish Washerwoman descendent knows, it's cleaning.

Here's what I started with...we'll let you know how it finishes.

Ditching the Old Bag

2011-08-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

No, Jesse is not dumping me..the "Old Bag" referenced here is the much-maligned 18-month-old Trans It brand pannier garment bag.

Held together at one end by safety pins where the main outside zipper started separating (as both outer pocket zippers had already done), I finally retired it 2 weeks ago in favor of a pannier garment bag. I will be doing an exclusive review of the new bag next month on the vendor's website, so I will not be discussing it here. However, I thought you would like to see the destination of the old bag's final trip!

No Crowding Hazard...The Center of Plentiful Racks

2011-08-10T18:07:00.001-07:00

Let's just call this the polar opposite of Stump's Market...bike racks abound near the Hazard Center YMCA entrace, but even this fitness mecca brings only 2 bikers today.

Capacity Crowd...Time For a Rack?

2011-08-06T14:08:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post to mark the occasion...the most bikes I've ever seen parked in front of Stump's Market (4 including mine). I'm wondering if they have any plans to put in a bike rack.

Tweaker Towers Live--Now on Phase II

2011-08-03T18:37:00.001-07:00

After seeing the ridiculous NBC San Diego human interest story on the homeless, trail-camp-dwelling perpetrator of the piled rock tower on the northside San Diego River Trail just east of Ocean Beach, I had to see for myself. "It's been over 24 hours since this was on the news," I thought. "Surely by now the police or the city have gotten wind of this and taken down the rockpile...maybe even rousted the whole homeless camp."

But when I arrived at the site on Wednesday I was disappointed. The camp and the tower were both fully intact. The tower was also just as big and just as close to the trail as it looked on TV.

If this were to fall, anyone riding into the debris would likely end up floating in the river with a couple popped tires and at least one bent wheel. Considering how many times I have biked past this point in the dark on my morning and evening commutes, I really detest the idea of setting a precedent for allowing big unstable rockpiles by the side of the trail.

I was about to ride away after taking the above photo but then saw another, smaller (but even CLOSER to the trail) pile of stacked rocks about 20 feet away. I couldn't help but think that with all the attention his first stack had gotten him, our homeless artist had decided to expand by adding "outbuildings." So here is Phase II of the homeless construction project I call "Tweaker Towers":

I'm going to check again next week--if there's a Phase III, I'm calling the cops!

Rocked by BAD NEWS--Outrage on the River Trail

2011-08-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

So many stories, so little time. I had some fun features planned--documentation of my 30 mile meandering road ride a couple weeks ago, proof of my latest "Virtual Quadrathlon," cool dogs I've met on my rides, et cetera. But along comes this mess to provoke me to outrage:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Homeless_Man_Rocks_at_Art_San_Diego-126563133.html

This is just a ridiculous attempt at turning a crime into a human interest story. However you feel about the homeless in general, I as a bike commuter find this particular situation a real problem. I use this trail frequently on my way home, and while I have yet to see the castle in person I will be sure to soon. While Mr. Patterson's previous sculptures (peace signs, some other random-looking stacks of rocks) were relatively harmless, the current versions appear high enough (and close enough to the trail) to be a serious bike hazard if they fall down. A few other little tidbits that Mr. Ojeda failed to mention:

The rocks in question are not just by the river to be pretty--they are for erosion control, and he is messing with the ecosystem by removing them--not to mention trampling plants on shore while going back and forth with them,

The homeless camp by this trailside tower is permanent, illegal, and has been a constant source of annoyance, trash and pollution for longer than I've been in Ocean Beach.

I'm not sure how this rock-stacking qualifies as a "hobby" ---isn't a hobby what someone does on one's time off from a JOB?

My own opinions on the homeless camps on the trails, based on my experience as a bike commuter often nearly running over or being run over by trail-trolls and their debris, may be more negative than those of the rest of the population. But take a look at this bad example of trying to manufacture a human-interest news story, and tell me what YOU think.

Virtual Quadrathlon--10 Steps to an Active Afternoon

2011-07-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

I was pretty excited about my "Virtual Triathlon" last Saturday, and I still intend to do a feature post on the scary but fun 30-mile bike ride that was its centerpiece. 4 miles of running, 30 miles of biking some hilly city streets, and then doing a 30 minute swim in the ocean probably did qualify as a pretty solid exercise day.

But since then I have realized not only that my meandering crosstown ride was notable more for its total disregard for basic bike safety principles than anything else, but that the "virtual triathlon" concept has totally lost its novelty. In fact if there were such a thing as a "Quadrathlon" adding the hopelessly out-of-style sport of inline skating, I could manage to perform a virtual one between work and dinner!

"How does that work?" you might wonder. "Pretty easily during the middle of summer, not at all any other time" would be the short answer. More specifically:

1. Change into running clothes and apply sunscreen after work.
2. Bike home from work--approximately 55 minutes.
3. Take the dog on a 2-3-mile run --30-45 minutes as I am still doing run-walk intervals to avoid reinjury.
4. Change into swimsuit, shorts and "spare pair" of cheap inline skates.
5. Grab bag with towel.
6. Skate to beach by Santa Monica Blvd. lifeguard station --5 minutes.
7. Swim in ocean 20-30 minutes (or until knuckles turn blue, depending on water temperature).
8. Towel off, rinse feet, walk until dry enough to put on skates.
9. Skate home.

And of course the crucial final step:

10. Open fridge, grab a cold beer--and head for the shower to remove those layers of sunscreen, road grime, sweat, sand and salt added over the past couple hours!

Isn't That Special?--Event Surprise From Qualcomm

2011-07-20T17:26:00.001-07:00

I had San Diego events and their crowding effects on my mind from the moment I got up this morning...but still ended up caughht by surprise on my evening commute home.

Remembering the congestion of years past, I decided to stay far away from San Diego Comic-Con traffic this Wednesday through Friday...not only staying off the trolley but also avoiding the hotel-packed Mission Valley entirely. After all, I had just proven yesterday that I could bike all the way home on the Linda Vista route in less than one hour.

But by the end of the day I wasn't feeling very committed to biking, so I eagerly took Jesse's advice as he reminded me this was just the "Preview Night" of Comic-Con, and shouldn't bring the same overcrowding as the main event days. I headed down Stonecrest and the Murphy Canyon bike path to the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot...

...Where I immediately realized my earlier oversight. I had somehow ignored the implications of the big antenna-topped Univision broadcast truck on my way by it in the morning. But as I began to detour around clusters of red-shirted security staff, uniformed transit police and jersey-clad bystanders it became clear that I had bumbled onto the site of an upcoming soccer match. That impression was solidified as I rolled my bike out of the elevator onto the trolley platform...just in time to hear the grating honks of those spectator-favorite horns that made 2010 World Cup stadiums sound like hives of bees.

"How ironic!" I thought as a nearly empty "Red Line" Comic-Con Shuttle trolley pulled up. "The trolley for the event I've been dreaded gives me a painless escape route from the event I'm suddenly trapped in." This thought stuck with me for a few stops, but was quickly extinguished when a mass of conventiongoers piled in at Fashion Valley. I was already standing at the back of the trolley car, and it was immediately a "standing room only" cattle call. Since I had only one stop left and no way to get past the crush of people between me and the door, I started wondering if I was doomed to biking home from the downtown convention center where Comic-Con is held.

Luckily for me, the sort of hard-core fans who attend Preview Night of Comic-Con are a remarkably polite bunch. After I announced that I needed to get off with a bike at the next stop, several of the badge-wearing, swag-bag-toting folks moved out of my way. When we arrived at the stop, a few even temporarily dismounted to give me more room. As commute-interrupting special events go, I'll have to concede that comic fans are a better match for bike commuters than soccer fans!

Deja Viewed...A Fuzzy Little Coincidence

2011-07-17T14:19:00.001-07:00

Sundays are usually grocery shopping days at Rancho Relaxo...days that we can normally assume material is being gathered only for my food bargain blog and NOT my bike commuting blog. But occasionally circumstances come up that provide a little bike commute subject matter. This time, it didn't involve an attempted bike theft!

As I approached the Point Loma Vons, in the middle of a snarly inner-monologue rant about their lack of bike racks, I noticed a fuzzy little white dog on a leash tied to my favorite bike-rack-substitute bench just west of the main store entrance. The little fellow had no ambitions towards protecting his new territory, and let me lock up my bike without protest.

The dog was gone by the time I came out of the store, and I had no reason to give him a second thought...until I finished the 2 mile trip from Vons to the Point Loma Stumps Market. As I locked my bike up to the cart corral outside the store I noticed a very familiar-looking fuzzy white figure tied off on an equally familiar red leash.

Believing I'm the only one compulsive enough to do the Vons-through-Stumps store run on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I first assumed I had to be mistaken. "It couldn't be the same dog," I thought as I finished locking my bike. "Nobody on foot could get here before me, and someone in a car would probably leave the dog IN the car."

But as I heard the apparent owner of the dog answering a stranger's questions about its breed, I realized I had a chance to satisfy my curiousity. When the white-haired woman had finished explaining the dog's lineage, I broke in with "Were you just at Vons??." She was, and there really wasn't anything left to discuss after that. But at least I heard enough to know I couldn't use the blog headline "Stalked By A Shih Tzu"...

...He's a Lhasa Apso.

Tracking the Extremes--All Bike Vs. All Transit to Work

2011-07-15T13:38:00.001-07:00

After challenging myself to bike all the way to work last Thursday, I was ready to reconsider the idea of doing at least a few transit-free all-bike commuting days. I'm still not sure I save time with all-biking, at least not for the uphill morning route. However, now that I GPS-tracked the bike trip to work (yesterday morning), I can at least assure myself that I am saving time in comparison to the all-TRANSIT alternative. Of course I already knew this--it's one of the reasons I started biking in the first place. But it's definitely encouraging to see the numbers!

All Bike (from Garmin GPS watch data, click on link to see map and more details):
AM Bike to office via Linda Vista by alisonspencer70 at Garmin Connect - Details

Time: 01:04:09
Distance: 10.57 mi
Elevation Gain: 742 ft

All Transit (From San Diego MTS Online Trip Planner at http://www.sdcommute.com/TripPlanner/index.asp):

1. walk 0.1 mile NW from 1840 EBERS ST to Niagara Av / Sunset Cliffs Bl

2. At 05:19 AM take the MTS BUS route 923 Downtown via Harbor Dr

3. Get off the stop on Broadway at 3rd Av at approximately 05:49 AM.

4. walk 0.1 mile E from Broadway & 3rd Av to 5th Av at Broadway

5. At 05:59 AM take the MTS BUS route 120 Kearny Mesa Limited Stops via Fashion Vly/Linda Vsta

6. Get off the stop at Fashion Valley Transit Center at approximately 06:18 AM.

7. At 06:24 AM take the MTS BUS route 928 Kearny Mesa via Serra Mesa/Stonecrest

8. Get off the stop on Daley Center Dr at Granite Ridge Dr at approximately 06:46 AM.

9. walk 0.2 mile W to 9655 GRANITE RIDGE DR

Total Trip Time = 1 hr. 27 min

Washday Surprise

2011-07-10T13:40:00.001-07:00

As susceptible as I am to challenges, I am equally vulnerable to guilt trips. So while I scoffed at a biker friend's assertion that bikes should be cleaned every week, it made me think: "When was the last time I cleaned MY bike??"

I soon came to the guilty realization that a full cleaning (not just a quick swipe of degreaser and a spray of lube on the chain) was quite a few months in the past. So yesterday afternoon I put my bike in the stand (actually just a tabletop vise placed in the driveway), grabbed my high-tech cleaning supplies, and headed out to get started.

While I truly hate deep detail cleaning of all kinds, experience has shown I'm fairly good at it. And as I go along, scrubbing and spraying and scraping, I can get "into" the process so that it's relatively painless and even a little therapeutic. By the end I was filthy, but Babe the Blue Ox Bike was shiny and no longer packed with grime.

But along the way I was caught uttering the surprised words that are a dead giveaway that cleaning (of ANY kind of machinery) has been sorely neglected:

"Oh wow....those parts weren't SUPPOSED to be black?!?!"

Up(Hill) for the Challenge--Reintroduction to Full Bike Commuting

2011-07-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

Whether it's baking 40 loaves of bread at home on a weekend, making 20 pounds of ribs for a bar potluck in my office kitchen, or running my first marathon at age 40, I have repeatedly demonstrated that I can rarely resist a challenge. And almost immediately upon posting "Racked With Guilt," a challenge is just what I got via Facebook. One of my friends, who also happens to be an avid biker, responded:

"Why not get up a little earlier and ride all the way to the office? More miles, more fitness and no guilt for shutting others out on the bus :)"

I immediately fired back a litany of excuses:

"It's actually not a matter of getting up earlier, it's more a serious aversion to riding up hills. Also the fact that the bus ride is my best uninterrupted chance to write. And I have a heavy bike that makes it an unpleasant trip. Oh yeah, AND I'm really good at making excuses!"

But even as I hit to post my reply, I knew he had me dead to rights. Why WASN'T I biking all the way to work, at least a couple times a week? I no longer had running as an excuse--since the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon I had nearly stopped running entirely, and currently am not doing the mileage or pace to make biking a danger for overuse injuries. The convenience and speed really were not issues--I occasionally ride all the way HOME with no complaints, and make it in approximately the same time as if I used a half-transit option. And riding in the early morning would mean facing only minimal traffic.

So the next morning, when I reached the corner of Friars and Linda Vista with the choice of headed towards the buses at Fashion Valley or turning to take the Linda Vista route all the way to the office, there really WAS no choice...I had to accept the challenge and see if I was still in decent enough biking shape to ride all the way to work.

As I immediately hit the long uphill stretch to the University of San Diego, I had my doubts. In a low gear on my heavy and fully loaded bike I was going painfully slow. My newly started audiobook version of Cormac McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses" had yet to engage my full attention, and every moment I looked up the hill I thought "This is hell, I'm not going to make it." But at the same time I remembered occasions when I had made the same ride at 4 AM on 4 hours of sleep, and then the time I RAN up the hill as part of an 18 mile training run...and I just kept pedaling.

Finally I got to the top of the hill just past USD, and realized it wasn't so bad a ride. I had Linda Vista Road's wide bike lane all to myself, the audiobook was starting to get interesting, and the sometimes gritty urban stretches of Linda Vista were peaceful and quiet as the sun rose. I wasn't feeling any pain in my knees or hamstrings, though I started wishing I had gone for the padded bike shorts. I even felt like more of a "real biker" as I was waved to by occasional spandex-clad cyclists headed the opposite way.

As I got within 4 blocks of the office, I was passed by the very same 928 bus I would have been on if I had taken the transit option. Between waiting at the stop and sitting on the bus I would have taken nearly the same amount of time. And I realized that between the extra exercise, diminished stress, and losing the hassles of hauling the bike on and off the bus (and the pannier bag on and off the bike)--despite the initial big hill this was a challenge worth repeating!

Racked With Guilt...The Wrong Kind of Bike Race

2011-07-06T06:40:00.001-07:00

While cycling fans are paying attention to the Tour de France this time of year, unbeknownst to them another high-stakes bike race is going on every weekday morning in San Diego. In this race, staged in the transit centers of the city, the winners end up feeling vaguely guilty...and the losers end up late for work.

To fully comprehend the competitive nature of bike+transit commuting, it helps to know the numbers. An average bus like the 928 I take each morning has seating for about 40 passengers...and a front rack that holds exactly 2 bikes. Bikes are not allowed inside the bus.

Especially in the summer when biking is more popular, there's always the danger of not being the first or second to the rack. Whether you call this position "Third Bike, You're Out," "Last Bike Standing," or "Loser in the Game of Musical Bikes," it always sucks.

With a larger biking population to compete with and a variable morning schedule that doesn't give me much chance to learn the passenger habits for each departure time, it's no surprise that I've been shut out of the 928 bus 3 times in the last 2 weeks. Each time, this causes a delay as I either switch to another bus that drops off further from the office or wait 30 minutes for the next 928.

In this race to the racks, the near-misses and confrontations with fellow bike commuters can be particularly frustrating. I was reminded of this yesterday as I came up 5 seconds short and lost that coveted 2nd rack spot to a longtime fellow passenger with whom I am probably no longer on speaking terms.

And while it makes for a much more convenient morning commute, winning the race is not without a downside. This reminder came today as I triumphantly hoisted my bike onto the final rack space on the 6:24 northbound 928 bus...only to feel a twinge of guilt as I realized some OTHER fellow commuter would be shut out today!

Topical Holiday

2011-07-04T07:55:00.001-07:00

While I managed to mold many of my recent experiences into the topic boundaries of my 2 blogs (virtualroadkill.com the bike commuter blog, and sdfoodsense.com the San Diego food bargain blog), I must admit that this morning's beach cliff hike fits neither.

But considering the WWBWD (What Would Bill Walton Do?) philosophical approach I have recently adopted, and considering the fact that I am not getting paid for my writings at the moment...I chose to go incredibly off-topic on the 4th of July by giving my readers a batch of beach cliff hike pics.

Return to the Scene of the Crime...Another Ralphs Near-Theft Experience

2011-07-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday's repeat offense was my own fault, in a way. Not the attempted theft itself, but the ample opportunity I provided. I should know better when shopping at the Sports Arena Blvd Ralphs Market. Between the swap meet,the nearby river trail, and the day labor pickup at Home Depot, that Ralphs stands at ground zero of "sketchy drifter country."

I had locked my bike to the "cart corral" at the far northwest corner of Ralphs, eager to get in and get my shopping done. While I normally locked up by the front door, a fire truck and paramedics responding to some emergency inside made that inconvenient if not entirely impossible. So I walked away from my locked bike, confident it was in a safe position...

And walked back to it 15 minutes later, finding it knocked over like this:

Sure, there's a chance it just fell over when brushed by a cart or a passing pedestrian, but that doesn't explain these marks on my bike lock cable:

No, I believe that just as it happened months ago in the same location, Babe the Blue Ox Bike was the near-victim of a snatch-and-grab bike thief working the outskirts of this shopping center with a pair of bolt cutters.

Now that I realize this, I just need to decide what to put more effort into...getting a better bike lock, or complaining to property management about security!

Bagwatch...the Dequipment Continues

2011-06-28T07:07:00.001-07:00

Another day...another couple inches of zipper failure on my TransIt pannier bag. The safe thing to do would be switching to a backpack immediately, but I'm so annoyed at my waste of money on this piece of biking gear that I'm determined to see how long it lasts...and ready to send my results in with my complaint to the manufacturer!

Surprise Inspiration--Bill Walton on Biking

2011-06-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

As a self-described "bike commuter, NOT a biker," using a bike solely for transportation leaves me with a rather cynical negative attitude about bikers and biking. So imagine my surprise at finding biking inspiration at my local YMCA swimming pool...in the words of basketball legend Bill Walton.

When I met Bill after swimming laps at the pool last Saturday, I had no idea he was a biker. I knew only that he spent a lot of time in the pool since his back surgery, and that if I was in the next lane it was only neighborly to introduce myself. When I expressed my surprise at seeing him at the YMCA pool, he replied that the only mornings he DIDN'T come to the pool were "when I'm out of town, or when I'm doing a really long bike ride." When another swimmer asked him about his biking habits, he said that some days he'd get up and do a 100-mile morning ride by himself. When I said I couldn't imagine doing more than my 10-20 mile a day commuting ride, he replied "If you can bike 10 miles, you can bike 100." According to him it's all about the technology, and if you have a good bike you can exceed your expectations. After mentioning the improvements that have occurred since the first bike he rode as a five-year-old, he said of his current bike:

"It's my gym, my wheelchair and my church."

That comment stuck with me throughout the next week, and when I saw Bill again last Friday I asked if I could quote him on it. I expected his agreement, but did not expect what came next. He reiterated his earlier comment with a tone of complete gravity and sincerity that drew me in despite my time limits. "My bike is my gym, my wheelchair, and my church all in one." Then he went on, enthusiastically describing his biking experience.

"I love my bike," Bill said. "It's the most important THING in my life." As someone who presumably owns a fair amount of things, this seemed a bold statement. So although I was crouched, dripping-wet on the YMCA pool deck and about to risk running late for work, I felt compelled to see what else Bill Walton had to say about biking.

I was not disappointed. He went on to say "There are only 2 things I don't like about my bike. One is I don't get to ride it enough. The other is...when I get back from a long ride, my wife says 'Hey, big boy...remember I wasn't a part of that 8-hour conversation you were just having.'"

While enthusiastic about biking, Bill is also realistic about the obstacles faced by San Diego bikers. "Pave the roads!" he exhorted. Thinking about the pothole-ridden stretches I've been on in the last two years, I couldn't agree more.

He went on to address the motorist/biker relationship. "Drivers should show more respect for bicyclists. When you're driving and you see someone on a bike, slow down and move away. Even a little easing off the gas and a little move makes a big difference."

While I wanted to hear more, I finally had to excuse myself to go get ready for work. But as I got up and headed towards the Mission Valley YMCA women's locker room, I realized that something more surprising had occurred than getting an impromptu poolside interview with a legendary sports figure....

I actually felt inspired to bike for recreation, not just transportation!

Another Bag Bites the Dust...(leaving a lingerie trail)

2011-06-24T07:22:00.001-07:00

My much-maligned TransIt pannier garment bag has been far from pretty...and far from fully functional...for some time now. While I understand it's seen near-daily use, I really didn't expect it to fall so far in only 1.5 years.

Over the last couple months, the zippers of both side compartments have failed entirely. After a couple days of holding them up with binder clips borrowed from work, I had to resort to safety-pinning the pocket flaps up to the sides of the bag. That doesn't make the pockets functional...but it does prevent the otherwise unavoidable comments of passing commuters yelling "Your bag is broken!" or asking if I lost something.

Despite the growing inconveniences of having to ignore the side compartments and throw all my required work items into the main section of the bag, I kept using it. The hooks for securing it to the bike rack were also failing, so it was becoming harder each day to keep the bag firmly installed. But it still was a better option than hauling my stuff in the awkward and threadbare Avenir "grocery getter" pannier bag or adding a heavy backpack to my already-screaming shoulders.

Friday morning, I discovered the first stage of failure of the unavoidably crucial outside zipper running the full length of the bag. While only a small gap at the moment, this little segment of zipper failure promises to eventually leave me on the San Diego River
Trail... likely fighting a homeless guy for his purloined Ikea shopping bag so I can get my clothes and personal items home without leaving a trail of socks and underwear.

As I've been watching a SyFy network Twilight Zone marathon for a while, I'm ready to believe any available conspiracy theories regarding the failure of my bike bag. Is bike commuting that subversive? Is there no support for the first-time bike+transit commuter? Is quality bike support technology reserved for racers and high-budget elitists?

...Or do the "powers that be" just want to see my undies out by the river???

Revisionist History--Happy Solstice to Me!

2011-06-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

The good news is that today is the summer solstice--pagan day of celebration and longest day of the year. The bad news, of course, for those of us who like to commute in daylight, is that it's all downhill from here. Days start getting shorter tomorrow, though they won't be unpleasantly so for some time.

But this solstice adds another bit of good news. In the interest of simplifying my calendar, as well as in an obvious admission of poor past recordkeeping, I will now be celebrating the "Bike-iversary" on the Solstice/first day of summer, June 21.

I admit I don't actually know what the first day was that I started to commute by bike+ transit in 2009. But we got the bike just after Memorial Weekend and I was commuting with it after a few weeks of getting acclimated to biking again, so 06/21 is as good a guess as any. It's sort of like celebrating your rescue dog's birthday...it's a made-up holiday to begin with, so there's no need to overthink it!

Spontaneous Commute-tion...Spur of Moment Meets Convergence of Routes

2011-06-16T17:08:00.001-07:00

One of the problems of transit commuting is the limit it places on your spontaneity of movement. That's one of the main reasons I added biking to my commute, but I'm still dependent on fixed-route transit wherever time limits or difficult terrain/traffic make biking not a viable option. Most of the time this means making an itinerary decision and being stuck with it...but occasionally I luck into managing a spur-of-the-moment change. Yesterday was one of those occasions.

In order to work out after work I can either take the northbound 928 bus to near the Clairemont Mesa Toby Wells YMCA OR ride down Stonecrest hill and the Murphy Canyon trailand take the trolley to the Friars Road YMCA. When I make this decision it's based on class schedules and time deadlines. Yesterday, I was between the remote hope of getting to a Friars strength class at 5:30 (which would get me closer to home) and the easy possibility of a 5:30 yoga class at Toby Wells (which adds a couple miles to my ride home). I chose the "get-close-to-home" option and was about to head down the hill.

As I was about to make the left turn down Stonecrest, I realized 4 things at once:

1) Having just lifted weights before work, the last thing I needed was a strength training class.

2) Since I'm derailed from running/walking with a calf injury, if I miss the class there isn't much I can do at the Friars Y at 5:30.

3) It doesn't matter how far from home I am at the end of my workout, since it's one of the longest days of the year and I have no deadline for getting home today.

4) There's a northbound 928 bus right behind me!

One of the nice things about the 928 bus is that it circles around the Stonecrest Plaza area, stopping at several points very convenient to my office, on both its southbound AND northbound routes. This convergence can allow for "second chances" and added opportunities to intercept the bus, and in this case it enabled me to back out of my trolley to Friars itinerary. I skidded to a stop in front of the bus benches at the south side of the plaza and hurriedly hoisted my bike onto its rack.

Despite traffic and the driver's bathroom break at an AM/PM store, my spur-of-the-moment decision paid off...By 5:30 I was studiously stretching out my sore muscles in a 3-person yoga class at the Toby Wells YMCA!

Clearing the Air...No Banditry Required

2011-05-27T17:31:00.001-07:00

I know I can't be misremembering my Spring 2010 bike commuting experience so badly as to be months off.

I recalled that the start of Daylight Savings Time was followed closely by both an explosion of new-growth vegetation AND clouds of gnatlike flying insects on the San Diego River Trail. The insect hatch was so bad, especially in the afternoons/evenings, that I often rode home sporting the "Bike Bandit" look...black bandana tied, Old West bankrobber-style.

THIS year I just kept waiting for the hatch to come along. First the time change, then the mass of new greenery, then...nothing. Maybe a few bugs here and there on occasion, but no gross choking clouds of bugs. Every couple weeks it would occur to me, " I wonder when the hatch is going to happen...it has to be before the new growth dries up."

Then last Friday, after yet another bandana-unencumbered ride through the clear bug-free air of the river trail, I looked at the scenery around me...

...and realized IT'S ALREADY DRIED UP--I can retire the Bike Bandit Bandana until next season!

San Diego Transit Surprise--the RAREST KIND

2011-05-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

(PLEASE NOTE: While posted on Friday 5/27 due to technical issues, the story and photos are from Wednesday, May 25.)

I very often say of bike+transit commuting that "there is no such thing as a GOOD surprise." In general, this is overwhelmingly true. Unexpected events and breaks of routine are typically negative, like buses running late or bus bike racks being full. And attempts to navigate new locations usually turn up discoveries of a negative nature, whether in the form of a "no service" or scheduling "near miss" situation.

But today I encountered that rarest of transit surprises...discovery of a better way to my destination. For months I had been making only occasional trips to the Toby Wells branch of the Mission Valley YMCA even though it's the very closest branch to my office and the easiest to get to for after-work classes. The main reason was that I hated both the lateness caused by having to bike all the way home to Ocean Beach and the safety issues of riding on Kearny Villa Road. While I thought I had no options I suddenly decided to try the "trip planner" feature of the MTS website for ways from the YMCA address to Fashion Valley.

Surprisingly enough, the express 20 bus stops just around the corner from the Y...at a time just after I get out of class, as confirmed when I arrived at the bus shelter and saw the following schedule:

Even more surprisingly, the bus bike rack still had room for one more. I can barely say as much of the BUS itself, which was already standing room only when I boarded and got more crowded at every stop. It was a little annoying having to stand in the front of the bus, but I had a spot to rest my bag...and an outstanding view.

But close quarters are a small price to pay for a quick and safe ride from Clairemont Mesa to Fashion Valley, with my bike and my schedule intact (see below view of bike about to be removed for the final ride home).

Discovery of this alternative definitely ranks at the top of my very short list of GOOD transit surprises!

Bus Bike Basics...Etiquette Hits the Rack

2011-05-27T06:14:00.001-07:00

The first time, I may silently fume internally...the second time, I'm compelled to comment. So it has been for many slights and offenses I've endured, and so it is for this latest breach of bike+transit etiquette.

For the second morning this week, I've been the second biker to reach the 928 bus before it departs Fashion Valley. That's good news compared to being the THIRD (since bus bike racks hold 2 bikes and none are allowed inside the bus), but means I have to maneuver around a bike already on the rack. This becomes infinitely more difficult when the first rider has mounted his bike on the FRONT slot of the rack, so that I must try to slip my bike into place between it and the nose of the bus.

I can ALMOST see my fellow commuter's point, as I see he gets off the bus very early in the route and can make a very easy exit taking his bike from the front slot of the bike rack. But the rule of bus bike etiquette remains...first bike on goes to the BACK OF THE RACK.

Text Test 101(21)...MTS on Trial

2011-05-21T14:16:00.001-07:00

As a bike+transit commuter I typically find the transit part the most annoying, if unavoidable due to time, terrain and injury issues. So whenever an improvement to transit access or information is available,I'm on it.

As I spend an all-transit day of running errands while my bike is tuned up at Velo Cult, it seems a good time to try out the latest innovation from San Diego MTS...bus stop arrival schedules in realtime via text. A simple idea...just text the stop number (now on the bottom of the signs at each bus stop, in this case 10121) to 46687, and you get a reply with the times and route numbers of the next several buses scheduled to stop there. In this case, on an unfamiliar route I was happy to see an 11 bus scheduled to be at my stop at 2:08--2 minutes after my arrival there.

Unfortunately it appears the MTS improvements apply only to the virtual world rather than the real one...the bus actually arrived at 2:15.

The Bad Side of a Good Idea...Regulars Beware

2011-05-20T06:37:00.001-07:00

Today is National Bike To Work Day. I observed this much-heralded occasion by standing around extra-long at a bus stop, taking a less-optimal route, unexpectedly biking uphill in totally inappropriate dress and footwear, and being late for work.

So much for my entry in the "What National Bike to Work Day Means to Me" essay contest!

Not that I hate NBTWD...I think it's an especially good idea to encourage those who bike ALL THE WAY to their workplaces. But for regular bike+transit commuters, the special occasion brings out extra amateurs and part timers who overload a bus and trolley system poorly designed for handling a higher volume of bikes.

...At least that was the conclusion I came to as the fully bike-loaded 928 bus passed me by at the Fashion Valley/Friars Road stop this morning!

Bus-Eye View...Blogging Along the 928 Route

2011-05-19T06:31:00.001-07:00

In the next few weeks I expect most of my posts to be dominated by photos rather than writing. This serves a twofold purpose: I can test my new camera and mobile blogging platform without investing a lot of time in writing new material, and I can finally let my readers SEE more of the bike+transit commuter world I've mainly just been DESCRIBING all these months.

This morning's blog is from onboard a northbound 928 bus, and its production led to 2 discoveries:

1. The new phone camera is indeed good enough to take photos out the window of a moving bus, and...

2. For an urban bus route, stretches of the 928 are surprisingly scenic!

Location of Frustration

2011-05-18T17:21:00.001-07:00

Just as many of of my biggest recent frustrations with my bike commute stem from breakdown of aging or substandard equipment, so too are my frustrations with the bike commuter blog. I originally envisioned a truly seamless mobile blogging opportunity, where I could take pictures of the locations and other sights along my routes and post right from the roads and trails (and trolleys and buses).

But my vintage 2008 not-so-smartphone was holding me back. I could take photos but not directly upload them, and the only way to access them at all was to email them to myself with the painfully slow and low-capacity Sprint mobile email interface.

So on many occasions good photos and the ideas behind them would grow stale and go to waste. Even some of those I DID use seemed unsatisfyingly outdated. And the increasingly frequent battery outages of the old Palm Centro gave me yet another excuse to skip blogging some days.

But those frustrations are over, thanks to my new Android-equipped Samsung Replenish. With a better camera and an a mobile Blogger app, today's commuter blog features only ONE frustration....

...The frustration of being stuck, bikeless, at this Kearny Mesa bus stop because I left Babe the Blue Ox Bike home in this morning's freak rainstorm!

The Missing Piece

2011-05-18T16:36:00.001-07:00

This is just a quick note to complete my last "Chain In Vain" post...here is the errant handbag in question.

Chain in Vain...Dequipment Strikes Again

2011-04-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

As I left the office last Thursday afternoon, the latest broken zipper on my 18-month-old Trans It pannier garment bag had me mulling over a post idea regarding "dequipment." This was the best term I could find for my recently accelerating losses of bike equipment/gear by attrition--whether due to theft, misplacement, uselessness, accidental breakage or simple mechanical breakdown.

But as I started to pedal away from the bike lockers, the "dequipment" concept took a sudden second place to another thought..."Why did my pedals just STOP?"

I had started off on virtual autopilot after performing all the necessary startup rituals upon removing my bike from its locker. Purse in Pannier bag, bag hooked onto rack, helmet on head, gloves on hands, sunglasses on face...everything was in place. Or so I thought until my pedals stopped moving about 2 strokes later.

Caught by surprise and literally at a standstill, I looked down at the pedals. They absolutely would not move..back or forward...but I could see no visible reason. I got off the bike and started to inspect it all around, and stopped at the rear derailleur (otherwise known as the little cog wheel the chain goes through on the way around and which moves it back and forth from gear to gear when shifting.) Mine now seemed to have a tail, as a thin black strap led from the derailleur back, up, and around into the 3/4-zipped side pocket of my bag.

While I had managed to shove the wallet-on-steroids-size body of my handbag securely into the pocket, its long, thin shoulder strap had escaped through the busted side of the zipper and, drawn out by the motion of the wheel spokes, went through and arpund the derailleur with the bike chain. The "around" part meant I couldn't just pull it loose, and without a knife to cut the strap I was left with no choice but to get down on my knees beside the now-horizontal bike, reach in, grab the greasy chain with one hand and the equally grime-coated derailleur with the
other, and start trying to work them back and forth until the strap could be pulled out.

Of course once the job was done my hands were filthy, and even my meager supply of facial cleansing pads was inaccessible--trying to unzip the bag to get them would only spread the grease onto everything.

So still on my knees, I wiped my hands vigorously on the only thing I could think of--the grass of the manicured office-park lawn in front of me. I can only imagine what the workers leaving the complex and the students coming in for night school might have thought--it may have looked like some strange religious ritual. But by this stage of 'dequipment", any names of higher powers getting invoked were being used quite entirely in vain!

Like Peanut Butter and Pastrami...The Involuntary Duathlon

2011-04-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Some may consider me crazy for planning to run a marathon, but I believe the truly crazy folks are those who choose to do triathlons and duathlons. In case you were wondering, a duathlon consists of running and biking...a triathlon minus the swimming. The BIATHLON, on the other hand, is cross country skiing+target shooting...a sport most Americans see once every 4 years in the off-peak hours of a Winter Olympics broadcast.

Regardless of how I feel about swimming, combining running and biking sounds like a consistently bad and injury-inducing idea. As someone who runs for fitness and bikes for transportation, the two activities seem to fit together as well as peanut butter and...pastrami. So how did I wind up spending last Saturday morning in what was essentially a duathlon of 18 miles running and 11 miles biking?

It certainly wasn't by intention. I started out with what I thought was a fairly solid plan for a goal-oriented 18-mile training run. By goal-oriented I don't mean fitness goals or time goals, but something concrete at the finish that I either need or want. In this case, I needed to retrieve my bike from the office bike locker, where I had left it when getting a ride to an offsite corporate function on Friday afternoon. Since I already knew that the distance on the Linda Vista/Aero route was exactly 11 miles, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and run out to the office after doing the first 7 miles to and from Mission Bay with my dog. I wasn't thrilled about having to get on a bike right after running, but figured I'd have the easy downhill 1 mile ride to Qualcomm Stadium followed by a trolley trip to Old Town, then only 3 miles from there to home.
Not exactly. The holes in my plan began to emerge even before I pulled the bike out of its locker. First of all, although I got an early start I had totally underestimated the inland heat. I was dressed in running tights and a baggy dark red Detroit Red Wings T-shirt that seemed to absorb the midmorning sun like a sponge, and I carried only 20 ounces of additional water in the waist-packed bottles I had just refilled from the office water fountain. I also had my heavy pannier garment bag on my bike's rack for some unwelcome extra weight to tote in the heat.

I first rode the bike down to the neighboring Vons supermarket, where I purchased sandwich ingredients (but foolishly NO WATER). Then I headed to Qualcomm where another problem appeared. The crowds and extra fencing required for a Boy Scout Jamboree taking place in the parking lot forced me to take the long back route and drag the bike up a few stairs before taking the elevator to the trolley platform.

As I reached the platform, still more issues emerged. I realized I just missed a trolley and would have to wait nearly 30 minutes for the next one. Despite running out of water, having a sore back and hips that weren't responding well to sudden motionlessness, hearing the incessant buzz of motorcycle engines from a motorcycle safety course on the other side of the parking lot, having nothing more comfortable to sit on then MTS's torturous red metal mesh benches, and being the captive audience for a San Jose Sharks fan with comments about my Red Wings shirt, it still seemed like waiting for the trolley was my best option. Until the trolley ARRIVED, that is.

I saw a packed trolley approach and hoped it was full of Boy Scouts and families getting off at the station--no such luck. As I wheeled my bike door to door, car to car, every space was packed with people and bikes headed westward. As I unsuccessfully inspected the final car for openings, I realized I had two unpleasant options.

1. Wait another half hour sizzling in the sun, probably lying on the concrete platform to improve on the back support of the metal bench, and HOPE the next trolley wasn't equally packed.

2. Head onto Friars Road (my least favorite westbound route, but the only one that didn't involve riding back uphill), and ride all the way home.

My patience exhausted, I headed off to Friars Road. The heat continued to oppress, with virtually no breeze to break it. My legs felt like lead, my back and hips hurt, and at times I felt like I could barely get the pedals around another time. I was uncharacteristically grateful for the frequent red lights that gave me a chance to stop and put my feet down, and just as uncharacteristically wishing for a pair of the ugly padded bike shorts I disparaged so vehemently the day before. My Sansa Clip MP3 player, which I had been using to listen to mystery audiobooks, had died shortly after departing Qualcomm, so I had nothing but Mission Valley traffic to listen to all the way down Friars.

As I neared the entrance to the San Diego River trail before Sea World Drive, feeling like I was almost in a trance, it occurred to me that I was probably "hitting the wall," a state of extreme exhaustion and hopelessness familiar to distance athletes everywhere. It also occurred to me that just a couple days before, one of my marathon-running coworkers had asked me to let her know if I ever "hit the wall" in the course of my longer training runs (as she had hit at mile 23 of her first marathon.) As I pulled off by the trail entrance, I knew there were only 3 miles left. I also knew that if Jesse had a bike rack on his car I would have given up and made a distress call MILES ago.

Without water or caffeine, I did what I could to recharge. I got off the bike, stretched my back and shoulders, sent a text to my coworker letting her know I did indeed make contact with "the wall" though not during my run, switched out MP3 players while selecting music on my fully charged Sansa Fuze, and took off. Staring incredulously all the while at the passing bikers who seemed to be ENJOYING their rides, I concentrated on keeping my feet moving and not falling over. This got a little easier as a cooling sea breeze replaced the searing inland heat. When I finally got home, pushed the bike up the driveway and opened the back door of the house, all I could say was "Holy Shnikeys, I didn't think I was gonna make it!"

The fact that I DID make it gave me some sense of accomplishment, but I don't plan on attempting a duathlon on purpose anytime soon. The fact that I finished the INVOLUNTARY duathlon can be ascribed only to sheer stubbornness...with a major assist from Sandisk Corporation (maker of both my MP3 players).

Neighborhood, Watched--Hamilton's Bike Improvement Project

2011-04-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

It's fairly common knowledge that I love my former home neighborhood of South Park. A compact bike-friendly, dog-friendly and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with a variety of great small businesses (Hamilton's Tavern, Lulu's by Travis Parker Salon, Clarity Soap & Candle and Thomas Bike Shop are a few of my favorites), I look forward to every excuse I can find to come back and visit.

It's also pretty common knowledge that I am a pessimist with fairly negative expectations, and that is as true for my bike commuting experience as with everything else. Say what you will about this attitude, it does have one unexpected benefit. Such low expectations mean that I can be very easily impressed by a positive surprise. For this reason, I biked away from Hamilton's Tavern Saturday afternoon in a better mood than even a pint of fine local ale would lead me to expect. After a pedicure at Lulu's, I rode down 30th Street and dismounted the bike in front of the still-closed Hamilton's. I uncoiled my cable lock and cinched it to the usual tree in front of the door, feeling the usual guilt about being too lazy to walk to the bike racks in front of Alchemy two doors down. With the bike out of the way, my attention turned to the scene around me. There was more going on than just the usual pre-opening wait. I may not be a master of perception, but when I saw the big metal frames leaned against trees, the new bolts and hardware in the concrete, and the serious-looking tall man with hammer and power tools, even I could figure out the reason.

"You're putting in bike racks?!?" I exclaimed. Ignoring a passing friend's smart-aleck comment about my mastery of the extremely obvious, I went on. "That's so awesome, they're finally saving these trees!"

I took a break to go enjoy a Sierra Nevada IPA, but later came out to talk to the tall artisan working on the bike racks. He introduced himself as Corey from Arboriform (see card, he's also at myspace.com/arboriform) and gave his permission to take some pictures for the blog.

I took a closer look at the racks after installation and was impressed by both the looks AND the significance of the stylized Hamilton's logo.

The fact that the racks are so customized likely means that this was no outside-funded public works project...the owners must have put money into this themselves.

Every time I come back to South Park I tend to see some kind of improvement has taken place...a new restaurant or shop opening, ads for a new event, businesses upgrading paint or decor. But this was the first time I actually was able to watch a neighborhood improvement, in progress, that was directly aimed at my fellow bikers!

The Transit Paradox

2011-04-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

How, you may ask, can a person be early and late at the same time? This paradox requires either a warp in the fabric of the space-time continuum....or a bike+transit commute involving the Fashion Valley Transit Center. To understand what went wrong yesterday, it helps to know my normal transit routine. Since the Daylight Savings Time change I usually get out of the house at 6:20, bike to Fashion Valley (or to Linda Vista and then hop a trolley to FV), and put my bike and myself on the northbound 928 bus departing at 6:54. That bus, on the only direct route to my destination, drops me off right in front of my office complex at 7:18. But yesterday a 7:18 arrival would not be sufficient. I wanted--needed--to get an early start and get some overtime "catch-up" work done. An extra hour would be perfect. An earlier start would also have the benefit of less worry about being the dreaded "last bike standing"--the third biker wanting to get on a bus that only has rack space for 2 bikes. I've found that generally the earlier the route, the fewer bikers are on it. So I left the house at 5:20, rode to the Linda Vista trolley station and took the 5:45 train to Fashion Valley. As I rode the slow elevator down to the bus boarding area, glancing at my watch and trying not to eavesdrop on the two weathered-looking older gentlemen beside me (last comment overheard: "He's a damn junkie....I mean, I'M a junkie, but I only steal from rich people with insurance!"), my only worry was that the 928 bus would take off before I got to it. As I wheeled up towards the front of the still-stationary bus, that worry was quickly replaced by another. Actually not a worry, more a motivation for a string of expletives aimed at the entire Metro Transit system. For to my surprise, there were already 2 bikes on the bus's rack. I was indeed the last bike standing. The bus driver said he'd try calling his supervisor for permission to put my bike INSIDE the bus, but I knew there was no chance --other drivers have said it was absolutely against the rules, and the only ones who've ever let me on seemed to either have a lot of seniority or a healthy disrespect for authority. And if I waited for him to make the call I'd lose my obvious "Plan B." So I said "Never mind" and ran for a nearby 120 bus that was about to take off. I've been on the 120 only a few times, and not lately. I knew that I could get close to Aero Drive, only about a 10 minute ride from the office complex, by getting off at the stop by the hospital. What I hadn't realized is that there are several hospitals along that route, even a couple different facilities of the same hospital in different locations. So I got off at the first stop I saw by an outpost of Children's Hospital...and immediately realized my mistake. The stop I wanted was within view of Aero Drive and on a street lined by new condos. This was not it. This was on the edge of the big Kearny Villa/Linda Vista sprawl of hospital and medical facilities and Juvenile Hall sites, a mazelike web of dead-end streets that got even my streetwise boyfriend lost on occasion. I tried to get my bearings in the dark, took off in what seemed a promising direction, and soon realized I just might be going in circles. Eventually I found Aero Drive, then headed to the office park, a little rattled but fine. By the time I had showered and changed in the locker room and headed to the office, it was almost 7:30. So as early as I started, I was still late!

Repeat Offender....The Locker Crime Wave Returns

2011-04-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

It's sure not anyone's idea of a high-crime zone...the clean, cool, softly lit locker room of an office complex gym facility in a quiet hillside spot in lower Kearny Mesa. But yesterday marks the second time in 2 months I've had items stolen from my locker there...and in my sheltered existence that actually counts as a crime wave. As mentioned last time, I don't leave any valuables in my locker during the day...just towels and shower supplies I don't want to put away wet, and gym clothes/shoes I don't want stinking up my bike garment bag. Since having my sports bra heisted 2 months ago I've taken extra precautions, either throwing the bra in my bag or hiding it under used socks and underwear. I was surprised that the thief took a half-empty spray bottle of cheap Tresemme brand hair shine/antifrizz spray too, but didn't think twice about a repeat of that. Mostly I didn't even bring original packaging there...I had a small clear squeeze bottle I filled with conditioner each day, and an empty Garnier Fructis Brillantine Shine Spray bottle I filled with Infusium 23 leave-in conditioner. I mean, who would steal THAT? Apparently someone would, and it now appears I'm looking for the "Frizz-Fighting Bandit." Yesterday at lunch hour I went to the locker room to pack up my clothes and supplies, and found that both the unmarked squeeze bottle (empty other than conditioner residue) and the mismarked spray bottle were gone. At least the bra was safe....apparently this thief's boldness does NOT extend to shuffling through a stranger's used panties to get to her target.

While I was annoyed to discover the theft, I was mainly just surprised that someone would take unidentified or misidentified hair product. But the pattern I'm now seeing gives me a plan. I'm thinking of "baiting" the locker with a John Frieda Frizz-Ease spray bottle refilled with either bleach or perm solution. If that works, next time I spot a large-chested woman in the complex with a section of burned-off hair...I've got my repeat offender!

Keeping an Eye on Transit...Surprise Guide Dog Encounter

2011-04-04T17:20:00.000-07:00

In my months as a bike+ transit commuter, I have concluded that there is no such thing as a good surprise on the San Diego Trolley. Any variation from the norm, any break in the routine...it's pretty much guaranteed to be something BAD.

That rule seems to apply even more when the surprises are of the canine variety. I love dogs, I'm a lifelong dog owner...but even I tend to assume bad news when I see a dog on the trolley, unless it's wearing the vest and harness of an officially licensed service animal. The only other dogs I tend to see on the Green Line in the greater Mission Valley area are either the yappy little lap- or purse-dogs of misguided mall shoppers, or the pit bulls of roving tweaky homeless folks. (I add a little bitterness to the mix because I am still seeking an outreach program for my own dog, who would be a blessing to many but can't legally board any transit conveyance.)

So when I pulled my bike onto the rear trolley car yesterday and saw a dog lounging in the aisle, I was prepared for the worst. I could tell this was a big canine, taking up a lot of space...

...And then I saw the striking blue eyes and relaxed attitude, and realized I had seen this dog before. Her bearded young owner confirmed it--they were Mission Valley-to-Point Loma regulars on transit, he was legally blind (but apparently not in an "official" guide dog/service dog program that provides ID vests), and I had run into them in one of my bikeless commutes several months ago. The dog's name was Charlotte, and she was a charmer of epic proportions.

I immediately realized I was in an unusual position. I spend many days having to act as my photogenic friendly dog's press secretary, and as I asked my questions I knew I was being just as annoying as my usual interrogators... but Ms. Charlotte's owner was just as well-versed as I was in the art of the 30-second interview. I and my bike eased into the background after my first stop, as I watched more commuters get their introduction to an incompletely-identifiable but utterly amazing service dog.

As Charlotte and her owner dismounted the trolley at Fashion Valley, and I proceeded to Morena/ Linda Vista, I was shocked to realize I had actually spent my entire trolley portion of the afternoon's commute paying attention to..a good transit surprise!

(Note: If anyone knows of easy-entry service dog outreach programs that enable canines to ride MTS, please let me know...my last dog was an eldercare outreach dog at assisted living facilities in Michigan, and it seems a shame to waste Ms. Bonnie's charm on the local bums)

Suffering From Exposure--Breaking the (dress) Code of the Road

2011-03-31T14:24:00.001-07:00

My bike + transit commutes to and from work typically take place in workout clothes--shorts or running tights, sports bra, t-shirt, athletic shoes. This is both to save potential damage to my work clothes and to streamline the process of going to or from a workout at home or the gym. But sometimes I am in enough of a hurry to get home that I eliminate the change into workout wear and just ride home in my work clothes.

I work in a casual office environment, but usually wear skirts and sweaters or slacks and blouses--the dressy side of "business casual" most days. Based on a combination of common sense and biking experience I have acquired a pretty good sense of what should and should not be worn on a bike...the "dress code" for bike + transit commuting.

No confining clothes....pencil skirts, tight slacks, very structured blouses. If you have to worry about ripping it while mounting or pedaling your bike, don't wear it. (Luckily I own few of these items)

No long skirts...just below the knee is safe, anything longer risks getting caught in the chain.

Nothing you're afraid to get dirty...if it's dry-clean-only, expensive, irreplaceable or light-colored, remember that no matter how careful you are, chain grease or road dirt will end up on it!

Full-length slacks only if made chain-safe...capris are always fine, long pants need to be pulled back (BOTH LEGS just in case) with rubber bands or hairbands.

Until yesterday, this simple list of rules has served me well. But I'm afraid I have now discovered another one I missed...

...Unless you really want to be in constant danger of exposing yourself to passing motorists, DO NOT bike in a skirt this short!

Locked Out--The Curious Case of Locker #1

2011-03-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Some say there are no sure things in life except death and taxes. To that list I might add another: my certainty that NOBODY else will bike to the Stonecrest office park where I work. In almost 2 years as a bike+transit commuter I have used the "#1" bike locker nearest the building entrance, and only once have I seen any of the lockers in use. And that wasn't even for a bike--some student used it to stow his surfboard during class one day about a year ago.

So imagine my surprise when I approached the bike lockers Wednesday morning at 7:18 only to see the following:

"Is that a LOCK on #1?" I wondered. "Impossible."

But as I pulled up closer there was no doubt. Someone had padlocked #1.

I pulled my bike into locker #2 and wondered if I might finally run into a fellow bike commuter on my way out at the end of the day. But while the lock returned Thursday (I came in early today and found the locker open and empty, it may be locked by now), I have yet to see just who's coming and going. For all I know it may just be the surfboard guy back for repeat storage!

High-Sprung--"Spring Forward" Time Change Hits With A Vengeance

2011-03-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

When I heard a couple co-workers discussing their shared preference of the "fall back" timechange ending Daylight Savings Time, I immediately jumped in with my dissenting view. My bike+transit commute makes me a vocal supporter of the "spring forward " change that marks the start of DST...and my escape from a post-work world of darkness. When leaving work at 5 PM, an extra hour of daylight is a huge deal...to the point that I often advocate the extension of DST to year-round status.

But even I had to admit this year's "spring forward" was hitting hard. I was caught unprepared, only hearing about the upcoming change a few days before. So unlike last year I couldn't "train" myself by getting up an hour earlier for a couple weeks. No, the change occurred with my body still fully set to the old clock, so that my late-default waking time of 6 AM feels like the middle of the night. Having been forcibly "sprung forward" this way, I think it may take another week or so to "fall back" into a comfortable morning routine.

The Shoe's on the Other Foot--Autopilot Failure

2011-03-10T14:20:00.000-08:00

In my 1.3 years of bike+transit commuting I have developed an early-morning routine--an "autopilot sequence" of sorts--that enables me to get on my way to work 20 minutes after waking up with a minimum of effort and conscious thought. It's been streamlined over the months, so that as long as I get everything ready ahead of time (bike bag packed, clothes laid out) a standard morning proceeds as follows:

Get up when alarm rings (no snooze)
Dress in workout clothes/shoes
Walk dog
Put on bike jacket, gloves, MP3 player, helmet
Take cell phone off charger, put in bag
Mount bag on bike rack
Hit the road

In order to avoid waking up Jesse I dress in the dark, putting on workout clothes laid out on the dresser the night before and running shoes set beside the bed. Which pair of Nike running shoes I wear depends on my workout plan for the day--the silver-and-blue "real running" shoes if I plan to run on my lunch hour. the white-and-red "backup pair" if I'm just doing weights or Pilates-type exercise.

This morning I was especially grateful for my "autopilot sequence"--short of sleep while fighting off both a sinus headcold and a severe case of cramps, the less effort required to get out on time the better. I made it to the street just barely on time, so focused on pedaling as fast as I could all the way to the Fashion Valley transit station. When I got to the bus on time I put my bike on the rack, dragged my bag onboard, and sat down to work on my latest www.foodsense.com posting.

When I arrived at the office complex I put my bike in a locker, went to the office gym's locker room, and dropped my bag, it was the first time I felt I had slowed down since my alarm rang at 5:30. I put my right foot up on the bench, took off my silver-and-blue Nike running shoe, then changed feet....

...only to see a white-and-red Nike "backup shoe" on my left foot. Apparently I had BOTH pairs by the bed this morning and couldn't tell the difference in the dark.

Unfortunately this means I'm stuck self-consciously riding HOME with 2 different color shoes. Luckily ignorance was bliss in my earlier "autopilot" mode!

Animation Transformation--The Commuter Quick-Change

2011-02-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

The phenomenon of bicyclists dressing in a gaudy and ridiculous fashion is nothing new....anyone on the roads and trails of San Diego probably sees colorfully spandex-clad "Lance-Pack" bike racers and wanna-bes every week. But to truly understand the spectacle I make of myself for MY bike commute, you must know how nondescript and conservative I look the REST of the day.

Monday through Friday from 8 to 5 I likely couldn't be picked out of any lineup of fortyish office-working white women in San Diego. I wear a lot of black and gray, no flashy jewelry, navigating the high end of the business casual dress code with a winter "uniform" of sweaters, skirts, tights and boots. Yesterday, for instance, it was a short full black-and blue floral skirt with a blue sweater, black top, tights and knee-length mid-heel boots. Perfectly conventional...it's only at 5PM that things get weird.

If I'm not headed to the gym after work, I'm not hauling the bike on and off transit (a process that inevitably leaves me with black streaks of chain grime SOMEWHERE on my clothes), and I'm not wearing anything long and flowing that could catch in spokes or chain, I sometimes take the shortcut of riding home in my work clothes. But even when I do this I need to maintain safety and visibility. Yesterday this led to a partial "quick-change" transformation when I ran to the rest room after clocking out at 5.

Off came the boots and blue sweater.On went the nuclear-lime reflective windbreaker, MP3 player with headphones, silver-and-white Nike running shoes and Scotchlite-striped helmet. "Good Grief!" I thought as I glanced at my reflection on my way out of the bathroom, "I don't even look like a biker, I look like a cartoon character."

That impression certainly wasn't broken as I went clattering down the stairs and turned my MP3 player on in shuffle mode. My afternoon commute's random soundtrack started with none other than Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy"....better known to generations of TV holiday special viewers as the theme from the Peanuts/Charlie Brown cartoons!

Lifted and Separated...Bras Before Bikes in Office Park Theft

2011-01-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

While this incident didn't actually occur during the commuting portion of my day, nor did it happen ON the bike, I still consider it relevant as part of my full bike commuter experience. In addition I thought it was very ironic that on the same day my unlocked bike locker was left unmolested, someone went through my locker in the office complex gym's locker room and stole my sports bra.

Let me begin by explaining that I would NEVER leave valuables unlocked in a gym locker, nor would I leave ANYTHING unlocked in a YMCA or other "public" gym. But our "Class A" (Commercial Real Estate-Speak for "enough upgrades/amenities to charge higher rent") office complex happens to have not only a gym with full locker room facilities, but also the extra security of the gym AND locker room doors being locked and accessible only to those with the correct access code to punch in.

Under these circumstances, and since it seems that the staff only enforces the "lockers are for daily use only" rule if they see a LOCK on a locker, I saw nothing wrong with leaving a few cheap daily necessities (old towels, shampoo/conditioner, razor, couple magazines) in an unlocked locker rather than adding them to my bike commuter bag load every day. In addition, when I bike to work in my running/gym clothes and shower in the locker room, I leave said gym clothes in the locker during the day to avoid stinking up the Trans It pannier garment bag I haul my office clothes in. This has never presented a problem, and seems to be similar to a strategy followed by several other gym regulars whose stuff I see being left in lockers every day. While a lock might be a good idea, it certainly didn't seem necessary--and my one lock was always used on my BIKE locker.

But yesterday was a little different. I had changed bags and didn't have a lock with me at all, so I had to live with the worry of having my bike in an unlocked locker all day. It wasn't that stressful...the bike is fully out of sight in a set of lockers unused by any other people. In addition, past experience had suggested that the last thing any of this hilltop office complex's tenants or staff could possibly want would be a bike. But there was always the chance that MAYBE something could happen this time.

Upon my morning arrival in the locker room I dumped my beat-up New Balance crosstrainer shoes, running tights, long-past-overdue-for-washing socks, tank top, underwear and heavy-duty sports bra in the locker as I hit the showers after a 6.5 mile run and 5 mile bike ride. I then carefully hung my ugly bleach-stained old bath towel and hand towel on a hook in the locker as I was preparing to leave for the office. When I returned to change back into (hopefully dried-out and less-smelly) gym clothes for the ride home after work, I immediately saw there was a problem.

"I wonder how those towels fell," I thought as I opened the locker. "I KNOW I hung them up securely on that damn hook." As I replaced the towels and grabbed my pile of clothes I realized something was missing...there was no black sports bra in the pile.

I emptied the locker and went through everything again. "No way could anyone have STOLEN it," I thought. "But how could it be anywhere else?" Since I'm known for inexplicably losing all manner of small items, I had to check everywhere--adjoining lockers, the shower stall I had used, all the pockets of my bag--before I came to the inevitable conclusion. Someone really HAD rummaged through the contents of my locker and lifted my sweaty premium high-impact running bra.

Questions flew across my mind as I opened every locker in the room in search of the missing support undergarment. "What kind of person would go through someone else's sweaty gym clothes and steal a bra?...Was this the work of an office employee or a cleaning staff person?...How did they so easily find the single most expensive unlocked item in the place?...And what were the odds of another size 34D runner frequenting the same office gym?"

As I resigned myself to the loss of the bra and vowed to bring an extra lock to the gym, another question alarmed me. "If my unlocked BRA was stolen, what about my unlocked BIKE outside?" I worried as I walked out of the building about the possibility of being suddenly separated from yet another key source of daily support. And yet when I got out to my unlocked bike locker, Babe the Blue Ox Bike was right where it should be. Apparently biking remains so unpopular in my office neighborhood that thieves would rather target a $46 bra than a $600 bike.

Flattened Expectations...No Tire's Perfect

2011-01-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

At least I got them on sale. At least I only spent $19.99 each on them. It's not so bad, at least I'm not getting a flat every month....

..But I AM still getting a flat every OTHER MONTH, and in a season where my biking has been so limited that I've probably only done one normal month's worth of biking in that time period. Who am I kidding? I'm disappointed, disheartened and downright P*SSED OFF that my new PanaRacer Urban Max heavyduty road tires haven't put an end to my frequent flat problem.

After an uneventful Saturday afternoon grocery-getter trip to Stumps Market, I put Babe the Blue Ox Bike away for a Sundaythat left no room for biking between a 12mile run and a full afternoon of playoff football. The only time I even touched the bike was in between games when I installed the backup headlight to temporarily replace my disabled rechargeable Cygolite (wires got pulled out of the battery unit).Nothing looked out of the ordinary...but at the time I wasn't really looking at anything below the handlebars!

This morning I woke up a little late, but thanks to a well-practiced routine had myself on the bike just in time to reach my transit destination on schedule. But as soon as I was out of the driveway I could feel something wrong...why was it riding so HARD? I realized why as soon as I looked down...a totally flat back tire. I may have damaged the rim AND didn't know how big a leak I had, so airing up and trying to get to my stop was out of the question. All the time spent pumping the tire would have made me late anyway, so I had no choice but to walk the bike up to the house and wake up Jesse for a ride to the trolley station.

So thanks to yet another flat, here I am this evening on my 3rd crowded bus of the day, realizing I'll be bikeless again tomorrow and wondering....is the real problem that the tires just aren't as good as their reviews indicated, or are the road conditions here SO BAD that no tire could meet my flat-avoidance expectations?

Catching a Break...Crossing My Fingers for a Normal Commuting Week

2011-01-11T17:27:00.000-08:00

After what seems like a full month of busted-up commuting, broken up by everything from storms to sleep disorders, it looks like this might finally be the first normal week of the year.

I had high hopes for last week, but rain and brake repairs kept me bikeless til Wednesday. This week only my own laziness broke up my commute...it's way too easy to give up the freedom of the bike to get a Monday morning ride all the way from home to office.

I'm clearly out of practice on timing the bus and trolley routes...and worse yet, I think I'm even slower than before. But a little time off the bike and concerns about its effect on my running have given me some perspective. If I miss my main bus route (928)in the morning, for instance, it now seems more efficient to just wait for the NEXT 928 than to flail about hopping on and off other less direct "Plan B" routes or biking uphill and farther than planned.

At least until the light and weather improve, and maybe until I finish my marathon, I'm going to focus on making my commute a routine, not an endurance sport.

Just Plain Awful-- A Post-Storm Look at the Urban Floodplain

2011-01-08T01:25:00.000-08:00

After almost 2 weeks off the bike, due to a combination of holidays and weather problems, I came back with the inauspicious debut described in an earlier post. But due to my brake problems, I had to take a bus down to Fashion Valley the afternoon of my 12/30 debut.

So I remained unaware of how the Murphy Canyon Trail/Qualcomm Stadium Parking Lot connection looked after the previous weeks' flooding. But after seeing the Holiday Bowl broadcast televised at the stadium, I assumed things were all back to normal. So when I came back to my normal route Wednesday 1/5 after weeks of busted scheduling, I was surprised to find that there was not much normal about the stadium's east parking lot. There was still a creek flowing into it: While some debris was apparently bulldozed out during my weeks off (see upper right of next photo), there was still a major litter of flood-driven rocks and dirt covering that section of the parking lot. The water was a surprise to me--I did not think there would be flood waters still out there over a week after the serious storm.

I looked again and realized what a mess it was....I was not going to even be able to bike across the lot. I dismounted, photographed for evidence and started walking the bike over this...

As I walked through the apparent east end of the Mission Valley urban floodplain, I was amazed at the disastrous-looking scene...they let this stay out for a nationally televised bowl game?? I was also amazed that the flowing waters of a couple weeks ago were strong enough to drive these rocks so far into the parking lot.

And as I slogged through the last of the muddy silt on my way to the trolley station, I was impressed with the way the scene resembled an upper Michigan riverbank:

Overall, I was generally just happy to make it to the trolley without sinking in a pit of quicksand..but seriously thinking about spending the rest of my winter commute on higher ground!

F-Bombing....or...Note to Good Drivers: I'm NOT Cussing You Out

2011-01-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

I admit my years on the road, whether as driver or biker, have been marked by a tendency towards verbal road rage outbursts, usually expressed using a vocabulary fully approved only by George Carlin. Yep, I was a regular dropper of the F-bomb...as well as the S-bomb, M-F-bomb and any other incendiary language available.

I have since learned to stifle my F-bombing in the interest of self-preservation, as you never know just how the target of such outbursts might react. An outnumbered and outweighed biker in traffic has no business provoking driver retaliation....even if the driver deserved every profanity hurled his/her way.

So in order to avoid any misunderstanding, I need to explain what you drivers just might see when passing me on the street these days. In my search for good lively riding music for my MP3 player, I recently discovered the new album from Cee-Lo Green. The set of tracks I downloaded on Rhapsody feature a very heavy rotation of his latest hit, an infectiously catchy and profanity-riddled ditty entitled "F*** You." It is SO CATCHY that only being at work, in church or on a visit to your grandmother could prevent the impulse to sing along.

So, you good non-misbehaving drivers of San Diego, if you pass me on the street and lip-read your way to the impression that I'm mouthing obscenities in your direction, please be assured I have no such intention and am just singing along to a new road favorite. Don't blame me for this particular F-bombing.....blame Cee-Lo!

Technically Foul...or.."and Jay-Z thought HE had 99 Problems???"

2011-01-04T16:25:00.000-08:00

In case you were wondering why there's no bike commuter blog since 12/20....it's because there's been no bike commuting. Since the pre-Christmas week rainstorm started on Monday and coincided with Jesse's purchase of an insanely gas-efficient little Mazda, he drove me to/from either the office or at least the trolley stop last Monday through Thursday. We were off work and out of town Friday (Christmas Eve) through Tuesday, and a freak one-day storm last Wednesday meant no biking due to chances of flooding. So last Thursday was my big comeback. But far from a triumphant return to form it was a complete mess, riddled with technical difficulties from start to finish.

First of all our recent holiday trip to Arizona completely disrupted my sleep cycle, so I woke up late and dragging. Then having traded travel bags for bike bags left me scrambling to make sure I had all my shower/makeup supplies. On top of that my sore and bandaged right thumb (sliced the tip off with a microplane grater we got as a Christmas present) left me with a very hard time hooking my bike bag onto its rack--and a renewed appreciation for the power of opposable thumbs!

Once I got on the road (just late enough to know I couldn't make it to the bus I needed to get to work ontime) I noticed some other problems. The amber lenses I put in my bike glasses (because I could only find 1 clear lens) didn't give me good visibility of car headlights in my rearview mirror. My sliced thumb made braking/shifting difficult. My feet were almost immediately hurting due to bad new insoles in my spare running shoes. The roads were littered with palm fronds dropped by the previous day's storm (not little ones either, but the big trunk-section-attached tire-poppers). And just as I was getting acclimated to these issues on the trail...

...Suddenly, no rear brakes. Squeezed the right brake lever and nothing...it went right down to the handlebar and stayed there, and the brake didn't respond one bit. While riding with only a front brake is neither easy nor recommended for a hilly route, it is manageable on the flat. I was preparing to head to the Fashion Valley station for the bus when I realized...

...I had no towels in my locker at the office gym. I had taken them home the previous week for a wash and forgot to bring them back. Since I had been running the night before, going showerless was not an option. However, since my YMCA is right on the way to Fashion Valley, I decided to stop in there to shower. Their little towels may be intended to wipe down gym equipment, but I've already proven that 3 are just enough for a shower. So I pulled in to the bike racks at the Y, awkwardly locked my bike and removed the bags with my damaged hand, and headed in towards the locker rooms. When I got there I decided that to minimize time I would not bother with a locker and just open my bag across a bench in an empty section of the room. Great idea ..until...

Cranky old ladies (crankier and older than me at least) started coming into that locker section from all sides. Suddenly I'm having to move out of the way, move stuff off the bench, and apologize all over the place while wasting valuable time. But finally I manage to get to the showers, finish getting ready and pack up for the ride to Fashion Valley...

...Where as expected, I had missed the bus. I impatiently waited for the next one, wondering whether this bike commuting thing would ever get back to normal after such a long hiatus. I made it to work late, complete with bad brakes and no good excuses, and finished the commuting day with a heartfelt wish that I can ring in the new year with a commute free from foul weather and technical difficulties for a change!

A Wild West Road Hazard

2010-12-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my history of flat tires, while biking I try to look out for all "road hazard" items ahead...debris that doesn't belong in the roadway and could trip a bike or pop a tire. It can be difficult to spot everything, and at times it requires very close attention.

Sometimes, however, the hazards are a bit more obvious!

Yes, this is a genuine tumbleweed--straight out of the scenes of a classic Western, and about half the size of a Ford Focus. Somehow this beauty found its way to a low spot near the start of the northside river trail at Friars Road (just east of Sea World Drive). It was at rest when I found it, but couldn't help but imagine my reaction if I were to see it rolling towards me on the road....I believe it would be occasion for a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" flashback!

On the Ledge...Raingear Field Trial

2010-12-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

Whenever the local weatherfolk make a big deal about "It won't rain until the weekend," seasoned San Diegans know to break out the raingear for at least one wet commute. This week was no exception....this morning (Thursday) I awoke to a light rain and a shameless weathercaster admitting nothing about the error of all her prior forecasts.

The fact that it was a light rain made it a low-risk occasion for trying out the latest addition to my stash of raingear...Red Ledge brand nylon rainpants from Performance Bike Shop. It hadn't rained on a weekday since I bought them on Black Friday, so the most impressive feature demonstrated so far was the ability to fold/roll into a compact bundle that tucks into its own back pocket as a carrying case.

I unrolled the pants and pulled them on over my running tights, struck immediately by a jarring 80s flashback. Anyone with firsthand experience of "parachute pants" knows exactly what I mean. After the initial shock, however, I found them surprisingly comfortable, and saw the velcro ankle closure might be enough to keep pantlegs out of my bike chain (I added my reflective anklebands just in case).

After putting on my clear vinyl rainjacket I was ready to go. The rain was really too light to provide a good test of the water-resistance of the pants, but the comfort was successfully tested with a good 5.5 miles of pedaling from home to the Fashion Valley Transit Center. While I certainly wish someone would invent a waterproof running/cycling tight, or some kind of stretchy waterproof pants, these are not bad...they breathe, they're not stiff, they're not too tight around the knees. And for $16 my expectations were pretty easily exceeded. Looks like I've got my everyday portable rainsuit handled for a total of $30.

Next on the agenda, especially since I just found out it's supposed to rain all next week....waterproof cycling boots!!

Bike Lane Bingo--The Suspenseful New On-Road Guessing Game

2010-12-01T06:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, bikers and drivers of San Diego, here's a quick pop quiz. Which of the following roads have bike lanes?

1. Pacific Highway from Washington Street to Old Town.

2. Sunset Cliffs Boulevard from I-8 through Ocean Beach.

3. Friars Road from Qualcomm Stadium to Fashion Valley.

4. Mission Center Road from Serra Mesa to Mission Valley Center.

....OK, time's up. Now to check your answers and assign grades. Looks like everyone got 0% correct for an overall "F".

How can that be? Even if guessing with no knowledge of these streets, you'd think you would have a 50% chance of being right.

But you wouldn't...because they're all trick questions. Every stretch of road listed has sections with bike lanes and sections without. Bike lanes disappear and reappear with alarming frequency on some....in my first eye-opening ride up Pacific Highway I think there were half a dozen bike lane dropoffs/pickups in less than 3 miles. And the bike lane-less sections coincide with other traffic pressure points, virtually guaranteeing that bikers will get crowded and close-buzzed.

While the other stretches of road on my list have their own issues (Friars has unannounced bike lane cutoffs that strand bikers at hellishly busy intersections, Stonecrest forces a choice between sidewalk-riding and right-passing traffic to get to the Murphy Canyon bike trail, and Sunset Cliffs leaves you high and dry after a tricky crossing at West Point Loma), I must say that in my experience Pacific Highway delivers the most scares per minute. I was surprised to find such a menacing situation on such a short and flat stretch of road in an area not noted for its traffic hazards (unlike Friars, which is a pretty well-known traffic nightmare). Despite the inconvenience of hauling a bike aboard the old trolley cars, I'd have to recommend hopping on the Blue Line at Washington Street and avoiding this session of "Bike Lane Bingo." I'm afraid this one could easily end up more like a bad game of "Frogger."

Silly Rabbit...Bike Lanes Are For Bikes!

2010-11-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

I've promised to stop using the blog to go so overwhelmingly negative about San Diego drivers...which clearly helps explain my recent lack of material. But sometimes a driver just goes far enough that I can't help but point out his/her misbehavior. And yesterday the winner of the bad conduct medal was driving a little green Volkswagen down the Stonecrest Boulevard hill in Kearny Mesa on the way to turn right into the drive of Fry's Electronics. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a VW GOLF, not a Rabbit, but the concept remains the same. Following is an open letter to the driver.

Dear Impatient Volkswageneer:

I understand your frustration. It's Cyber Monday, you have gifts to buy, you don't want to miss the compelling Monday Night Football matchup of Arizona vs. San Francisco (both teams' mottos apparently now "in a division this lousy it's just a battle for who sucks less!"), and you're facing the prospect of navigating the poorly stocked rat-maze of the Fry's Electronics aisles. Adding a full line of traffic between you and the right turn into the Fry's driveway just put you clean over the edge.

But I don't care what a hurry you're in. I don't care what well-deserving reasons you have for taking a shortcut. And above all I DON'T care how neatly your little car fits between the right curb and the white line on the asphalt.

Because no matter what, the bike lane is NOT your personal passing/turning lane. It's meant for people on bikes, which would seem fairly evident from the name. It's meant to keep bikes away from motorized traffic, which seems like it should be a good idea for all concerned.

We have few enough bike lanes in this city as it is...the last thing we need is to have competition on them from shortcutting subcompacts. Stay in your own lane!

Clipping Penalties 2....A Knee-Jerk Reaction

2010-11-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

Initially upon conversion from flat bike pedals to cleated "clipless" pedals that you "clip into" with cleated bike shoes, the term "clipping penalties" referred to a very specific unintended consequence of the learning curve for clipless pedals.

The term was a was a joking euphemism for a series of horrifyingly embarrassing falls and "near misses," resulting from either failing to unclip before a stop or misjudging whether you're moving fast enough to stay upright on the bike without putting a foot down. These incidents invariably occur at or near a standstill, often seemingly in slow-motion and in full view of nearby traffic. And while I may have a perfect understanding of what happened, all OTHERS see is someone whose fancy biking clothes can't hide the fact that she seems incapable of riding a bike without falling over.

While these incidents are rare now that I've adjusted to the new pedals, a very different "clipping penalty" has emerged. I've started running recently, in training for a marathon, and I've been vigilant to the point of paranoia about any adverse effects of biking on my running. I've discovered that I need to be more careful than ever about proper seat height, as any knee pain from pedaling on a too-low seat is magnified by running. But recently I noticed an odd outside-knee pain that didn't seem like it could come from the motions of running OR pedaling. It was a mystery until I had trouble unclipping from my pedal at a stop and realized that process requires a slight twist of the foot..and therefore the knee as well, and when magnified by the impact of running, my new knee pain was the result.

I still think clipless pedals and shoes have their benefits even for non-racing bikers, but just to be safe mine stay in the closet until after my marathon..no need for more clipping penalties!

To the Max...EnTirely ReTired

2010-11-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

Over a month ago I got fed up with (I bet you thought I'd say "tired of") having to bring Babe the Blue Ox Bike into the nearest shop an average of once a month due to flat tires from all the glass and metal shards littering our local roads & trails. Even a Kevlar tire liner didn't help. So at my last flat I appealed to Performance Bike's online help chat for a stronger tire for these conditions.

While I thought I had resonably decent knowledge on bike part/accessory brandnames, they provided an unwieldy and unfamiliar name I had never heard of. So unfamiliar that I suspected a bored customer service person might be having idle amusement at my expense. ("Just wait til she goes to the store and ASKS for one of those...they'll crack up!")

I didn't think my worries were unfounded. After all, the PanaRacer Urban Max sounded more like a gay animé superhero than a bike tire. ("Was that PanaRacer Urban Max?"......"Why yes, you may recognize by the rainbow-flag decal on his stylishly aerodynamic helmet.") But a quick detour to the customer review section of the Performance site revealed that not only was it a real tire, it seemed to be a GREAT one. It averaged 4.5 of 5 stars with over 20 reviews, with most at 5 stars but the average skewed down due to one angry buyer of what sounded like a freak factory-defective or badly misinstalled pair.

Not only were these tires well-reviewed, they were on sale. I printed out the page showing the $19.99 sale price, called my local store to put a hold on a pair, and got them installed that night.

While I'm a big enough Murphy's Law believer to expect I'd get the next one-in-a-thousand factory defect, I was happy to be wrong
After "retiring" my old Forte road tires and upgrading to the Max, I've managed to get through over a month of navigating the glass-and-metal-strewn roads of San Diego without a single flat.

Sayonara, Sunshine...R.I.P. Daylight Savings Time

2010-11-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

This week started with a dark day for bike commuters. Literally...Daylight Savings Time ended over the weekend. Add this to the increasingly early sunsets already creeping up over the last couple months, and those who work 8am-5pm or similar shifts and have long commutes can pretty much guarantee never seeing the weekday sun til April without going out to lunch or taking a vacation day.

Does it sound like this post will consist of nonstop complaining? Well, you're absolutely right, but if I don't vent it now you're doomed to more bitching through the rest of the season.

Other modes of commuting are also affected by the early darkness after the timeshift, but I believe bike commuters get the worst of it. Even the most visibility-forward of us (like me in my Illuminite jacket with reflective-taped helmet and reflector anklebands) have to be worried about being out in high-volume evening rush traffic in the dark. Not to mention that the feeling it's already late when leaving work in the dark seems to cause some squirrely driver decisionmaking.

This year I actually took the Monday after the timechange off, postponing the inevitable by one day. Tuesday evening's commute was all I expected and more, with 2 bike-packed old trolleys in a row and drivers encroaching on bike lanes all over town. I'm starting to get into a routine, though, and traffic should settle down in a week or so. And I did find one benefit of the timeshift. Not morning sunshine...frankly I could do without having to switch from clear glasses to sunglasses halfway to work. But it IS nice to be able to wake up as effortlessly at 5am as I used to at 6!

U-Suck---Moving Trucks Are Not for Amateurs

2010-11-06T01:04:00.001-07:00

Open note to the drivers of the speeding U-Haul rental truck that buzz-passed me, gunned the engine in what appeared to be a scare tactic, and nearly ran me down on Ebers Street this evening:

Thank you for providing me with more material and fueling my righteous indignation just at a point where I was starting to mellow out and think "San Diego drivers aren't so bad."

I'm not sure exactly what your intentions were with this evening's little surface-street speed trial. Perhaps you were testing the performance capabilities of your rental truck before hitting the open road for your big move. But I suspect it's more likely that you cheaped out with a too-small truck for a crosstown or cross-neighborhood move. Due to this you are now recklessly endangering your future or former neighbors in your attempt to get as many trips in as short a time as possible to avoid being on the hook for a 2nd day of rental charges.

You are a clear reminder of why professional-size vehicles should be left to professionals. My only hope is that I encountered you in the course of your move OUT of my neighborhood, so I do not have to deal with your motorist misbehaviour on a daily basis once you are back in your regular vehicle.

Bad Santa...Wound Up About Winds

2010-11-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

Why do I hate the Santa Anas so much? What could I have against these hot desert winds that are blowing unseasonably sunny and dry November conditions into Southern California with temperatures 20 degrees above normal? Is it the annoyance of having to dig out summer clothes I just packed? The pain of crushing sinus headaches and dry cracked lips? The general discomfort of trying to sleep in a too-hot house?

It's all those and more, with additional problems for a bike commuter whose afternoon ride home resembles a trip through the devil's dry sauna. (The very phrase "Santa Anas" is only a couple letters away from "Satan's Ass" for good reason.) When I rode across Kearny Mesa yesterday, I felt as though my eyeballs were going to melt like those Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

But on top of all these factors I just added another specific to the regular bike+transit commuters of San Diego---"amateur hour." It seems that an unexpected stretch of warm and sunny weather in rainy season is to bike/transit commuting what St. Patrick's Day and Mardi Gras are to bars...it brings out the lightweights and dilettantes, draws an annoying level of crowds, and just generally screws things up for the regulars.

Weeks and cloudy, gloomy weeks in a row I've had no problems getting on buses or trolleys with the bike--never more than one bike on the 928 bus rack in the morning, never an unmanageable number of bikes on the westbound Green Line trolley in the afternoon. But then the Santa Anas bring us warm sunshine, and I get shafted twice in a row.

Tuesday afternoon at the Qualcomm trolley station I patiently wait 15 minutes for a trolley--only to find it not only equipped with the old cars that are very difficult for bike loading, but also already packed with bikes to the point that the back entrances of every car were blocked. Rather than stand around another 15 minutes, I gave up and rode home through the ugly Mission Valley traffic.

Then Wednesday morning, after running 5 miles I bike as fast as I can to Fashion Valley in time for the 928 bus to reach the stop right before Friars Road--only to find a maximum 2 bikes already on its rack. Since I'd already had it explained to me that drivers get in big trouble for letting additional bikers bring their bikes onto the bus, I didn't even bother to ask--I just got on the Linda Vista-bound 41 bus right behind it and resigned my sore knees to an extra 4 miles of biking to get to the office.

At this point, thanks to the Santa Ana Amateur Effect, I'm having some very disturbing thoughts...actually LOOKING FORWARD TO the end of Daylight Savings Time and the return of rainy gloom in the hope that darkness and rain will shake out the lightweights and leave the buses and trolleys to us regulars!

Undies in a Bunch--A Near-Death (-By-Embarrassment) Experience

2010-10-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

Nothing stops you in your tracks quite like the prospect of seeing your lacy black panties decorating the front of some bum's shopping cart. You'll likely have to take my word for this, and you'll DEFINITELY need further explanation.

On my daily bike+transit commute to work, I generally haul my office clothes and supplies in the waterproof pannier garment bag I bought last fall. I've already mentioned the problems I have with the lack of waterproofing of the long outside-edge zipper....but that zipper occasionally presents other problems.

I rolled out of bed yesterday morning at 4:45, determined to get to the YMCA in time for a pre-work swimming workout. To streamline the process, I had pre-packed the garment bag the night before, so I had only to grab it on the way out and throw in the last couple things I needed.

I made it to the Y in near-record time, locked my bike to the fence, and started to unhook the garment bag from the bike's rack...only to see half the sleeve of that day's work shirt hanging out of the half-open zipper on the bottom.

The shock was immediate. While my purse and phone were secured in the side pockets of the bag, any of the clothes in the main compartment could have slipped out on the 4-mile ride. I had no time to backtrack to find anything, so all I could do was inventory the contents and replace any missing items at Wal-Mart on the way in to work.

On a bench in the YMCA locker room, I checked each item one by one as I removed them from the bag as follows:

"Skirt.....check.
Left and right shoes...check.
Tights.....check.
Underwear.....
.....Underwear?....
......Oh My God!"

Several unpleasant possibilities flashed through my mind at this point, not the least of which was the aforementioned vision of my panties as a bum's cart ornament.

But in the worry over lost clothes I had forgotten a key fact. I hadn't pre-packed the underwear the night before...I had just done laundry, so in the morning I just grabbed a pair from the laundry basket on the way by and stuffed it into one of the side pockets of the bag. Realizing this I checked and found the missing undergarment safely zipped into the pocket. Thank goodness...I'd gotten my proverbial undies in a bunch over nothing.

Making a Virtue of Necessity....Rethinking Bike Raingear

2010-10-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

Having endured a couple soaking rides home and quite a few drizzly/misty morning rides to work in the last month, I'm looking very seriously at remedying the gaps in my biking raingear wardrobe. Just to put into perspective how early this winter rainy season is starting, at this time last year I didn't even own ANY raingear, and it was near Thanksgiving before the weather finally looked serious enough to pickup a rain jacket.

All last winter I survived my commute with a mix of cheapness and denial....hoping it wouldn't rain, dealing with sloshing-wet shoes and soaked bike tights whenever it did. I kept my upper body dry with a clear vinyl rainjacket and my cargo (usually work clothes) dry with a "Waterproof" pannier garment bag (lined with a towel or garbage bags because the main zipper is NOT waterproof), but my head/hands/legs/feet were open to a soaking every time it rained. I just couldn't justify spending a lot on further raingear.

Well, this year I can. It's likely to be a far worse winter than last year, and I don't have any interest in dealing with soaked pants and shoes anymore. I'll be trying to navigate the selections of neoprene shoe covers and waterproof gloves and rain pants in the next couple weeks... let's just hope we don't get so much rain first that I have to go back to my ghetto grocery-bag shoe liners!

Off My Axis--A Major Twist in my Roadkill Worldview

2010-10-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it's exaggeration to say last Friday's surprise put a huge twist in my worldview, but it certainly was a bit of a jolt to one of my firmly held beliefs.

As any of my longtime readers and neighbors know, I consider Lexus drivers statistically the most concentrated mass of douchebag motorists in the overall driving population. If you are a Lexus driver, please understand--I am not specifically saying that YOU are a douche...just that I've encountered enough of your vinegary-fresh brethren on the streets of San Diego to consider this a stereotype with some demonstrated validity. I've been nearly sideswiped, backed into, and rearended by Lexii of various types many times over my last year of biking...more than by any other single model of vehicle.

Friday I was in a pretty big hurry to get home, so after I turned off Sunset Cliffs Boulevard to take the Nimitz Ave shortcut to West Point Loma, I was particularly annoyed to see a big shiny Porsche Cayenne SUV parked in the bike lane, taking up all the space from the right curb well into the right traffic lane. I have no idea why the driver stopped, but as I got closer I saw no sign that he was going to be moving the vehicle anytime soon. With rush hour traffic, there was no way I was getting aroung on his left. I sat there looking for a break in traffic, then started to dismount the bike, thinking my only option would be going up over the curb and hiking around through the grass and mud.

Then the surprise came. As I looked back into traffic one last time, I see someone slowing down to "wave me in." The shocking part was....he was driving a compact Lexus!" I gave him a quick thank you wave and went around the Porsche and back into the bike lane. I immediately got annoyingly close-buzz-passed ....by a Toyota.

So while I think the numbers are still not in your favor, Lexus drivers, I have to admit at least one of you did the right thing on the road this week!

All That Glitters Is Not Good...A Big Kick In The Glass

2010-10-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

Regular readers should already be aware that tire-popping roadhazard debris is one of my biggest bike commuting pet peeves, second only to cellphone-using motorists. But I just found that I may not be the best at describing the experience. At Performance Bike Shop onThursday night, one of the staff members brought me a chill by telling the story of biking home one night on one of the streets on my usual route, not a care in the world....until the headlights of a passing car revealed the telltale glitter of shattered glass all across the lane in front of him.

I know that glitter well..and it's the reason I was in the bike shop with a flat tire. As we started getting rain in Ocean Beach early this week, drivers started crashing at all the trickier merges and intersections. It's an annual local ritual that marks Southern Californians learning how to drive on wet roads again. That litters some of the most-used bike lanes entering Ocean Beach with a spray of sharp metal bits and shards of glass.

Sure enough, every night this week on my way home I ran into at least a small spill of accident debris. I did my best to evade, but heard the occasional "crunch" of tire impact. I considered it very fortunate that after my last Labor Day weekend flat tire the Thomas Bike Shop (www.thomasbikeshop.com) staff had suggested Kevlar tire liners, but knew it was only a matter of time before another flat.

And the time was Thursday morning. The scary part was I didn't notice anything was wrong until after the trolley trip from Old Town to Qualcomm, and by then the back tire was totally flat. The LUCKY part was that as with my usual flats, I could pump the tire up with my little "Hurricane" hand pump and it held well enough to make it up the hill to work. Considering the number of glass and metal scraps embedded in the tire, I was amazed it hadn't gone flat days ago.

On my breaks at work my task became finding a suitable upgrade. I got on the "live chat" help feature at Performance Bike Shop's website (www.performancebike.com) and was recommended the Panaracer Urban Max Road Tire. Upon further research this seemed both a popular and affordable option, with a consistent 4-of-5-stars average user rating and an internet special price of $21.99 each. I called my friendly local Point Loma Performance Bike Shop and had them hold 2 of their remaining 5 tires.

After work it was back to the old routine: Pump up tire, ride very fast to trolley, take trolley to Old Town, pump up tire again, and ride very fast to bike shop. After dropping the bike off and exchanging roadhazard horror stories with the staff, I did a little shopping at the Vons next door and returned to find the bike still not ready. I wandered the shop a bit and picked up a reflective vest for running. I ALSO gave one of my fellow shoppers a ringing endorsement of the Kevlar tire liners that had, judging from the number of shards in the tread of my back tire, apparently had saved me from approximately 20 other potential flats.

When the tires were on I made my purchase and rode home. I've been riding happily on these ever since.

Not much difference in the feel of the tires, but the feeling of confidence is a huge improvement. I'm hoping these solve my "frequent flat" problem--but it would sure help if motorists would REMEMBER how to drive on wet roads and keep the glittering mess out of our bike lanes!

My Lucky (Rainy) Day...Road Guesswork at its Finest

2010-10-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

Since I got caught unprepared in (and soaked by) last Thursday's freak thunderstorms, I wanted to be sure I was ready for this week's forecasted rains. I brought my rain jacket in the waterproof pannier garment bag yesterday, but luckily missed all the rain...a couple key omissions had left me not as prepared as I thought. When I awoke to the sound of rain at 4:30 in the morning, I knew I had some extra prep work ahead.

As I transferred purse and hair/makeup items from backpack to garment bag, wrapped my clothes in a trash bag (since the "waterproof" nature of the garment bag does NOT include the main zipper around 3/4 of its outside edge), packed extra socks and clipped my red blinking taillight to the back collar of my windbreaker, I started listing the worst things about rainy-day biking. I soon realized that most of them were essentially about uncertainty:

Did I forget something in the bag-to-bag transfer?
Will the weather suddenly get worse mid-trip?
What kind of tree parts and debris have fallen on the trail?
Did I pack work clothes well enough to keep dry?
Will the road be flooded out on the route I choose?

I checked the situation as well as I could, checking weather radar online and looking at conditions while out walking the dog...but in the end it comes down to guesswork. Pick the wrong time, you get soaked. Pick the wrong route and you have to find a detour or (if flooded out at Friars Road just before Linda Vista) GO ALL THE WAY BACK.

I left at 6:20 and headed out on the northside river trail for the Friars Road rout, and I was lucky. No more than a few drops of rain fell and while it was windy, I still made decent time (30 minutes to Fashion Valley with fully loaded bags on the bike.) Better yet, while the low-lying transit parking and southern bike lane were covered in water, the road stayed clear. Not even a fallen eucalyptus or palm fronds to steer around. My replacement fender kept the splashback down, and the bag on the rear pannier rack caught all the dirt sprayed from the back tire. I managed to avoid ALMOST all the inconveniences of rainy day riding.

Now if only I could figure out what to do about those soggy socks!

Identity Crisis

2010-10-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

I've said several times on this blog that I do not identify myself as a biker.This remains the case, even as I increase my bicycling mileage and replace more of my transit commute with biking. I'm just a bike commuter, as you can tell by the baggage (emotional as well as saddlebag-type...it's painful to be so damn slow). "Bikers," at least the stereotypical "Lance-Packers" who seem to think every day is the Tour de France, in my mind occupy a level of geekdom somewhere between Star Trek nerds and Civil War reenactors.

Now I've started another activity that tends to breed fanatics...longdistance running. As a great source of exercise and old-broad bragging rights, I'm training for my first marathon at age 40. Better yet, I've got my dad (an experienced runner currently training for yet another half-marathon now back in Michigan) as a "virtual trainer," and we'll be running the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon together in June. I've got the running shoes, the GPS watch, the subscription to Runner's World magazine....

That being said, I don't consider myself a runner any more than I consider myself a biker.

But the addition of running to my routine does lead to some interesting social and identity issues, especially on multi-user trails. While it might be exaggeration to say bikers and runners HATE each other, there's definitely at least some animosity and turf-defensiveness between the two. Runners are often viewed as space-invading speedbumps by bikers, and bikers in turn are often perceived by runners as close-buzzing collision risks (rather like how bikers see DRIVERS). I bike the San Diego River trail damn near every day, see a lot of the same other bike commuters and recreational cyclists pretty frequently, and almost always exchange waves or nods with them. As I ran the same trail Sunday morning, I was passed by one of these "regulars" on his bike and wasn't even SEEN.

Adding to the complication is the fact that I'm also a dog owner and inline skater, and both bikers AND runners tend towards a fear/dislike of dogs (dogs they don't know, anyway) and a distaste/condescension towards skaters.

So in retrospect it's good that I don't identify as either a biker or a runner...if I did I would be facing a self-loathing identity crisis of epic proportions!

Bad-Ass....or just Dumbass?

2010-10-01T01:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I said my next post would be about my newest tech toy, the Garmin GPS sport watch. But like almost every other conscious human being in San Diego County, I just can't help but talk about...the weather.

After an unusually cool and cloudy summer, last weekend started a series of hot/dry/clear days of "Santa Ana" conditions. Riding home in Monday's record heat, I thought "Satan's Ass" was a better description.

When I awoke to the sound of foghorns yesterday, I should have realized we were heading for some unsettled weather. But no...I obliviously just biked into the fog thankful for its cooling effects.

My mistake was obvious pretty quickly. From our Kearny Mesa office, my coworkers and I got a great view of ridiculously un-San Diego-like thunderstorms starting before noon. Power flickered, reactions varied from a "awww it's just like home" from some southern and midwestern natives to "YIIPE!" from the coastal natives not used to aerial assaults, and I kept hoping it was a passing weather aberration. When rain ended on my lunch hour I felt good, but soon the thunderstorms returned.

By close of business the lightning was gone but the rain remained. I changed into my bike clothes--totally free from any actual foul weather gear--and headed out to get the bike. As I started down the road, I tried to counter the depressing downpour with some self-congratulatory spin. "I'm the baddest-ass cyclist in the neighborhood", I thought. "Everyone else is wussing out and taking buses off the mesa, but I'm powering through the rain."

As my porous windbreaker got glued to my body with water and my sievelike shoes started filling with water, I quickly realized I might be putting too rosy a view on the situation. Far from a bad-ass, I was just another dumbass coming out oblivious and unprepared. As I crossed paths on the trail with another similarly ill-equipped and dripping-wet biker, we exchanged half-hearted waves and nods as if to say "Yeah, I know...I feel like a dumbass now too."

Luckily I caught a break--after catching the trolley, I got out at Mission Valley to find the rain had ended. Then it was time for a little welcome road entertainment. After locking up my bike I headed towards Victoria's Secret to use my birthday-month coupon on its last day of eligibility. I consider it a triumph of procrastinating opportunism that I used the coupon, but must admit there was a bit of theatrical thrill in the sheer dramatic effect of marching into the store in my filthy dripping-wet bike gear and casually purchasing 5 colorful and lacy thongs at a satisfying discount.

After my purchase I found that there was still no rain, and realized my personal climate had dried from swampland-esque to mild steamroom effects. I then got out through traffic and back to the trail. At that point I was rapidly reminded that regardless of the inconveniences, the benefits of riding on an "unstable weather" day are obvious if fleeting.....

...Can't be a complete dumbass to get that kind of view!

Back Again

2010-09-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

I know...almost 20 days since last post. While I need no excuse since I'm still not getting paid for this thing, I happen to HAVE dozens of excuses. Top few are below:

Down to 1 computer at home: When both IMac and laptop are working, no problem. But when we just have the laptop, things tend to get pushed back.

Preoccupied with fantasy football: I thought after my draft the need for online football research would die down. Then my players started getting injured or just sucking, and I had to start constantly looking for replacements. With limited online time, something's gotta give.

Lack of riding time: Lately I've been taking a lot more transit, which cuts down the road and trail miles that are the main source of my material.

Sheer lack of inspiration: Honestly this is the main one. My inspiration and motivation took a major hit after the "Poochie" incident, and I've been just vaguely dissatisfied and bored with everything about my bike commute...routes, slowness, equipment.

But now that I've had time to get over that...and quite frankly, also time to just get adjusted after turning 40 on September 4...I'm back on the blog. I have the opportunity to shop for a bike, a new tech-toy (see next post) to put some fun back in the process, and a new sport (running) to keep me motivated. So while I still can't promise daily posts (unless someone starts PAYING ME), you can expect at least a few updates every week.

Road Work Update--Animal Rescue Incomplete

2010-09-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

I was quite certain, as recently as 5pm Friday, that the "Poochie" story from my last entry would have a happy ending. I was wrong...it has an entirely unknown ending as far as we're concerned.

Friday afternoon I had a potential new owner lined up...a retired friend of the family in Michigan who already owns one older Shih Tzu. The logistics of an out-of-state adoption were challenging, but I was willing to do all the legwork necessary to get the dog to such a good new home.

Unfortunately I soon discovered Danny (the guy who originally found "Poochie" ) had found a local candidate in the meantime. I was disappointed but had to admit a local adoption made more sense, and I was still happy the dog was getting a good home.

Then the real bad news came with another message from Danny. Poochie had run off again, and this time he hadn't come back.

I waited through the weekend hoping to get some better news to end this story, but it didn't happen. With the number of tourists in our neighborhood of Ocean Beach for the holiday weekend, I'm hoping some good person picked him up. And I'll be checking the local shelter database to see if he shows up.

But at this point I'm left regretting the fact that last week I didn't do more....or realize the clip- on shoulder strap of my bike bag is just long enough to work as a leash.

Road Work--Animal Rescue on the Trail

2010-09-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

As much as I generally stay focused on my ride home, sometimes I can't help but get sidetracked. Despite having an urgent fantasy football draft deadline, yesterday was one of those times.

I had a relatively uneventful bike-and-trolley trip all the way from work to Linda Vista/Friars Road, despite one sudden scare when I realized I did NOT have a day pass while already on the trolley. I got off unhassled and headed for the northside river trail to Ocean Beach. When I reached the trail I passed a little parking turnoff/overlook area containing 2 RVs that looked neither recreational nor particularly vehicular, but looked like people were living in them. I also saw a parked car with an unleashed tan spaniel-mix dog alongside, but didn't really think anything of it.

Then I saw a small animal dart across the trail about 100 feet ahead of me and thought--"funny, that doesn't move like a cat or a rodent, it looks like a DOG." I got closer and found out it WAS a dog, now running due east right into my path. As I got closer I saw it was a shaggy little brownish-gray dog, little bigger than a large cat and showing no signs of fear.

I stopped my bike and dismounted in order to at least avoid hitting the dog, and maybe have a chance to catch it. Not much catching skill was needed, as it headed straight for me before I even said a word. I made it to the words "Hey little guy, where did you come from?" before he reached my feet. I reached down and offered my hand to make sure the dog was OK with me, then searched for identifying tags or markings on its red nylon collar. Nothing.

My first reaction had been annoyance at this stoppage that might jeopardize my on-time status for the fantasy football draft, but that soon turned to curiosity and concern about this little stray dog. He (I somehow assumed it was a male despite not being able to see any anatomy under all that fur) was clearly some kind of Shih Tzu...mix at least. His fur looked to have a few mats but he looked healthy, and acted very enthusiastically friendly. With the coloring and the facial features, he had a remarkable resemblance to an Ewok from "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi."

Another "trial motion" assured me he would be fine with getting picked up, so I did...and had to figure out the next move. While the dog seemed to be coming from the west, I saw nobody in that direction who might be looking for a dog. I considered just taking him home, but realized that with no Toto-sized front basket on my bike I was really not equipped for dog transport...he wouldn't fit in the saddlebags OR the backpack, and I had neither the time nor the leash capacity to walk him home. So I decided to play the odds.

While there was nobody seeming to be engaged in dog search to the west of me, there was a little RV encampment with a loose dog to the EAST of me... perhaps he came from there. So I set the bike down trailside, and headed towards the RVs with the dog slung over my right shoulder like a little furry piece of carry-on luggage.

I wasn't yet sure I had guessed right, but was encouraged by the fact that a guy had come out of one of the RVs and started walking towards me. Once he was within hailing distance I said "Hi," then said I wanted to see if the found dog belonged to anyone in his camp.

I soon discovered it was a little more complex than I expected. While the dog had run off from "Danny"'s RV, this was not technically his dog. Danny had picked him up a couple weeks ago from the parking lots of Ocean Beach's "Dog Beach," a location that I hear is a frequent "dumping ground" for pets the former owners can't support. While Danny is more a fan of bigger dogs, he couldn't let this little guy risk the shelters or the streets, so took him in .

I came home, explained the situation to my boyfriend, completed my fantasy football draft, and put dog advocacy on the back burner til morning. I then proceeded to "reach out" wherever I could. I updated my Facebook page, contacted my relatives and put out a plea to my dog-loving coworkers to continue spreading the word. While Danny indicated he is feeding the dog--which he's been calling "Poochie" out of sheer convenience--quality dog food and doing his best to care for him, a permanent home is definitely needed. Between the very appealing dog and the guy in a difficult situation, I couldn't possibly stand by without doing something. Let's face it, I have a family dog-rescue tradition that's sort of like the canine "Underground Railroad."

At the end of the day, I realized that while this little dog was an ideal adoption candidate I needed to answer some important previously-unaddressed questions. I confirmed my own post-work availability, texted Danny to see if I could stop by, and came by to get a new photo while I confirmed the following:
Poochie does not bark. I had to take Danny's word for it at first since my initial encounter was out "in the open" where he would be least likely to make noise, but today I stopped by his current home and was greeted with NO BARKING WHATSOEVER. Danny elaborated that this dog has not made a sound in his presence--no barking, whining, etc.

Poochie does not shed. I felt fairly confident of this since I had hauled him down the trail over one arm yesterday with no dog-hair residue to show for it, but it's a big enough issue to deserve verification. I went through his coat with both hands to check--found a couple behind-the-ear mats but nothing noteworthy--and determined this is very definitely a non-shedding dog.

Poochie's abandoned/homeless status has been verified. As the beneficiary of a street stray of questionable provenance I wanted to make sure nobody was "jumping the gun" and trying to adopt out a dog that already had a home. As a person on a fixed income with a fair amount of free time, Danny made it clear that he has done his due diligence in looking for the "original owner" of this dog before becoming a foster owner even on the most unofficial basis.

Poochie is a well-adjusted individual. Danny had previously mentioned that the dog seemed unfazed by other dogs, and that seems continued. Despite his difficulties, he also seems a pretty "well-tried veteran" of city life in general. Noise and movement do not startle him and he's not bothered by traffic.

I hope to find a home for this little guy before the weekend closes--and I turn 40 over the weekend so am in need of some good news. If you can help us out, please let me know!

Ugly Traffic....Literally

2010-09-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

When I arrived home yesterday and exclaimed " MAN, traffic was UGLY in OB!" I wasn't stating anything unexpected. Traffic on late-summer Wednesday evenings in Ocean Beach is notoriously bad--a mix of tourists, students and farmers' market attendees in cars, interspersed with inattentive pedestrians and wrong-way beach cruisers.

The difference was that last night there was not just bad traffic but actually UGLY traffic, with misbehaving drivers piloting some of the more hideous hunks of trash to roll off an assembly line.

The first example "buzzed" me with an illegally close pass on Sunset Cliffs just after Voltaire Street. I thought the rusty black Chevy Nova full of tweaky-looking guys looked like trouble...an impression confirmed when they whizzed by close enough to be 6 inches from taking off a major piece of left leg.

The next one "buzzed" as well--not quite as close but enough to be scary. Was it a case of paintjob-envy? Could be...this was a couple driving a dishwater-dull, boxy, Bondo-gray Ford Fairmont or Mercury Whatchamacalit (don't know the equivalent of the Fairmont) from the early 80s.

And finally the last straw. On Ebers Street 3 blocks from home, I stop at a 4way stop and yell at a cellphone-talking driver rolling thru the intersection across from me...only to lose track of my rearview mirror long enough to be nearly rear-ended by a trio of college-age dudes in an early 90s Isuzu SUV, who were laughing hard enough as they passed to convince me they were either close-calling me on purpose for kicks OR were just stoned out of their minds.

Either way, that was one UGLY trip!

My Moment of Smug

2010-08-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

Jon Stewart may have his "Moment of Zen" 5 days a week on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," and my MOMENTS OF SMUG are comparatively few. But there are very valid reasons behind this:

1. Jon has an award-winning major cable show, while I am a still-unpaid blogger with a day job.
2. He has the entire geopolitical news landscape to pull material from, while I am just using my little bike commute.
3. He has $millions worth of motivation to come up with fresh material daily while I.....(see #1).

What IS a bike commuter "Moment of Smug"? A rare and fleeting moment of superior self-satisfaction where you realize that just this once you might actually be envied rather than pitied by surrounding motorists. Most of mine involve bombing down a clear bike lane past backed -up traffic, like in Stonecrest leading up to the I-15 onramp at evening rush hour. But the other day I found a new one.

I was on the way back from the Mission Valley YMCA, westbound on Friars at Napa where the trolley tracks diagonally bisect the intersection. I heard a bell start to ring announcing an upcoming trolley. I safely crossed the tracks before the gates went down, but didn't make it before the southwest gate closed in front of me. I looked at the waist-high gate...looked at the line of stalled traffic....and tipped my bike sideways, ducking and sliding it under the gate before smoothly remounting and continuing down the bike lane.

While I only saved a couple minutes, I felt pretty satisfied about performing a feat of traffic-avoidance never possible with a car. And with those saved minutes, I was able to stop and enjoy THIS view once I reached the trail...

View From the Cheap (Bike) Seats...Dumbest Thing I've Seen All Day

2010-08-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sure, it's still early....this incident was seen at 6:05 a.m...but I'm pretty sure this should hold up as the #1 dumbest throughout the day. I sure hope so, anyway...anything dumber is sure to cause a wreck.

As I headed east on the northside river trail, halfway between the Sports Arena bridge and the overpasses of Old Town, I saw some activity ahead. The motion that initially caught my eye was just a jogger on the wrong side of the trail, but there was something else further ahead.

At first I could see only that there were 2 midsized obstacles, but as I came closer I recognized they were 2 people side-by-side in the middle of the trail. Given the location near several homeless camps I ASSUMED these were bums...either playing an absurd game of chicken or just having trouble awakening after a rough night of sleeping on concrete. But as I approached and passed, I saw the reality was far dumber.

I saw two young men in jogging attire and wearing IPods, lying on their backs with their feet in the air, doing some ab-crunching core exercises while taking up 3/4 the width of the trail. As I rode by on the far side yelling "NOT A SMART MOVE!" I noticed an even dumber detail...

The first guy, the one furthest out in the middle of the trail and presenting the biggest traffic hazard while lying there....

WORE A REFLECTIVE VEST.

Intersections That Scare the **** Out of Me..a New Addition

2010-08-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

While I haven't published any blog entries lately for the feature "Intersections That Scare the **** Out of Me," I've certainly been gathering material. If anything, I've been suffering a paralyzing information overload. But after my last failed attempt to avoid biking the uphill stretch of Ruffin Road northbound from Aero Drive, I am finally moved to action regarding the latest scary intersection on my mind--Daley Center/Ruffin and Aero Drive.

This intersection is very different from some of my old favorite scares in several ways. For one, I don't think it's at all scary to motorists--only bikers and pedestrians. For another, it's scary only in a couple directions, chiefly northbound.

It's a little unnerving to watch drivers jockeying for position at the Aero/Ruffin stoplight, as you wait through what seems like the longest light cycle in history. If you're on a bike, the moment of changing to a green light is even more unnerving...just as you've transitioned out of having a bike lane, you find you're about to be run down from behind on your way across one of the widest-feeling intersections in recent memory. Of course you can take comfort in at least having the speed boost of being ON a bike, as pedestrians are in for a truly Frogger-esque experience trying to get across all 4 lanes before the light changes.

A Conservative Count...Tracking the Distracted on Linda Vista Road

2010-08-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

On the way home from the Clairemont Mesa YMCA yesterday evening, I was tired and in need of something to break the monotony of my ride down Linda Vista to Friars Road. For lack of any better ideas, I thought I'd try to satisfy my curiosity about the number of drivers who still talk on cellphones. So I started looking for ALL cellphone-using drivers within my viewing range (normally, I just look out for the ones in danger of HITTING ME).

Unfortunately, the concerns of biking in traffic prevented an accurate count. I could really only look closely when stopped at intersections...Otherwise I was busy watching the road and the general traffic flow. But even with these factors I was surprised at how many drivers I saw ignoring the cellphone ban.

On Convoy/ Linda Vista between Balboa and Morena I saw 5 drivers clearly talking on their cellphones, including one young woman coming out of a bank parking lot who barely stopped short of hitting me. And while I was seeking out the cellphone-using drivers, I managed to see a couple "bonus" distracted drivers of other types...one woman fussing with the Chihuahua dog on her lap, and another eating some kind of sloppy soup or noodle bowl with a spoon.

Thank goodness I at least had a bike lane to keep me out of traffic most of the way....even a conservative count shows a scary number of distracted drivers on my main route home!

The Verdict Is In...And it Sucks

2010-07-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

Back in May I mentioned I was ticketed by a pair of San Diego Transit Police for riding the trolley without a pass or ticket--totally by accident, not that it matters. At the time I thought it best not to go into more detail, thinking it might jeopardize my case when fighting the ticket. In retrospect that seems totally delusional in such a rigged system that makes even trying to fight a ticket nearly impossible for anyone with a day job.

When I was ticketed, the slip of paper the cops gave me included little useful information...just that my court date would be June 29. A few weeks later I finally received a more comprehensive notice indicating I had the following options:

Pay the fine in the amount of $174 (REALLY?!? That's almost 3 months of transit passes if you're counting).
Plead not guilty and request a "trial by mail," a process they never explained thoroughly and which STILL requires you to pay the $174 upfront. Allegedly they send it back if you win.
Go to court by your appearance date. While this was the only option not requiring upfront payment, it had the potential of being a timesucking nightmare and was also not explained well.

As I pondered these options I began to run short of time, so I went online and requested a month long continuance. I then managed to forget all about it for another few weeks. I realized at that point that there was no point in trying to fight. I couldn't take a vacation day in the last week of the month due to workload, and I had no guarantee that I could resolve anything in ONE day at court anyway. I tried calling in and checking the online FAQs for information but got nothing useful. In fact, the phone line just says that "Due to high call volume we are not taking your call"--no voicemail, no callback options, no chance to at least TRY to wait on hold for someone. So I decided to just give up and pay the ticket online.

And there we find the real aim of this process...not justice but revenue generation. As tough as they make it to fight a ticket, they sure make it easy to pay. Options galore are at your fingertips and outlined clearly so that you can give them your money as quickly as possible. I paid online in less than a minute. Too bad I may regret my decision for much longer!

Good News From My Fellow Roadkill...Fellowship of the Green Goes Motorized

2010-07-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Being on a bike in traffic for almost an hour a day gives me ample opportunity to observe what's happening on the streets of San Diego...contrary to recent impressions I am NOT spending all that time tracking and yelling at cellphone-using drivers.

I've been noticing a recent trend on the road that I consider very good news. One of our fellow species of potential roadkill--the motorcyclist--seems to be dressing for road visibility on a regular basis. In the last few months I've been noticing more and more motorbikers wearing vests in the same incandescent "sLime Green" or radioactive lemon-lime shade as my windbreaker.

Given the accident record of motorcyclists hit by cars, it's good to see more of them putting safety over fashion and joining us bicyclists in the "Fellowship of the Green."

Digital Signals on the Road

2010-07-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

I've cut back a lot on the traffic trashtalking I used to do frequently on the bike. In my early days of commuting I was not only flinchy in traffic, I was prone to seriously profane outbursts reminiscent of a cab driver with Tourette's. Getting overheard by drivers with open windows definitely cut that behaviour down.

But there is one thing I still respond verbally to on a regular basis: cellphone-using drivers. I keep my message clean and simple, but must yell to try to be heard. If you hear "GET OFF YER PHONE!" coming from a female biker in an electric-limegreen windbreaker on a San Diego street, that's probably me.

Problem is nobody seems to notice, not even when I enunciate clearly enough for the most remedial of lipreaders and add the mimed gesture of holding and hanging up a phone. Mostly I'm not seen or heard at all, other times clearly seen but ignored. One young lady who almost clipped me while coming out of an alley in Ocean Beach just drove past me and waved, thinking I was giving some kind of greeting.

But yesterday I finally got an unmistakable response. As I headed down Linda Vista past the University of San Diego entrance, I saw a biker waiting at the red light. Behind her was a young man in a shiny forest green Mazda, yapping away on his cellphone. I doubted that he'd hear me due to speed and distance, but let out a hearty "GETOFF YER PHONE!!!" as I rode by.

The fact that he did indeed hear me was clear from the middle finger raised through his sunroof when he passed me half a block later. Far from feeling insulted, I smiled and returned his one-digit salute with a sense of victory.

You see, I made him choose one digital signal over another...he HAD to put down his phone to flip me off with that hand!

Buttvertising Update--Mystery Solved

2010-07-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

Readers may wonder how a site often dedicated to serious messages of bike safety can devote not just one but now TWO posts to jokes about the ad message on some biker's shorts. Well, sometimes you just have to let your inner Beavis and/or Butthead out. Perhaps I'm just immature--when I saw an address on "Flying Butte Road" it sent me racing home to look up the source of the line "Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt." It's the movie "Wayne's World," by the way.

But regardless of the reason, I was curious about just what company with the first name "Hammer" would be inspired to spread the word by spreading their name across the spandex-clad cheeks of bikers. I fully intended to Google this but fate--and my infamous slowness on the bike trails--intervened. On my way home I was passed by another biker in race-inspired gear including shorts that included a much more readable version of the logo for...Hammer Nutrition.

Unfortunately not as good a punchline as I hoped for. Disappointingly free of double entendres...though you do have to wonder if it must be a high-fiber product to be advertised so near the colon.

As I expected. Hammer is a company that makes high-end nutritional performance products for bike racers,triathletes, and other serious endurance athletes. Or in layman's terms, "engineered food substitutes for exercise geeks." .

Further research indicates they may be one of those serious-minded niche-market companies so narrowly focused that they forget how unintendedly funny their marketing messages and brandnames may sound to the mass audience. One of their products--Hammer Gel. Yikes.

Either way, another buttvertising mystery is solved!

Online Dating--Nailing Down The Bike-iversary

2010-07-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

As I started writing and talking about the 1-year anniversary of my becoming a bike commuter, I made a shocking discovery...nobody knows exactly when it is. More specifically no one happens to know either the exact date of either my first bike+transit trip to work OR the date I first started doing so consistently.

I did not start blogging until months after I started biking, so unlike such landmarks as my first rainstorm or my first time hit by a car, I can't just look it up. And there were so many changes going on during that time...adding and adjusting bike equipment, exploring and comparing various routes, learning more about dealing with traffic...I wasn't really keeping track of dates. And the online order dates of various bike equipment items aren't as helpful as I expected---since I don't know which items were bought pre-commuting vs. while already commuting.

My friends and family weren't any help, either. We all agreed that it was several weeks after Jesse bought the bike in early June, but probably before 4th of July Weekend.

So like other undefinable dates such as my dog's birthday (she was an adult stray when we got her...we took the vet's best guess of year and picked the month and day we first took her to the vet), I'm just going to assign a best-guess date and stick with it. For your reference, that date is now JULY 1.

Happy Bike-iversary to Me!

Trail Humor Revival--When Buttvertising Goes Wrong

2010-07-04T04:54:00.000-07:00

As I said in my last post, I've been staying off the blog in my time of bad attitude, for fear of getting a reputation as a ranting anti-car negativist. The first things to break me out of the funk were a couple good albums that improved my riding attitude immediately. Tom Petty's "Mojo" and The Roots' "How I Got Over" are guaranteed to improve one's outlook regardless of traffic and other stress-inducers. But the next step in my attitude adjustment required nothing more than a flash of totally juvenile humor inspired by a sighting of some "buttvertising gone wrong".

This morning wasn't the first time I've seen advertising on the back of some biker's skintight spandex shorts. I've seen it on several occasions, and it normally inspires a reaction of "I sure hope someone is paying him for this." But this time, the reaction was an entirely inappropriate but unavoidable outburst of laughter.

Halfway down the trail from Ocean Beach to Linda Vista, I was passed by a typical spandex-clad roadbiker. On the back of his shorts was a company name, in another case of "buttvertising." But I'm afraid the advertisers failed the brand recognition test this time, because only the first word of the two-word company name was clearly visible as he sped by. In large type spanning the upper left-to-right cheeks was the word "HAMMER," and underneath was another word in unreadable smaller type.

I started laughing immediately, and am still trying to figure out what that second word was...because any ideas I can come up with are truly inappropriate.

"HAMMER....this"?

"HAMMER...gently"?

"HAMMER....frequently"?

"HAMMER...upon invitation"?

Either way, I think both the advertiser and the rider may need to rethink their strategies!

If You've Got Nothing Good to Say.....

2010-07-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

You may wonder if my lack of recent bike blog posts signified a reduction in biking, or has something to due with being hit by a car a couple weeks ago. Neither is the case. In fact I was just going by the motto "If you haven't got anything good to say, say nothing at all." A combination of stress and traffic issues have left me very negative about the bike commuter experience, and I felt no need to subject readers to 7 straight days worth of anti-driver ranting.

But things are looking up, starting with an addition of good riding music to my collection and followed by the truly chuckle-worthy sight to be described in my next post.

Butt, Seriously...The Rear Admirals of Onboard Advertising

2010-06-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

Bikewear...especially race-inspired bicycling clothing on amateurs...is disturbing enough to begin with. Bike a half-mile on the trail behind an overweight spandex-covered 65-year-old guy and you will find it tough to disagree. The gaudy logo-covered bikewear fancied by racers and "Lance-Packer" wannabes brings a further level of ugly to the mix. But now there seems to be a new trend that takes disturbing to new heights...buttvertising.

Yep, in the ultimate in race-uniform placement, I've recently been seeing product names and website addresses right across the upper cheeks of the bike shorts of several racer-y looking road bikers on the trail. Of course they always pass me, so the rear view is the longest one I have.

I can certainly see the point of this placement in terms of visibility on actual racing uniforms, but it still seems a but wrong. Doesn't all that skintight spandex already call enough attention to the butt without adding advertising to the mix? And what's to stop advertisers from getting too disturbingly literal in their placements? The makers of Preparation H may be missing a valuable opportunity.

However, when seen on the everyday road and trail I'm afraid the "buttvertising" message is getting lost in a mix of "racer or wannabe?" confusion. When I end up following a biker with an ad on the back of his shorts, I definitely do NOT come away from the scene with a clear memory of the featured product name or website address. I just keep thinking, "Good Lord, I sure hope someone's PAYING HIM to wear that!"

The Peak of Full-Daylight Commuting--Celebrating the Solstice

2010-06-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

It's finally Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year and the traditional first day of summer. This is a good news/bad news situation, as it means the days are only getting shorter from here. Even as this happens, we'll still have sufficient daylight for the evening commute almost up to the end of Daylight Savings Time. So go celebrate with your favorite pagan ritual...or a late sunset bike ride!