Thursday, May 28, 2009

Me & A Clock

So many things to put here, so little time...

Hot news yesterday in my world was South Dakota's move from 41st to 28th in the League of American Bicyclist's 50 state rankings. The most thoughtful write-up of that fact is over at Snakebite's site. If you hit that site remind him last year there wasn't a 60 member Bike To Work Challenge or a three year old Falls Area Biclists Club that he helped found (find?).

--



Then there's the strange q-tip graffiti being spray painted in many intersections around the city. I know a lot about these - but I don't mean to imply I painted them. Every time I interact with the guy who does paint them I thank him profusely - because he has completely changed the way I perceive red lights as I approach them on a bicycle.

There's still work to be done here. These aren't permanent. It would be a shame to waste all the effort traffic engineering is putting in to this by letting winter arrive without having some policies change.

--

But really today I want to write about biking. How on my way home I crossed paths with Dyann a Snakebite Bike To Work Challenge(r) (HI DYANN) and then found Eric and his soon to be wife and later to be child. You guys stray pretty far from home! :-)

I stopped off at the Falls Area Bicyclist's Time Trial event too. 21 time trialists participated which seemed pretty great to me. I'm pretty sure I won the Cargo Shorts and T-shirt (Fat Cyclist Style) division. I tried to enter the Guy's Who Haven't Been In A Car Since Monday division but couldn't find it on the reg sheet.

On the way home I successfully identified the sensor and tripped the trigger on The City's newest traffic signal. Whee...no paint necessary. Could it be there's additional attention being paid to new installations? What if...

30 miles.

5 comments:

Eric A. said...

The City/State has been making progress. I noticed that Rapid is making things more bike friendly also. It's good to see.

Hey, hey , hey!

SD_pedalpower said...

When I asked the Rapid City police Lieutenant at the SRTS meeting if they ever have received complaints from cyclists about not being able to trip the lights. He said no, and all their lights can be tripped by a cyclist. Hmmm, I wonder if the Rapid City cycling community would agree?

mytzpyk said...

Advancing quickly up my list of things bikey to try to accomplish is to get one or two police officers and one or two traffic engineers out on a ride. Coffee/Donut!

And then I'm going to Rapid City for a ride with Mr. Lieutenant. "Show Me."

I love it that you're a part of SRTS!

WheelDancer said...

It's cool to see cycling getting more action!

The Old Bag said...

Congrats on the move up in the rankings -- you guys are doing a ton for SF cycling!