2011 South Dakota Bicycle Summit

The bike summit is one month from now in Pierre.



Click for PDF.

Click to register using EventBrite.

Surly...

...they don't paint 'em like this.

The Holiday Season

It's all pretty sparse around here I know. Sorry.

There been some stories. I encountered a confused bus rider at a shelter. I tried to help him read the schedule and map but before long I was confused too. I told him how to get where he was going in spite of the posted map/schedule. I confirmed the next day that the confusion was caused by the map/schedule posted was for a different route altogether. I let the proper officials know.

There was the time a few weeks ago someone stuck her head out the door of my favorite Coffea shop to tell me I was her "new hero" for my cold slightly snowy Pugsley ride. Half expecting it to be someone I knew all I could say when I turned to see her was "Really?" and "I'll take it."

Alas, it's the holidays. Have some happy ones. The Dad took The Boys and some cousins for a post-Thanksgiving pedicab ride.



Find some time to go slo.

Winter MinusCar

Pug!

South Dakota Bike Summit, Jan 21 & 22

The second South Dakota Bike Summit is in January 2011.


(click for big)

The Boys Building Bridges

Introducing the longest publicly accessable contiguous singletrack in a 250 mile radius...



...the full & complete coverage is on the FAST blog.

Today The Boys came too.

Minus Blog Posts

Postings here are rare right now because much time an energy is going into the Falls Area Singletrack Leaders Park Project. I try to get an update posted every weekend over there.

Come visit me over there - www.fallsareasingletrack.org

Truth be told I've crossed the line into being too busy to ride my bike as much as I'd like. Oops.

Fail.

The Setting Is Familiar

Skworl from eric holley on Vimeo.

It's A Bike Bus!

I found this on the Utility Cycling website. It's a bunch of high school students making a Bike Bus work in Orlando Florida.

Bike To Work Challenge | Bus Challenge

Update: by 8:15 my questions to the transit service manager have been answered. Indeed the changes will be monitored with an eye toward making frequency changes elsewhere. I remain optimistic!

Thanks SAM!

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I spent much of this evening at Monk's House of Ale Repute monitoring the weighing in of contestants in Snakebite's Bike To Work Challenge. It was another satisfying year as a good number of people rode to work for more than 80 days between May and October.

Cash prizes were visited upon the three that rode the most days and lost the most weight. Smaller cash prizes went to those that finished outside the top three but still rode the most days or rode the furtherest.

The competition was so intense that one contestant, in addition to fasting for a few days, performed a pre-weigh-in de-pantsing. I understand by 8:30 she was replenishing her energy stores by binging on cookie dough - which she can afford after receiving a fistful of cash.

--

SAM is putting a challenge in front of me. They are proposing changes to many - maybe all - their routes. Especially hard on The MinusCar Project is the increase in distance from my home to the nearest bus stop from .6 miles to 1.4 miles.

Ouch.

My ability to walk with The Boys from home to bus is gone as well as my ability to rely on the bus as a car-free alternative on snowy unbikeable winter days.

Really I'm ok with all this. Like all public transportation SAM struggles to find ways to improve service and radical changes indicate to me a willingness to try different things.

I'm happy to trade my bus route - by my bus route I mean often when I ride I'm the only passenger - for the potential of increased ridership elsewhere.

Public commentary is welcome on these changes. I'm sending mine via e-mail and hoping to learn what gains might come about from these changes.

Bike Sharing + Mandatory Helmet Law = Catch 22

Nice Ride Minnesota - Minneapolis - The first in the United States.

Capital Bikeshare - Washington DC

Denver BikeShre - Denver

I'm a huge fan of bike share programs.

I watched this video about Melbourne's failing program and enjoyed trying to hold two conflicting ideals in my head at the same time.



When I rode Nice Ride Minnesota a few weeks ago I didn't wear a helmet. When I'm home, I'm likely to choose not to ride over riding with someone without a helmet.

Arrrgh.

Events Center: Downtown

Yes indeed, one of my heroes Rev Billy understands the value of the pedicab. I lifted this photo from his most recent blog post about how "The Mountains and Gardens Will Save Us." I hope he tipped his driver.

Word on the street is that at a recent Green Drinks meetup - where the importance of a DOWNTOWN Events Center was the topic du jour - Sioux Falls Pedicab was used as a bit of a punchline. Dang I sure wish I could have been there. I wanted to go but helping plan the second South Dakota Bicycle Summit was a higher priority for me. It would have been awesome to hear the pedicab come up in the conversation.

It is true the pedicab business is precisely the type of private enterprise supporters are saying would benefit from a downtown events center. Additionally, downtown events are precisely the occasions where pedicabs do flourish.

As far as it being a punchline, I assume very few The MinusCar Project readers have ever been handed a fistful of cash money at the end of a short bike ride. Like I have. Hilarious.

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The MinusCar Project supports a downtown events center. The MinusCar Project encourages its readers to join the Sioux Falls DOWNTOWN Events Center Facebook Group. The MinusCar Project encourages it's readers to get some skin in the game by attending a related event or meeting.

For me the Arena/Sioux Falls Stadium/Howard Wood Field is a very depressing area with its oceans of asphalt. How does a resident of the Dow Rummel retirement home attend a baseball game? Do they schedule the shuttle bus to drive them the 100 feet across the unwalkable and uncrossable West Ave? Where does a person eat a decent meal before attending an event in the complex? They drive somewhere else first.

In 2003 The City purchased a study of the Russell Street cooridor. It seems as though The City was experiencing some pressure from Russell Street businesses to add turns off the street into their parking lots. The report supports the assertion that Russell, with it's limited access, is a high speed arterial roadway for moving traffic - and ought to stay that way by continuing limited turning access.

It sounds to me like the problem the Russell Street businesses were experiencing was NOT so much a turning access issue as it was trying to operate for profit in one of James Howard Kunstler's "places that are not worth caring about." The people who use Russell Street are. Going. Somewhere. Else. And that's what you get when you have an ocean of asphalt.

All this brings me to the most depressing paragraph I've ever read in a tranportation related document.

There have been complaints received by the City about the lack of pedestrian facilities in the corridor. However, there was no indication of any pedestrian crash history. There are also no pedestrian facilities provided on Russell Street.

While there may be some desire to cross Russell Street, there is not a good location to install at-grade pedestrian accommodations at the intersections and could lead to a false sense of security for pedestrians.

Yep, that's right. Pedestrians complain about the area. Businesses complain about the area. We don't want to improve the area because we don't want you to die.

Interesting the Timberwolves and the Bucks play at the Arena on Sunday and I've gotten hit from at least 5 sources with offers for discount tickets.

It's hard to get people to go here. Build it downtown.

Chilly Advice

The ride to work was a bit chilly this AM. Riding right now is
important. Not riding now at 40 degrees means not riding at 30 which
means not riding at 20 which means hanging the bike in the garage and
dusting off the car.

Ride. It's worth it.

The End Is The Beginning: Playing In The Dirt

Yesterday marked the end of my webmaster duties for the Falls Area Bicyclists (FAB). It also marks then end of (I think) four years of active involvement (board/web) with that club. Coffee/Donut Ride leadership notwithstanding. I will be happy to free up that mindspace for...

Yesterday the Parks Board approved the agreement between Falls Area Singletrack and Sioux Falls Parks. The agreement has to be routed around town and approved by various key people (Mayor) and then Leaders Park will be ours to play with.

What a fun project. Two years ago the conversation about singletrack in Sioux Falls renewed itself. It's been a long walk. Initial winter meetings with 11-ish people at Caribou where we all agreed on the vision. From there a core team of four carried the ball forward. The addition of a landscape architect volunteer with skills to make presentation quality maps was key. Encouragement from parks staff along the lines of "this is the best presentation of this sort we've ever seen" kept things hopeful.

Then we had to tell the neighbors. Briman's got that story:



That last frame is on the back of the FAST t-shirts.

A piece of sharing the vision with the neighbors involved the opportunity for public comment on the parks website. Public commentary also attached itself to articles in The Local Daily. The comments were very telling and very teachable. My favorite commentary theme was "the city is giving in to special interests."

Importantly, when it came time to meet the neighbors the call went out to the biking community to attend the public meeting. And the call was answered. Impressively. Answered in such a way that it was clear to all involved that the person-power necessary to actually build the proposed trail EXISTS.

Along the way FAST purchased $1,300 worth of trailbuilding tools. The money came from within. Snakebite's winter bike swaps, other large gifts from individuals and small gifts $5 at a time. 3 dudes in the core group of 5 I'd never met before.

Yes, indeed we are special interest. Indeed we've cobbled together tens of hundreds of dollars. We're looking to buy land.

Welcome to community. I'm looking forward to playing in the dirt with you.

FABulous Weekend

Saturday morning began with the usual and customary Coffee/Donut Ride. We wandered around town for a bit. We found the recently resurfaced Russell Street to be so agreeable to our bike tires we almost turned around to ride it all again.

Our destination was the Phillips Ave Diner which did not disappoint with it's fine breakfast (French Toast for this guy), good coffee (four shots of espresso for that guy. really.) and conversation.

We were regaled with a great tale of selling soap over the phone to sexy Golden Globe winning North Dakota actress Angie Dickinson. You know, Police Woman. The only thing missing was the actual presence of the 8x10 glossy that she hopes "brightens your room on a rainy day."

The story of the Twins/Yankees Game #2 foul ball that got away was a distant but respectable second best.

The Coffee/Donut Ride ended at the start of the FAB Apple Orchard Ride. I followed The Owner as he pulled two daughters on the trail-a-bike equipped tandem. South on Cliff to Harrisburg then Dutch Apple Pie and ice cream at the Country Apple Orchard. Yummmmmm...


These people weren't messing around. (photo thefted from facebook, but i posed in it so i can use it, right?)

North on Minnesota Ave back to town where the annual meeting took place. Departing members of the FAB board were replaced by vote with shiny fresh new individuals. I took the stage for a portion of the meeting to tell the story of FAST...as far as it's been written.

The festivities ended and I exited the building to find The Wife and The Boys waiting in the parking lot to wisk me away to the Outdoor Gear Super Sale where coats and hats of dubious origin are sold at unusual prices. We purchased the brightest coat and hat combo ever for The Boy 8 and tried to ignore the word "sample" written on its inside.

Now go ride.

Full Disclosure: Sioux Falls Bike Committee

Afternoon update: the more I think about this post the more I think that I've slighted the planning process. Simple truth: if you it's not planned for, it's very unlikely to happen. Maybe an ode to the planning process can be a future post.

“We didn’t take no as an answer. We took no as a question.” - Mechai Viravaidya – TEDTalk, “How Mr Condom Made Thailand a Better Place”

If I’m going to put a picture on a blog obviating the need for more bike parking I should also be asking the question to those with the ability to make the needed change. There is indeed someone assigned to acquire more bike parking near where the photo was taken. Of course, customer inquisitiveness is the greatest motivator (hint, hint).

Ok. Go.

Fred dropped a comment on my previous post asking for more details about what went down at the bike committee meeting that I’ve identified as the best one ever. Fred is a self identified bike advocate in South Dakota so automagically I like Fred. I’m going to give the details, but first here are three reasons why I’m not predisposed to providing them…

1. The details of that meeting are The City’s story to tell.

2.Planning meetings are just that. Planning. The important details are the parts that get done. People love to talk about what’s going to happen. That’s easy. Cable news makes a living pretending to know the future. What matters is what people do after planning.

3. There is something to be said about attendance. After all, you can’t win if you don’t play.

We received a report showing the number of times per month bicycles are carried on city busses. This continues to grow every year. It’s stunning really. I often post those numbers on this blog – so look for that in the future. Of course, people love to talk about what’s going to happen…

We talked about the possibility and desire for 3ft passing legislation and attempted to gauge the level of support within the group. This group is in place to be the bicycling citizens who advise city government on bicycling matters.

Brochures and posters were supplied with information about the Bike SmART Campaign. I now have a complete understanding of that program. I like it. If any local businesses would like a present from The MinusCar Project for Christmas, please let me know.

We were updated regarding current bike trail closures, of which there are plenty. Most interesting to me was the brief discussion regarding the plans to improve the sewage transport in the south where The City repeatedly dumped raw sewage this summer due to flooding.

We talked about the possibility of creating a series of bicycle related instructional videos that could be used as PSAs on local television.

We were shown a bunch of proposed changes to existing bike routes and a few proposed new bike routes. These routes are important as The City will focus on these routes for adding on-street bicycle facilities. These include paint and improvements to bicycle detection at signal controlled intersections. We agreed with many of the changes and rejected a couple because we liked the way they exist currently.

Finally we left with homework. Consider which of the three types of on street bicycle facilities we like best and which would be most appropriate on each of the bike routes.

Spoke-n-Sport Cyclocross

My friends at Spoke-n-Sport have put together a small series of Cyclocross races this fall in city parks.

I remember quite clearly, many years ago, being told that bike racing in city parks will never happen, they're too concerned about their grass. Then last year Snakebite hosted his 50/50 Cross event.

This year there are three events. When I can I'll be strapping the portable grill to the Xtra-cycle and making bacon and drinking dark roast at the top of a climb.

Never. It's happening.

SF Bike Committee

Tonight the Sioux Falls Bike Committee met at the downtown library. This committee serves to provide cycling community input to The City as they execute the priority pieces of The Bicycle Plan. It's a public meeting.

This is the bike rack...and sign posts around the front entrance of the library. Let's turn a couple of those car parking spots into bike parking, eh? (Bike counts do not reflect meeting attendance.)

Much goodness was covered in the meeting. In fact it was quite possibly the most meaningful and productive meeting of this group. Ever.

The future is bright.

Sioux Falls Stolen Bike: Salsa Fargo

Stolen Bike: The Salsa Fargo has been found. No doubt the thief didn't like it's size. Or fenders.

---

My buddy Atom lost his bike in the wee hours of the morning today.

He rides a Salsa Fargo. Atom is an XXL guy. So is his bike.

"I returned home only to drop my baggage and other randoms...i walked outside (into my backyard) to see my fargo GONE...!"

This is a VERY large bike. XXL frame. 29 inch wheels. Please be on the lookout.

This bike has fenders on its 29 inch wheels.

Here's a photo from a website.

It's big. It's green. It has fenders. It's the bike.



This bike must be found.

On All Cylinders

For as much much driving as I did today it was a pretty good MinusCar day.

The Ride To Remember: despite early rain, wet roads and cool temperatures 25-30 rollers departed Colorado Technical University at 8-ish this morning. The police department was kind enough to give us a two motorcycle escort. They blocked traffic at intersections for mostly worry free passage through the high volume suburban sprawl roadway.

After returning to the campus CTU provided bagels and The Owner and I split speaking time. I covered five roadway cycling tips and one driving tip, he covered the ABC Quick Check and other maintenance items.

KELO(land) and KDLT gave the event nice coverage this week. KELO(land) attended most of the event today. Their video is embeded below. Mr Bite, the CTU President and ummm...that MinusCar fellow are featured.



For the afternoon The Wife had a few hours of work to perform downtown. I had a few stops to make. We departed with The Boy 9 and headed to the "A Growing Place Garden: Harvest Festival" at Lowell Elementary.

I'm a huge fan of this project. Of course some of my favorite people are involved. This is the current best hope for teaching urban agriculture to students and building a culture of locally grown food.



This is the newly completed green house built on school grounds. The dirt boxes are built right on the asphalt and we identified tomatos, eggplant and kohlrabi. Interestingly this week Steven Colbert lamented to the US Congress that dirt is at ground level. Here it is not.

With some time to kill we headed to Falls Park to view the swollen falls. The Boy 8 spotted the trolley on which we rode a lap and dropped The Wife off at her employer. The Boy 8 and I were left to entertain ourselved.

Which we did by spending 3 hours at The Falls. We climbed stuff...



We enjoyed a cool beverage and I introduced him to the idea of The Red Hat Society...



We observed The Falls of the Big Sioux River...



We played on the beach (such as it is)...



And we noted this strange palette load...



Finally it came time to retrieve The Wife, but first we stopped off at City Hall to ride the Bike SmART rack...



And we observed this strange palette load...



So I went to The City's website to find out "Why this is here?"

To be clear, part of living the MinusCar dream is having time/being forced to linger. The Boy 8's curiosity led the way on our 3 hour tour of the park. I wouldn't trade that for the ability to run to B & G Milkyway in it's final weekend - as important as that is.

Finally the evening's activity placed me at Monk's House of Ale Repute for a bit of a celebration. Our Falls Area Singletrack project passed a significant milestone in the last month and it was time for some celebrating.

Community occurred...and it was good.

And this guy. Was there.

Ride To Remember #2

Rapt audience at Ride To Remember

Ride To Remember

The Owner. Telling it at the Ride To Remember.

41st Norton Q-tips

My friend DW snapped this photo and placed it out in the Universe of Twits.

Did I say that right?



Front wheel in a circle. Rear wheel in a circle. Watch the light change.

Mmmmm...fresh traffic signal goodness.

TV Coverage of Saturday's Ride To Remember

KDLT

KELOland

The Ride To Remember

Hi mom! I fell in with some new friends. I think it's ok because some of my old friends fell in with them too...

The Ride to Remember

On Saturday, September 25, at 8:00 a.m., a bicycle ride will be held to honor Dr. Kevin Rogers. The ride will be escorted by the Sioux Falls police and will leave Colorado Technical University's campus at 3901 West 59th Street.

The bicyclists will ride from the CTU campus to the location where Dr. Rogers was killed in a bicycling accident. The round trip distance for the ride is exactly five miles.

A moment of silence will be held prior to the ride at 7:45 a.m. to honor Dr. Rogers and others who have recently died as a result of bicycling accidents. Dr. Rogers was a valued faculty member at CTU for a number of years.

After the ride, at 9:00 a.m., CTU will host food and bicycling fun in the campus parking lot.

Bicycling Safety 101 - Mike Christensen, a certified bicycling safety instructor, will discuss topics such as increasing the safety of roadway users, the importance of helmets, strategies for in-city riding, and the dangers of impaired or distracted driving.

Bicycle Repair 101 - Spoke-n-Sport is sponsoring a fun event that will focus on the importance of safe bicycles and quick checks to make sure your bicycle is ready for the road.

Sam Trebilcock will also have mini-bike rodeo activities available for children at the post-ride event.

Please Plan to Attend! And Ride!

Graffiti Nay Vandalism

...under 41st St bridge. For a moment I thought this was funny. Now I just wish SF had better graffiti artists.

Happy Park(ing) Day

Bike SmART #3

Sorry Girlfriend...

...but when you shouted "hi" from the hole in your cage just a block and a half from that sensor actuated red light I thought it meant you were open to talking. So I hurried to catch up.

Imagine my surprise when I rolled up beside your open window and returned the greeting, you had to peel yourself off the ceiling.

I suppose it was dark and you coudn't see me coming. I was without lights, a terrible mistake to be sure, but sometimes it happens.

Anyway, I apprecitate you and your boyfriend's good humor throughout the encounter. It's nice when we can all smile and laugh together.

Cheers.

--

Multi-occupant auto: 3 miles
Bike: 24.4 miles

Bike SmART #1

I couldn't find Bike SmART #2.

Going’s On

Holy cats this week there are so many bike events in the area you can’t toss a 40lb Huffy without hitting someone at a bike event!

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The Metropolitan Planning Organization Bicycle Plan is getting some huge attention right now as planners and consultants are visiting and looking and plotting and figuring out how in the world to connect our city with three neighboring towns via multi-use trails.

All day today they met in Brandon. Tomorrow is Harrisburg. Wednesday is Tea. I think they might even be going so far as to get their shoes dirty to find ways to go places. In each of these towns there is also a public input event from 5:30pm to 7:00pm on their respective days.

I helped with the bicycle plan. I haven’t been able to get involved in the current efforts. I wish I could. One of the consultants plays at the national level. The company name appears in print often – now that I know to pay attention for it.

Imagine 30 years from now, when these cities have grown together the value of having a place to recreate where a person can go for miles and miles without crossing a road. It won’t matter so much then that Sioux Falls the town are connected by the trail. It will matter that that type of recreation is possible and it will be a big deal for those neighborhoods.

Here’s a bit of news about that effort - http://tinyurl.com/33ucmfp

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Tuesday morning The City makes a public splash of their Bike SmART program. This program finds support in the city’s bike plan. It seems like two years ago or more when the first call went out for artists to submit artsy designs for bike racks – and nobody responded, not even David Byrne (although I do know that some effort was put in to him submitting). A second similar request went out half a year later which resulted in some fruit. Now another year later and TWO racks are being placed (or maybe they’re in place) and The City marks the occurrence with a presentation at City Hall. Tomorrow. Ride your bike so you don’t have to park, pay and walk.

Here’s the official scoop on Bike SmART - http://tinyurl.com/2vcgbrb

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Friday is international Park(ing) Day. Sioux Falls Pedicab with the help of Landscape Garden Center will claim a metered parking spot near 9th and Phillips for the day with “grass”, a tree, and other fun items. From there free pedicab rides will be given to anyone who agrees to pull their bike out of the garage, dust it off, and go for a ride this week.

Another spot apparently will be claimed by a group from Architecture for Humanity. I’m not sure where but I’ll be looking for them.

Here’s some newsy bits about the pedicab rides - http://tinyurl.com/36eagja

Here’s the official scoop on International Park(ing) Day - http://parkingday.org/

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Does that seem like enough? How about today’s MinusCar statistics?

Single occupant automobile – 4.66 miles
Multi occupant automobile – 4.84 miles
Bus – 2.5 miles
Walk – 2.65 miles

I walked a 1/3 mile with The Boy 8 today to a bus stop. People really hate the inconvenience of not having a car. I really like spending time with my son with nothing to do but BE. While we waited for the bus The Dad came on his bike to tell us a few stories. That’s three generations at one bus stop – if you’re scoring at home.

Skillz

This past weekend I guided a group of bike riding people through the League of American Bicyclists Traffic Skills 101 materials. Thursday and Friday evening and Saturday morning was all about talking and doing bikes.

It's a beautiful thing to see the shifts in thinking as we work through the course. The course includes an hour on city roads to demonstrate the concepts put forth in the materials. During that ride someone commented that experiencing road riding isn't nearly as intimidating as it seemed. Beautiful.



Here's our route. We don't mess around too much.

The course evaluations reveal that 75% of the students indicate "yes" when asked "do you plan to bicycle more in the future than you did before taking this course?"

FTW!

Nice Ride

Ghost Bike: Today We Are Sad

Before:



Today we are sad. We are sad because someone many here knew as friend has died in a collision with a motor vehicle doing something that many of us know to be a beautiful thing - simply riding a bicycle.

It’s been four years since Mike Seiverding fatally collided with a car in a crosswalk at the 28th & Minnesota Ave intersection. We would have liked for more time to have passed.

A lot has changed for the better in 4 years. We know this to be true simply by noticing this gathering of people who have come to mark this very sad day in this very sad spot. Cyclists. Friends. Neighbors. Family.

So together, for a little while we mark this spot as sacred. We place a Ghost Bike here where the unlikely but all too common convergence of time, space and behavior has resulted in terrible changes to the lives of so many.

We are terribly sorry for our bike riding friend - Kevin Rogers, his family and his friends. We know that this senseless occurrence shouldn't have happened. At the same time we know it could have happened to any of us. In fact yesterday it happened to all of us. Together.

After:

Ghost Bike

Ghost bike placement 57th & Galway Thursday 8/19 @ 7:30pm. Please come.

1+1+1=?

A parking ramp exit.

A fire fighter spraying down the adjacent sidewalk.

A bike in the trunk of a police cruiser.

Perhaps coincidence.

Bicyclists fare best when they act like and are treated as vehicles.

That just gives me license...

...licensed to pedicab.

Two Firsts For Sioux Falls. Today!

Today. Two firsts for this city.

First, the park's board unanimously agreed to allow the parks department to enter into an agreement with Falls Area Singletrack, Inc. to build the first ever true singletrack trail inside the city. The venue is an under utilized and overgrown park in the core of the city know as Leaders Park.

It's been a long process and could easily be two years from the start before we turn over a shovel of dirt, but it's been pretty great to be in the middle of it all.

--

Second, today Sioux Falls licensed it's first pedicab operator. Sioux Falls Pedicab Company will begin operation Friday in the downtown area. I'm hoping to jump on board as pedicab driver #2. I think the owner will hire me, he's my dad.

Getting There

Strike A Pose

Building Empires

The MinusCar II...

...litters a cityscape.

Big Bike

The Dad

What's In The Box?

Big Box

That's A Big Truck

Some Of My Favorite People Are 70

Wendell Berry has long been a hero of The MinusCar Project.

“When we talk about these characteristics, that happen to be characteristics of good agriculture — diversity, versatility, recognition, and acceptance of appropriate limits or getting the scale right, and local adaptation — those ideas, it seems to me, put us in reach of work that we can do. To assume that all experiences like that oil well can only be handled by experts at great expense is a mistake, I think.

What we need to do is to get it to where we can have a say in it. If we don't then we lose the personal ground of hope and the next thing is we all go around saying things like 'it's inevitable, there's nothing you can do about it.'"

It's why I garden. It's why I buy so much food from the people who grow it. It's why I transport myself as much as I can with my own body.

It's hopeful. It's not inevitable. There is something that can be done.

Watch the full episode. See more Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Diversity.

Versatility.

Recognition, and acceptance of appropriate limits or getting the scale right.

Local adaptation.

6/7 Transportation Donut

I haven't done The Twitter much but this week I'm totally riding the Tour deKota and the Race Across America vicariously by reading peoples twitter-bits. It's great fun.

Mike Dunlap is predicted to arrive at Time Station #2 around 12:30 tonight in his RAAM. Know that if I awake in the middle of the night I'll be checking to see that he's through it. At that point he'll have 2,863 miles remaining.

--

I have donuts to share!



Importantly The MinusCar sat in the driveway all week.

Unfortunately, I remained home Thursday and Friday giving the beat down to some high sinus pressure. So the bike miles couldn't quite push the car miles below 50%.

All in all it's a not a bad donut.

Car-free Sunday

I might have a new hobby...

Trip one was early for donuts and a few groceries with The Wife. We tacked a couple extra miles onto the grocery store loop. There were TWO people walking around the store wearing helmets. Weird.

The checker, "did you ride here?" I think my wife responded, "44,000 people die each year in car crashes. We wear helmets all the time." But she might have just said "yes."

Speaking of the word "just"...if you're at Starbucks and you want a chai tea latte, with soy, extra hot, no water and a couple other specifications, prefacing your order with "I just want a..." might be an oversimplification.

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Trip two was more of an excursion. More specifically a 3 1/2 hour geocaching excursion with The Boy 12. With that many hours outside we definitely put the tan back in tandem...


Here is where we went...


We experienced a BLFT. A Bike Lane Flat Tire is a flat tire caused by derbis brushed off the roadway by automobile traffic into the bike lane. It's one of many reasons that bike lanes occasionally should be ignored.

A quick tube change and we were back at it. I was a prepared daddy today.

I finally got to visit the 100 year old mostly forgotten Forest Home Cemetery. I've wanted to for a long time but never had enough of a reason to sneak in there...


Riding the tandem was pretty great. We did a fair amount of off-road riding. There were three grassy hills that made us prove ourselves. On one we experienced a fair amount of rear wheel slippage, which is rather exciting for passengers not familiar with such possibilities.

I wasn't aware that there was a view like this just feet from a road I commonly travel on. Maybe I'll get off that road more often when I have my mountain bike with me...


When I was more ignorant of geocaching (two days ago) I imagined hitting all the Sioux Falls geocaches by bike. Today I discovered this map feature of the geocaching website...


3 hours a Sunday isn't going to be enough.