2008 Miles

The year has ended.

Here's a chart showing the 8 times I filled up in 2008.



Looks like annual biking miles over 3 years is right around 3,000.

Looks like annual automobile miles over 3 years is just shy of 2,000.

The chart clearly shows improvements can be made, especially February and August. February is bad because it's cold. August is probably bad because I stayed up too late into the nights to wake up with time and energy to ride.

I'd really like to reach 4,000 bike miles but not enough to make my list of 7 resolutions for 2009 - eight.

Lately I've been experiencing public transportation and walking more than biking. I've been having quite the adventures too. Seems one particular driver is resigned to schedule failure on a particular route making it difficult for me to make my connections to get home.

I am no longer able to think of the bus service as reliable for anybody with schedule needs that go beyond experimentation with transportation. My family offers me heaping amounts of grace when it comes to this - for that I am grateful.

I Hadn't Thought Of It That Way Before...

A driver stopped for me at a mid-block well marked crosswalk today as I pursued lunch on foot. I might be 1 for 10 now at that spot.

I was so happy I celebrated by trying to get run over in the driveway outside my dining venue. In her defense I was walking against traffic which is slightly less dangerous than bicycling aginst traffic on the sidewalk.

I think she was a little surprised that we'd selected the same venue for lunch - which is to say, I think she changed her mind about lunch after that.

--

I read with an unsual amount of interest the Pinch Flat News post that reprinted one of his 1997 articles that included these words:

"That bikes should observe all the traffic laws governing cars is ridiculous, dangerous, and pointless -- especially since car drivers are genetically incapable of recognizing bikers as legitimate vehicles with whom they must share the road."

Perhaps it was the "Joe Soucheray: Not cold nor sludge can stop the morons" article published on TwinCities.com that included these words:

"..if they fall down in front of me, I will run over them in their snowmobile suits and squash them like a bug...Oh, I'll call 911 and tell them where the body is, but I ain't stoppin'."

That helped me see this argument more clearly than in the past. I got it, understood it, maybe even started to belive it.

But at the same time I'll try to remember the majority of folks on the road that don't think like terrorists.

Habitat Fragmentation

And there it was, 5 days after posting this:

"which brings up interesting ideas and thoughts about roads and habitat disruption and roads and human habitat disruption."

I found this in Traffic, by Tom Vanderbilt:

"In the same way that traffic has been blamed for habitat fragmentation of the wild, cutting off species from foraging areas or reducing the tendency of birds to breed, high traffic helps starve social interaction on human streets..."

Who'da thunk.

New Year's Day Ride

As is my custom I rode the Spoke-n-Sport First Best Darn Bike Ride Of The Year today. 200-ish people turned out for a quite nice January day.

The second best part about this particular year was The Wife accompanied me for the first time. Ice was a concern - we were without studded tires on the tandem. There were a few spots of concern but only once did I feel like we had used up all our margin for error. The best part was that we made it through that experience with the rubber side still down and loaded.

All the usual suspects were there - no surprise.

The Dad rode - but that's not too unusual. It may have even been his second ride that day.

I caught up with The Pastor - always a highlight.

Day one - 2009 - in the books.

Faith | Hope | Love | 2009

I have very little faith in the economy.

I have very little hope in politicians.

I am not afraid and I no longer worry.

Welcome 2009. Happy New Year!

1,000,000,000 | Wall*E

The first time I saw Wall*E I understood that the movie is about what we might look like in the future - what with the bone atrophy and the uninhabitable planet. They were buried under their own garbage and left the planet. At least we know we'll never get that bad.

Maybe we are that bad - I'm starting to think about the movie more and more within this context.

In their race to grow the economy to continue to enrich the already richest 10% of the planet - banks found themselves holding more toxic paper than they could contain. Many ordinary folks have lost their primary investment - their homes.

In their race to supply the energy necessary to continue to enrich the already richest 10% of the planet - the Tennessee Valley Authority found themselves holding more toxic sludge than they could contain. Many people have lost their homes - or their homes are uninhabitable.

Interestingly I found a Popular Mechanics article indicating that new regulations dis-allowed the release of this waste into the atmosphere. Apparently instead it's gathered in sludge ponds to be released into the rivers after accumulation of 1,000,000,000 gallons. Civil disobedience?

I wonder how long it will take Wall*E to clean up 1,000,000,000 gallons of sludge from 400 acres of land - and how long after that it will be before the first plant sprouts through the damage - and how long after that the first probe reports back that we can re inhabit the land and start growing pizzas again.

One thing is for sure - toxic waste flows down hill.

Get Out

My day began with the Coffee Doughnut Ride. I met the guy with all the G's and the B's in his name at 8am sharp. We didn't mess around too much with waiting for the Hooterville Mayor or touring the crunchy frozen streets - we selected the Phillips Ave Diner as our destination and pretty much went straight away there. I think 10 was the number of degrees in the air at the time but the NW wind was making them hard to hold on to.

We each enjoyed a 2+2+2, links for me, bacon for he. Our server claimed to be a 75 to 100 mile a week roller. Mostly hybrid miles but she found herself a Gunnar on the internets at the end of summer. She likes riding enough to have a trainer. She likes having a trainer enough to complain about having one.

The bikes outside parked in the bike rack made from shoveled snow (that we were lucky enough to be seated by) garnered their fair share of curiosity as we covertly looked on over maple syrup infused pastry through tinted restaurant glass.

We chatted about the incredible difficulty found in crossing Western Ave between 41st and 49th Street - which brings up interesting ideas and thoughts about roads and habitat disruption and roads and human habitat disruption. Who's responsibility is it to be sure this human habitat remains human inhabitable? Apparently it's not the Tennessee Valley Authority. But that's for a future likely non-existent post.

After our ride blew apart into two distinct pieces I found my way back to Caribou Coffee where I was lucky enough to discover then end my ride with a festive chat with The Owner. I'd do that more often if I could. I rode seven more miles than start-time degrees, which makes for an interesting formula for minimum ride length requirements.

The afternoon featured a walk in the park. Literally.

It was still cold...



Some of us didn't seem to mind...



If you're the type of person that finds shades of grey pretty then you're the type of person who might find this photo pretty...



The Mom mentioned that The Great Aunt In Illinois indicated via Christmas card that she's a MinusCar Project reader. All I can say to that is...

Merry Christmas Runell.

Merry Christmas

At my house it was Professor Plum with the pistol in the hall.

It’s Like A Group Ride, With Tubistas

Some of the tubas even looked like the Hooterville Mayor's bike.

Recent research concludes that band students might suffer some hearing damage.



Ya think!

Have I ever told the story of the time I, as a Washington High cheerleader tangled with a Lincoln High band parent at Howard Wood Field? Of course I haven’t.

This is a family blog. I'm not even sure my family knows the story.

20 years provides me this perspective – the band parent was still wrong.

I stepped into the dark side today. I played a band parent – in real life. The Boy 10 began playing the baritone this year in school. Today was Tuba Christmas.

Tuba Christmas is a call to all tuba players: pay $5, rehearse for an hour, eat lunch, play three free afternoon concerts at three different venues. The Boy 10 was among a handful of 5th graders. I guess the oldest was 73. Many of the tubas looked 73.

They played many familiar Christmas songs. We sang along to Silent Night – well, once we found an octave that wasn’t waaaaay toooo loooow. At the end they wished us a “Merry TubaChristmas.”

Quite a satisfying day for a first time band parent. My role: carry the music stand and the sit stool. Hold the coat during the performance. Transport to next venue.



BUT - today the MinusCar Family participated in the Federal Highway Administration National Household Travel Survey. Did I mention there was a rehearsal and three concerts at three venues? And lunch?

I filled up the survey log and had to continue on a separate additional sheet of paper. That’s not how I imagined my log would look when I agreed a few weeks ago to participate.

Oh well - I guess the feds get to waste another year believing 0% of trips in Sioux Falls are taken by bicycle.

-

Sioux Falls singletrack discussion continues tomorrow afternoon.

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