Big Dummy

For a while this morning it seemed like everywhere The Family went The Big Dummy was there.

First - farmer's market - there was The Big Dummy.
Second - drive by The Owner's bike shop - Big Dummy was there.
Third - the grocery store - proof of the presence of The Big Dummy.



I never actually talked to him. But The Family did while I was off fetching a bell pepper.

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?).

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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.

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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.

This Is How I Roll

Spent two hours on the bike today.

I started off by failing to trip a traffic signal in my neighborhood. It's adjacent to a city provided bicycle facility. I reported the malfunction. I'll take a photo and post it if any improvements are made.

A couple days ago I tried to get a photo of the paint at 22nd & Western but the sun was too bright for my cell phone camera and I wanted to be attentive to the travel needs of the two police vehicles behind me at the light. I was pleased to be able to cause the light to trigger for them instead of blocking their path waiting for some other auto to approach.

Stopped off before work for some fresh pineapple and a cup of joe.

Post-work I found the office supply store and acquired a document tube. I've got some Coffee & Donut Ride posters to deliver or maybe I just like riding around with a document tube poking from my messenger bag. Kinda like walking around work with a clipboard. Makes me feel busy.

Next stop was going to be the mid-town Caribou but I realized the east side Dunn Brothers was a reasonable destination, if not a bit of a reach.

I made it to my evening meeting a few minutes late, a nice warm beverage in hand and feeling much refreshed after learning that some people still feel comfortable offering bicycling advice from the hole in their metal and glass cages. I'm sure they were less than impressed with my latte laden left hand.

The meeting was the bike planning meeting for the Metropolitan Planning Organization. It was a very good meeting. We reviewed the draft and agreed June would be a good time to make it public. This planning document details ways to connect the five major population centers in the area with designated bike routes and bike trails. Lots of goodies in there like better communication of chip sealing, better design of rumble strips and generally better roadway design.

I learned a few pleasing bicycle related things are going on at the state government level. I also learned that our city planner and representatives from the state DOT and fed DOT visited with the county commissions today and received some favorable responses to bicycle related ideas.

Exciting stuff!

On the way home I identified another traffic signal that I was unable to switch with my bicycle.

Next stop was Monk's for some much needed mentoring, questioning, and conversating. Monk's is a very good venue for that.

Finally on the way home I identified another traffic signal that failed to detect my bicycle. The police have a simple answer for what to do when in this situation. Turn right. Find an alternate route.

I was in the left turn lane. Given that a right turn from the left lane is illegal and not appropriate for my destination I rode through the red light.

Eh, who am I kidding, I'd a ridden through it anyway but not before stopping and confirming that it wasn't going to change for me.

30 miles.

The Bike To Work Day That Was...II

Ugh. All that picture story telling in the previous post and I forgot my favorite part!

We really mean to share the access to this park. As hard as we're going to try to do this I still don't think we'll be able to expand the wake boarding opportunities beyond what they already are.

The B2W Day That Was...

Got up dark and early Friday morning to ride with some deer and head downtown to sit behind a table. From behind the table I could see hundreds of people eating pancakes. My two favorite were The Mom and The Dad.

We displayed a large map of The City and encouraged visitors to push pins in the places they travelled from. By the end of the day this was a pretty impressive display. Best of all the map ended up on display at MinusCar central.



Plenty stopped at Snakebite's vendor table - which looked suspiciously like a Big Dummy. Most of them stepped on his scale - which to me demonstrated a pretty big commitment to Snakebite's Bike To Work Challenge. It's a beautiful thing to think that some of these folks will succeed in their commitment to ride to work from May 15 to October 15.



Many of them will use their car less, saving hundreds of dollars, many of them will lose some weight, saving hundreds of dollars, and a few of them will finish the challenge with some prize money, gaining them hundreds of dollars.

Post event Mr Bite and I convened at Michelle's for lattes and additional scheming. What no work? That's right, Bike To Work Day is a holiday for me.

From there we ventured to a park not far from downtown to do more imagining of what it would take to make this...



...look more like this...



...so that more people could see things like this...



...without having to leave The City - usually in their car.

Happy Bike To Work Day!

Good Morning

Another Day Another Bike Ride

The day started with the discovery that Snakebite had indeed written about my money tree on his blog. Magnificently coincidentally today on my iPod-bug-zapit-thingy was one of my heroes Wangari Matthai on Speaking of Faith, talking about planting trees.

"...she has fought off encroaching desert by planting 30 million trees..."

Someone then brought to my attention an article from The Local Daily. They wrote-up Snakebite's Bike To Work Challenge today - which indirectly raises the profile of the Bike To Work Day event. In the paper version there's some pretty great photos of Sean rolling on his xtra-cycle - and his lambchopped mug on the cover.

Toward the end of the work day I recieved a very nice, honest e-mail from a traffic engineer related to vehicle sensors that don't detect bicycles. You can tell it was honest because it contained an admission that there's room for improvement. It also contained hints of their plan to make improvements.

After work I spent 90 minutes at Monk's with this guy.



Don't be alarmed. He was properly supervised.

We made progress on the local singletrack project. We looked at some pretty sweet soon to be ready for public consumption diagrams of what we're trying to do and prepared to visit the site for some "before" photos.

After the meeting we observed that the design guy's last name is an anagram of his first name - and his parents didn't do it on purpose.

Then we made Adam cut his hair.

After being gone from home so much today I darn well better not forget to pick up a half-gallon of milk on the way home.

32 miles.

Happy Mother's Day

Went 16 miles with The Family today. Nice low wind cool sort of a day for that.

Later we landed at The Mom's house to deliver a card and chat her up a bit. My favorite thing I learned during the visit.

Long time readers might know they sold car #2 a couple years ago and The Dad rides to work year round.

What I didn't know is that The Mom has taken to escorting him to work a few times a week.

Mom!

I expect she'll be a mid-pack crit racer by the end of the season. We'll know for sure if she starts asking Tour deFrance questions in July.

Ebert On His Impending Death

Roger Ebert writes beautifully (doesn't he always) and thoughtfully (doesn't he always) about the death he expects will visit him sometime before the end of his life.

h/t Prairie Progressive.

Open House

It's that time of year.

SDBC - It's Alive

Friday at promptly 5pm two fellas converged upon my home. One from 1 hour north. One from 1 hour south. We piled into an unmarked van and drove 2 hours west. Upon our arrival we discovered two people had already prepared the workspace.

There is was. In the middle of the room. Up on blocks with the hood open. The South Dakota Bicycle Coalition, Inc.

After 3 1/2 hours we closed the hood, tightened the final lug nut, and spit shined the hood ornament.

The wheels are back on the SDBC.

SB2WC

I heard local bike celebrity Snakebite was on the television last night. I can no longer find the power button on my TV - but a search of the KDLT website reveals the rumor is true.

The 6pm article was all about vehicle sensors for traffic signals. It also hints at a 10pm article which I couldn't find.

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In other news with that special snakebitten touch - kicking-off on Bike To Work Day he's running the Snakebite Bike To Work Challenge. He put it on his blog today. Check it out...and remember, anything he says about me might be true.

If you have a couple seconds over there - remind him that any financial contributions to the effort on my part represent a portion of the funds that in my previous life would have gone for gas and car maintenance.

Thanks!

Streetview?

The camera gets a bit lost in the traffic signal.

The Sixth Of May

My trainer says she's really thinking hard about how to bike to work once a week. That's awesome! Most people don't even think...then she made me run a mile.

I did a brief telephone interview with a newspaper reporter about Snakebite's Bike To Work Challenge.

The same local daily today printed an article about The City's new pursuit of Bike League Bicycle Friendly Community status. That will be interesting and possibly helpful. I noted the first two public comments attached to the article were about having better sidewalks. Education is a piece of the bicycle friendly community program.

Finally - and certainly not least - I picked up my car from its annual oil change and check-up. I learned my mechanic (and shop owner) of 20+ years, after moving his business a bit closer to home, rides his bike to work now.

He's going to save himself a fortune in car maintenance fees!

The Poster Bikes To Work

I drove around Wednesday between 5 and 6pm delivering these to the local bike shops. It was evident that I haven't driven during that hour for a long time. Give me my bike and a side street!



To download the PDF click here.

Bike To Work Day PSA

The ad for 2009 Bike To Work Day is out. I hear rumors it might even by on television. Thanks you YouTube I don't have to turn on my TV to see it.



Isn't it beautiful!

Attention: Local Cyclists Parallel Painted Lines on the Pavement

The Boy 11 reports that remarkably The Officer visited his classroom Thursday. The Boy 11 also reports he merely considered asking Officer Pottebaum about traffic signals that don't change for cyclsts. That's good enough for me.

I have the following report to make. A couple days ago I saw an e-mail addressed to officials within the city. It said something like this:

"I have three lights that never function correctly: 37th and Minnesota, 41st and West Ave, 37th and Kiwanis. I want to report them as non-functioning."

Today I recieved the following e-mail:

"I came through 41 and West, northbound, tonight. There are two parallel painted lines on the pavement. I believe they mark exactly where the sensor is!"

1. any lines you draw between this blog and that paint are your own to draw. There is nothing official that links point a to point b.

2. if you can name a traffic control device that doesn't detect bicycles please, again, I urge you, go to this webpage and report the intersection using their form.

3. if you can't name a traffic control device that doesn't detect bicycles you really should ride your bike. Find one.

Attention: Local Cyclists

Have you ever found yourself stopped on your bike at a red light wishing it would change but knowing the sensor will never identify your presense?

If you have go here and fill out the form. You will be telling public works and traffic engineering something they might not be aware of at a time when they might be able to hear it.

If you need more context:

A city traffic engineer has increased the sensitivity of a traffic signal sensor along the on-road alternate greenway route. In the city bicycle committee e-mail group Snakebite identified that this begs the question, if it can be done here why can't it be done throughout the city?

I will only publish the words I contributed.

I said this:

Just a moment - I'll piggyback on Chris - "Every person driving a bicycle shall have all of the rights and all the duties applicable to the driver of any other vehicle by this Code." Assuming drivers of other vehicles can expect working traffic control devices - I suggest that traffic control devices that don't function for bicycles violate this law.

Traffic control devices that fail for cyclists teach cyclists that red lights aren't for them and put them on the slippery slope to bad habits at stop signs.

Traffic control devices that fail for cyclists teach the majority automobile operators that roadways aren't for cyclists.

Traffic control devices that don't work for cyclists put me in the awkward position as a parent as I try to teach my children cycling rules and law. It's never ok to go through a red light, but sometimes there are red lights that never change. The math gets pretty fuzzy pretty quickly here.

Happy Earth Day. Thank you.

And I said this:

Officer Pottebaum:

The more I think about this the more I must respond more broadly.

I dismiss your first two options as unreasonable within both my rightful expectation that the law applies equally to all citizens and because of the frequency with which I am forced into performing them.

In the past four years I’ve logged over 10,000 bicycle miles in your city. In the past two weeks I’ve ridden my bicycle 140 miles inside your city compared to the 1 on my automobile.

Your third option of reporting failed signals to the traffic engineer is what I will do.

Sirs: roughly 100% of your vehicle sensors fail to detect bicycles roughly 100% of the time. You have a systemic problem. Because increased sensitivity has proven to be what is necessary please, increase sensitivity across the city. I would be happy to assist in any way I possibly can with these efforts.

Perhaps better and more intentional attendance at the Sioux Falls Bicycle Committee Meetings is necessary to open up some real dialog on matters important to the bicycling community.

Thank you for your time.

Michael Christensen, local cyclist
Sioux Falls Bicycle Committee - member
Falls Area Bicyclists, Inc, - Treasurer
South Dakota Bicycle Coalition, Inc - Treasurer
Sioux Falls Bike To Work Day - de facto chair
The MinusCar Project – blogger
MPO Citizen’s Advisory Committee - member
MPO Bicycle Plan Committee – member

Earth Day Everyday...

...but some Earth Day's are more equal than others.

I’ve just come off a beautiful couple MinusCar weeks. 1 car mile driven, 147 bike miles ridden.

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Recently a few things have inspired me and this morning I found the icing to go on my cake of inspiration.

The Wheel Revolution blogger checked in with her first post in almost two years. She’s a single mom in Portland. Once upon a time she pointed to these words:

"I believe people that think that the globe is warming because of human activity, specifically carbon emitting human activity, might be right. Because I think they might be right, I think humans need to change. And because I think humans need to change, I think I need to change."

…calling them her favorite words on the Internet. Surely she’s found more interesting words since.

What I learned today is her The Boy (Leo) has Alagille Syndrome. What I also learned is this: “Because Leo loves Portland’s bike culture, we love Leo.”

And because they love Leo the riders did wonderful and amazing deeds. The riders held some stuff in common; some even gave of their possessions and goods to Leo who had needs.

Wow. Her story is here.

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And then in two separate places these two sets of inspirational words popped up on the Internets.

"Great stuff, especially his mini Bible study on Jonah, the people of Ninevah, and its relationship to saving our planet. What a great way of looking at this story. What would the general condition of Christianity be if the mainstream modern American church had embraced the story of Jonah, instead of trying to interpret Revelation to fit their needs. Oh well, just a thought."

"He's big into the green movement apparently. I heard that he is friends with some lifelight workers also, but not sure on that. He seems like a rather odd fellow, kind of a fringe type.”

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Finally, this Earth Day isn’t going to go by without me restating five core principles that drive The MinusCar Project.

1. Jonah’s three days in the belly of a whale taught him a valuable lesson – proving that one’s form of transportation can matter greatly – “those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good.”

2. Sabbath – imagine millions of people all over the world doing nothing every seventh day. Think of the resources the world would save.

3. Tithing – imagine millions of people all over the world giving away a tenth of everything they earn. Think of the resources the world would save.

4. Fasting – imagine millions of people all over the world regularly fasting. Think of the resources the world would save.

5. Employment – imagine millions of people all over the world quitting their high production jobs and walking around with rabbi. Think of the resources the world would save.

(I said “drive The MinusCar Project.”)