Every day, I witness fellow cyclists blatantly breaking rules of the road, putting themselves and others at risk, and making the rest of us law-abiding bikers look bad. Blasting through red lights, wearing dark clothes at night with no lights or reflectors, and aggressively cutting in front of cars are just a few examples of belligerent cycling that is rampant. When I ride with friends, we definitely try to stay in single file if we are on a busy road. Just the other day as I was driving, some woman riding with her buddies was in the lane while her friends stayed to the right. Believe me, I know that we are entitled to the lane, but if there is room to let a car pass, that should always be the priority in order to avoid incident.

So what can we do? Our cities are not designed with bicycles as the priority, although some reformation is taking place nowadays. Entire city street plans would need to be shifted in order to have bikes and cars truly cooperating. Some cities are ahead of the pack. Like I mentioned last week, Portland rules for biking in the US. They initiated a plan to become more biker-friendly back in 1971. Europe, however, seems to be leading the way for bicycle oriented thoroughfares. The Dutch and the Danish have some fantastic cycling innovations. Just check out these videos.

So we have some examples to learn from. Perhaps someday soon, a great cycling advocate will rise up into a position of political power and the necessary changes shall be made! But until then, please stay aware of your surroundings and ride safe.

I was just digging through some old boxes of my dad’s and discovered some really awesome headband/ear covers that are super crucial for this brisk air. I definitely ride with gloves on so my hands don’t go numb, but my ears are often still forced to endure extreme wind chill. These headbands should make a world of difference!

At least the rainy season has yet to begin. How do you protect yourself in the rain? Some sort of fender over the back tire to prevent mud splashing onto your back is a great idea, especially if you’re on the way to work in nice clothes. There are also numerous options for waterproof pants or shoes. There are even capes available that allow for ventilation to avoid the swampy humid feeling that arises when pedaling aggressively under several layers of clothing.

But more importantly, we must calculate the additional road space required to stop on wet asphalt. As I ride, I tend to assume that everyone else on the road is going to make a maneuver that endangers me. If that sounds paranoid, just this weekend I was riding with a friend, my buddy moved directly in front of me very suddenly and I had to skid a little bit to avoid a collision. It was nothing serious, and I made no point of it to him, but these little habits of caution are the type of action that avoid escalation into larger incidents.

One day after work last winter, I had to ride home in a sudden torrential downpour. Luckily, my house was only a couple miles away. Even so, I ended up completely drenched from my waist down. I had worn a waterproof jacket on top, but regular jeans and sneakers on bottom. My socks were literally saturated, which has to be one of the worst feelings. I was reminded of Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump, who was adamant about the necessity for clean, dry socks: “There is one item of GI gear that can be the difference between life and death: Socks.” I tend to agree with his sentiments, and love the feeling of a fresh pair of warm fuzzy socks. When I finally got home from my rapid ride though the squall, I was lucky my dad had a fire roaring. I immediately changed into dry clothes and made myself cozy by the fireplace.

Weather is an extremely powerful phenomenon, and humans have generally done a pretty awesome job of adapting to it in order to thrive in places like the Himalayas.

There are times, however, when an alternative route probably should be taken.

Like this:

It wasn’t long however, before I realized the animosity aimed at bikers by the general public. The campus of San Diego State University was very poorly designed considering the amount of people meandering from class to class (most likely with pit stops at the bar/frat house on the way). No bikes allowed, no matter what time of day or how empty the walkways were. Citations were regularly handed out by the elite forces of the SDSU police.

Riding around on the roads was not respected any more. One time, I was pulled over on my way to school for a rolling stop. I admit I did not come to a complete stop at the stop sign; yes, I broke the traffic law. But seriously, it was a completely empty intersection on a small road! I ended up having two cops search my backpack, even though I had been very cooperative and respectful. I was literally on my way to take a test and had my bag full of books.

The fact that they put so much effort into simply letting me off with a warning wasn’t so much personally upsetting as it was disconcerting. I was riding my regular 7 mile route to school, through an impoverished area where crime is constantly observable. It just seems so strange to me that police driving through a tough neighborhood would see me, a college kid on a bike, as the person suspicious enough to pull over and hassle.

This was to be just the first of my encounters with the San Diego Police on my bicycle. I ended up getting pulled over twice for wearing headphones, and once more for a rolling stop. These were all in the same low-income area where crime was abundant! I literally passed by the same prostitutes walking the street every few days. Yet I received the police officers’ full attention. I managed to make it through 6 years living in SD while only getting pulled over on my bike 5 times. Not bad I guess, considering where local law enforcement’s priorities lay.

So I have returned to the Bay Area, where Berkeley cops make an effort to see that the automobile drivers are the ones acting responsibly, because obviously bikers already are (wink wink). I can freely cruise with headphones now if I feel some music would improve my ride. I can push my pedals down bicycle boulevards straight through stop signs on wide, empty streets designed with cyclists in mind.

Even better, I was recently informed that the SDSU campus has changed, and bike lanes have finally been added!

I am very happy for the students currently pedaling to class, although some other, more regrettable, campus changes have been made, including the demolition of the campus bar Louie’s. I suppose sometimes progress takes sacrifice.

It’s also pretty cool that anyone can make these movies. You just type the words, and the animated characters speak them. They don’t always speak them correctly, but then that’s the source of some of the humor, right?

Enjoy!

The Typical Post Ride Conversation:

Here–an interview with Phil Ligget:

I will first clarify points I disagree with:

1. I will probably never drop five grand on a bike. Ever. I only buy parts with pro-deals, discounts, and on e-bay.
2. A steel frame from 1988 is a perfectly fine thing, so long as it’s quality.
3. Hipsters.  I really hate the pants, the tiny handle bars, and the fixed gear bikes. But the messenger bags are cool. I mean, every commuter needs one of those, they’re ergonomically correct! Even MC SpandX should understand that.
4. I’m not sure it really is all about performance. Sometimes I like to ride just for fun
5. Objectifying women by having them pump tires in unzipped jerseys isn’t nice. It sets unreasonable standards for the rest of us who only unzip our jerseys until after we’ve gotten hot while riding, not just to make MC SpandXlook like he can get the ladies.

Ok, aside from those 5 points, I pretty much love this video.

You see, I got a job here in the Bay Area at the same time as my very good college friend, Karleen, got a job in LA. We decided we’d make the epic road trip from Wisconsin together, in her car. She’d drop me off in Emeryville, and then make the drive south to the city of angels. The plan was for the Trusty Boyfriend to join me out here later (which he did a couple months later). As you can imagine, I wasn’t about to leave all my bikes in Wisconsin with him–I was going to need at least one or two to get around out here in California.

So we strapped our bike rack onto Karleen’s car, and I selected my road bike and a recently built single speed commuter that is technically the Trusty Boyfriend’s. Karleen strapped on her steel behemoth of a commuter, and we set off into the sunset.

The drive went well. There were no major incidents (unlike my second trip out to help move the Trusty Boyfriend and the rest of our stuff–that’s a story for another day). Karleen and I spent our nights at some shady hotels, ate some over-priced pizza in Reno, and generally had a good time singing at the top of our lungs. Things were great.

Until we got here.

Once we arrived, we parked in some angled street parking, and the Trusty Boyfriend’s brother came out to meet us. He suggested we move the car to a better unloading spot, and asked if we wanted to take the bikes off the back first. We declined, figuring we’d do it once we got to the unloading spot. So he and I walked over to the better spot while Karleen climbed in the car to move it. She threw it in reverse and hit the gas a little too aggressively–backing all the way across the street and into the back of another car.

Panic.

The bikes were mostly ok. The carbon fork on the single speed was toast, and the front wheel needed a new spoke and a good truing. My road bike needed a rear wheel truing, a straightening of the derailleur hanger. Otherwise, things seemed ok–the guys at the shop I went to thought I should replace the headset because it stuck al ittle. It seemed fine to me, so I passed on the fairly expensive part + installatino cost.  But then I started riding more. I noticed that the headset on my road bike was sticking–I could either go straight, or if I chose to turn the bike, I would have to push so hard on the handlebar that I ended up turning a full 90 degrees, usually into traffic. While it is not immediately clear that the headset injury is a result of the “incident” as we’re now calling it, it is immediately clear that to enjoy my cycling experience safely, I need to replace the headset.

I had a couple options. The guys at the shop said I should get the oh-so-pricey Chris King headset. Apparently since my roadbike is a semi-classic Colnago, it “deserves” the quality of that headset. The Trusty Boyfriend recommended something cheaper, maybe from Ritchey with a discount from one of the clubs we belong to. I was torn. It wasn’t cheap either way ($200ish for the King, $100ish for the Ritchey), and I’m kind of an indecisive person sometimes anyway.

I put the decision off until I almost died about five times riding up Wildcat Canyon from work in Orinda, and down through Berkeley to get home to Emeryville. I mean, it’s bad to be struggling up a hill with a sticky headset, and worse to be flying down the other side of that hill at 45 mph with one. I entrusted the decision to the Trusty Boyfriend, who is somewhat (read: infinitely) more knowledgeable about parts than I am. He totally surprised me with a new option!

The option was to order a headset from Velo Orange. I’d never heard of them, but they seemed like a good option. Because I need a 1″ threaded headset, my options were limited, but Velo Orange had created what sounded like a pretty good headset. I ordered it, but it hasn’t arrived yet. After we install it, I’ll let you know what I think. I have high hopes though, based on the company’s description:

For many years some of the wonderful parts and accessories once produced by small firms in Europe for the cyclo-tourist and randonneur have been unavailable, or outrageously expensive. So I started Velo Orange to find and sell these remaining items, and to produce those that were no longer available.Please understand that Velo Orange is an unusual business as I started it not for mercenary reasons, but to fill a special need. So I’ll always welcome, and even ask for, any suggestions for new products and ideas for improving our existing offerings. As we evolve, we’ll continue to add new products each week; please keep checking back.In the meantime, why not put your camera, jacket, and wallet in the handlebar bag and go out for a whole day or weekend in the country? Stop at a nice inn and have lunch, chat with the local farmers, drop by an art studio, winery, or bakery. Or ride out to our showroom in historic Annapolis, Maryland.Happy riding,Chris

Sounds cooll, right? I love that he created a 1″ threaded headset, because they really aren’t that common anymore. And the website has tons of other cool stuff too.

]]> http://www.bicycleboulevards.com/news-and-events/need-a-headset-check-out-velo-orange.html/feed 0 http://www.bicycleboulevards.com/news-and-events/berkeley-revolution-unicycle-basketball-team.html http://www.bicycleboulevards.com/news-and-events/berkeley-revolution-unicycle-basketball-team.html#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:10:47 +0000 kaitlin http://www.bicycleboulevards.com/?p=285 Only in Berkeley can you find some crazy folks who are into cycling, but only if it involves one wheel and a basketball.

It sounded like a great idea to me, and somewhat tragic that the things could be banned (I might feel differently if the article had provided some accident statistics or something). I wanted to see these bikes in action. I kind of want to go to Amsterdam just to ride one. So what did I do instead? I went to the trusty Youtube–where one can always find exactly what is needed when one can’t afford a trip to Amsterdam. I present to you, the beer bike:

Check out Yehuda Moon & The Kickstand Cyclery!