Ride Tonight!

6pm, 6th and Washburn – see you there!

Bike Lanes Are Dangerous

This letter to the editor that appeared in the NY Times a few years ago does an excellent job of describing the flaws in the idea that bike lanes are a safer alternative for bicycle commuters.

The fact is, separate bicycle lanes foster the belief on the part of motorists that bikes don’t belong on the road.  Additionally, they frequently take cyclists out of drivers’ line of sight, creating a very dangerous situation at intersections.

The safest way for cyclists and motorists to co-exist in a community is to share the road.  That’s why we all must do our part to raise awareness among non-cyclists about our place on the road, and how to safely navigate a shared transportation system.

To the Editor:

Samuel I. Schwartz’s nostalgia for the 1980 experiment with barrier-separated bike lanes in Manhattan (”Rolling Thunder,” Op-Ed, Nov. 5) is naïve. These lanes were hardly usable!

In such lanes, bicyclists’ travel is blocked by pedestrians, trucks or their delivery ramps; these also hide bicyclists and turning motorists from each other, increasing the risk of the most common car-bike crashes, those at intersections.

National design guidelines, and position statements of the League of American Bicyclists, strongly discourage the construction of barrier-separated lanes, as research consistently shows them to be more hazardous than riding on the same roadway with motor traffic.

Real improvements in bicycling conditions result, for example, from education, enforcement, bicycle boulevards (streets open for through bicycle travel but for only local motor-vehicle access) and reducing discretionary driving, as with London’s successful congestion charge.

John S. Allen
Waltham, Mass.

The writer is regional director for New York and New England, League of American Bicyclists.

Originally published: November 12, 2006

DINOS LOVE BIKES

Click to see the flyer (PDF).

Check out Great Plains Running Co

Messenger bags! On sale! With stabilizing straps and moisture-resistant materials!  As well as fancy warm socks and lots of running tights and gear.  Most of the gear is at least as expensive as you’d find in a department store – sometimes moreso – but a few things here and there are on sale.  The best deal is on their messenger bags. They even have a decent website.

If you’re looking for less-expensive winter gear in Topeka, be sure to hit Einstein’s Outdoor Outfitters.  I think I buy one or two pairs of socks a month from that store.  I could spend lots of money there… but I wouldn’t have room for all the stuff I would end up with. They are a great source for military surplus gear.  They don’t have a website, but they’re at about 10th and Mulvane in Topeka.

First Friday Bike Ride

Let’s do Topeka’s First Friday Art “Walk” on bikes.  As usual. Free food, free wine, and a free dose of culture. Yeah!

5:30 pm
Boobie Trap Bar Parking Lot
End the loop at Bosco’s?

Boxing Day Critical Mass

Yo, come ride with us tonight!

5pm
Boobie Trap Bar Parking Lot
Bring lights!
And supposedly it’s going to get colder this evening. Watch out, or whatever.

Bicycling in the snow is not a crime

It snowed four inches on Tuesday morning.  I called in to work, and called up two friends.  There are some times in life when it is awesome to own three mountain bikes at once.

Ashley wanted to do some shopping, so we biked to the mall.  Tavio was going to walk downtown and get some breakfast, since he had the day off. Drivers were shocked to see us on the roads. Pedestrians and driveway-shovelers were surprised and happy to see us.  We passed traffic easily on Huntoon and Wanamaker.

Conflict

At the stoplight in front of Walmart on Wanamaker, Ashley bumped her handlebar into a car’s side mirror. There was no damage.  They honked. They yelled. She apologized, profusely, and proceded to ride off as the light turned green.  The three of us rode in front of the car — which happened to be a brand new hybrid — and let it eat our dust as we cruised toward the epicenter of all things commerce in Topeka.  But between 17th and 21st street, a cop in a car slowed down to yell at us:

“Get off the bikes! Get off the road! You’ve already hit one car!”

We continued peacefully and quietly toward West Ridge Mall.  Seriously, dude? You want us to ride that sidewalk? Oh, right, that’s illegal in Topeka. Cool. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the thought to get his car number. So, apparently, the hybrid people called the cops as we were cruising along? Or maybe he saw the whole thing from behind us. Whatever.

Malls=Lame

We made it to the mall. We were happy to tell people we biked there. Everyone told us we were crazy — we just laughed. We hung out, shopped for a while. Discussed the absurd number of jewelry stores per capita, and the fact that no store at the mall selling ”outdoor clothes” actually sells any clothes that are designed for active outdoor wear.

Lunch

Next, we went to CiCi’s for all-you-can-eat pizza.  We totalled about 25 pieces of pizza, three salads, six cinnamon rolls, two plates of pasta, and a few slices of cinnamon-apple dessert pizza, among assorted other cheese-bread type things.  Probably 5000 calories between the three of us.  City Snow Biking wears you the heck out.

Near-death experience

We stopped at Jac’s Liquor World to stock our messenger bags with beer, and then headed to Tavio’s house to stoke up the logs in the fireplace.  We were having a nice, warm evening filled with conversation and Breckenridge Brewery’s Small Batch 471 IPA when the fire alarm went off.  We turned the lights on to realize the house was filled with smoke!  We opened the doors and turned on the fan, threw the still-burning logs out on the snowy lawn, and tried to stay warm by the coals until finally calling it a night. We were all grateful for the smoke alarm — otherwise, we may have all just fallen asleep permanently!

14 miles of City Snow Biking = Awesome

Though I could have been working, redesigning my website, taking photos, making money somehow….  this was a fine alternative.

Black fRIDEay

Let’s get on our bikes after Thanskgiving and burn off those pumpkin pie calories.  Actually, let’s just ride really slow and end the ride at a diner so we can eat more pumpkin pie.  Kidding.

Anyway, it’s the last Friday of the month, you’ve got a bike and some free time, so let’s put them to good use.

CRITICAL MASS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28
5:30 PM, BOOBIE TRAP BAR PARKING LOT
6TH AND WASHBURN

BRING LIGHTS!

Also, let’s discuss this Friday, but we probably don’t need to ride every Friday during the winter months.  It’s not as fun when you’re more worried about cold than conversation.  I think we should do last Fridays and First Fridays, so we can continue to hit the art walk.

RRRRRRRIDE tonight

5:30! Boobie Trap Bar! See you there!

Weather Report: Kinda Cold

40 degrees for the high temp today, Hello Kansas!

That means perfect weather for riding bikes, right??

It’s also the First Friday.

And apparently, Warehouse 414 has the best free food spread.  I propose that be the first stop.

5:30 pm
6th and Washburn (Boobie Trap Bar)
See you there.