Bikey Christmas

While I look forward to, and enjoy, Christmas every year, I am dismayed at the consumerism and sedentary nature of this holiday. I have spent more time in a car over the past four days than in the last six weeks combined! My folks live out in the country and while I love it and it is beautiful, it does not encourage an active transportation lifestyle. We go everywhere by car.

Yesterday we went shopping with my nieces and I was flabbergasted at the layout of so many of the shopping plazas we visited. They were downright unsafe for pedestrians. The message here is: "Don't try to get anywhere without a car". I saw people literally moving their cars a couple hundred yards to get closer to the next set of stores rather than walk because you felt like you were taking your life in your own hands walking anywhere since there were almost no sidewalks and cars were rushing to and fro. To end our day, we were rear ended coming home (while sitting in traffic). No one was hurt but I couldn't help but think how much I just detest cars. Whose idea was this anyway?

On a bright note, my four year niece has learned to ride her tricycle and we have had loads of fun with that. Good times.

Miles walked: 3

Wishing I could stay.....

Yesterday turned out to be quite an adventure in my little bikey life. I left home on bike when it was 45 degrees outside. I wore a thin pair of cotton pants, t-shirt and light long-sleeve cotton shirt, running shoes, a wool scarf, safety vest, gloves, and a fleece headband. I did not check the weather forecast.

BIG mistake.

I biked to my office and worked until noon, biked downtown for lunch and then off to the library. By the time I left Ellis at 7 PM, it was 25 degrees outside. I bundled up as best I could and pedaled hard home. My trunk stayed warm but my arms were so cold that when I squeezed them I could barely feel it. I was fine because I kept moving, but I will never do something that dumb again. I decided that staying the night in Ellis next time might not be so bad! :-D

Miles: 7

GM's last stand

I saw this Andy Singer cartoon and had to roll. I know the collapse of the car industry is not "funny" and I am sorry about so many workers who have lost jobs over the last two decades. I just think it is pretty pathetic that GM has had access to so many resources (both human and technological) and they still can't make a go of it. The reality is that GM has not been loyal to the US or to its workers (sending almost all jobs overseas to pay those workers poorly and pollute in distant places--far away from the American conscience) so it seems fitting that they are not surviving. Maybe they could try and build bike frames here at home? Heaven knows their health insurance costs would be lower for a cadre of workers who biked to get to the plant everyday.

Miles: 6

Good Cycling Day

Today I rode in and wore my new balaclava which worked amazingly well! For such thin fabric it is awesome. Very surprising. I also wore my hunting gloves I got at Wallyworld and I was toasty. I rode in to meet with some students and then out to meet some other people for lunch. They were surprised when they realized I had come on my bike. The common refrain right now is, "You still riding?"

Over lunch we talked about bike commuting and the conversation got around to the cost of owning a car. One guy had just had the struts replaced on his car to the tune of $650. Another had other work done at a cost of $1200. Ouch. I had to take and get my kickstand bolt replaced after lunch....to the tune of...well nothing! They did it for free. I did have the brakes replaced a while back for around 15 bucks but that's it. I am always reminded of how much we work just to support our cars! I hope to be car free one day. For now, I am car lighter and lighter! :-D

Miles: 7

Winter Cycling

After this recent spate of cold weather I became interested in people who cycle through really tough winter conditions, such as say, five feet of snow, etc. I have kept up with Jill Homer on her blog and bought and read her book Ghost Trails. Now when I think it is too cold to bike at 20 degrees, I think of Jill--out there slogging through enough ice and snow to make your heart stop. She is a great writer and the photos on her blog are fantastic. My only wish is that she would do a blog post on her winter gear as I could use the tips.

Another guy who cycles through South Dakota winters is Snakebite chronicled below. He makes winter cycling look easy!

Keep Calm and Ride On

I saw this image at Urban Simplicity and given the weather today (18 degrees and snow!) I thought it was appropriate. I am going out later today on the bike. The snow does not bother me but I fear ice. So far, I don't see any ice so we'll see. I *am* going to buy a pair of hunting gloves though and wear my longjohns and SmartWool socks which are so very warm. Who else is cycling in the snow out there?

Does low-tech = Freedom?

The New York Times recently published an article about Cormac McCarthy's Olivetti typewriter which he bought for $50 in 1963 in a Tennessee pawnshop. He has written Pulizer Prize winning books and many other manuscripts on this simple machine. His original Olivetti will be auctioned at Christie's and he has replaced it with another Olivetti for $11 plus $19.95 shipping and handling.

Like McCarthy's Olivetti, so much of what is produced by a bike comes directly from the user without making overly technological demands or chaining us to expensive and destructive forces. For instance, the bicycle is simple enough (and yet incredibly efficient) to be worked on by everyone--albeit some slower than others, but still...you don't need a PhD or a ton of money to maintain a bike. And it is a truly democratic machine in that it to ride and maintain a bike does not cause the owner to go broke and it does not make life unbearable for other people in either local or distant places (i.e, pollution, war, traffic congestion, debt, etc).

Long live low tech!