Induction into the car-centric life

This holiday has been really nice. I have had a wonderful time visiting family and getting caught up with two of my favorite people in the world: my nieces Zoe (6) and Annabelle (4). We have had quite the celebration here!

However,I have a confession to make: I struggle with the completely car-centric attitude that my nieces are being inducted into. For Christmas some relatives bought the girls a little battery-powered car to drive around in the yard. Needless to say, the tricycle Annabelle was enjoying a few days ago is no longer interesting in comparison to the car.

It is shocking to me to see that the car culture is sucking them in earlier and earlier with the help of well meaning people like my relatives. What gets me is that for the money that was spent on that little car that sucked up petroleum to produce the car and will use energy to keep it running, the girls could have had TWO really nice bicycles. They will outgrow that car in a year or two--if it lasts that long--and what then, a golf cart? Is it any wonder that by the time they are teenagers they'll feel entitled to a car? Hopefully, the newness of that car will wear off but the sense of adventure and freedom that comes with a bike will never end. I just hope that the girls are given that choice as well.

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!

We interrupt this blog for some industrial strength satire

I am reprinting this blog post from Andy over at People Powered due to the wicked satire and yet underlying hopeful message.

Give up: You’re too stupid.
This blog has been temporarily taken over by the Ministry of Propaganda to make an important announcement:

You are entirely powerless to change anything.

You are not individually created, deeply imaginative beings capable of finding solutions for yourselves, so stop trying. After much consultation with people who are more important than you, we have a far better understanding of any given issue. It is therefore pointless for you to research anything yourself: you cannot possibly understand it. Mainstream media can provide all your information. remain scared. Do not get involved in change.

You are not capable of developing your own localised low-cost solutions to environmental problems. If you want to care for the environment then you must buy products designed by the industry because they know a lot more than you. Riding a bike shows that you are different: invest your savings in a hybrid car so that we can keep the motor industry alive. Don’t get ideas about building your own beautiful house for less than it costs to buy a new car: buy an industry made eco-house for twice the cost of a normal home and take out a 30 year mortgage to cover it. Going ‘off grid’ is too difficult. Remember: you are not an expert, you are not creative. Buy more.

‘Living simply‘ means returning to the dark ages. Community is overrated. It is very important that you keep looking for more, bigger, better. Following desires implanted in you by marketers is freedom. Things that are free are of no value. Do not enjoy the sunset outside. Go and buy a plasma TV so you can watch films of sunsets, and get an even bigger one next year. It is important to keep up with your neighbours. Where you live is boring: go to exotic places for your holidays: this is the way to fulfilment. Do not develop meaningful relationships with friends over home-cooked food: go to expensive restaurants to be seen so that your social status is increased. And drive there. You can’t help the environment anyway, so stop trying. Loneliness is normal. Normal is good.

Big Business will look after you -as long as you do as you are told. Stay scared and buy things you don’t need. Accept the decisions of those in authority without question because they know much more than you. Do not think independently: you may decide to be different. Being different is difficult. People who live differently become labelled as strange and you don’t want to be strange. You want to be normal.

Thank you for your attention. Now go and buy things.

Ode to my Heroes: Broads on Bikes

Josie Dew and daughter Molly

One of the reasons I became fascinated with bike riding and travel was due to a book I read in 2001, The Wind in My Wheels by Josie Dew. Josie started cycling when she was a girl and has ended up cycling around the world including the UK, US, parts of Canada and the Middle East, as well as New Zealand and Japan. I have read almost everything she has written and was chuffed to see that getting married and having a child have not slowed her down (although I wouldn't blame her if it had). She even got me to reading about another cyclist, the intrepid Dervla Murphy who at 78 is still biking strong. Murphy's travel-by-bike tale Full Tilt is one of the best books I have ever read. Murphy has traveled all over the world solely by bike including the Middle East in the mid-1960s. I hope that's me one day!

Miles: 6.50

Stuff I heard: "Young lady, you are brave to ride in this cold!"

The Beautiful Letdown

Art by Bluebell

Well, is that it? Promises of RAIN! SNOW! COLD! MISERY!

Well, if that is it--bring it on! :-D

I biked to school today wearing several layers and a light mid-length coat. I tried out my new smart wool socks and some Rockport boots I have had forever that still look nice. I finally found that one of those fleece headbands under my helmet keeps my ears warm without making me too hot. What I really need though is a windbreaker because I was warm enough after cycling but just needed to block the wind.

Miles: 6.30

P.S. Riding home tonight, the moon was beautiful.

Tomorrow is the test

Image from IceBike

I have heard that tomorrow will be cold, rainy, and possibly snowy. This is the test. I'll let you know how it goes.
On another note, even though I have been bike commuting regularly for five months now, when I first get on my bike and start peddling off, I have an overwhelming urge to put on my seatbelt. Strange.