Come the Revolution

Archive for the ‘Transportation’ Category

In college the first big snowfall was when I decided to put my bicycle into hibernation. It’s not that I didn’t want to ride, but having tried to ride the bike across campus (to an indoor, caged location) was a comedic event. The tires just couldn’t cut through the snow and find any asphalt. Besides, I thought, no one else was out on their bicycles anymore.

After college I lived in a city, a real city, where it didn’t snow too much too often and the asphalt held the sun’s warmth for weeks of cloudy weather. Where it was safer, or at least it seemed so, to bike in the winter than to walk. The first time it snowed I realized how safe it was for me to be able to feel the control the tires had through my feet. If I started slipping, I could feel it.

Now I’m in a town that is not particularly bike friendly, where the snow doesn’t disappear the day after it falls. And I’ve decided to stay on the bicycle during the winter. The difference is that here, where the windchill on the way home from work can dip below 0°F, I need to be wearing a facemask and goggles.

There are a few important things to remember about winter biking, aside from the proper attire. Believe me, if you don’t wear enough clothes, you’ll know it. The other things have to do with caring for your bike. The salt and grime that end up on the underside of your car also end up on your bike. It’s important to frequently clean off your bike. A damp cloth is usually enough. Also, it’s important to have the right kind of lubricant- one that can handle cold and wet conditions- and to use it liberally and frequently. That salt and grime? Yeah, definitely not something that you want mucking up your gears.

If it’s icy or you’re concerned about traction, it’s ok to let a little air out of your treaded mountain bike tires. This will give you more surface contact, which is better for icy conditions. If you’re in an area that’s always got ice during the winter months, invest in one (for your front tire) or two studded tires.

If you have a road bike, the thin tires may help you more during snow than my mountain bike tires do. They can cut through, rather than floating on top of, the white fluffy stuff. This will likely work to your benefit provided there isn’t an ice skating rink below the layer of powder. So if you’re riding on 700c’s be careful in spring as the thawing and freezing often leaves a layer of ice behind.

You’ll end up going pretty slow in fresh snow, but being able to experience the snowfall and the crunching beneath your wheels will more than make up for the extended commute. Biking is the most beautiful way to experience a snowy night.

How much do you know about the bicycle? How about your bicycle?

Up until I started working at a bike shop didn’t know much about them at all. I knew that I got on one, pushed the pedals, and made it go. I didn’t much think about other problems with it until they happened, and then I generally kept riding it until I couldn’t anymore. I quickly learned a few things at that particular job that would keep me from dealing with my mode of transportation with such little reverence. One of these things was that a bike shop bike, which generally ranges from $300 on up, is meant to last a lifetime. Occasionally parts may need to be replaced (brake pads, pedals, sometimes rims), but the bike as a whole should be able to handle anything short of being run over and still be usable, provided you take care of it.

How do I take care of it?

Easy! Ok, not completely easy, but easier than any basic maintenance on your motorized vehicle. You have to keep in mind the chain and pressure. Keeping the chain lubed keeps it and the gears (front and back) in good condition with as little wear as possible. Keeping air pressure in your tires keeps your riding fast and smooth while keeping your wheels properly and safely round and true.

The relative bike equivalent of an oil change is to lubricate the chain. You want to get a chain lube, specifically for bicycle chains, which is easy enough to pick up at a bike shop or on the internet. When I’m at work I use Chain-L #5, but since that’s a little expensive I tend to get a Pedro’s brand lube for home-use. I use Extra Dry because I commute and the dry lubes are less likely to stain one’s pants, although that one in particular is not recommended for Seattle (and other rainy-area) readers. Pedro’s also has at least one biodegradable lube which are notably better for the earth, but also need to be more frequently applied. If you’re going to get a biodegradable lube Chain-j (pronounced “change”, also from Pedro’s) is your best bet.

When you lube your chain, make sure the chain is clean of debris (leaves impede the chain’s purpose). Stand your bike upside-down or lean it against something and start pushing the pedals so the chain is moving, and then squirt the lube wherever it is comfortable to hold the bottle, allowing the chain to move through the lube stream at least one full rotation. Some folks ride a few minutes then wipe the excess off the chain, but that’s more work than I find necessary. If you haven’t ridden in more than a few weeks, do this before you start riding again. If you’re not going to ride for more than a few weeks, do this immediately before putting your bike in storage.

As for the pressure, you want to add pressure whenever your tires are lower than their ideal (which is somewhere between max inflation and 10 psi lower than that number). Having a floor pump at home and/or carrying a hand pump with you on longer than local rides will let you keep on top of this. The basic idea is that your bike tires should not be squeezable. You should see very little change in their apparent width when you add your weight (and whatever else you’re towing) to the bike. If they look saggy, add air. And don’t use the air pumps at the gas station if you can help it- they’re set up for a completely different pressure than bike tires need and often don’t work well at all for that reason.

Keeping your chain lubed and tires inflated does something else very important to your bike- it makes it easier to ride. Your ride will be smoother and your energy more efficiently used by the machine- more miles per gallon… of food.

Three people sent me the same NYTimes article on young ex-urbanites farming. A few other Times articles were also sent my way. Here is a set of links with a little bit about each. You may need to sign up (it’s free) to read some of them.

My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables), by Jack Hedin. Explains a little bit about farm subsidies and how they are actively working against small farmers and farmers of “specialty crops” (i.e. vegetables and fruit) and the commodity crop (soy, rice, wheat, corn, cotton) farmers who choose to ally with vegetable farmers.

Leaving Behind the Trucker Hat, by Allen Salkin. This article talks about people who lived or grew up in urban environments who have left them for farmland. It mentions NYC’s Greenmarkets (the organization of farmers markets all over the city), and some folks starting up a microbrewery. It somehow makes everyone interested in farming from my generation sound like we wore Carhartts and drank PBR in college for the cool factor, which makes me not like it too much. This, though, was e-mailed to me 3 times. Maybe someone mistook my Levis for Carhartts a few years back?

Hydrogen Fuel Station Opens in White Plains, by Diana Marszalek. In case the title doesn’t say it all- ignoring that there is no other infrastructure for fuel cell powered transportation or the virtual unavailability of vehicles running by hydrogen, a refueling station (like a gas station, but more combustible) is open in White Plains, NY.

More Food, Fewer Nutrients, by Julie Deardorff. Ever wonder why you eat too much and still need dietary supplements? Here’s a good insight- an apple is not just an apple. Simply put- your food is not packing the punch your great grandparents’ food did. As the soil and ways of farming have been altered, the quality of food has gone down drastically. She quotes studies and encourages organics. I happen to like Julie’s style, which was an added bonus.

I’m excited to be able to say that I saw a Smart Car yesterday for the first time, although I am less enthused that I saw it after I narrowly missed becoming intimately acquainted with its rear fender and the pavement. You’d think a Smart Car driver would be more willing to share the road!

Anyway- Smart Cars are pretty amazing contraptions. They’re built for two, built for cities, have trunk space for your groceries or whatever, and are very euro-shic. They are also one of the easiest things to park- being half the length of a lot of SUVs I’ve seen trucking around the narrow DC streets. In short, they’re one of a few really good ideas for urban dwellers car-wise.

What makes them even more exciting is that they’re available on the East Coast. That and in two short years they will be available in a plug-in electric and a hybrid form. Brilliant!

So if any of you are looking into buying a car for two, I suggest looking into the Smart Car.

Growing up as the younger of two boys, I got to play with a lot of transportation toys as a kid. There’s a model train setup in my parents’ basement to this day. More than that, my dad’s Lionel model train set from the 1950’s is also in that basement, as is a stationary model engine with turning wheels and a steam-release. It runs on a tiny steam engine inside the model, well, steam engine. I can even remember there being a small store in my hometown that used to sell Lionel train sets. It, like the doll house store (in a Victorian that looked like a dollhouse) and most of the other locally-owned stores of my childhood, went the way of the dinosaur long before I could afford a real purchase. My love of trains, thankfully, has remained strong.

Now the trains that gain my attentions most are Amtrak. They are the trains that get me from Union Station here in DC to Penn Station in New York, to Boston to see friends, and to western NY to visit my brother. Around here there’s the MARC for commuters, where I grew up there were NJTransit and LIRR trains, and a few other cities have good rail systems still in use (including SanFrancisco, where they’re trollies). It used to be that there were a hell of a lot more of them- both trains and trollies- running throughout the states. What happened? The age of the car and cheap gasoline happened. And now that age is ending.

I think my vote to move back to trains is clear- the re-building and upkeep of tracks would provide jobs and labor, as would the construction of rail cars and the customer service positions (conductors, ticket sales persons, etc). There’s another reason, too. Train systems- ones that are used and well-kept- are better in a lot of ways than other forms of transportation. Less polluting than cars, buses, and planes per capita (or, for argument’s sake, per container); they can be made especially efficient using magnets and electric wiring. They leave safe walking/riding space in and around the streets, putting less pollution directly into the lungs of you and your kids. In short, I love trains.

Recently I started working in a children’s toy store and, lo and behold, there’s a 3+ train set. For those of you far removed from small children or their train sets, it’s a table set up with a basic but nice set of wooden tracks with little wooden (plastic outside this store) engines and cars set up to play with. Every single three year old, and most four and five year olds, beeline past scores of toys for this table. Every time it happens, I can’t help but smile.

How do you know when it’s too cold to ride your bicycle? This is something I have thought about quite a bit over the past few years, as I’ve relied more and more on my bicycle for transportation. Last week I finally knew for sure what too cold was. I made a brilliant decision to ride to work when it was less than 20 degrees out, windy, and a largely uphill ride.

Going downhill felt like the descriptions I’ve heard of skydiving. One can’t really inhale, but it is, at least occasionally, unnecessary. On flat ground breathing was sharp and painful. As soon as I hit an incline I couldn’t inhale. It wasn’t hard to inhale after a moment or two, it was absolutely impossible. No oxygen, no power. I had to walk the bike uphill.

Thankfully after the shift it was a bit warmer and I managed to bike myself back home without walking halfway. I’ll tell you, there is nothing that makes me feel more like a wuss than walking my schwinn on the sidewalk. Even when I’m sporting my new (thanks, Amanda!) sexy helmet.

Last month I succumbed on more than a few occasions to a cumpulsion for buying used books. I know, it’s not as worthwhile as the library. I wish it were ossible for me to access all the books I want from the library, but DC’s library system is less than efficcient. These books I purchased were often for others, but one I bought with the purpose of reading and finding out from its contents whom it best fit.

This book is How to Live Well Without Owning a Car by Chris Balish. As someone who lives well and does not want a car, I was a bit of an easy sell on this book. His descriptions of gasoline-powered-mentality [my term, not his] were eerily similar to some of the things I still feel occasionally- those vehicles are enormously helpful in terms of getting around, especially outside of densely populated metropolitan areas. Even I lust after gasoline-powered vehicles, although those tend to be two-wheeled or plug-in hybrids.

Balish has a writing style that’s easy to read and has a lot of information I am glad someone [other than myself] put together. He references the US Bureau of Labor’s statistical analysis from 2003’s average amount spent on car ownership that year (when the average gallon of gas was $1.55) as $8′410. He even provides a worksheet so you can figure out the “true financial cost” of your own vehicle. The idea of owning a car with that kind of financial breakdown is nearly as terrifying as the amount of pollution from the manufacture and function of one. Almost.

The book has a lot of good suggestions for minimizing your reliance on automobiles through public transport and biking among other means. If you’re interested in becoming less codependent in your relationship with your automobile, or end the relationship entirely, I highly recommend this book.

The beginning and end seem to be available via GoogleBooks, in case you can’t wait till your weekly trip to the library.

NaNoWriMo has begun, and Amanda’s definitely throwing herself into it. That means a great deal of things, not the least of which is that you’re all stuck with me for the most part through the end of November. I promise to try and post often (my goal is at least twice a week, which I will then use to guilt trip Amanda about so that she posts a lot in the winter months) and try to be entertaining.

In honor of entertainment, I’m using Clif bar’s recent multimedia campaign to illustrate my love of my bicycle. I live in a no-car household, and our friends who live local to us also don’t have cars.

Now I hear the chorus of complaints about how this entry isn’t really about what can be done in everyone’s lives, but it is. I grew up in the suburbs- the land of cars. I grew up owning a bike and using it once a month or so during warmer months. It was for me and is for most others a conscious choice to start riding more. I started riding more in college because, well, it was the only way to travel. It was cheaper to live a little further from the bus route and university, which put me a good mile and a half from the grocery store. What’s to be done? Bike, and stop being self conscious about the milk crate strapped to the back of it. Now that I live in a city and bike in city traffic I know how easy it would be to get around where I grew up without a car. Thanks to NJTransit being around for longer trips (commuter rail + bus), biking seems like it would be easy there as compared to here (and it isn’t difficult here), I think I could make it a good long time without needing to get a car.Now, I know better than most cyclists that it’s not for everyone. It’s difficult to restructure your life, but for some it’s impossible. I’m not suggesting that everyone ditch their means of transportation for a bicycle, but I am suggesting that if you can walk, bike, skateboard, scoot, ride, windsurf, or otherwise propel yourself to a few of the places you go weekly without using a combustion engine, you should do it. It’s good for your health, it’s good for your neighbors health, it’s not propelling climate change, it’s a good example for the local kids, it’s cheap. Where’s the downside?

Besides, come the revolution we will have to grow our own (personal- in your garden) fuel if we want to use combustion engines. When given the choice between feeding folks and going twice as fast for closeby trips, I don’t think it’s really much of a question. Also, if I’m making alcohol, it’s for drinking, not burning. Come the revolution you may have the choice of your feet, your bike, or your horse. It’s a lot easier to feed yourself than yourself and a horse, and you can travel three times as efficiently on a bike than on your own feet.

And if you don’t think you can carry the groceries you need for a week on a bicycle, I think you’re full of it. Just check out the Xtra Cycle and the Yuba Mondo . If you can’t buy one, you can always or buy or make a trailer.

Lest I try to get away with a post about bicycles without incorperating Queen: