KC Bike Week 2008 Day 4: A New Beginning

Not really. Just a different bike, but it felt good to ride something that didn't sound as if it were falling to pieces.

I didn't get much sleep last night, so combined with this week's mile-fest, I had a lot of trouble getting any momentum this morning. I didn't have time for a proper breakfast, so I lashed a pair of bananas onto my rear rack along with my clothes.

Hybridzilla's rear rack is seatpost-mounted and doesn't have a good way to hold my panniers while keeping them out of the spokes. I had to wear a backpack, but I loaded as much stuff as I could onto the rack with its integrated tie-down bungees.

Hybridzilla's treadless slick tires really do roll almost as well as my road bike's narrow tires. I'm constantly amazed at how well behaved this bike is for the mere pittance I've spent on it so far. If I didn't have to carry a backpack when commuting on it, I'd probably use it more often. Unfortunately, buying another cargo rack and set of fenders is an expenditure for a later time. This bike is pretty minimalistic, and I like that.

Look Maww! No Hands!


Approaching 79th and Quivira, I saw John C's tail strobe. Already ravenous, I started working on a banana while watching Karen's LED headlight glisten over the hill near Monrovia, still a minute or two away. Karen wheeled through the intersection. John and I followed along. I was still munching. Somewhere along Nieman, I found a storm drain, where I jettisoned the banana carcass.

I managed 42.8 MPH on Hybridzilla down the 67th street hill. This high-cadence endeavor actually woke my legs up quite a bit, and made the rest of the ride seem a bit easier. As slow as I thought I'd be, we made good time. It's been nice having a daily convoy all week.


I was alone at *$ this morning for a while. Eventually, Lorin and JR showed up. Here's Hybridzilla, all geared up. The second banana is still strapped to the rear rack.


Bungees cause hell on bananas.


Random Tunage:
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (Pump Mix)
POB - Boiler (Humate Remix)

KC Bike Week 2008 Day 3: Finally Over

It's been a long day, with some odd results.

Here's what the plan was (kinda)

I had a meeting at the Central KCMO Library at 6:00 PM. I get out of work around 4:00 PM. Rather than go home and drive back downtown, I got my wonderful wife to let me kick it in KCMO for a few extra hours.

I figured since I was going to miss the memorial ride of silence, I could at least go down and see Family Bicycles and maybe put a few miles on the trolley track trail, and stop by the refreshment booth Family Bikes set up. Without knowing a solid route, I took Jeff's advice and just used the MAX.

Here's where I got sneaky. I saw the L bus, which I occasionally take to get back home. I haven't ridden it in about a month. I swung by and asked the driver for a transfer, then quickly darted back off the bus without even pretending I was going to ride it. I have a monthly pass for The JO, and The JO transfers are good for a free ride on any metro bus. I could have ridden the L bus to Union Station, but I could beat it there and in the process cut almost 45 minutes off of my trip to Family Bikes.



For what it's worth, I did make my intentions clear to the bus driver before asking for the transfer.

I got to Union Station JUST in time to see the MAX pull out. I decided I'd race it to the next stop. Upon reaching the stop, my panniers jammed against my fender, and my rear fender hit my wheel, bent up, buckled, and locked my rear wheel up. Without delay, I cyclocross-carried The Twelve, ran to the MAX, and racked it up on the front of the bus. I'd assess the situation once I got down to Waldo.

I inverted my bike on the side of the road and got the fender un-mangled, but still not properly attached. I walked the bike to the Family Bikes refreshment station, and asked where the main shop is. About 1/10 mile down the road. I walked my bike to the shop, and was greeted by Theresa, Bruce and Kat. Theresa and Bruce know me from the Bike Week committee. I also saw another cyclist I know, who occasionally rides with my Monday crew. Kat had all but sold him on a Dahon folding full-size mountain bike by the time I was leaving.
Meanwhile, Bruce gave me some hardware to re-attach the mounting bracket for my fenders, and let me use a pair of channel-locks to bend things back into some kind of workable shape.


No folding bikes shown, this is mostly redline and surly stuff. Family has a TON of accessories, most of which are geared towards beginners and commuters.


I lost track of time and missed the Northbound MAX to get to my meeting. There are two "flavors" of MAX. One goes to the Plaza and turns around. Every SECOND bus comes out to Waldo. In other words, if I could get to the Plaza, I could catch a MAX bus to get me to the Library quicker.

I followed the Trolley Track trail for a few miles.


After that, despite Jeff's advice to steer clear of Brookside Blvd, I rode Brookside all the way into the plaza where I found a bus that had just stopped.


Here's the American Century building (one of two). Yes, I black and whited it.


Come on, hurry up!


At the library at last!


Riding home after 7:00 PM, my commute has a completely different... timbre. It's not just a feeling. It's a shift of ambiance and attitude.


I HAD to stop and take a picture of this duckling. Then, I had to restrain myself from throttling a pair of evil Canada Geese for the transgressions of their foul-feathered relative in Springfield, MO a few weeks ago.


I swung by Trek Store to see what the Bottom Bracket situation was going to cost me. They say for $15 they'll take the thing apart and lube it up to see if that helps. I kind of told the guy to piss off. But I wasn't quite that mean. I can take the thing apart myself and re-lube it. Duh. If that fails, I'll probably go somewhere else to buy a replacement bottom bracket.

This red light means that my DiNotte has been running more than 3 hours and is on "Limp-Home" mode. It certainly was a nice day for some extra miles. Quivira (shown below) is really nice after 8:00 PM.


So, this ends another day. The Twelve? Well, she's in the dog house for a few days after what she's put me through this week so far. Hybridzilla came down and got geared up for the morning ride in, and The Twelve joins my wife's Townie on the wall. This is where bikes go when they won't be ridden for a while.


Miles today: 40
This week: 120
May so far: 324

PS: I'm only 4 miles from the most miles I've had in a month this year, and I think I'm on course to clear 600 miles pretty easily this month.

Related:
All of 2007's Bike To Work Week posts (I think I've come a long way since then)
All of 2008's Bike Week posts so far

Random Tunage:
Third Eye Blind - How's it gonna be?
Ian Van Dahl - Will I

KC Bike Week 2008 Day 3: Press Conference

Mayor Funkhouser made a press conference today stating his intentions to make KC a League Of American Bicyclists Platinum-level community by the year 2020. Along side him were various staff members of his, plus the mayor of Shawnee, KS.

We showed up en masse to show our support. I got to hang out with Jason Preu (who got interviewed by a KC Star reporter), and got some JimmyJohn's on the way back to the office. Other friends of mine were also present, including Eric Rogers and Mr. Dahon.

Gallery below.

KC Bike Week 2008 Day 3: Pain & Broken Stuff

You've gotta love broken stuff.

Monday morning, a slight creaking noise manifested itself on The Twelve. I feared it was the bottom bracket going out. Monday evening, I found that my cargo rack was loose and I tightened it up. It didn't fix the noises, though.

Yesterday, the noise was more prominent. It's definitely the bottom bracket. It's shot. Furthermore, my panniers are also in a state of disrepair. I'm going to need a new set soon. I'm tired of taking these to the tailor to get re-stitched. Lastly, I'm really going to need some more padded liners if I am going to keep up this riding 30 miles a day business.

I only took The Twelve out today because I think I might need fenders for the homeward commute. Tomorrow, I'll probably bring Hybridzilla out. Once I get paid, I might try to accumulate a few bikey things that I need. All combined, that stuff would cost less than a few tanks of gasoline, with the panniers being the most expensive piece of the puzzle. The ones I have would still work for light-duty stuff. Maybe my wife can use them when she starts riding more. Who knows?

If anyone tells you that bike commuting has the advantage of being a mostly one-time expenditure that offers virtually free transportation reliably, call them onto the carpet. Granted, even with repairs, bike commuting is often cheaper than just paying for gasoline in your car -- not counting the expensive car repairs and maintenance you're sure to need. Bicycles are machines. They're prone to wear and occasional failure. Bike commuters need to have a plan B. It's a good idea to carry cash for a bus or taxi fare, a cell phone and a friend or family member to help you out, and/or some tools for roadside repairs.

It was another Convoy this morning with John C and Karen. I took this coasting down 67th street at 31 MPH with both hands stabilizing the camera. Scary.


Bike commuters with a sunset backdrop on Merriam Lane approaching Lamar.


Dude. The House of ROCKS. You want gravel? Huge slabs of granite? A four-ton limestone boulder? This is the place for you. Watch out for the snakes catching rays in the morning, though. I can only imagine what the owner was thinking when he decided to start this business. "We'll sell ROCKS, man..."

He must have been stoned. Haha.


Lorin bussed in to KCMO and we all did our usual coffee thing at *$.

In other news, the city is tearing stuff up on 10th street for additional streetscape. This means a lane reduction, parking meter additions, and hopefully more bike parking?






As far as Pain goes, I'm about 100 miles in this week. Each morning, it's getting more and more difficult to get moving. I've been riding slower and slower, too. My body will eventually thank me for all this punishment, though.

Random Tunage:
Benjamin Bates - On My Feet
Amber - Anyway (Steve Porter Mix)

KC Bike Week 2008 Day 2: Bike Commuters!

More than a dozen bike commuters were counted today.

Ask anyone who is paying attention to cyclists in Johnson County, KS. Racks with stuff bungeed down, big backpacks and panniers are not terribly common around these parts. Closer to downtown? That's a different story. Just tooling around JoCo, however, the cyclists were out in droves. Much like my convoy denizens, they came in all flavors. I saw plain clothes riders with bungee-attached loads and seatpost-racks on barely-ridden discount store mountain bikes. I got passed by fixie riders in team kits. I saw recumbent riders with oddly-rigged cargo hauling solutions in place. And there was no shortage of all kinds of road bike riders carrying stuff around, including one gram-counting racer carrying his work gadgets in one of those makeshift nylon-bag-and-cord "backpacks" you get from vendors at trade shows.

This is to say nothing of the usual fare of wanna-be-fast riders that were carrying nothing but could still possibly be commuting by bike.

I was flagging by mid-morning, and kicked things off with a huge Red Bull.


Deb Ridgway gave away these cool pouches made of recycled inner tubes last night.


I can has sinkhole? Good lord, this thing could swallow a Yugo!


Messing around up on the train bridge over SW Blvd. This place makes tasty, delectable beer. In fact, I'm drinking one as I post this.


More camera goofiness.


Sorry, didn't get any other pictures. There was a lot of wind, and I really just wanted to get home. Sadly, I had some driving to do once I got home, and from within my steel and glass cage, I saw most of the aforementioned cyclists.

Random Tunage:
Gravity Kills - Guilty
Orbital - Desert Storm

KC Bike Week 2008 Day 2: Convoy Of Three

I met John C and Karen at 79th and Quivira this morning, and we started our journey with a crosswind for most of the trip.


No sign of Lorin, and John had to move along to work. I saw JR at Coffee Girls and hung out for a bit. With the clouds moving in, I couldn't stay long. It's supposed to rain today.

I slogged up Baltimore for the first time in at least half a year. I've been using Main to get into the Downtown Loop since they took the Baltimore bridge out over I-670. This gave me a better angle at Barkley's HQ, the old TWA building. I didn't realize until recently that Barkley actually re-fabricated the TWA Moonliner. It looks exactly like the original, as far as I can tell from grainy historic photographs.


An interesting cliff off the back of Bartle Hall.


Cloudy backdrop of the west side of the Downtown Loop skyline.


Random Tunage:
Accuface - Journey Into Sound
Inkfish - Eye Am

KC Bike Week 2008 Day 1: Evening Commute & Casa Paloma Ride

Snagged a quick sammich from Jimmy John's for Lunch


The homeward commute was interesting. We had 4 of our original 5. Dean, a fellow bike commuter, latched onto the back of us for a while. We saw Cory on his singlespeed IRO (and damn, he's fast) and two other quick, club-kitted bike commuters, who passed us while we were gathering by the brewery.






Chris still had about 10 miles left to ride after we got back to the Lenexa checkpoint. I watched his bike (and took some pics) while he was picking up some more fuel for the road.


Clem's dashboard complete with homebrew camera mount.


The Dinotte 140R is bright.


My dash.


Casa Paloma ride.


Finally got to meet Chuong


















Mexican Recovery Food


Random Tunage:
Nine Inch Nails - March Of The Pigs
Hybrid - Finished Symphony

KC Bike Week 2008 Day 1: Morning Convoy!

I woke up a bit earlier this morning than usual, as I had made arrangements to meet with a reporter from NBC Action News (KSHB 41 in KC) at about 5:30. I got all my stuff together last night, so all I had to do was throw some clothes on, make a fresh batch of pressed coffee, and roll out.

It was a nippy 43°F this morning, but my cargo pants plus a long sleeve thermal shirt under a t-shirt provided perfect insulation. I rolled up to the news van just in time to see Lorin approaching. We talked to the news crew for a bit, then I recorded an interview. As more commuters started showing up, we did a live broadcast complete with close-ups of some of our commuting gear and another mini-interview. I made sure that it was clear that our Lenexa convoy was a weekly event. Maybe we'll get more of a following this year.

We had to make a few superfluous roll-by passes of the camera so they could get footage of us all on the road, decked out in reflective gear and das blinkenlichten. After that, the five of us were workbound!

Northbound on Nieman


Waiting at Mission Road and SW Blvd for our left turn light.


Riding through northern KCK


One of the iconic grain elevators near Rainbow.


Lorin, John and I met JR at Coffee Girls this morning. Change things up a bit.


The sun is up as early as ever. The downtown skyline glistens in the morning sun.


Random Tunage:
De Nuit - Love You Down (cover)
Peaches - AA XXX

Ready... Set...

GO!

Today was the official kickoff of Bike Week in Kansas City. I am not really partaking in the events this weekend because of how crazy things are right now, but I'm stoked about Monday's commuter convoys and all the other events. Many thanks to the volunteers who stepped up to make this Kansas City's most extensive Bike Week so far.

It looks like my convoy might get a few seconds on a local news channel (KSHB-41) so set your TiVO or wake up early and watch their morning news. You might just see us!

Speaking of media attention, one of KCTV 5's crew is taking the bike challenge, riding and writing. Check out Amanda's Bike Blog. Thanks for the tip, Eric.

I just got done pulling the photos off of my camera from Friday's homeward commute. I didn't take many good ones, but this one just popped out at me. Its completely non-manipulated (aside from scaling it down, and I have the 5MP RAW if you want it).


(Canon PowerShot A530, RAW, f/3.5, shutter 1/200, ISO 100)

I'd normally crop it, probably to 16x9 and get rid of part of the tree trunk to the left, but I wanted to show it as is. I don't know why, but it seems surreal and the fence almost looks photoshopped into the scene. It's not a particularly breathtaking photo, but it really caught my eye.

Friday's homeward commute was just me by myself at a pretty solid pace. I had my first vocal interaction with a displeased motorist this year on Southwest/Merriam coming toward Antioch. Some teens in a riced-out Acura Integra (you know, lowered, big spoiler, huge noisy exhaust cannon, and thumping stereo system) passed me, and the passenger called me something unintelligible. What was funny is that they were at the tail end of some traffic that had to slow down in my wake while oncoming cars made passing unsafe. Ergo, I was holding the line of cars up (at 25 MPH in a 35 MPH zone, oh the horror).

What they did NOT bank on is the fact that I had a nice 8 MPH tailwind and the particular section of road we were on is nice and level. This makes speeds exceeding 40 MPH possible -- but only in short, sprinty bursts since I'm still just a fat man on a bike. With the punks stranded behind cars going a smidge under the speed limit, I hammered, and hammered some more. I wasn't going to do anything other than hang onto them at a safe enough distance to shut down if they did something mean. The passenger -- with eyes as big as saucers -- was turned around staring at me. Then, the driver freaked out and passed 4 cars illegally in a no-passing zone.

Stupid kids. Bikes aren't always the 5mph sidewalk-mobiles you remember as a toddler.

Random Tunage:
Paul Van Dyk - Face To Face (Piano Mix)
Nine Inch Nails - 10 miles high

A tale of rain and road rash

I thought I saw Karen pull out behind me as I rode through 79th. A pale blue single LED or HID light was visible for a moment, but the light vanished. Up Quivira to 75th, then over to Nieman, I saw the light behind me once again as I rode north. Karen shouted at me. I waited for her to get through the light. Next to her, four police cruisers were stopped with officers on weapons and using cars for cover. Karen spoke with the officers for a moment while waiting for the light. I guess someone broke in to steal cigarettes and the officers were clearing the building, concerned there was a second perp. Eeeh. I figure the felons would have tried activating the gas pumps to steal gas the way the price jumped overnight.

Sorry it's blurry. 3.639 for Regular 87 Octane. This is a 19 cent increase over yesterday. I don't know whether to grin or shudder. That's a lie. I'm still shuddering, but between the fuel crunch and cramped space on commuter buses, I realize I might start seeing more bike commuters.


I didn't get any other workbound photos. It started raining on us soon after we got on Merriam Lane.

On final approach to the coffee shop, I rode over a wet manhole cover and the bike went down. It's fine, but I dragged my leg across the blacktop and through the wonderful road grime containing all sorts of delectable contaminants. You can't see it, but there's about 3 square inches of epidermis missing around the scrapes. Fresh meat:


In praise of Tegaderm. I tried various "moist" wound dressings last time I had road rash. The Hydrocolloid dressings did work, but I had better luck with the breathable 3M Tegaderm than anything else.


Tegaderm is the exact same thing that many hospitals use to cover IV insertion points. It's sticky, but doesn't stick to the wound or to fresh skin. It seals in moisture while still allowing air to get to the skin. You can wear it for days and days at a time. If you're careful, it even lasts through a shower or two. The printed label on the bottom of the dressing is made of medical tape. It's for use in hospital situations so that the dressing's application date can be noted.


Peeling the backing off reveals a paper frame around a clear, sticky membrane.


The wound is centered in the frame...


Then the edges are firmly applied, taking care to smooth the wound dressing and avoid sharp creases and wrinkles.


Once the paper frame is removed, only the clear membrane remains. This allows the wound to heal quickly and without scabbing. Fresh, pink skin will probably start showing up under this bandage by tomorrow morning.


At coffee, John showed up along with JR and Lorin. John occasionally commutes by bike but usually by bus. John, Lorin, Karen, Chris, and at least one more rider are on-board for Monday's Bike Commuter Convoy. It sounds like it's almost certain that we'll get TV news coverage. So far, we have a convoy of six.

Random Tunage:
A-Ha - Take On Me
Nine Inch Nails - Hurt

Preparing for Bike Week

Among work, my wife's medical problems and other stuff going on, I'm also preparing for Bike Week, specifically, the commuter convoy.

It looks like one or two of the convoys might even get a quick blurb (or something, maybe more) from a local news station. Although not a lot of people have actually RSVP'd for the convoys, Eric has been sending out mail to people who have signed up for our Kansas City Car-Free challenge. I'm hoping our volunteers get a few extra that just show up.

There are a multitude of reasons to commute by bike. Many of them you can't discover in a week of riding to work. Others, you can't discover for at least a month. To this day -- now almost 2 years into my adventures of bike commuting -- I still notice things and gain an appreciation for things that I wouldn't ever know of had it not been for riding a bike as much as I have.

So, do it for fun. Do it to stick it to the oil execs or terrorists. Do it for the environment. Do it for your health or for the air your childen breathe. Do it for being able to say "hi" to passersby on the sidewalk on their morning jog or dog walk, or even just to clear your mind a bit before and after work. Give it a shot next week, at least once.

And, if you're reading this, you're probably either a bicycle commuter or considering it. Tell your friends and co-workers. Offer to ride in with them.

It was a bit of a camera-free hammerfest on the way home, but here's some stuff from this morning.