Bike Week Saturday: It's a bike party at Chipotle!

I told my wife I'd bring back a Burrito Bowl from Chipotle for her, so I was figuring it would be an out-and-back ordeal, and that there might be a few other cyclists who would bother to show up. She told me I should leave early, because there might be a huge turn-out.

We were both right.

Coming south on Quivira, I saw a cyclist ahead of me a ways after cresting the I-35 viaduct into 20-25 MPH headwinds. As I pulled up to Chipotle well ahead of 2:00, I saw Jon, a guy I used to see on the bus with his custom-painted singlespeed. We chatted for a bit, and John (a differeny cyclist who I also know from the bus) showed up with his wife. If you look, you can kind of see the other two bikes around the corner of the patio fence.


So there were four of us, total. About what I had figured. A bit after 2:00, as we were all in line, I saw someone else roll up. Five cyclists! (HA! HA! HA!)

Upon leaving, however, my wife's suspicions became quite valid. Apparently, an entire group ride descended on us.


I'm glad the turn-out was so good for this event. Thanks again, Chipotle!

Bike Week Friday: Another Year Older

Today is my 31st Birthday, and it was a good day. My current employer always has an Employee Appreciation Day around the end of May. Their idea of appreciation: Feed us breakfast, recognize those who have been with the company for a long time, recognize those who have been heralded by their peers as outstanding people, have a little fun, then send everyone home before 10:00 AM. In a drawing, I won a $50 gift certificate out of the deal, good for things my company sells (Jewelry, so it basically got handed over to my wife).





I swung by the grocery store to pick up a few things I needed to make some of my famous "Dang Kay-suh-dill-uhs" for lunch.


Speaking of food, don't forget to ride your bike to Chipotle tomorrow. It's your last chance to log some miles for the Car Free Challenge. You'll get a free burrito out of the deal (KC Area only as far as I know), but you might want to plan a 30 mile ride afterward, to offset the thousand-calorie foil-football.

Bike Week Thursday: National swim home from work day.

I probably got more rain in the 30-minute ride home than I got in the 90-minute wetfest yesterday. I mean, once you're completely soaked like I was yesterday, you really can't get any more wet. But today was different. Wetter, even though both yesterday and today I arrived home looking like I should have been carrying a snorkel and flippers up from the parking lot, rather than a bicycle.

I got a bike rack at work. Just in time for Bike Week, the maintenance guys installed this 8-foot-long section of guard rail, now re-purposed "to accommodate up to four bicycles." It'll work, and it's certainly better than those awkward wave-shaped racks, but not by much. When I mentioned my bicycling habit, the HR rep I was talking to during the interview phase told me that there would be a bike rack installed soon. Lo and behold, here it is:


After I showed up for work, I noticed a bunch of people talking in the break room about bicycle stuff. Many of my new co-workers have expressed an interest in it. Apparently, many people haven't even considered bicycling for transportation since they left college. No one has seen a bicycle parked here, ever, from what I can tell. Hopefully this new bicycle rack benefits the company as a whole, not just me. Several of my new colleagues live nearby.

For what it's worth, I went through a very similar process at my last job when I first started riding to work. That included a new bike rack going in, and other people using the rack. Of course, the first commuter to "share" was riding a motor scooter. It took a while, but other bikes eventually filled the rack up. We'll see if anyone else jumps on board. Judging from all the questions I'm getting, there will be some other bikes on the rack this summer, at least once monsoon season is over.

KC Bike Week: OP Breakfast Stop

Due to a bit of miscalculation, I showed up to the Overland Park Breakfast stop about 15 minutes before it was scheduled to open. I had figured that there would be some set-up going on already. I had figured wrong. But, at about 6:25, a public works truck showed up and set up shop.


Bananas, OJ, Coffee, granola bars and plenty of give-aways were ripe for the picking. Be sure to sign the rosters at the various events you go to this week. They're being counted and will be used for advocacy purposes.


commuderDude, myself, and Shawn quaffed our beverages, noshed on breakfasty goodness, and conversed with the volunteers for a while before parting ways a bit before 7:00.


My score from the booth: A reflecto-slow-moving-vehicle sign.


Getting from southern Overland Park to my new office near 119th and Renner was an interesting adventure in wayfinding. 127th Street is the preferred method of crossing I-35, but parts of 127th are completely torn out for the "Improve 127th" project. At 7:00 AM, rush hour traffic is picking up in Johnson County, but people were pleasant on the arterial roads. Years of commuting through cul-de-sac-ridden suburbia has given me a certain intuition about finding a clear path. I had no problem carving an efficient residential detour around the construction between Black Bob and Mur-Len.

Side note: Read this great article on the effect of cul-de-sacs on a community's transportation habits.

Random Tunage:
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent) (Leama and Moor Remix)
Fluke - Atom Bomb