Your feel-good link of the day. The Eau Claire, Wisconsin newspaper Leader-Telegram give us a story about Tom Arneberg. Tom had been doing his short commute to work by bicycle for 22 years. But when his job was relocated to 16 miles away, things could have been disastrous.

Could have been…

Although a half hour commute to work isn’t considered overly long by the standards of most American cities, Arneberg wasn’t looking forward to the 32-mile round-trip trek to his new workplace.

“I thought it was just going to be a curse to have a commute.” Arneberg said. “I thought it would be awful, but it’s turned out to be the best part of my day.”

    ^{— “Chippewa Falls man enjoys benefits of 16-mile daily bicycle commute to Eau Claire job” Leader-Telegram.}

Tom’s story is a great one, demonstrating once again how much a slight nudge in the right direction can sometimes be all it takes to change our lives.

It was one of those “Well duh!” sort of moments. The times when you suddenly realize something that, in retrospect, should have been obvious all along. And once I did I knew that riding my mountain bike on the streets was going to make me ride better on every bike.

It all started with a rather unfortunate and poorly timed mechanical failure on my road bike. Just weeks before my planned 200+ mile weekend, I went and broke my left brake assembly. So off to the shop with the road bike, with an estimated 2 week turn-around for warranty approval from and parts shipping from SRAM.

With only 23 days to go until Seattle to Portland, I couldn’t really just stop riding. Plus I was still doing my daily commute. That left me with two other options – my cargo bike and my mountain bike. Looked like me and the Breezer MTB were going to be spending some quality time together.

I’ve experience some frustration riding this bike on the roads. It just seems…. so…. slow….
I don’t hold it against the bike. It has some ridiculously knobby tires and front energy-sapping suspension. It is, after all, a mountain bike. It isn’t really designed for road riding. But man, it always feels like I’m riding through molasses.

Obviously I was aware of the rolling resistance issues. And it weighs more then my road bike. There has also always been a grinding sort of noise at speed that I’ve assumed was my disk brake rubbing in a way I couldn’t seem to prevent. All things in my mind that were simply dragging me down.

In all fairness, the brake was actually not an issue (I later learned.) I’ve yet to identify exactly what that grinding sound is. It only happens when I am pedaling at a steady rate, and the brake would obviously be a more constant sound. So no brake hangup. Scratch that off the list of “why the hell does this feel so slow.”
That of course left the tires. Those damn knobby tires. Awesome in the loose dirt. Terrible on the pavement. I pondered this as I was again out of the saddle attempting to get the bike back up to cruising speed.

Heeeeeeey….. wait just a second.

Why exactly was I up out of the saddle? I was on flat ground, riding in a straight line. I should have been spinning steadily.

That was when it hit me. The issue I was facing with this bike wasn’t really about overcoming the rolling resistance of the tires while I was pedaling. Sure – there was added drag and inefficiencies there. But the real problem had a whole lot more to do with my poor pedaling style.

I tend to coast a lot. It is something I’m working to try and overcome. In most of my efforts on and off the bike I tend to favor my fast twitch muscle. I’m naturally more inclined to sprint – something very much augmented by how much time I spend sprinting from stop light to stop light in traffic. On my road bike, I can pedal pedal pedal, then coast for a couple of seconds with minimal loss in speed. On this bike, as soon as I stop pedaling speed drops quickly. The increased fatigue and effort I was experiencing weren’t so much from what it took to keep the mountain bike at speed, but rather what it took to continually struggle to get the bike back up to speed.

Duh!

Once I realized that, I started to focus on maintaining an easy pedaling rhythm. The ride got a whole lot easier.

Turns out this little mountain bike that I was being critical of on my commutes was actually going to help me overcome my poor pedaling technique. This was something that I’d gotten away with for so long on my road bike that mentally I just no longer thought about it any more. I was conscious of this bad habit and wanted it to change, but just couldn’t seem to focus on correcting it when on my training rides.

Basic fitness and muscular gains aside, this little mountain bike was going to help improve my riding over all on any bike.

The “green” benefits of riding a bike are often touted by the bicycle advocacy crowd – this author included.  Despite the obvious environmental goodness of transporting yourself with leg power compared to other methods, folks still strive to “improve” on the bike’s green image.  And these improvements often involve electrification in some way. One of the more recent variations on this theme is the Yike Bike.

Despite the name, the Yike Bike marketing doesn’t really portray this as a “bike alternative” or “bike improvement.”  However, it is a derivation of the “mini-farthing” concept, and there they do hint at the intent to create a better bike, so to speak:

The basic bicycle design has not changed in 120 years because it is a truly fantastic design that is stable and safe to ride. The mini-farthing has been designed to make a form of personal transport that is better suited to a modern city. Rather than just take a normal bicycle design and squash it up, our aim was to see if there was another configuration that was more suited to the task.

The specs on the Yike Bike do seem to fit nicely with the “just get me across town” market.  The device weighs in at about 23 lbs.  The advertised weight limit is 100 Kg, or about 220 lbs, which potentially limits the cargo capacity for some users.  However, it is the range of only 6.2 miles per charge that strikes me as potentially the biggest limitation.  I have not yet been able to find hard numbers on the charge time from complete dead to full charge.

The reported $3600 price tag clearly puts this into a particular market niche.

The comparisons to the Segway are probably a better assessment of the devices market segment – and while its “foldability” makes it very much more portable compared to the Segway, it shares many of the same advantages and disadvantages.

Probably the biggest change for those thinking of a “bike” while looking at this is the steering mechanism.  You essentially site between the handlebars, and steer with your hands down about the level of your hips.  The overall steering feel reminds me a lot of some recumbent configurations.

While clearly a more “green” alternative to your average SUV, I’m not sure I’ll ever understand this whole “electric is greener” concept.  There are clearly environmental concerns about carbon fiber and aluminum manufacturing, but they pale in comparison to the chemically laden batteries that power so many of our e-super-green electric devices.

The Yike Bike is now available for purchase in select markets.

Daylight savings time is an odd beast.  I’ve heard several explanations on its origins – ranging from bankers and stock brokers, to farmers wanting their children to be able to get chores in during daylight hours before school, to railroad interests.  Clearly they didn’t consult with bicycle commuters on their opinions, though, as the time shift puts the normal commute home into complete darkness.

It is a very subjective opinion, but city traffic in the mornings seems to be less hectic than traffic on the evening commute.  Perhaps it is because folks are anxious to get home – or to the pub – quickly after work, but not quite so rushed to get to the office in the morning.  Whatever the cause, I much prefer to ride in morning darkness compared to evening darkness.

Anytime you have to ride in the darkness the key is to be visible.  Every state has laws on the books that outline the requirements for lights and/or reflectors that bicycle must have to legally be ridden on the roads in the dark.  Even if not legally required, basic lighting is pretty much a must-have.  While some may debate the safety issues surrounding helmet use, there are no reasonably intelligent arguments about why you shouldn’t have lights on your bike after dark.  That then naturally leads to the questions like “What lights should I get,” “Where on my bike should they go,” “What color should the lights be” and “Should I use a flashing or steady light.”

This article is not intended as a product review, so I won’t go into the question of what light to get.  Also, I’ve talked a lot about where and how to mount lights on your bike before so I’ll leave that topic alone here as well.  The questions of color and flashiness are interesting, though.

Color me blind

It is an interesting and somewhat dangerous fact of human behavior that we tend to become blind to things we see every day.  You’ve probably experienced this when driving a car yourself.  You can follow a car at night for miles and miles and not really be conscious of the fact that their tail lights are on.  However, when those lights suddenly become brighter because they’ve hit the brakes, you immediately (hopefully) notice and take action.  It is the change in state from dim to bright that you really notice, and not the real presence of the light itself.

Unfortunately, except for some specialty devices like the Acclaim system, bike lights never replicate this braking activated behavior.  That means that drivers can easily become blind to the red taillight, or white headlight, that blends in with all of the others on the road.

One way to address this issue that has caught some attention recently is to use a color other than red for the taillight.  While quite possibly originating as equipment for police bicycles, blue tail lights seem to be gaining in popularity.  The common argument is that drivers aren’t used to seeing blue lights in their path and are more likely to notice.  Be careful if you plan to purchase and use one of these, however.  It is quite possible that they may be illegal for road use in your jurisdiction.

Flashing isn’t just for college kids

The other, and frankly more common, approach to this issue is various forms of blinking or flashing lights.  I’m not aware of any jurisdictions where this is illegal.  In fact, I’ve also seen oscillating lights (not flashing on and of, but transitioning from brighter to slightly dimmer) on motorcycle headlights.  (As a side note, motorcycles actually face some of the same traffic dangers that bicyclists do.  They can often be great allies on infrastructure safety issues!)  You’ll want to give this some consideration, however.  Flashing lights – especially really bright white ones in the front – can indeed make you more noticeable.  It can also make it difficult for other drivers and cyclists on the road to accurately judge your speed and distance.  This “strobe effect” is much more pronounced on darker side streets with less ambient lighting from business and street lights.

Choose your path

You can also opt to use the “rode more lighted.”  If available, this can go a huge way towards making your more visible.  Most commonly though it is the busiest streets that get the most street lights.  Or, said another way, the amount of street lighting seems to generally be proportional to the speed and volume of traffic on the road.

Ultimately, you are the one out there on your bike, and thus you are the one with the vested interest in making yourself visible.  Do your homework, read the reviews and tips and know your local laws.

Perhaps even more important that what brand of light you have strapped to your handle bars, however, is to be aware of your surroundings.

It has been a while since my job switch, and things are starting to settle into a routine (which also means I’m getting back up to speed with regular posts here!)  Of course, being JustAnotherCyclist would require me to post the obligatory commute to work video.  Well, here it is folks.  This was taken with my GoPro camera mounted on the handlebars of my Cannondale R300 commuter.  I set the camera to take one shot every 3 seconds, and stitched them together into this short video.

Enjoy:

The Cascade Bicycle Club are not only responsible for the great Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic, but also do amazing work throughout the greater Seattle area to improve life for cyclists.

It is towards this latter goal that they are working with government agencies to identify ways to improve infrastructure in the south Seattle areas – and they are looking for feedback from cyclists, with a particular focus on SoDo.  From their recent blog post:

As part of a federal grant, Cascade Bicycle Club is working with the Duwamish Transportation Management Association and Feet First to identify nonmotorized issues and develop recommendations focused on improving nonmotorized commuting in four Duwamish communities: South Park, SODO, Georgetown and N. Tukwila.

…

We are currently working in SODO, and are interested in your input…

If you’re commute or regular riding excursions take you through that part of the Puget Sound – check out their blog post and find out what kind of information they are looking for, and how you can help.

Now all of you footballers (aka soccer players) can have a role model to inspire you to join the 15mpd movement!  According to ghanasoccernet.com, Chelsea FC midfielder Michael Essian has decided to make his 10 mile round trip to the training grounds via bike – instead of sporting the Lamborghini.

Shocked Premier League buddies have even nicknamed the £120,000-a-week Ghana midfielder “Lance”, after Tour de France legend Lance Armstrong.

While the rest park up their Bentleys and Porsches, Michael, 27, cuts a cool figure in helmet and wraparound shades as he gets off his £1,300 two-wheeled racer.

— From “Michael Essian goes into cycling“

But watch out Essian!  I just happen to know of another footballer that may just be nipping on your heels – both on the pitch and the bike!

Part of my Sacramento to Palo Alto commute has me transferring to a bus that drives me across the bay into San Francisco.  Unfortunately, the company that Amtrak has contracted for the bus service has removed the bike racks from the front of their busses.   This is a little frustrating given the fact that they finally just got them on 6 months to a year ago.  It is further frustrating because they took them off so that they could install the FastPass transponders that tick when the go through the toll booths.  I’m not exactly sure why the entire front of the bus doesn’t allow for both the 8-10 inch transponder and a bike rack, but whatever.

In the absence of a bike rack, the bikes are placed on their side in the cargo hold under the bus.  Needless to say this is not the most “bike friendly” environment.  The bikes slid around, bumping up against other bikes, other luggage and the metal framework under the bus.  These cargo holds are probably the number one reason I have a separate bike for commuting (separate from the one I take out on group rides, for example.)

So, after the unfortunate breakage of my stem on my commute bike, I found myself in a bit of a dilemma.  I’m still targeting my #15mpd commitment, and riding to work is an absolutely essential part of reaching that goal on the days I commute.  On the other hand, the possibility of theft from the trains, coupled with the damage that can occur under the buses, makes me very reluctant to take my road bike along my normal commute route.  I needed alternatives.

That was when I recalled a quote that @murphstahoe of “Holier Than You” fame had left on a previous post of mine.  His comment recommended a route that I had never considered – continue on the Capitol Corridor train past Emeryville to Fremont and ride from Fremont to my office in Palo Alto.  Seemed like a good opportunity to try this route out.

I used Google Maps bike route functionality to plot out a route from Freemont, CA to the Dumbarton bridge.  I’d driven across the bridge numerous time, so I knew my way from there.  And so it was that me, my bike and a 17.6 lbs backpack (yes – I weighed it that morning) stepped off of Amtrak Capitol Corridor #527 in Freemont to begin my ride across the bridge.

The ride towards the bridge was pretty straight forward.  It was your typical completely flat, suburban type ride.  There were marked bike lanes for most of the route which followed 4 lane roads.  There were a few left hand turns, but traffic was light enough these were pretty much a non-issue.

As I approached Marshlands Road the scenery changed to that of the muddy tidal flats I knew signaled that the bridge was near.  The road was quite rough – except for a discolored patch strip that was just wide enough for me to follow.  In fact, if it wern’t for the constant freeway noise across the fence to my right I could have imagined myself out in the country miles away from any city.  Not a bad way to get to work.

The Dumbarton bridge itself also turned out to be slightly different than I expected.  It looked like a much steeper climb than it felt.  It took no small amount of concentration, however.  The bike path across the bridge was absolutely littered with broken glass and other debris that called out for my constant attention.  Add to that the stream of trucks going 60-70 mph in the opposite direction within about 5 feet of me and I was definitely on my toes.

I stopped near the top of the bridge to snap a couple of pictures.  One thing that immediately surprised me was how much the bridge moves and bounces from the traffic.  I was actually a little unnerving at first.  However, the skies were mostly clear and I was surrounded by the scenery of the bay.  Not a bad way to start my day at all.

After crossing the bridge I landed on University Ave which I followed all of the way into Palo Alto.  It was almost uneventful – but I did get a pinch flat in East Palo Alto that demanded my attention just before the Highway 101 overpass.

All in all it was a very very pleasant ride.  And a good primer for my upcoming “Tour de Ross’s Commute” route I’ve got planned in just a couple of weekends time.

I’ve yammered on a bunch about my 125+ mile, 3 day a week Sacramento to Palo Alto commute.  In a couple of Follow Ross to Work Day posts, I’ve detailed my use of my bike, trains and busses to make the commute – keeping me out of the car and out of I80 / I680 traffic.

But now I’m going to mix it up a bit.  August 22 I’ll be doing my Sacramento to Palo Alto commute entirely by bike! Some of the more observant among you will notice that Aug 22 is actually a Sunday.  Well, I’m not quite ready to do a 134 mile bike ride prior to a full work day, so I’ll stay Sunday night in Palo Alto or somewhere near there.

This will also be a rather big test of the bike functionality of Google Maps, which has laid out a supposedly safe bike route for me.  Of course you can expect tweets and posts here about the conditions, cursing the delta breeze, and probably some video from the Benicia-Martinez bridge.

Stay tuned!

There are numerous races both large and small that make up the pro cycling season.  However, none get quite the attention of the three grand tours:  the Tour de France, the Giro de Italia (Tour of Italy) and the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain).  However, this year I’ll also be doing three of my own grand tours:

• Group Health Seattle to Portland Classic (July 17/18) *
• Tour de Ross’s Commute (Aug 22)
• Tour de Tahoe (September 12) *

* My wife Melissa will be with me on these two rides

Wait.  The Tour de Ross’s Commute?  What the heck is that??

For over three years now, I’ve been commuting an average of 3 days a week between my home in Sacramento, CA and my work in Palo Alto.  It is about 125 miles or so by car.  Of course, I don’t do it by car.  However, after a couple of the “Oh – did you ride here from Sacramento” jokes from coworkers as I rolled my bike into the office, I decided to make it so that I could actually answer “Yes!”

That’s right, I’ll be throwing my faith (and bike, and life) into the hands of Google maps and their new bike route mapping to plot my safe path the 139 miles I’ll be riding.

There are some interesting challenges and points of interest in my route:

• Davis, CA.  Arguably one of the best bicycling cities in the country.
• Vacaville.  Famous for being Vacaville.
• Jelly Belly factory.  Convenient should I need to restock my Sport Beans supply, or maybe a pro rider to pull for me.
• The Sacramento river delta area.  Home of a thousand head winds.
• The Benicia-Martinez.  2.5 miles over Suisuin Bay, with views of the Naval Reserve Fleet.
• Alamo.  No, not that one.
• Castro Valley
• Dumbarton Bridge (second bridge of the day.  Third if you count the Yolo causeway as a bridge)

I don’t fully know what to expect of this ride yet.  That is part of why I am so excited about it!