Park(ing) Day 2007

Last week, after having a few beers with Sarah, I was on Beaver, waiting at a stop light at Butler. It was about 12:30am and there were hardly any cars in the area. A older white sedan, pulled up and it’s passengers threw eggs at me. Luckily none of them hit me. One of them hit my handlebars. I was totally stunned, then immediately wished I had a rock. They were gone before I could grab one.

Then a few days ago, I was talking with another rider who had been hit by a rock in the neck just that afternoon! He showed me the marks. It gets worse. He has a friend who was hit with a glass beer bottle the week prior. Apparently it broke across his back.

Just last night I was riding down San Fran in the downtown area and a white suburban, full of younger party kids, pulled up next to me. This dude a few years younger than me started giving me a bunch of crap; when the light changed, the suburban harassed me by slamming on his break, fake turning, swerving…etc. It started driving really slow, expecting me to pass (probably so they could throw something at me), but I just decided to take another route.

Bikers! What can we do here? I see, maybe, a couple of options. My roommate said I should call the police so that it’s on record. But that wouldn’t really make you feel better. Another idea we came up with was just memorize the car, the license number if you can. This town isn’t that big. You’d be sure to stumble upon it in a parking lot sooner or later, especially if you really looked for it.

I guess the last option would be to fight back, which was my inclination at the moment (and that was because of eggs…I can’t imagine how it must feel to get hit with a rock or a bottle). I wouldn’t want to hurt anybody in the car, unless of course they hurt me bad enough, in which case maybe revenge might not be on my mind. Nonetheless, bikers get harassed, I think because of a power relationship that develops on the road, and because of car culture. It might also be rooted in the same mentality that feeds anti-intellectualism in this country. Both of these are related to constructions of masculinity in our culture, whereby any sense of community, a healthy lifestyle, or being conscious of energy and resource consumption, is feminized. By showing power over a biker in a violent way, the threat to their own insecurities is floored and there is no question as to where on the Kinsey scale they would measure up. I mean, this is other men, and performances of strictly defined masculinity that we’re talking about here, right?

What if, instead of stories where some dudes in a car harass bikers and continue to harass bikers, the reputation was such that people were afraid to harass bikers because it was known that each one packs a good throwing rock under their seat. If those jerks in the Suburban threw a rock at my neck, for example, and I immediately broke out their back window, do you think that would deter them from such activities again? Maybe my retaliation would start a war on bikers. I don’t know. I know it would feel great though.

London

About 700 cyclists in various states of undress have cycled through central London in another leg of the World Naked Bike Ride.
The naked cyclists - and others with strategically-placed body paint, sticky tape or bum bags - were highlighting the damage caused by car dependency.

They were also promoting the environmental benefits of cycling.

Earlier on Saturday, more than 200 naked cyclists rode through Brighton and Hove in East Sussex.

The World Naked Bike Ride is now in its fourth year with more than 60 cities participating in 2007.

How do you think we could get something like this going in Flagstaff? If anything, we’re in desperate need of a Flagstaff Critical Mass.

You’re looking at the lower right side of my back….

I’m usually a pretty quick healer; that’s why I think something is wrong. I’ve got an appointment to have it looked at tomorrow at 7:45am. This bike accident happened over a week ago and I don’t think, under normal conditions, that it should be this swollen still. The abrasion is healing fine; you can even tell that I’ve been pickin’ at it. I’m more concerned with the swollen part just below. I can’t even sleep without popping a couple ibuprofens.

After talking to some friends and searching the Internet, it could be one of several things:
a. nothing…and I should quit bitching
b. a fractured or chipped bone, but it doesn’t hurt that bad
c. a bruised kidney, though my insides are working fine.
d. a slipped or ruptured disc
e. an alien life-form that implanted itself in my back upon impact

UPDATE: hematoma: a mass of usually clotted blood that forms in a tissue, organ, or body space as a result of a broken blood vessel….or in my case, because it is so huge, it was a busted artery. We took an x-ray just in case and it came back clean. I got some pain meds and I was told that all the blood would slowly start reabsorbing, which could take several weeks. 

I know a lot of you had your fingers crossed, hoping it would be an alien. Sorry to disappoint.   

Just got back from AZ Bikes; my new fork isn’t in yet. Maybe this is for the better.

On Friday, I rode my bike from Flagstaff to Sedona. It’s like a 25 to 30 mile ride. It only took about an hour and a half. I took 89, which means I was able to ride down the switchbacks 2k feet. It was SWEEEET. There is no bike lane, so a lot of people think it’s really dangerous, but to be honest, I felt safer on the switch backs then anywhere else. I was able to go just as fast, if not faster than the cars that have to slow to 15 mph on many of the turns.

What I never realized when I drove that stretch of highway in the past is how incredibly up and down 89 is from Flag to the top of the switchbacks. There isn’t much of a bike lane there either. I pretty much hugged the white line and, fortunately, the cars that passed gave me plenty of room. That was great. For some reason there was a lot of nats on the road; I’m not sure why there were so many, but they certainly didn’t taste very good. Though I had driven past it many times before, I pulled over to that scenic view just before the switchbacks for the first time. I got yelled at for riding my bike on the pedestrian paths that go from lookout to lookout. The view was incredible though.

A lot of the drivers going back up the switchbacks smiled at me because it had to be obvious that I was having a great time. It was pretty windy, but overall, I couldn’t have asked for better weather. The road from the bottom of the switchbacks into town was great as well. There weren’t many cars on the road and riding alongside Oak Creek was fantastic. It’s very green along the river right now. The deciduous trees down there have a head start on the ones here. It was also great to ride through the falling puffs of cottonwood seeds.

I met my family in town. My grandmother passed away earlier last week and the funeral was on the morning that I road down there. I was too busy to go to the funeral, but I road my bike to spend the rest of the day with the fam. I threw my bike in my brother’s rental car and he drove me back up that evening. So no…I’m not hardcore enough yet to ride up the switchbacks.

New York taxis seek to bar the number of pedicabs to 325, while there are well over 12,000 taxi-automobiles. Actually the taxi lobbying groups are begging them to do it because they are afraid pedicabs might take away their business This writer thinks each gas powered automobile taxi driver would be better off putting all this energy into dragging out that old exercise bike. They’re driving away their own business (pun intended…got you).

The proposed bill, which Mayor Bloomberg vetoed, would also “require pedicab businesses to carry a $2 million insurance policy, and bar the bicycle taxis from using electric assists, which allow drivers to rest their legs on long trips.”

No leg-resting for bicyclists!

If pedicabs can’t have electric assistance, shouldn’t that mean gas power taxis would have to give up combustable engine assistance? I mean it’s the same argument. Plus, if that were the case, taxi drivers could look like this:

I’ve been saving up for a tattoo. I’d like that blue graphic of my own design (the one with the fisticuff roots to your left) forever marked on my body. But I decided that I’d rather get a new bike. I have a Kona “fire mountain” right now and I adore it. However, it’s a mountain bike with killer suspension, which makes it very slow on the road. Knowing that one is limited by the capabilities of the bike, I’m integrating my love of riding to the next level. I’ve decided on a cyclocross bike. In particular, the 2007 Kona “jake.” This bike will allow me to zip around town at a moderate 40 to 45 miles an hour. The Kona description: “Our most versatile machine is an all-round utility bike that can be a Cyclo-Cross race bike on Sunday and your commute to work on Monday.”

I had my eye on the neon green “jake the snake,” and even looked into getting a Surly “cross-check,” but couldn’t justify the cost for either.

The frame is aluminum and very solid. Most of the components are Shimano. At some point, I’d like to work up the nerve to swap the peddles for clips, but I’d like to get used to the bike first. I just dropped like 400 bucks on some routine maintenance on my car. This obviously prompted a necessary shift in priorities. The more I bike, the less cash I’ll have to drop on my car. It just makes sense.
What does this have to do with you, faithful readers? Nothing. I guess I’m just showing off.

In other, unrelated news, I’ve recently become a spectacle in the world of Men’s Rights Activists. I’ve learned a lot from the exchange on my site and else where. I’d like to write about this soon. If anything, I learned that I’m a “mangina,” which is a new word for my ever-enlightened lexicon.

Anyway…..I dedicate this video to my new bike:

Created by: fearless gearless

Here is January’s column published in The Noise.

Right off the bat, I think it’s important to mention that I’m totally against New Year’s resolutions. It’s been my experience that the “New Year’s Resolution” functions as a great procrastinator, much like popping in a movie to stave off studying for a few hours. If someone expresses the desire to quite smoking, read more, or exercise, the use of the New Year’s Resolution™ forces them to wait, sometimes months at a time, for January 1st. I understand that dates and schedules are important to many people for many reasons, but if you’ve already “resolved” to do something to improve the quality of your life, just do it!

It doesn’t really matter now. By the time this issue hits the streets, the resolutions will already be in place; for many, like trying to take safety advice from a three-fingered shop teacher, these resolutions have probably already been dismissed. The smoker still knows that quitting is the best option, but after a stressful holiday with the in-laws, just “one more” pack might be justified. The one who vows to read more, if he was serious about it at all, probably hasn’t actually made any effort to obtain reading material. One resolution that does tend to stick, at least for the first couple of months, are those that vow to exercise more. After weeks of eating pie and lying around reminiscing with family and old friends, the belt gets tighter and the guilt gets heavier.

The best kind of exercise, that is, the most enduring and meaningful, coincides with a lifestyle change where exercise is merely integrated into everyday life. It’s very hard for most people to make extra time to go to a gym. And for those, like myself, who feel awkward alongside all the grunting and competition that characterize most gyms, simply getting up early to run probably isn’t going to happen either.

Insert bicycle propaganda here: The bicycle is probably the best invention of all time. Not only does it promote a healthy lifestyle, but it also provides a sense of freedom through simplicity, independence from car culture, interaction with one’s surroundings, and it’s just plain fun.

Being in the line of work I’m in, many might be shocked that I didn’t choose the printing press as the greatest invention. When you think about it though, the printing press was an inevitable invention. People simply have things to say and nobody can read each other’s handwriting. Plus, the bike is one of the few inventions that have maintained it’s basic design since the time it was first introduced in the mid 1800s. Further, many people might say, “Kyle, the invention of the wheel made the bike possible, so the wheel is the greatest invention.” Frankly, I’m tired of all this “wheel propaganda” that takes place in this culture. Yes, the bike utilizes the wheel, but nobody “invented” the wheel, humans just found it. The bicycle is genius because it utilizes the basic concepts of mobility that nature has already provided for us. There is a difference between “Hey look at this!” and “Hey look what I made out of this!”

In terms of the bikes design, we currently live in the greatest time period for riding. New riders have to decide if they want a road bike or a mountain bike, and consider the different kinds and the hundreds of variations in between. Never before has a bicycle been capable of going as fast as today’s road bikes. Similarly, never before has a bicycle been able to handle the rugged terrains that today’s mountain bikes have finessed. I’m not saying bicycles aren’t still improving; I am saying that there has never been a better time to start integrating the bicycle into your every day routine.

That’s the beauty of the bicycle. One doesn’t even have to view it as exercise. When something is embedded into one’s lifestyle, it isn’t internalized as something extra (like going to the gym or making a point to exercise). Ideally, if one bikes back and forth to school and work, it simply becomes a mode of transportation. The health benefits become integrated into this lifestyle.

I recently talked to Anthony Quintile, the owner of Absolute Bikes, and Ben Withey, a manager over at AZ Bikes. Mr. Quintile discussed many of the positive attributes of biking beyond the health benefits. “This is a great town for riding. If people ride more, they’ll be happier.” This isn’t just empty rhetoric either. In both bike shops, when I walked past customers and people working on bikes, everyone seemed to be in a good mood. These are people who zoom around town on their own power, who get to know their community because their not incased in steel, and they know all the short cuts and scenic rides.

I remember when I first started riding; I was shocked by how hard it was. Flagstaff has some killer hills, many of which, however, can be avoided by careful route planning. There was one hill I simply had to tackle every day, but I could set my watch to the progress I was making. The first couple days, I had to stand up on my bike in the highest gear, which was both embarrassing and discouraging. Little by little, however, I progressed to where only in a matter of a few months, I cruised up that hill without having to change my gears or stand up at all. It certainly made me feel good.

Admitting the addictive nature of riding, Mr. Whitey enjoys the simple, quiet, low maintenance lifestyle that riding a bike entails. “Every time you ride, you feel yourself getting stronger and progressing.” This undoubtedly builds confidence. In an age where over 350 million prescriptions of anti-depressants are filled each year, the independence, self-reliance, and simplicity provided by a riding a bike, has the potential to vastly improve the quality of life for virtually anybody willing to stick with it.

This brings me to the crux of any resolution, or lifestyle change characterized by a new activity: stick with it. Think back to when you were a child. Do you remember ever being remotely tired when you were riding your bike? I don’t either. This is because biking was the best available mode of transportation at the time. As we grew up, we have learned to embrace the easiest, quickest modes of transportation, without considering what might be the best in terms of health, environmental impact, and general well being. This is also a simple way of explaining our cultures definition of progress. This rendering of progress is an ideology in place to compliment a way of life that values the needs of economic systems over the needs of people and the natural world.

By becoming less dependent on petroleum, and embracing a lifestyle that emphasizes the happiness of people and the welfare of the natural world, bicyclists might begin to shift the paradigm and change the way we understand progress through simplicity rather than the complexities characterized by car culture and technology.

That said, those who first begin biking should be encouraged to stick with it. Withey emphasizes that new riders “be patient and ask questions.” Both Withey and Quintile highlight the importance of establishing a good relationship with your local bike shop. Quintile mentioned that malfunctions on the bike might easily discourage new riders. “If you find a good bike shop, you’ll be able to ensure that your bike is running well, which will make for a better riding experience.”

Here are a few tips for new riders, many of the ideas promoted here were provided by Anthony Quintile from Absolute Bikes, while your author provided the sarcasm:

1. Find a good bike shop that will answer all your questions and keep your bike running well. If you’re serious about riding don’t buy a cheap Wal-Mart bike.
2. Wear appropriate gear. This doesn’t mean you have to have Spandex to ride a bike, but loose clothing could get caught up in your bike chain.
3. Make sure you have the equipment and know-how to deal with a flat tire.
4. Make sure you have proper lighting/reflectors. The police have been cracking down on this lately.
5. Wear a helmet. Flagstaff is a pretty bike-friendly community, but that doesn’t mean people don’t get hit.
6. Ride smart. Learn hand signals. There are plenty of ways to avoid traffic or dangerous situations. With a little careful planning, your ride will be more enjoyable as well as safer.
7. Ride often and be patient with your progress. Feel sorry for all the suckers on the petroleum dole.