The Chainring Chronicles

Sioux Falls Ride of Silence

2011-05-18T11:41:00.001-05:00

Join the thousands of bicyclists, worldwide, that will gather tonight and participate in the Ninth Annual National Ride of Silence. The message that is being delivered is one of “Sharing the Road, for the Safety of Everyone.”

Tonight in over 300 US communities and 18 countries, bicyclists go to the roads to honor those that have been killed and injured on the roadways.

Following a brief program, participants will ride in silent procession…the Silence will be Deafening! Come join me tonight…all you need is a bicycle and a helmet.

Sioux Falls Ride of Silence

Fawick Park (2nd Ave. and 11th St.)
6:30 PM Program and 7:00 PM Ride

Bring a helmet!

TdK Purple Wave: The Whole Way to the University of Sioux Falls

2011-03-21T23:42:00.011-05:00

(click to enlarge)

"My biggest fear is that they will confuse me with another racer"--Claudio "Il Diablo" Chiappucci

The 2011 Argus Leader Tour de Kota™ cruises the college and university campuses of eastern South Dakota from June 5–10.

This year's six-day excursion along the back roads and byways of beautiful South Dakota finishes its 430 mile (692 Km) route at the University of Sioux Falls campus. The route, beginning and ending in Sioux Falls, has participants visiting 30 towns and cities with overnight stays at Augustana College, South Dakota State University, Dakota State University, University of South Dakota and the University of Sioux Falls.

Unlike the Italian pro-road racer Chiappucci, I don't have to worry about being mistaken at this Tour de Kota™ for garnishing an ordinary jersey (or cunning attacks on the peloton). Many "rollers" will be exalting their alma mater spirit and affiliation by "wearing their colours!" Subsequently, a team jersey was uniquely crafted for alumni, students, staff, faculty and friends of the University of Sioux Falls! These Champion System™ club-fit jerseys are available until March 28th (Interested? Email me). Ride one day or all week!

Join Team USF in the Purple Wave at TdK--"The Whole Way!"

Vuelta a Margarita

2010-09-12T14:17:00.002-05:00

“The Europeans look down on raising your hands. They don’t like the end-zone dance. I think that’s unfortunate. That feeling—the finish line, the last couple of meters—is what motivates me.”—Lance Armstrong

Barking Dog Cycling of Vermillion, SD (formerly the Lane Hogs, Inc.) has once again provided a spectacular day and venue for an organized philanthropic bicycling adventure (Margarita Ride IX) for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. You really have integrated some of the most beautiful scenery along the Missouri and Vermillion River Bluffs. Imagine that even the route’s road names explicate the beauty—Timber and Bluff Roads. Well done my friends!

On the next ride you take, STOP (and I mean that literally) and reflect on the opportunity and adventure that awaits you. Medical statistics reveal that some of us will fail in our advancing years, succumbing to various deleterious diseases that will restrict our future rides. Our genes will cull us from the Peloton as our nervous systems falter…whether it be MS or some other neurodegenerative disease.

I want you to meet a friend and colleague of mine. Kelly had just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease when Rocket introduced us. She thought the two of us should meet, because of our common interests. Besides being one of my most fascinating friends, Kelly is a nationally, regionally and locally recognized master teacher, extraordinary technologist, an authentic adventurer, and genuine friend. If you have ever been one of Kelly’s students, colleagues or friends; you know that you gain more from your unique association with him than you can quantify/qualify. Only a part of his story is told by this YouTube presentation of his 10-day 550 mile adventure with Dominic Gill—Kelly: The Century Ride.

“Those that believe the earth is flat have no place here, where the earth’s curvature is visible beyond field after field of rippling green. On one side of the road a field of corn jerks northwards, like the head of a small child having its hair pulled by the school bully. On the other side sunflowers look away, every single one of them, ignoring the wind’s bullying and staring straight at the sun despite the warnings we have all read about the dangers of doing so.

This is South Dakota, where grain elevators scrape the sky…”

Dominic Gill--Sharing a Ride Across America (Wilderness.com)

It’s not immodest to celebrate the personal victory. Raise your hands, protrude your tongue and shout out your conquest!

The Climb

2010-09-05T13:40:00.002-05:00

"I had been familiar with that street for years, and had supposed it was dead level: But it was not, as the bicycle now informed me to my surprise. The bicycle, in the hands of a novice, is as alert and acute as a spirit-level in detecting and vanishing shades of difference in these matters. It notices a rise where your untrained eye would not observe that one existed."—Mark Twain

So what do you do when you can’t ride your bicycle? Of course, you blog!

You don’t know how much you’re missing, until you are missing it… Shifting to left-handedness (which many have claimed I did long ago in my own sarcastic way), from my better and dominate right-hand, has presented the worst conceivable inconvenience—taking away that long bicycle ride to clear your head of frustration, fear, fatigue, anxiety, and anger.

Metaphorically, my dear friend Samuel L. Clemens has once again hit it “dead on!” Our emotional-level is mitigated by our compulsion to ride; wherein, resides the therapy. The shift of our transfixed gaze on the next climb exceedingly fades the day’s adversities; and, our ride senses our need to re-focus.

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

The Climb—M. Cyrus

Here’re a few pictures from the rapidly vanishing Summer.

Supererogatory Excrescencies

2010-06-27T22:33:00.038-05:00

"There's something about getting grimy and sweaty with the gals. You feel like you're breaking the rules. You're not made of sugar and spice and everything nice. You're not someone's girlfriend and you're not someone's mother. For that moment, at least, all you have to be is a cyclist." --K. Grob

Rocket just completed the 2010 Bicycle Tour of Colorado, traversing the Continental Divide four times in 470 miles! Her next conquest-Tour de Wyoming 2010. Willpower and endurance are her super-strengths.

The Daughter-in-Law (cycling moniker forthcoming), new to road biking, will easily accomplish putting on 1000 miles by summer's end. She has been training with Rocket...OMG, two of them in the family!

Sons, saddle up...we've got a train to catch!

From the Ashes...Life's Lessons

2010-06-27T13:04:00.107-05:00

"To travel by bicycle is a humble, non-aggressive way to get close to people. It is a way of saying we are passing through with no thought of invasion or conquest, only the simple will to share a part of the road.”—Claude Herve

Nearly a year has passed…my last entry ended as abruptly as it once again begins. Cycling is a ubiquitous emotion.

Long Live the Blog!

2009-06-28T22:38:00.005-05:00

“We might not learn cycling from literature, but by studying cycling’s appearances in literature we can learn what people know and feel about cycling.”—John Forester

No, the Blog is not dead…long live the electronic literary.

“The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets.”—Christopher Morley

Life's Lessons

2009-06-28T22:13:00.005-05:00

“Cycling provides all the big lessons in life: humility, pride, greed, discipline, grappling with the ego, and learning what your will is and when to apply it and how to apply it.”—John Wissenrider, Mountain Bike Racer

Last weekend, along with family and friends, I rode the Big Mick for the first time. This year, The Big Mick was a 104.6 mile ride on the George S. Mickelson Trail, starting at Lead, SD and following the abandoned Burlington Northern railroad to Edgemont, SD. The trail traverses some of the most beautiful landscape that South Dakota has to offer, starting in a mixed coniferous forest and ending on a short-grass prairie. The ride started at 5:30 am at the Lead Trailhead…of course we were characteristically late in starting…but ahead of the sweep riders.

Rocket rode her new Girly Surly (Cross Check) and I rode my hybrid. The DiStillers (Tina and Joe) were riding their mountain bikes. Immediately, the trail started us on a 10 mile incline that rose to around 6250 ft above mean sea level, a total elevation change of around 1200 ft. The temperatures were brisk in the shade (high forty’s) and gently warming in the sunlight-exposed areas. I was glad I had a jacket. We rolled into the first stop (approximately 20 miles) for a very nice breakfast at the Rochford Community Hall. After some pancakes, biscuits and gravy, fruit and orange juice, we set out for what would be the most challenging cycling I have had to deal with both physically and emotionally.

Earlier in the week, I had been diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia and had been using a broad-spectrum antibiotic for several days before the ride. I thought that I was on the mend and the trek would be a pleasant break from the chaos I know as a vocation. Instead, it was one of the most defining moments in my life. As John Wissenrider’s statement suggests, cycling can provide the lessons of life, up front and personal.

Four or five miles out of Rochford, I could feel the elevation and my pneumonia-impeded breathing start taking its toll. My legs turned to lead and the energy, I had in the first leg of the ride, was now draining out of me. My riding partners were both gracious and affable in staying together, yet I knew I was holding all three of them back. I honestly thought I could overcome this physiological setback; if I could open my airways…physician heal thyself—use the albuterol nebulizer. Now with a little tachycardia, brought on by the medication, I continued to dawdle behind the others. I was feeling the humility of age and perhaps the lack of collegial discipline to accept my unconditional kismet to SAG after our arrival in Hill City.

Grappling with my ego to finish the century ride, we set out from Hill City for Custer. I told the others that I would catch up with them for lunch in Custer and we would enjoy the descending topography into Pringle…where our sons were waiting for us. There they were to join us in completing the last 32 miles of the Big Mick with my sister and brother-in-law. Several miles out of Hill City, Rocket dropped back to pick me up, but it was already over. The mind said “go on” yet the body was not cooperating. I wanted, in a most greedy way, to finish this ride. But it would not be my providence…I continued to pedal almost in a meaningless way. Maybe it was the will that drove me to the half-century mark…after all, how could I presumptuously wear a t-shirt that bears the slogan “The Big Mick 2009—Century and Half-Century Ride.”

It was the wisdom and charity of Rocket that made me stop at the half-century mark…as if she had been watching her odometer, so she could say that it was time to put my silly pride away for the day. It just so happened that we were immediately in front of a rural home of a kindly, charming and altruistic women, Mrs. S, when it became time to oblige the “bonk.”

As the banal afternoon rain clouds gathered over the Black Hills, we sought shelter under Mrs. S’s carport. Sprawled motionlessly on her backdoor stoop, I wheezed and coughed for air, with a heart that was bemused somewhere between stopping and beating its way out of my chest. Mrs. S allowed us some “personal time” under her carport, inviting us into her home several times before she asked if she could give us a ride into the next town. Emotionally defeated and feeling the devastation of utter exhaustion, I agreed to having her drive us to Pringle where one of our vehicles was parked. The boys, my sister and brother-in-law had already left for Edgemont by the time we arrived. We bid farewell to Mrs. S in a manner you would a close family member, a doting parent.

Rocket and I returned to Mrs. S’s home to retrieve our bikes and to express our sincere gratitude for the gracious and unreserved generosity that she had so willingly extended to complete strangers. She is now a part of our “cycling family,” intertwined into the fabric of our jerseys. It is her admirable application of will (spirit) and humanity that will be eternally remembered.

Thank you Mrs. S!

Capo di tutti capi

2009-05-18T20:56:00.008-05:00

“One large bruise on the shin is even more characteristic of the ‘prentice cyclist, for upon every one of them waits the jest of the unexpected treadle. You try at least to walk your machine in an easy manner, and whack!—you are rubbing your shin.”—H.G. Wells

And that’s exactly the way it happened. My new ride arrives at my LBS, it gets set up, I take it for a spin in the parking lot, and then walking back into the shop area—WHACK—another scar for the shin. It’s funny how these machines impress upon us the authenticity of their character…It warns you, “I’m to be taken seriously!”

Meet my new ride, Double Stuff. A frolicsome name for a staid bike that from the start of our relationship imposed its strength of personality…so what if it looks like an Oreo™ cookie (biscuit). This Cannondale Capo has a namesake etymology that cannot be misjudged, for its English, Italian and Spanish roots imply it is a leader, perhaps with some perilous gangster, mobster or mafia associations. As an ‘oreo’ (Greek root for beautiful or nice), it is twice as sweet…but do not underestimate this capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses) it will break your legs...

Have You Started Training?!

2009-05-11T15:55:00.006-05:00

“When you’re on the starting line of your first century, it’s not wise to sit there and think, ‘I’ve got to ride one hundred miles.’ I remember my first one, and my thought was to get to the first rest stop. I made each succeeding rest stop my goal. When they’re about twenty-five miles apart, you don’t get intimidated by what seems an impossible distance. All you need to do is ride twenty-five miles four times”—Seana Hogan, Race Across America Winner 1993-5

Have you started training for the Tour de Kota? Put the mountain bike with studded tires away; refrain from riding the comfort bike; and settle your bum back onto that Brooks. There’s only one short month before the adventure begins and we need to get some sun and miles on those peeled-grape legs of ours.

Rocket and I spent some quality time out on the highways with FAB friends on Saturday and on the bike trails with family on Mom’s Day. Overall, we put down some fifty-plus miles. Many more to follow before June 7^th.

See ya on the highway!

Indie's Fixies and Singles

2009-04-06T23:00:00.016-05:00

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

For the past five days, I have been attending a conference in Indianapolis, Indiana; the highlight—more than a dozen fixies and singles displayed on a terra cotta plaza one block from my hotel. The Colonel Eli Lilly Civil War Museum somehow serves as quite a contrasting and ornate background for this congregation of elegant yet simplistic bicycles. Each bike reflected its owners character—Surly, Cap(o)ricious, and Independent. Several of these cyclists nodded to me when they perceived that I was photographing their bikes…and not the picturesque museum in the background. You could tell that they like the musical genres of Indie rock artists place a premium on maintaining complete control of their passions and careers, and relying on touring.

The beautiful high sixties temperatures called these cyclists to congregate at midday to enjoy some comradely riding. At precisely 1430 they mounted their rides, waved to me (almost as a salute to my perceivable desires to be amongst them), and rode off, waiting for no one else. Shortly thereafter, a dozen or more road bikes followed in the same direction, but at a discernable distance—as if to honor their rank and file of their predecessors.

A Victorious Spirit

2009-03-24T20:27:00.014-05:00

“There’s a feeling that you can only get from racing and finishing—the feeling of pushing yourself beyond what you’re capable of doing in training. It’s about achieving the ultimate physical accomplishment —and you can’t feel that on the sidelines.”—Ned Overend

On Saturday, March 21^st, Sioux City Velo revived and hosted the Twin Bing Road Race sponsored by Palmer Candy. The course started in the quaint town of Climbing Hill, Iowa and proceeded west to Old Hwy 141, north to D38, east past Bronson to the Moville Blacktop (K64) and back south to Climbing Hill. The race consisted of two or three 22.7 mile laps which ended on a 200 meter climb to the top of 'Climbing Hill' that overlooks the town. You want hills…they got hills—thirteen rollers to be exact! The A-racers made three laps for 68 miles and the B-racers made two laps for 45 miles—challenging for every rider.

I went along for the adventure, not to ride…but to observe my first USA Cycling sanctioned road race. Tez and Rocket were officiating—Tez ,in the commissioner’s car, watching for rules infractions along the route and Rocket marking times and taking numbers at the finish line.

With nearly one hundred registered participants, it was apparent that most of the racers were suffering from the thirteen-rollers and spring-legs-syndrome. Everyone on the course, including those that rolled into the finish line with only a single lap, declaring their “DNF” status, did better than I could have on that beautiful first full day of Spring.

One racer resplendently stands out in my mind, not because of her impressive elapsed time or even her extraordinary riding skills; rather, her relentless fortitude and determination in completing the race. As she approached the finish line, far behind the main group of cyclists, you could tell that she was on the verge of both physical and mental collapse. I had to cheer her on, as did the few remaining spectators and officials. A riding partner, perhaps her spouse or significant other, had returned from beyond the finish line, where he had moments earlier finished himself, and again rode the last 200 meter climb alongside her. As she passed my position on the sidelines, I observed her pallor complexion, shaking legs, erratic respiration and inability to gracefully “unclip” from her pedals. She was totally expended, yet you could sense her reserved personal celebration. She had “achieved the ultimate physical accomplishment.” I could sense her cathartic revelry; I could feel her victorious spirit.

A Yellow Streak

2009-03-22T22:02:00.004-05:00

“Falling is okay. What’s not good is not knowing why you fell. Don’t waste a perfectly good fall or you’ll have to do it again. Treat it as a physics lesson.”—Tom Hillard, Mountain Bike Coach

Kudos go out to the Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Department for marking the cracks on the Bike Trail. Last Saturday, as I cruised along the trail, the bright yellow markings immediately caught my attention—warning me of the perils ahead. These cracks, just south of Falls Park, are the results of another South Dakota winter’s ravages. These crevasses are large enough to swallow-up your pet squirrel; least of all, catch-and-hold your front wheel—sending you over the handlebars. However, the flash-yellow marking paint was visible for tens of yards prior to their beginning. Note in the inset, that the dimes in the bottom of each trench show that the width of these tectonic plate lines have an expanse of more than 36 mm (18mm diameter dime). The unforgiving features of these cracks are that they course-the-trail (parallel) and that their depth is as great as their width; making the negotiation of these trail hazards more dangerous for the unobservant cyclist. The yellow-streaks effectively draw one’s attention to the hazard…until they get fixed. Thanks again to those that maintain our Bike Trail System; you thwarted another case of road-rash.

Vulnerability, Silence and Fading Sharrows

2009-03-15T01:23:00.006-05:00

“In the city, ride like you’re invisible. As if nobody can see you. Because a huge percentage of the time, nobody can.”—Jason Makapagal, bicycle messenger

Gaia (Mother Nature) provided spectacular weekend weather for bicycling, but our motor vehicle friends were not yet prepared for our presence on the roads. More than once today, I was reminded of our vulnerable silence. I noticed bicyclists being crowded by motor vehicles, either from behind or in passing. In one instance, I witnessed a cyclist going completely unnoticed by a motorist until the cyclist had to take the curb. Both the motorist and cyclist were visibly shaken by the incident. Ride defensively…

“Forget about your rights. Forget about what’s fair. Forget all the rules of etiquette you ever learned. The average bicycle weighs twenty-five pounds. The average motorized vehicle weighs twenty-five hundred pounds. Your job is to avoid getting into an accident, not to prove you were within your rights after you’re involved in one.”—Bob Katz, bicycling advocate

During the past three months of not-so-adverse weather, the Share-the-Road markings (Sharrows) on our city bike routes are rapidly fading away; and likewise, the protection they may have once afforded the cyclist. In the photographic composite above, you can note the degradation of one sample sharrow that I have been monitoring on 22^nd Street near the University of Sioux Falls. The deterioration progresses as seen in the tripartite illustration--left image (mid-January), middle image (mid-February) and right image (mid-March). I apologize for the harsh shadow on the far right frame...that's what happens when you have sunshine instead of overcast skies.

What will be left of our sharrows by the peak of cycling season?

Be conspicuous and ride safely!

King of the Street

2009-02-01T11:33:00.009-06:00

“I’m probably no longer the King of the Street, but I gave it my best.”—David 'Leo' Leopold, bicycle messenger

I’ve come to the conclusion that my “blogging” is becoming mundane at best…perhaps it’s because my inspiration (what there is of it) comes from actually being in the saddle, communing with bike and nature. The short commutes to work, all two and a half minutes, and the occasional breaks in weather that would afford a sustentative ride, really don’t deliver any satisfaction or clarity of thought. I know…some of you will say, “Well then, get out and ride!” I’m working on it—(enter self-depredating, ineffectual and profuse excuses here).

But this morning on CBS’s Sunday Morning, a feature called “On a Roll” by Steve Hartman infused some thoughts of a “better time.” In 1985, the late founding anchor Charles Kuralt interviewed 24-year old David 'Leo' Leopold, who currently operates Cavalry Couriers, a Manhattan Island bike messenger service. Much of the historical video was aired on the November 26, 2008 CBS Evening News (“On the Road…Again”) with anchor Maggie Rodriguez (for Katie Couric). Although I vehemently disagree with Leo’s riding courtesy and disregard for safety, I imagine myself doing the same…

Of course, it can only be fancy—which acknowledges any real possession of skills and stamina that being a bike messenger would require. And the small spaces between motor vehicles…well let’s say, where “I (Leo)can ride between objects that leave me an inch and a half, so technical that it’s like a surgeon’s hands…” , I would be stuck (wedged, if you prefer) between delivery vehicles, going wherever they decided—a cargo sandwich as such. If you prefer the analogy to be medically apropos, substitute—I would be stuck like a subdural hematoma between the dura mater and the arachnoid meninges...(Why We Wear Helmets).

But can you imagine? The exhilaration of flying along the streets with the fluidity of a fixie—being able to experience the “joy of passing everything that moves on the island of Manhattan; and, of doing this one thing better than anybody else on the planet Earth.”

Hardly a Commute!

2009-01-24T21:26:00.012-06:00

“A cyclist can ride three-and-a-half miles on the calories found in an ear of corn. Bicycles consume less energy per passenger mile than any other form of transport, including walking. A ten-mile commute by bicycle requires 350 calories of energy, the amount in one bowl of rice. The same trip in the average American car uses 18,600 calories, or more than half a gallon of gasoline.”—Marcia D. Lowe, The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet

Whether we are inclined to accept these assertions or not; it is interesting that each U.S. household had 0.86 bicycles and 1.9 automobiles in 2001. In China, bicycles significantly outnumber automobiles, approximated at 250:1. India has a 30:1 ratio, and South Korea has a 20:1 ratio.

Why, then, in the U.S. does that ratio digress so significantly? Why is it speculated that only one out of forty bicycles is ridden for commuting? Are the rest used for strictly recreation or retired to the garage in disrepair? As a commuting bicyclist we should be thinking of ourselves in the vast minority…but, a healthy, environmentally and economically sensitive minority.

That being said, I thought I would share a video of my hardly a commute to work. It is a two-and-a-half minute video during which you can hum either Ghost Riders in the Sky by The Ventures, We Will Rock You by Queen, The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens, or Remember the Days of the Old Schoolyard by Cat Stevens…as if you were at some nostalgic silent movie. I often switch-up my own humming on my one-song-commute; for example, in inclement weather you might catch me humming Buy for Me the Rain by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band or Wipe Out by The Surfaris.

For you techies, this real-time video was filmed with my son’s Oregon Scientific helmet cam mounted on the handlebars of my trusty winterized Hop Rocker. The raw footage was edited with Solveig Multimedia AVI Trimmer 1.6 Freeware. Forgive me for amusing myself…

If you are really bored, watch the commute home. Oddly, it is a slightly shorter video…must be the prevailing winds!

Power to the Pedal People!

The Rodent Conspiracy Continues...

2009-01-18T13:37:00.012-06:00

Have you seen this reprobate, good-for-nothing, troublemaker…this, this…this SQUIRREL?

Okay, the story continues…

My biking friends, our safety is at risk! Like the Biking Brady that has started posting license plate numbers of vehicles that have little or no awareness (or respect )for bicycles sharing the road, I am starting a Rodent Registry. This Rodent Registry is an attempt to identify these vermin for what they are…NUTS! I’m certainly convinced that the culprit pictured in this blog is, in fact, the same rascal that at the midday on June 21, 2008, intentionally and deliberately fell…no leapt…onto my helmet (and subsequently positioning itself eye-to-eye with me) to cause malicious cardiovascular distress and emotional duress. (Disinclined Riding Partner, August 14, 2008)

Look closely at this adrenaline-junky, this malevolent, maloccluded, mangy, may-do-harm. Look deeply into his beady eyes and observe the chainring grease still staining his furry little-coat. Don’t be deceived…these varmints are ANIMALS…I tell you!

The Registry will use photographic identification of the offenders, rather than names or numbers. After all, who has time to even catch a license plate number when you are trying to recover from a near-miss collision with a motor vehicle—least of all dodging the acrobatic antics of an agile antagonist. Check out how Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Oregon, Illinois, Utah, Arizona, Florida, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Tennessee, South Carolina and Maine have legislated a three-foot passing clearance. Check out Joe Mizereck's "Three Feet Please" Campaign and view the videos here. How close is too close?

Unlike other registry systems, out-of-state offenders will be featured, just like Brady’s…no motor vehicle licensure, voter’s registration, or mail-forwarding address will compromise the integrity of this registry of reprobates.

Oh…and, don’t get me started on the deer, marmots and gophers…

No animals were harmed in the production of this blog. Unfortunately, they were likened to an unthinking fraction of the human population that is creating a dangerous condition for both cyclists and motorists--by not passing with a reasonable clearance.

Please Share-the-Road, Thank You!

2009-01-05T22:49:00.009-06:00

“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

—Andy Warhol

This 1968 pop-culture statement is often misquoted, perhaps conveniently so since Andrew Warhola (AKA Andy Warhol) deliberately tried to confuse reporters by changing it when he was persistently asked about its particular meaning. However, the statement refers to the transitory (short term and disposable) celebrity status that an object has when the media features it...followed by its subsequent loss of recognition as the public’s interests wane.

Even though the bike lanes, routes and paths in Sioux Falls could fall to this cliché, the community’s commuting and recreational cyclists need to maintain the vision for improving the trail and route system. Influential organizations and individuals have made sustentative recommendations to the design, development and alterations of this system and its detours. It is through committed labor, vigilance and expertise that Sioux Falls is emerging as a safe-cycling community. I extend my sincere appreciation and gratitude to those organizations and individuals for the privileged opportunity to have such a system available for my use—thank you!

Warhol Sharrows?

2009-01-03T21:44:00.009-06:00

“Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world.”

—Grant Peterson

Ice Fetish?

2008-12-28T20:38:00.008-06:00

They’re mounted and inflated! No more messing around on this ice…Continental Spike Claw Studded Mountain Bike Tires.

Went for a very short ride today, just before sundown…what a beautiful day! I’m still not convinced that crashin’-n-burnin’ is that impossible with these tires. It just doesn’t seem right—riding on icy roads—but so far so good, not a single slip. Maybe the advertisements are right—“use the 240-stud version for riding around in hockey rinks… and get a grip on your masochistic ice fetish.”

The Mom-in-Law wants me to be safe on the ice so she got me protection for Christmas…check out the helmet. If this isn’t an outtake from either Animal House or Wild Hogs, I’m not sure what it is…but it’s warm and comfy! Ja wohl, dies ist ein guter Helm!

Merry Christmas to All!

2008-12-25T09:57:00.002-06:00

Born unto the World was a Savior, Christ the King.
Best of Holiday Wishes to You and Yours!
The Sprockets

Bike-Sharing Simple

2008-12-20T14:34:00.020-06:00

"Since the bicycle makes little demand on material or energy resources, contributes little to pollution, makes a positive contribution to health and causes little death or injury, it can be regarded as the most benevolent of machines."--Stuart S. Wilson

Riding the global wave of interest in alternative transportation, the University of Sioux Falls is launching a Bike-Share program for students and employees. Starting this Spring 2009, The USF Bike-Share Program will “pedal off” with 10 Giant Simple Single Cruisers™ —available on a first-come, first-serve basis. These bikes will be equipped with locks and a removable rack/basket and a helmet so that the participant has everything they need for a bicycle commute/ride. The goals are to reduce traffic/parking congestion on and around campus, reduce fuel consumption, and promote fitness and an appreciation for the outdoors.

The faculty and student sponsored program is modeled after similar efforts at other colleges/universities around the world. Bike-share programs are not new creations. They were first developed in Europe in the 1960’s from a need to protect the environment through the use of sustainable transportation; the same purpose as they serve today. However, bike-share programs fulfill a second purpose by contributing to the participant’s well-being by increasing mobility and leisure activity, improving health, as well as offering alternatives for short distance trips.

The concept of Bike-Sharing is quite simple; bikes are loaned, free of charge, to members of the university community. A user applies to become a member, completes a registration form, agrees to the terms and conditions of use, is issued a membership card and can borrow a bike-share bike. It’s that simple and elegant.

The USF campus is uniquely situated between municipal bicycling routes, some of which that have been most recently marked with “Share the Road” sharrows and signage. Bike routes along 22^nd Street and Summit Avenue intersect at the northeast corner of the USF Campus, providing easy access to municipal on-street bike routes (approximately 35 miles) and the bike trail system (approximately 22 miles).

And for those of you that missed it...USF is the NAIA National Football Champions! Congratulations players, coaches, trainers and cheerleaders!

A Bicycle Ride is a Flight from Sadness--James Starr

2008-11-15T23:45:00.006-06:00

"I did not ride for pleasure. I rode to get somewhere, and I don’t mean from the house... I mean I rode to get somewhere myself."--William Saroyan

Abridged quotation from The Bicycle Rider in Beverly Hills.

I apologize for being a “recalcitrant blogger”…

It dawned on me last night that the best therapy for the melancholy caused by the dreary weather of past weeks and the escalation of seasonal affective disorder (promoted by the recent time change) remains a bicycle ride—with an old friend. This morning after the better part of a month of cycling-inactivity, I (re)called a dependable friend, of nearly two and a half decades, to go for a “frosty” but spirited bike ride. I knew that neither of us would be in our “prime” for the ride, since it has been a long time since either of us had trained. Delightfully, my friend rolled with the opportunity, and we shared yet another adventure—long overdue.

The chilly morning air reduced our efficiency and gnawed at our joints. Even though we have aged ungracefully, we persisted in acquiring an endorphin rush. It was like the Old Days, when we affirmed our independence on the off-road and mountain trail.

Maybe you’ll meet my special(ized) friend on the trail this winter. I have included a photograph at the top of the article.

Byrne-ing Down the House

2008-10-05T22:55:00.005-05:00

“It is no exaggeration to affirm that a journey by bicycle is like none other; it is a thing apart; it has a tempo and a style of its own.”—James E. Starrs

Last Friday was another Soo Foo Coo Campus Community Cycling Wellness Activity.

Joining the group was our own FAB Prez Kirk Wurscher, thanks for riding with us with that new bike--Viva Las Vegas! Check this bike out—it’s really sharp (double click on the picture to enlarge)! Along the way we also picked up Tammy W. on her mountain bike.

On CBS Sunday Morning, Tracy Smith interviewed David Byrne (formerly of the Talking Heads). We should not forget that David Byrne has always been eccentric, shy and self-conscience, but always a creative musician and design artist. Byrne is also a cycling-celebrity, known for his design, purchase and judging of Manhattan’s Bike Rack competition. Hey, maybe we can get him here in Sioux Falls to judge our local competition…after all, when he finished evaluating the competition entries, he purchased nine of them to be distributed about the city.

Byrne could easily be mistaken for any cyclist on the Manhattan streets. When asked about his cycling commutes about Manhattan, the dialog went something like this--

Tracy Smith: “You know, you are a rock star, you could take a car service.”

David Byrne: “Yes I could…I could but I…besides commuting…I also find it’s really liberating!”

David, it’s hard to put into words alright…”And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?" My friends, it’s exactly as DW says... PEACE and BIKE LOVE!

What the...

2008-09-24T00:35:00.016-05:00

Okay…so I’m not an orthopedist…but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! Hang-on this is going to be a rant on ignorance and the commercial circulation of ignorance! This rant will most definitely receive a PG-13 or greater rating…so the prudish should turn away now!

There are those times in life when you are obligated to say, “What the Hell?”

The most recent issue of Bicycling arrived today, and there…, there-in black in white…, there-filling a half page…wasting forty square inches of magazine space, is one of the most preposterous articles I have read in a long time. (The previous sentence sounds better in your head if you whine it in an Arlo Guthrie-like Alice’s Restaurant Massacre ballad voice.)

Tackle Tingly Hands: Tips and Exercises to Strengthen Your Grip by Selene Yeager (p. 37) demonstrates that the author has no awareness for the limitations of her source (Andrew Pruitt, “a bike-fit and sports-medicine expert”); and, the phenomena that affects many cyclists known as paresthesia!

What the Hell is Cyclist’s Palsy? Do we take prosaic liberty to contrive a medically absurd name for this functional disorder? Palsy suggests paralysis! Look it up in a Stedman’s or Dorland’s Medical Dictionaries…yeah, the ones we use professionally…you know in medical school and practice!

I’ve never had, nor will I ever have, palsy or paralysis from gripping my handlebars. Why? Because my mind refuses to allow me to continue compressing the ulnar and median nerves in the heal of my hands (thenar and hypothenar compartments) and the palmar vascular arches. My mind mitigates the potential for irreversible damage by responding to the resulting sensation of paresthesia (“pins and needles”) brought on by compressive insult to the nerves and blood vessels! The sensation can become so intense that a continuance of the improper-positioning of the hands on the handlebars becomes unbearable…so you quit doing it. It comes down to the burlesque gag—

Patient: “Doctor it hurts when I (do this)…”
Doctor: “Then stop doing it!”

And…What the Hell does “overextending your wrists” have to do with gripping the handlebars? Stop, In the Name of Love for Diana Ross and the Supremes…you would have your wrists hyperextended in the Supreme’s iconic choreographic “halting-position,” such that gripping the handlebars would not only be uncomfortable from the onset, but unsafe?

What the… does the subtitle: “Tips and Exercises to Strengthen Your Grip” have to do with relieving the paresthesia? It’s the tight grip that got you into the predicament—relax that grip and take the pressure off of the nerves and vessels of the proximal hand.

“If you’re prone to pins and needles, some experts advise stretching and strengthening your lower arms to increase your tolerance for long hours on the bar.” WHAT…? It’s the hands! The pressure is on the hands! Increasing strength of the ‘forearms’ does not alleviate the problem of compressive insult to the nerves and vessels of the hand. I’ll agree that strengthening the forearm muscles will allow for greater endurance in maintaining a neutral or straight wrist…but it will not reduce the compression in the hands nor increase tolerance. Strengthening your back muscles would be more appropriate, allowing you to transfer some of the force (weight of the body) aft, that would otherwise be placed on the handlebars through the hands.

Several weeks ago, I submitted an article, How to Handle the Handlebars, on this very topic for the next FAB Newsletter. The explanations and diagrams are more explicative and less ranting. Watch for it…we’ll talk again…Oh, What the Hell…

Do You Remember Your First Quarter Century?

2008-09-20T23:55:00.011-05:00

“Distance measured with a pair of compasses, is not precisely the same as when measured by the leg.”—Jerome K. Jerome

A novice cyclist (right) discovers the satisfaction of his first “quarter century” ride.

Friday afternoon, thirteen student, staff and faculty cyclists assembled to ride the bike trail in another installment of our campus community wellness activities program. The baker’s dozen departed by half past three. The experienced riders were very supportive and patient with the inexperienced; and, like last week, there were those learning moments before we set out —tire inflation, flat fix-it’s, and mechanical adjustments.

The weather was magnificent, except for the southern wind that had picked up to around 20 mph by 3:00 PM. We rode into the wind from Sherman Park. The various rider skill groups started to appear almost immediately, and the participants regrouped. A few minor mechanical problems further subdivided the participants. For the group furthest behind, the pace was leisurely (6.5 mph average); so it was nearly five by the time we all rendezvoused at Falls Park. Several riders had to depart to attend to dinner engagements, family and friends…but three journeyed on!

The trinity completed the 25.9 mile route by six-thirty…the greatest distance one of our budding cyclists had ever ridden. I suspect it was the second record he had set in two weeks…with the first record being set at the previous week’s ride. He was excited about making the “full circle” around the bike path…but had not anticipated the gusty southern wind we would once again encounter on the return route from the Pump Station. He started to bonk just north of the Maple Street Bridge. I rummaged through my handlebar bag for toffee Power Bar® and offered it to him…he inhaled it and chased it with some water. Being refreshed (or at least buzzing from the instant carbohydrate load), we resumed our trek back to campus passing by a necessary Kodak Moment (see photos below).

Next week, our newest quarter century rider has yet another record to break…maybe a half century…we’ll start at noon.

Alright cycling friends, I need your help. The popularity of group cycling is catching on over at the “Coo”…the University of Sioux Falls (formerly Sioux Falls College—affectionately nicknamed “Soo Foo Coo”). Twenty-three campus cyclists have indicated an interest and future participation. It’s time to give this group a moniker…what do you think? Hopefully their interests will expand so much that they consider joining FAB and ride more frequently!

Metering the Week--A Cycling Compendium

2008-09-14T17:59:00.011-05:00

Albert Einstein’s passions for bicycles are venerated in many of his infamous quotations, but foremost is his metaphorical appraisal of life to riding a bicycle—“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

So truthful was this statement during the past week.

You, my revered cycling friends and inspired bloggers, will agree that many of us need our habitual mind-clearing ride or me-time to maintain our balance. I got mine this Sunday morning.

Wednesday afternoon, as part of our multipartite campus community wellness program, I agreed to share a little known part of me by organizing and leading an activity that restores and refreshes me—a bicycle ride. I had one of the most amazing rides of my life…6.3 mph average speed for 12.22 miles. You can’t believe the things that I saw on the bike trail and the conversations that were conducted. The experienced riders, several that you will recognize from the photograph were very supportive and patient with the inexperienced. There were the teaching moments—flat fix-it’s, group riding taboos (weaving and unexplained braking) and verbal/hand signaling. I now apologize to any ride leader that I ever gave less than a genuine heartfelt Thank You!

Saturday, the Sanford Biking for Breast Cancer Ride was delightful…no, honestly I mean this! I was encouraged by the participants’ fortitude in riding despite the inclement weather…because we all know that nothing spells c-o-m-f-o-r-t, like a wet chamois for fifty miles in the rain and cold. Thank you to those that organized the event, executed the plan, participated in the event and raised the public awareness to breast cancer. I extend my wishes for a quick recovery to WindInHisShorts, who took a serious fall on the railroad tracks north of Lyons.

So…Sunday morning before the Sun rose, I set out to collect survey data for the FAB helmet usage study. The weather was trying to change; I just guessed it was changing in the wrong direction…drizzle with a northwest wind at 20-25 mph and gusts to 30 mph. My solitary ride out to the Sioux River Pump Station on the north end of the Sioux Falls Bike Trail was really quite peaceful; there were no other bicyclists, only a variety of waterfowl resting in the diversion canal. It was deafeningly quiet…except for the wind whistling in the vents of my helmet. I paused for better than a half-hour at the Pump Station, marveling at the wonders of the early morning and relinquishing my senses to experience the beauty of the creation. Sigh…Balance.

Helmet Hut Saturday

2008-09-07T22:00:00.015-05:00

The FAB Helmet Hut public service activity was Saturday, September 6^th. Even though the weather was autumnal, bicycle traffic was heavy on the bike trail…until it rained. Then, amazingly the traffic subsided?! Nothing promotes comfort like a wet chamois...

You’ll be seeing the results of the FAB Helmet Usage Survey at the FAB Web Site soon…but we still need more data (he said in his most maniacal inner voice). Preliminary results suggest that the number of cyclists wearing helmets, on the Sioux Falls Bike Trail System, is around fifty percent. That’s the good news! The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported a similar proportion in 1998…the bad news. A significant increase in bike helmet usage was seen between 1991 (eighteen percent) and 1998 (fifty percent)…but we have not seen any increase since. Perhaps, we have already convinced all of those bicyclists that we can—to wear the most essential piece of bicycling protective equipment.

I know we touched some of the bicyclists on the trail this last Saturday. A couple stopped to get a discount coupon to purchase a new helmet (replacing a decade old model), a helmet-less rider stopped by to pick up a discount coupon because he had been "meaning to buy one" (the time seemed right) and we talked with a family (all were wearing helmets) that needed a new one for the youngest of their riding group. These we will mark as successes…but we will also count those abundant helmet-less passersby that cast us their “guilty glances” knowing that our presence served as a reminder that helmet usage is prudent.

The arguments on using bike helmets bore me…and frankly, those debaters that are most vehement are disturbing. As pragmatically as I can state this—ANY skin I can save on my face and scalp, ANY impact energy I can dissipate to the helmet instead of my brain and braincase, ANY grief and distress I can save my family in caring for my vegetative self and ANYONE I can convince to do the same by example, makes wearing my helmet worth it. Besides, I think I look dapper in my commuter helmet.

Consider that most reported bicycle accidents do not involve motor vehicles (approximately ninety-five percent); over 600,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms and physicians about injuries sustained in bicycling accidents, annually; and, approximately 900 people die as a result of bicycle accidents, annually. Don’t be a statistic…unless you are one that we are counting on the bike trail—wearing a helmet!

Thanks to all that helped with sponsoring the Helmet Hut (Harlan’s Bike & Tour, Prairie Cycles, Spoke-n-Sport, and Two Wheeler Dealer), the committee (Harold, Minus Car, and Hellimat), and the many FABulous members that stopped (Kari, the Mayor, Dirk (the Prez), Rocket, Shirley, Ed, and others).

Luv' Bite

2008-09-01T21:15:00.005-05:00

It’s come to my attention that many of you are not aware that I have more than one bicycle…it’s true. But since most of you only see me riding around town, all you have seen accompanying me is my “townie,” hybrid or comfort bike (I hope one of those is the right term). Twice last week, I had different people ask me whether I had purchased a new bike—when I was riding a bike that I have had for the last two years?!

Yes, I have a road bike (I know that’s the right term)—a Cannondale Synapse. Now she is the flagship of my fleet and probably has more road miles on her than the other three combined…no…not the townie, hybrid or comfort bike. My reference is to the rest of the fleet—a 35 year old reconditioned classic Schwinn Speedster that my father rode, a 20 year old Specialized Rockhopper and the Cannondale Adventure 3.

Each of these bikes has a personality, and I think many of you will agree with me that yours do too. The Schwinn is the Ol’ Man of bicycling that creaks, grunts and groans about moving but is solid and reliable even though a bit crotchety. The Rockhopper is an Ol’ School ride with no suspension and many a scar from the incoming freshman, but as durable as it is aloof. The youngster of the fleet, the hybrid, is made for comfort and taking junkets around town always eager for another adventure or three.

It’s the road bike I want to talk about…she has a persnickety personality that can become somewhat spiteful at times. She loves the open road, but doesn’t get out as much as she would like. She loves speed, but her rider is often more reserved. She loves attention, but is treated like a “trophy bike”…all guised with nowhere to go, so she hangs on the wall at home. But every once in a while, she reminds you that she is “all that!” You envy her light frame, sleek design and superlative performance; but be aware, she emphasizes her displeasure with disuse by offering a mindful nip from her chainring—a Luv’ Bite—that will remind you to take her for a spin more often.

Thanks to Bellyton--PedalPower, the Hooterville Mayor, Double G, and Road Legs...and the Breakaway--the kErnEl, Dirk, Gene and Craig for a great ride on Saturday!

It’s not how fast or slow your pace...

2008-08-28T23:55:00.003-05:00

Sorry…long time no blog!

I paused the other day to think about my cycling experiences and have determined that not only has the equipment changed considerably in the past thirty years, but so has my cycling preferences—perhaps it has a great deal to do with the body and mind’s ability to cope with aging. As a youth it was speed—get there first at all costs—the end was the goal. Time trials and racing contained the ultimate rush. Now, I seem to have a different focus—it’s the journey and the friends you make along the way—the means to the end. “Social cycling” or touring has taken me to places I have never been before—philosophically, spiritually and physically.

I was a college freshman at SDSU when I rode my last race. The Big Bike Race was not really a serious race. I was recruited to be the anchor rider for a team of young men that would become some of my best friends during college; and, to help win this cycling relay around a cinder lined track. It somehow transformed me.

Don’t take my comments wrong, I have enjoyed both racing and touring immensely. Perhaps one without the other would have made me incomplete. And trust me when I say, I wish I still had the athleticism that could match the challenges posed by racing. I still marvel at the phenomenal athletic skill and confidence of the cyclist that can ride the various stages of Le Tour de France and the regional athletes that rode South Dakota’s first Criterium last weekend. But now, I slow in my pace and enjoy the ride. I still marvel…but this time, at how a day’s ride reveals the beauty and wonders of the world.

Even though a fair share of my life has passed since then, I again find refuge and refreshment in riding my bike. When I need clarification in life’s trials, a bike ride usually puts things in perspective. When I have writer’s block, a bike ride clarifies my thoughts. When I need to “feel”, a bike ride with friends makes the world inspirational. It’s not how fast or slow your pace; it’s that you’re riding.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” –Albert Einstein 1879-1955

Building a Bike Rack

2008-08-21T22:34:00.007-05:00

Before, after and between rides, I have been leaning my bike against the shrubs, laying it on the grass or propping it up against the garbage cans at my home. Not anymore! I finally broke down and made a bike rack for one. The rack had to be inconspicuous and narrow, occupying the grassy knoll between the driveway and sidewalk (approximately 24” width).

You may or may not be able to perceive the slope on my sidewalk and driveway from the photograph, but the contractors that landed this house on the Wicked Witch of the West forgot to check the elevation change from street level. The slope on the driveway is somewhere between 25 and 30 degrees. Don’t take me wrong...it’s great…especially since it works like a runaway truck ramp.

The commercially manufactured bike racks are wide (typically for multiple bikes) and not designed to hold a bike on a Himalayan incline. So for less than six-dollars, I constructed the prototype. The PVC pipe and connectors were approximately five-dollars and the patio tile was another dollar. I already had the PVC cleaner and cement (approximately another five-dollars). Materials include: ten feet of 1” Schedule 40 PVC, six 90 degree elbows, four T-connectors and one 12” X 12” concrete patio tile. The PVC pipe is cut into two 4” wheel base sections, two 12” wheel base sections, two 21.5” wheel upright sections, two 18” stake sections and five 1.25” joiner sections. One precautionary note—pre-fit sections and keep joints flat and square, PVC cement sets quickly, giving you little time to make adjustments.

I do not use the rack for extended storage, rather it is used for checking and filling tires with air, running into the house to grab that forgotten sport bottle of Propel, sunglasses, camera, keys…keys??? Occasionally, I have left my commuter bike in the rack during a quick lunch…using a cable lock around the wheel upright sections.

So far, the rack is enduring the UV light exposure and adverse weather. It has a phenomenal rigidity and is appropriately sized for both my 700 X 23 and 700 X 35 bike tires. The schedule 40 PVC is exceptionally strong—I used my weight to “plant” it into the ground by standing on the forward and backward wheel bases…I have included a picture of the rack before “planting” so that you can see it has substantial “roots” that stabilize the rack and subsequently the bike. I’ll keep you informed on how the rack responds to the South Dakota fall and winter weather conditions.

Bewildering Bicycling Blog Tag...Anyone? Bueller?

2008-08-21T01:12:00.005-05:00

All righty then…at the risk of becoming a schmuck…let’s get a new blog tag game going. I propose the following. The goal is to disguise an alliterated passage with meaningful cycling reference in the next blog you write—after you have been tagged.

Now wait…it’s not that easy…you have to "play the game" using one of two options…the first option allows you to choose the next two (chronological) letters of the alphabet from which you must create your passage(s); or the second option allows you to choose the last letter from the previous blogger’s entry (that is the one that tags you) and then the next letter in chronological (alphabetical) order. Okay, so this is not so clear…let me give you an example…

Somewhere in the text of my blog I have the following:

An accomplished architect of amazing artistic ability advocates the attributes of an azure Azuki brand bicycle that BRiMaN bought from a benevolent boss.

So then I tag the Hooterville Mayor, he has the option to: 1) use the letters “C” and “D” in his blog; or, 2) use the letter “B” from my blog (since it is the last letter I used in my entry) and then the letter “C”.

Got it? How fast can we make it through the alphabet?

Oh, by the way, that was a TAG Mayor! What will it be…”B” and “C” or “C” and “D”? No touch-backs…pffft!

I think Tez is willing to play the game (see her comment to my previous entry)!

Alliteration Trifecta

2008-08-18T17:10:00.022-05:00

It was a cycling-kind-of-weekend… and a gorgeous one at that! Saturday, FAB launched its first of several Sioux Falls Bike Trail Helmet Usage Surveys. Morning dawned earlier than most anticipated…the fog made it appear to be about a half-hour earlier than it really was…

I met BRiMaN and the Hooterville Mayor at the South Minnesota Avenue Bridge for some synchronous semi-serious sunrise surveying…the only problem, BRiMaN and I were coffee-less and the Mayor was drinking the previous day’s leftovers—Aaacck! The bike trail was a little slow at 7:00 am, but it allowed us to exchange some childhood stories on how our fathers formed and reformed us; and, how we have or might be doing the same to our own children.

My most sincere gratitude is extended to the FAB survey team volunteers for taking a half-hour (or more) of their weekend to assist in the collection of helmet use data from 377 bicyclists at four locations during four different times of the day. Let's see, that’s four times four…carry the three…aaaah… 480 person-minutes or approximately 0.79 data points per person-minute (my statistical methods will be substantially more impressive than the aforementioned—never, ever, do public math). The affable volunteers were -- the Hooterville Mayor, BRiMaN, the Prez, Hellimat, Kari A., DyAnn W., Chuck W., mytzpyk, Harold C., Tammy W., Gregg D., Larry H., Tony P., Beth P., John N. and Rocket.

Thank you for your genuine interest in the safety of Sioux Falls bicyclists and this study. Watch for our release of the survey results and the next activity coming September 6th to a City Park near you!

I spent some ‘saddle-time’ on the trail traveling between survey sites until I bought a flat front tire…the first I have had on a bike-in-motion. Although I am not greatly disappointed, it was not as spectacular as I thought it would be. It was inconspicuous, innocuously incapacitating and insidious; more like going up a steep grade—bogging your progress to a dead stop (whilst still “clipped-in”, of course).

As I promulgated my pending "pump-less" predicament I found it somewhat perplexing that the plentiful passersby were not particularly pleasant. I even received a sinister syncopated snobbish snort or scoff from a gaunt gal, garnished in garden green gabardine, grinding the gears on a gauche gray Giant Glory DH.

Conveniently, the resulting gapping avulsion gave me a reason to charge on down to my LBS and change out the OEM tires with some Continental Grand Prix 4000 Black Chilies (Pell said they would give me another 12 mph without pedaling…12 plus 9.5…aaaah…carry the one…divided by 2...that’s still 9.5 mph, still my average)!

Below are a few pictures of our surveyors and some of those we surveyed. Particularly take notice of the trailer occupant…it caused us to take a second look. No offense intended…you can pick your seat (at the theatre), but not your genes.

Ride Into the Wind!

Disinclined Riding Partner

2008-08-14T22:38:00.000-05:00

I have met many engaging and intriguing cyclists this past year and it has been entirely my pleasure. Most, I found, have a very similar sense of humor to my own, which both comforts and concerns me. My Advisory Board suggested to me that my first blog could be about my disinclined riding partner that joined me for a training ride earlier this summer. And, in light of Steve Madden’s “With the Editor—I hate Squirrels” article in the September issue of Bicycling magazine, it would seem apropos…the following is an adaptation of my June 22, 2008 FAB forum (www.clubFAB.org) entry on “Why We Wear Helmets”…

Okay, there are many reasons for wearing a bicycle helmet...but rarely do we consider the helmet’s efficacy in deflecting falling squirrels! Yesterday, two blocks from home, an unexpected passenger joined me for a ride. As I was passing under a 40' elm tree, a squirrel fell onto either my headset or top tube--who knows which... All I know is at one moment I was pedaling along, the next I have a "little friend" hanging on to my bento box for its precious life. The helmet connection, you ask? During the squirrels 'free-fall' out of the tree top, it brushed my helmet before abruptly landing face-to-face with me on my bike. Initially, I thought I had brushed the lower limbs of the tree and was very hesitant to glance up for fear of taking one across the forehead or worse yet, have one catch under my helmet—subsequently separating me from my ride—by the chin strap.

It's amazing how fast one's mind processes the situation (sort of the crash and burn scenario when you can anticipate each moment of eating the asphalt as you ride your bike to the ground). I imagined the squirrel having either a heart attack, perching itself on top of my head or shoulders, or going straight for the carotid artery (the fastest way to take out your chauffeur). Staying perfectly cool, calm and collected (uh-huh), I eyed the flea-bitten critter...the ol' stink-eye (and an erratic 100' ride) must have convinced my furry passenger to bail and take its chances by nearly getting run over by the back wheel. I shrieked like an adolescent girl when it leapt between my leg and bike frame. Never having made such a piercing sound, I started laughing hysterically for the next two blocks. Upon reaching a fairly busy traffic intersection, I braked and attempted to un-clip. But to my uncoordinated dismay, I was laughing so hard that I came to a complete stop and started tipping to the opposite side from which my first foot broke free—of course. Throwing my weight to the freed side, I spared myself the humiliation of many a rookie rider. Still laughing, I dismounted and stood bent over my ride, as tears filled my shades. The neighbors...well let's say they are now convinced of my mental infirmity. After regaining my composure and ranking this experience as a 9.5 on the Weird-S@#*-O-Meter, I continued on my way.

On completion of the ride, I downloaded and reviewed data from my bike computer. My heart rate spiked at 202 bpm (140 % of max HR)...I never go above 165 bpm on the steepest of slopes. Interestingly enough, the spike was two blocks from home on level ground--go figure.

Protect yourself--always wear a helmet. In all seriousness, I could have just the same dumped the bike and had a fairly serious accident. It's not always the expected roadsters, rocks, rubbish, roots or ruts...sometimes it's rodents!

If you haven't watched Brad Dumke's "A Cycling Statistic" video on the FAB website (www.clubfab.org/videos.php), do so now...it's convincing--even though it doesn't have any squirrels.

Okay...okay...okay...some of my friends and a few Animal Rights Activists claim my disenfranchised 'little friend'--Rocky J. Squirrel--didn't deserve the ol'-stink eye, or for that matter, the supra-sonic shriek that deafened dogs for blocks. The hysterical laughter it deserved...maybe.

The day following this rodential escapade, Rocket (a moniker for my spouse with her new bike that moves at 12 mph without pedaling) and I went for a theme ride, Let's Teach the Husband a Lesson on the Open Road Ride. Somewhere between “Let’s go for a leisurely ride.” and “Eat my dust—Old Man!”-- Rocket blazes past me on the open road north of J & L and leaves me to defend myself amongst the squirrels' friends, the gophers—you know they talk amongst themselves… Don't let them fool you; they really are 'thirteen-line ground SQUIRRELS!'