Posts Tagged ‘sustainable transportation’

I recently began converting an old Peugot Monaco frame into a fixie. While very familiar with most aspects of bike repair, the old frame represented new challenges. Before I began buying a bunch of replacement parts (I found the frame without a seat and seatpost, wheels, brakes, chain. While also having a loose bottom bracket), I headed to Outdoors, Inc. Fortunately, I found Jason there and he demonstrated how to remove the bottom bracket and he set me up with some new bearings and a lockring tool (not something found commonly in stock at other shops). Jason also understood — without me saying directly — that I wanted to do the repairs myself. He removed the components of the bottom bracket and got me what I needed and threw it into a ziplock bag — ready for the work in my garage. The staff then helped me measure and order all of the components I needed to make the conversion. When the components came in I had some problems with the seatpost sizing, since the Peugot has an odd size seatpost. Mike (who also builds his own frames (Magnolia, if I remember correctly)) took the time to describe what I should do to shim a post in order to make it fit.

Furthermore, since I use bicycles as my primary form of transportation, Isaiah has been more than helpful and diligent in making sure that I was aware that parts I order were in and ready for pickup.

The bike repair staff at Outdoors, Inc. is knowledgeable, helpful and organized. With that being said, they need to make sure they continue to help bikers learn how to fix their rigs. After all, there aren’t bike repair schools readily available to teach repair techniques. And, if you hadn’t accommodated my needs for instruction, I would have gone elsewhere.

Outdoors, Inc. Midtown receives a 5 Broken Down Car rating. Cheers to you!

If you bike commute, you’re likely a familiar friend of fear. Undesirable vehicle (UDV) drivers feel fear too. They fear the drunken driver. They fear following the close call they experience once every couple of years. They fear looking bad. They drive the nicest UDV they can’t afford so they feel respected. They fear non-conformance. I don’t like fearing those things. I don’t like fear.

That is one thing I really like about western religion. For the most part, the only thing they teach you to fear is god. The rest is “Ye, though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil.”

I think about the people who fear the most in this world. I feel like they’re the ones who own the most, have the most power, are the coolest, the richest, the most beautiful. They have so much they always fear that they’re going to lose something. Kim Jong Il and the Iranian government are perfect examples. They fear and thus create fear to control their own fear. Voodoo priest are similar. They control by fear — creating more fear, combated by fear, combated by rituals originating from fear, etc.

The best quote I’ve heard regarding fear is extremely cheesy but is useful in a certain context…Yoda: “Fear leads to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads suffering” — suffering like the people in Darfur, Korea and Iran. I think that that quote could start with, “Possession leads to fear…” The Dark Side here is obviously evil and evil is bad.

Most of the people I know drive UDVs. As a bike commuter, there’s not much else I fear other than UDVs. Take UDVs out of traffic and I have almost complete freedom to operate. Although I fear these people in their UDVs, I do not fear for myself. I fear that my children and future generations will not enjoy, even modestly, the privileges that I’ve enjoyed in this life — opportunities to eat, be reasonably comfortable, and to travel modestly and learn new cultures.

Does UDV use lead me to fear? Yes. Does UDV use lead me to anger? Yes. Does it lead me to hate? I don’t think so. There is where I break from Yoda. I do not possess the future of my children and future generations. While I fear for their future, it is a fear born of caring and love. My fear leads me to conserve, to return the privilege, to sacrifice, to return the love I’ve been shown. I am determined to continue to fear…to continue to conserve…and more importantly, love. I love for my son, daughter, others.

I hope you will find the joy I’ve experienced from sacrificing my convenience for the future of others.

I hope you continue to fear. May your fear lead to love.

A lot of people, when becoming aware that I bike commute, say, “How do you bike commute in Memphis!? Drivers here are terrible and the roads are busy.” Until recently, I couldn’t understand why they would say that, other than they haven’t been on a bike in the past 10-20 years. Then I realized, “They only know the roads that they travel by undesirable vehicle to get from point A to B.” Now I know why they think I’m crazy. They think I ride my bike on the busiest roads in Memphis.

The fact is, I rarely get passed by cars with less than ten feet of distance between me and them. Okay, the distances are closer towards intersections but the passing cars are traveling slowly. I take a wide range of streets to get to and from work. Some are always lightly traveled, some are heavily traveled and some are walks (or rides) in the park. I know what the busy streets are. My friends who drive to work take them. I take the back streets. In town, that’s easy. There’s a thousand different ways to get to work, many of the ways on back streets. I also ride through a local and very historical park. On the one busy road I have to take, I utilize the sidewalk. First, it’s my understanding that in Memphis you can legally do that and second, since no one else is using it (they’re sitting inside watching tv or driving their undesirable vehicle), I might as well.

It’s taken me a while to find the best route to work. Just two weeks ago, after commuting for almost two years, I found a small but very meaningful shortcut through an abandoned airport parking lot, over a small wooden walking bridge and through the parking lot of a career college. I couldn’t believe I had just found such an obvious short cut after more than two years. But finding the right route has been a progression. When I first tried out the commute on a Sunday morning to determine it’s ‘doability,’ I took all of the major roads. That’s fine for Sunday morning but spine-tingling on a Monday morning or Friday night. As I’ve learned the streets of Memphis more and more, I’ve change my route. My route evolved twice within the last two months, each time becoming more safe.

So what do I recommend? Well since even people living in the areas you intend ride through probably don’t know all of the streets and won’t know how to connect them for a safe and comfortable commute, I recommend this: Take several weekend scouting trips, each time selecting different routes. Don’t select roads you know will be heavily traveled during the week. Stick to the parks and small neighborhood roads. If your only option for one section of the commute is the sidewalk, I recommend taking it — at least someone will be using it then. Select your final route based on low traffic or smaller hills or just by areas you enjoy seeing. And, your route to and from work may be different based on traffic flow.

Starting a bike commute, if you haven’t done it before, needs to feel safe and comfortable. To achieve this feeling, good preparation and a little weekend scouting will not only be enjoyable but ensure your commute will get you to work in one piece.

Note for web developers: If it hasn’t been done already, a Mapquest-like search tool that not only eliminates the highways from the search but also allows the searcher to identify very lightly traveled streets would be an excellent tool for bike commuters. (Remember, it’s taken me two years to develop my current route, and I can’t be sure it won’t change again.)

If you’re like me, you like speed, especially on a bike.  If you’re like me, you also have a lot to look forward to in life.

I’ve ridden both a 14 gear road bike and a single speed, knobby-clad mountain bike on my daily commutes.  For safety, the mountain bike wins hands down.  While having better handling, fewer flats and better breaking, the lack of speed is probably the most critical to safety.  After all, hitting something at 25 mph as compared to 15 mph can make quite a bit of difference.  I’ve also found that drivers don’t typically expect to see a bicycle traveling at 25-30 mph.  I know this because I’ve almost hit several as they turned in front of me.

If you’re worried about carrying too much speed on your commutes (because, like me, you can’t control yourself) , try a single speed.  And no, it doesn’t have to be a fixie.

It started a bit dreary but turned out beautiful.  Come join us.