AWESOME smokin' deal for employers (20+ employees) in Kent, Renton, and Tukwila

Check out this limited-term offer from the folks at King County Metro!!!

Employee commute consultation from Cascade Bicycle Club and Feet First? (FREE!)

50% off the price of an employer-issued ORCA card?

Teleworking consultation? (FREE!)

It's the STEP AWAY (from your car) campaign.

Contact Susan Whitmore with KC Metro Commute Trip Reduction Services for details at 206-684-1057.


Note: this program is only offered for a limited time to employers with 20+ employees in the cities of Kent, Renton, and Tukwila, Washington (State), USA.

illuminating event

IN SEATTLE TONIGHT!!!

"Reflect-a-Thon"
November 9, 7:00pm – 8:30pm

Meet @ Cascade Bicycle Club Office-- 7400 Sand Point Way NE Seattle Wa 98115

Participants meet at the Cascade Bicycle Club offices, at 7400 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, from 7pm to 8:30pm for another Reflect-a-Thon. Come and test your visibility gear, compare it to the lights and reflectors that other cyclists are using, and get ideas and feedback on how you can be safer at night.

At the Reflect-a-thon, volunteers will wear your outerwear and helmet, and ride your bike to show you what you look like from the perspective of a car. Reflective tape pieces will be provided for participants who need additional visibility.

Contact Robin Randels
Classes Coordinator
206 446 7457
206 390 3945
cascadebicycleclub.org

commuting in the fall

Jeez... I think I was spoiled from the summer's mild (well, summer sucked for us in the Seattle area generally) weather.

Riding to work this morning (and even last night on the way home) was cold! And DARK! Forget my little Spoks, it's time to bust out the helmet with the DiNotte lights on it!

Other things I'd like to note: I hate equally getting cable rub and worm guts on my frame.

bike parking

Do you find it hard to find bike parking where you live?

If it is available, is it optimal?

How much of a part does bike parking availability and style of bike parking play in your decision to bike for a trip? Is parking or lack thereof a big barrier to making bike trips or are there other larger factors? If so, what are they?

Leave your comments on this subject if you wish.

I'd also be interested to know if anyone rides their bike to transit (train or bus) and then uses on-board or at-station bike rack facilities.

Google Maps and bike routes

I am sure anyone who's familiar with Google Maps has now figured out or heard they have added bicycle routing to their functionality. For those who are not familiar with Google Maps, it offers a variety of geographic capabilities via the web including but not limited to finding addresses, trip routing, and Street View, which allows the user to see what they would find if they were viewing the address location and vicinity from the street - a virtual drive-by, if you will.

I checked it out this morning. I would concur with some of other reviewers' commentaries. Or this one, including readers' comments.

In specific, the trial route I plotted was shorter than what I would have instinctively chosen, however, it was on much heavier-traveled roads which have much higher speeds, roads you do not want to have any sort of mechanical failure on. Also, one stretch in specific does not have any bicycle facilities, such as a bike lane, it even lacks a wide shoulder.

Google appears accepting of the fact this feature has its kinks and encourages people to contact them to help amend their first attempt at providing bicycle routing functionality, and for taking this bold step, I give them kudos.

initial product review: the JIMI wallet

This past weekend, I bought a JIMI wallet for $15 from Recycled Cycles in Seattle near the University of Washington.

The JIMI is see-though plastic wallet, or more accurately, as described by the manufacturer's web site: "Jimi™ wallet is a really handy and stylish way to carry your essentials and free yourself from the clutter and bulk of the traditional wallet/pocket book. It's compact, water resistant, and translucent - as much at home in a hipster's pocket, a busy Mom's diaper bag or around the neck of an exec. breezing through airport security!"



You can easily see the cash through the wallet and also the photo ID too. [I guess I should have blurred out the ID photo too, as I looked kinda porky back then].


When open, you can see where the money slides into a clip and the cards slide behind a card keeper - you can store up to 4 IDs or credit/debit cards in there.



The loop on the end is for either fitting to a neck lanyard or I suppose you could attach a key ring to it too.

The reason I wanted one of these was I was tired of either fishing for dollars or IDs in my rear jersey or jacket pocket [I may have lost a debit card this way] and also the alternative I had been using was a Ziploc baggie [to keep things gathered together and also keep them dry] which while it does serve a purpose, makes you look a little impoverished at the local Safeway when you stop in to buy a pick-me-up post-ride. So I'd say my reasons for buying this have been two-thirds practicality and one-third style.

The only issue I have is in today's society, there are too many cards! Grocery cards, credit cards, wholesale club warehouse cards, bike club cards, frequent flier cards, etc. I have a "home" wallet I keep most things in and generally travel only with the essentials because of this reason.

So, we'll see how this trial goes. I principally want to see: 1) how dry it keeps the contents, 2) how long the hinges will last, and 3) how much can be stuffed into it. More or less, conduct a real-world commute test for a few weeks or a month and then do a Myth Busters style assault on this wallet to see what it takes for it to fail.

Stay tuned...

[Note: I am not affiliated with JIMI and not receiving any compensation for this blog post. I paid for my wallet out-of-pocket.]

[Also note: I coincidentally live in the city where Jimi the world-famous rock-n-roll guitarist is buried. Though there is likely no affiliation between the wallet makers and the musician's legacy.]

my Bike BrightZ (flashing LED lights) demo

Here's a video I shot to show the effectiveness of the Bike BrightZ at night. Watch it and judge for yourself.



Just for clarification, I mounted two lights on the bike in the video, one on the left and one on the right of my rear rack, pointed at an angle to the rear. If I was to do this permanently, I think I would have used two of the Bike BrightZ red flashing LEDS rather than a yellow and green as shown in the video.

Bike BrightZ can be ordered online for $19.99 each with free shipping in US and Canada.

Here's what I found from my testing evaluation on adult and kids' bicycles (note: Bike BrightZ provided me with samples for my testing and evaluation - I did not purchase these nor receive compensation for this review)...

PROS:
Fairly easy to install.
Reasonably-priced.
Package comes complete with batteries.
Easy to operate.
Different LED colors available.
Multiple flashing patterns (or steady).
Kids love them - it's easy to get them to use them.

CONS:
The unit can rub against down tubes and scratch paint when grit gets between unit and the bicycle tubes.
Since it mounts low, it could be obscured by mud/muck/sand/grit/grime.
It might not fit flush on more radical designed frames or curvy frames or smaller kids' bikes.

BOTTOM LINE:
I am of the opinion that any visual enhancement in low light or dark conditions, especially as a bicycle commuter, is a good thing. This said, this product would be a good thing to consider in your "visibility toolbox" along with a headlight and flashing rear red LED or reflector (per many states' laws). Additional reflectors and/or lights are also beneficial. I would avoid the colors other than red, and especially not combine the red and blue Bike BrightZ, as to avoid drivers thinking you're posing as a cop.

As for kids' use of this product, there is a coolness factor that they really enjoy which makes it easier to get them to turn them on. (Note: the kids sampling this were 5-7 years-old and were not actually riding in the streets at night).

"bike hoboism"

I recently submitted a few pics to Matt at the bicycling blog known as Bike Hacks regarding my co-worker's obsession with duct taped gadgetry and doo-dads. Matt's been accused of being a "bike hobo" by adding trinkets to his bike and my co-worker also could be cut from the same cloth.

Here's my co-worker's Jamis... click here to check out the detailed pics Matt posted to Bike Hacks.


As a side note/update from this morning, yesterday afternoon this co-worker with the Jamis wiped out while riding, dislocating a shoulder. He's OK though and his bike is OK too. Apparently, while grabbing something that fell (I'm a bit unclear on this part - fell off his bike? Fell out of a pocket?) he clenched his brakes to stop, but grabbed the brake for the front brake and flipped the bike over, dumping him on the ground. Wishing him a speedy recovery...

new lighting product: my first review pending

I received my first item from a manufacturer for real-world product testing and review. Bike Brightz sent me a few samples (red, green, yellow, and blue) of their flashing LED lights to test out with the kids and on my commuter bike.



They are able to be zip-tied to the bicycle frame, such as the down tube or chain stays, and run off of two AAA batteries (included). The lights are activated by button and have a steady or a variety of flashing modes (generally varies by speed of the flashing). The affect appears to be similar to the Down Low Glow but for a lot less coin (BBz are about $20 + shipping). I am not certain whether the Bike Brightz offers the same level of lighting as the DLG, since I don't have any for side-by-side comparison. Plus, the installation is super easy and easy to transfer to a different bike, since re-usable zip ties are provided with the Bike Brightz kits. Note: I have not used the DTG lights but have only checked out other web pages about them.

I will post pics (day and night) from my kids' bikes and my commuter soon and give a fuller review after I have a few commutes (including some rain commute days to test for water resistance) with them installed.

Disclaimer: these products were provided to me from the Bike Brightz company for testing and review at no cost to me.

Update re: Merry Christmas to Me!

I received my DiNotte light from Nashbar this week!

As you might have read previously, I ordered a helmet-mounted commuter light which includes a bright LED headlight and a mini flashing red LED in the rear (of the same "light engine" housing). The whole thing is about the size of a C cell battery, not including the 4 AA size rechargeable battery pack which is able to be tucked into a jersey pocket. An included velcro strap possibly is to allow for mounting the battery pack to the bike frame.

In the photo below, here's what came in the package (except the helmet): helmet mount, light and attached cord, straps, one set of 4 AA rechargeable batteries, a plug-in charger (I think it is of the "smart" variety), and the battery pack holder pouch, and two battery holders.



Here's a close-up photo of the light mounted to the helmet.



Here I am modeling the helmet and light.



I'll post my review of the product once I get a chance to ride with it a while.

Note: I am not sponsored by or any other way compensated by Nashbar or DiNotte or any other company for writing any of these blog posts.

Seattle's 2009 Downtown Bicycle Count Results

According to the SDOT, there are more bicycle commuters headed to Downtown Seattle than in previous years, a 15% increase since 2007 when the counts were last done.

In addition to pretty charts, the web page has a lot of interesting stats listed, such as:
Percentage increase since since 2000: 28%

Number of bicyclists wearing a helmet in 1992: 71%

Number of bicyclists wearing a helmet in 2000: 82%

Number of bicyclists wearing a helmet in 2007: 89%

Number of miles cycled yearly by average bike commuter: 1,992

I learned about this data being available from a posting on the PI web site.

Safe Routes to School

Today I attended a workshop put on by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program, taught by staff from the national (USDOT-funded) SRTS program.

The emphasis of the SRTS program is on improving physical barriers to having kids walk or bicycle to school and enhancing safety through education. The reasons for the program (i.e. why it is good for kids to walk or bicycle to school) are many: reduce traffic congestion, improve physical health of kids (combats childhood obesity), improves the environment (improved air quality), and more.

I'll have more to post on this, but it was nice to see a lot of staff from various Washington school districts, King County DOT, Seattle DOT, WSDOT, and advocacy organizations like Feet First and Bicycle Alliance of Washington.

500+ commute miles

I almost forgot to mention, according to my Sigma brand odometer, I passed the 500 bike commute miles mark this past week*.

It seemed like it took forever to get there but on the actual day it happened I was clueless. The following day I happened to look at total miles and see it was 504.

I accomplished this in about 15 months since starting to actively bicycle commute 2-3 times a week throughout the year and my commute is around 2.2 miles one-way. So that's roughly 113 bicycle commute days if I did my math correctly.

* Note: I've actually put more miles in that are not counted, as I biked for about a month before getting the Sigma, also, I have used other bicycles to commute but not too often. Also, this does not account for any recreational cycling I've done on other bicycles while on weekend rides with the kids or camping.

"It keeps me alive"

This morning, the temperature may have dipped into the upper 20s or lower 30s. I was pretty well covered in a basic commuter jacket, wintery (but still too thin for very cold weather) neoprene-like full-finger gloves, a full face (bank robber style) acrylic stocking cap, a Polartec acrylic fleece jersey, and wool (German Army surplus) knickers over Hincappie bib shorts. Note: I didn't wear (or even own?) a tall wool or wool blend sock, so about 6 inches of my lower legs were chilly...

While checking my bike in the midday today (I thought maybe I left my auxilary headlight turned on) a non-cycling coworker saw me and said something like "it's too cold to ride that today!"

My quick (but not necessarily well-thought-out) response: "It keeps me alive!"

I was expecting a reply back from her challenging or questioning how the bicycle keeps me alive, but there was none. It was an interesting but silent elevator ride back up to my floor. The whole time, of course, in my head, I'm trying to come up with a list of how bicycling keeps me alive.

so what happens when you have no commute???

While I thought I was safe in layoffs at work this past month - a subject I have not blogged about anywhere, I just got an indication today that the union and/or an individual's legal action might mean I am not in the clear.

What stinks about this is the layoffs are being done purely on seniority (I think) rather than job performance. I have a flawless job record and was employee of the year in 2008.

I'm not griping. I just see it as an opportunity - if something does happen - and I try to be hopeful.

Hey - maybe I'd have the chance to write more and do more bicycle-related stuff. Go on a tour. Visit and write about local bicycle shops and events. Travel abroad.

Who knows?

1st commute wipe-out

I'm still a bit PO'd about this. Basically, in a nutshell, I wiped out this morning on the Transfer while en route to work. I'm OK physically (we'll see tomorrow AM if I have any muscle soreness - I expect there will be), and the bike is OK (just minor scrapes on the pedal end and end of handlebar). So I guess that's the good news.

There is a major construction zone along my preferred route to work - the others being either more-heavily traveled or considerably steeper and a lengthier route door-to-door. Going to work is mostly flat or downhill, coming home of course, is flattish and uphill.

The construction zone is for a project to build an interstate highway interchange - so this isn't a small project by any means. To protect pedestrians and bicyclists, or at least keep them away from construction crews, the construction crews have made a separated, shared path* along one side of the road, segregated from traffic by jersey barricades and a chain link fence.

As I was traveling in this protected area this morning at about 15 mph or less, I saw ahead what appeared to be plywood laid down in the path. It wasn't. It was 1" tall steel plate that was wet and covered with a bit of sand and dirt. Between choices of hopping the plate (likely 6 to 8 feet wide, not a great option) or trying to stop (also not a good option - not enough distance to stop) I chose the latter. The front wheel struck the plate and dumped the bike over to the left. I hopped off the bike (PO'd that the bike was dumped - I was more concerned about getting it scraped up) and landed on my feet, running a few steps but staying on my feet.

A construction worker asked if I was OK. I said I was PO'd and explained I could not see the plate. He said he had cones (three of them - pushed to one side) but he didn't want them to obstruct the path (????). I got back on my bike and rode away, as I was a block or two from my employer's.

Ironic that my focus lately has been on making me more visible to others and my attention has been directed towards watching out for other moving objects (like cars) and that my wipe-out has nothing to do with that. I think my next investment will be for an ultra bright light - I cannot rely upon others to provide adequate illumination or to keep paths clear - even those designated for pedestrians and bicyclists.

*Since using this shared facility, I am becoming less and less thrilled with them. Since it is only on one side of the road, I hate riding against traffic on the opposite side of the road than I am accustomed to. Barrier there or not, it just feels weird. The reason I have not continued to stay in traffic is on the opposite side of the road they have barricades there and no shoulder, so if you get a flat or what-have-you, you're pretty much stuck in an "automotive gauntlet" for nearly three-quarters of a mile. I'll try to post pictures of this - or maybe try to make a video.

illumi-NATE!

I was reading a repost in the Seattle PI online edition (only edition) that discussed tactics for bicylists to improve their visibility. The article has a lot of good tips and photos accompanying it. You can also employ these on your kids' bikes, trikes, wagons, strollers, etc. to wheelchairs or walkers and also to your pets, or to your own attire or accessories as you're out walking in the seemingly prematurely arriving dark evening hours.

On my own, recently, I too beefed up my visibility on my commuter bike, a REI brand Novara Transfer (which you can read about here). The cool things about this bike is that it comes set-up for commuters - not only is there a color-matched rack and full fenders, it also includes a rear blinky light (integrated into the rear fender) and a front hub powered headlight. As I have found, however, this is just a rudimentary amount of lighting most commuters need. Essentially, it keeps you legal, but it doesn't give you a whole lot of visibility.

Initially, I augmented the rear blinky tail light with a red flasher I got for free courtesy of a community event hosted by WA State's Safe Routes to School Program. Soon after I added a cheapie ($6 at Fred Meyer) but very bright multi-LED flasher to it as well. So I had a built-in light, and two supplementals zip-tied to the rear rack.

Not content with just that alone, I added a flasher (by Planet Bike? Cateye?) to the back of my helmet, again with a zip-tie.

To augment the front headlight - especially important since the hub generator driven headlight does not stay on when you stop for a light or stop sign - I again went to a zip-tie solution and zip-tied a cheap 9 LED flashlight ($6 from Fred Meyer) to the stem.



About the same time as I was making these initial illumination enhancements, I found a wide-mouthed water bottle (a cool Austin music festival one) alongside a road heavily traveled by cyclists. I wasn't going to use it for drinking, but it made a perfect take-along emergency toolkit. It is just the right size for stuffing a patch kit, emergency ID, wrenches and other tools, etc. To fit with the illumination theme here, I added strips of red reflective tape to the sides for additional visibility.



The cool (recent) part - from a local sign shop (that makes highway signs) I received gratis pieces of the hyper-reflective material they use for road signs. This was stuff that would have ended up in the trash otherwise. I got yellow, hi-viz yellow, white/silver, and a clear red that itself isn't reflective, but it is when added over the white/silver. Below are shots of the materials under normal light and in the dark with the flash.







I trimmed strips to fit the front, back, and sides of the Transfer on the frame, fenders, fork, and rack.



And seat stays...



For the motion effect, I also added them to the crank and pedals (to the outside end of Shimano MTB SPDs) for the motion - I did the same with the wheels but have not yet decided if I like that look or not.







I also added the smaller scraps to my helmet.



As you can see from the photo, the combined effect really lights up the bike. No lights are turned on in any of these photos.

In the front view, the only added element is on the forks - the others are reflectors in the headlight or a traditional handlebar-mounted CPSC reflector.



In the rear, the stock red reflector is in the middle of the rack - everything else is from the reflective tape.

illuminating contest

It's getting way dark in my evening commutes (especially since DLST). Got a grand idea for lighting up your bike?

If you do, you could win some cool gear by submitting the idea to the web site Instructables.

Cordarounds is sponsoring a contest called "Light Up the Night" on Instructables. (Cordarounds is a clothier which has a lot of cycling-inspired clothing that's also suited for the everyday grind.)

The "Light Up the Night" contest entry cut-off is November 29th. Winners receive cool reflective jackets or pants from Cordarounds.

The grand prize... the Urban Awareness Jacket. See it in action below.

Night Ride: The Urban Awareness Jacket from Cordarounds on Vimeo.

First prizes... any pair of Cordarounds pants... including the Bike to Work pants featured in this video... with pockets with reflective liners and cuffs that are reflective.

Bike to Work Pants from Cordarounds on Vimeo.

Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Instructables or Cordarounds. But I'd love to try out a pair of the BTW pants or the UA jacket if any Cordarounds folks are reading this! I'd love to start doing product reviews. After about two years of bicycle commuting, I've got a good idea of what products have worked best in my commutes.

as the kidz say... "PWNED"

I was chugging along from work today trying to chase an older, slimmer, shorter, Asian dude on a MTB-turned-commuter bike today.

I never caught up to him and used up my go juice trying to do that. I had to settle for gearing down and just matching his cadence... he was cookin' along like an eggbeater.

I think the worst part is I pulled out of our workplace and immediately tried cranking along and that worked OK for a while but my legs soon got really tight and fatigued... always seems like a better ride for me if I run a short, easy warm-up before I hammer it.

As it turned out, I still made it home in about 30 seconds less than my recent best time.

a cautionary note

I like my socks to match what I'm wearing, typically, when I'm dressed in my business casual work clothes. I change at work from cycling attire (I bring my work clothes once a week to have on-hand so I needn't ride to work with them wadded up in panniers or risk getting them wet/dirty/etc.).

I usually change in the restroom on our floor rather than the workout fitness room locker room, a habit I adopted during the year the locker room was closed for remodeling. In the morning, since my ride is under 3 miles and generally down hill, I don't need to re-shower in the AM... at least no coworker's have complained about it.

As I change in a bathroom stall, I usually hang my clothes over the top of the door and set items like socks to the side, propping them up on the top of the TP holder, for example. Well, this morning things did not go so well. Like a tired or distracted first baseman missing what should have been an easy out, I bobbled the rolled-up socks and they landed with a *sploosh* into the toilet.

My first thought was to somehow save them and dry them out, however, the thought of having wet socks perched on my desk, staring at me soggily, only further irritated me. So I opted to trash them and instead wear socks that don't match what I'm wearing.

Funny considering on the ride in I was thinking "it's such a really great day for riding" buzzing down the road with happy, positive thoughts in my head, unaware of the sock drama about to unfold minutes later.