My bike

Hit by a car, yet again

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:00:03 -0500

Coming to work this morning, down the dreaded Kinzie corridor that I usually avoid, I was reminded again of why I avoid the Kinzie corridor. As I came to the bottom of the hill where Kinzie intersects with Prairie Alley I began to slow down a bit to look for pedestrians crossing. It’s a good thing, too. An asshat in a black Range Rover came speeding around the corner during a right turn - clearly either not looking for me or choosing to ignore my presence. I probably had five feet to stop, not enough to avoid a full-on collision, but enough to keep it from getting ugly. Still, I ended up with a few bangs and bruises: I did end up on the ground after bouncing off the Range Rover. As a small group of cyclists and pedestrians stopped to see if I was OK - mostly yes - I looked up to see the driver slow down, clearly cognizant of what had happened. Slow down, but not stop. They quickly sped around the corner and out of site before anyone could get a license plate number. I went to follow, but had to stop after picking up my bike and discovering it had not fared as well as I did. Hopefully it’s just a case of a twisted handlebar stem - and easy fix. I’m off to Kozy’s shortly to have it looked over. All this, of course, happened on one of the city’s protected bike lanes, of which I am not a fan. With a row of cars between myself and the asshat who hit me, I was unable to see their intentions until it was too late - not a signal, mind you, as they didn’t bother with that. But it also afforded precious little space for avoiding the inevitable. The people who stopped, having seen the whole incident, confirmed that this guy was “a dick.” That he seemed to turn without even looking. Thankfully I ride with safety in mind - helmet, lights, bright clothes, etc. But none of that helps when people don’t give a shit about anyone on the roads but themselves. That’s not to say cyclists are without blame. Car drivers have not cornered the market on self-centered road manners by any stretch. And a person who can’t be bothered to stop and check on someone they’ve potentially harmed after an accident is an asshat no matter what transportation they use. Of a couple things, I am sure:

I’ll keep riding, but Kinzie’s off my list for a while. The last time I rode that way I suffered the rare double flat. I think the universe is trying to tell me something;
I do hope I dented that shiny black SUV. Paying to get my bike fixed would almost seem worth it;
In the future, I’ll make more effort to get license plate numbers. I would have happily pressed charges on this bag of shit - not for hitting me. Careless as it was, I can sorta chalk that up to an accident. The driving off is unforgivable;
It’s time to break out the GoPro and start filming my commutes again.

Building a bicycle culture in Chicago: does it get worse before it gets better

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:46:19 -0600

Building a bicycle culture in Chicago: does it get worse before it gets better:

From @gridchicago

The Urban Biker's checklist - great stuff

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:37:36 -0600

The Urban Biker's checklist - great stuff

This bike race actually makes use of a floating bridge/track....

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:07:03 -0600

This bike race actually makes use of a floating bridge/track. Maybe the most awesome part of a bike racecourse ever.

Priceonomics Blog: The Fixie Bike Index

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:44:11 -0600

Priceonomics Blog: The Fixie Bike Index:

priceonomics:

“Messengers are big fixie aficionados, but more and more fixed-gear bikes are being ridden by nonmessengers, most conspicuously the kind of younger people to whom the term “hipster” applies and who emanate from certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn.”

- New York Times, 2007

According to our…

First real ride in today in weeks - holidays, sick kids and...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:47:05 -0600

First real ride in today in weeks - holidays, sick kids and nonsense all conspired against me.
The ride in sucked. Literally. I was gassed, largely from being fat and out of shape.
The ride home was much better - probably the promise of all that delicious Fuller’s waiting for me at home.
The one constant: wet nastiness.
Unusually “warm” temperatures left the roads a gritty mess of meltwater. Me and my drivetrain are caked in crap. But in a good way. Still, at least one of us needs a bath this weekend.
Now tonight we’re supposed to get ice and snow. I hope not. One day back in the saddle was great, but nowhere near enough.

fuzzyimages: Not mine. Credit goes to Aaron Peterson...

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:00:47 -0500

fuzzyimages:

Not mine. Credit goes to Aaron Peterson Photography out of da UP.

Bike offers built-in USB ports to charge while you ride

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:15:16 -0500

Bike offers built-in USB ports to charge while you ride

How to bike through the winter - a beginner's guide

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:58:31 -0500

How to bike through the winter - a beginner's guide:

I really need to do a photo of the kit I wear for reference sake.

The Occupy San Francisco protest movement’s media center...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:09:04 -0500

The Occupy San Francisco protest movement’s media center is powered by one bike and many legs.
Photo from Kaputnic’s Flickr page.

blanketpol: #life #travel #bike #nyc The Bike (Taken with...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:44:24 -0500

blanketpol:

#life #travel #bike #nyc The Bike (Taken with Instagram at M8 Bus Stop)

How do you come up with this wicked fun stuff: My bike is at Kozy’s getting a checkup. My front tire was flat as the Earth in a right-wing textbook.

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:57:00 -0500

The Andy Ihnatko school of analogies.

This is a historic photo. Doesn’t look like much, I know....

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:34:00 -0500

This is a historic photo.

Doesn’t look like much, I know. Not composed particularly well. Not much going on. A poor example of street photography, really.

So why is this otherwise mundane example of photography worth posting? Because after four years of biking to work, year-round, I am now a statistic. Today I was hit by a car.

Well, to be precise, I was hit by a car, then rammed into another parked car, then came a rest, harshly, upon the curb, leaving a pound of flesh in my wake.

I should say, at this point, that I’m still alive. What’s more, I’m relatively unharmed. As I write this, I still have the remnants of a decent adrenaline buzz working. Or maybe that’s worn off and the sixer of Dogfish Head India Brown Ale I picked up on the way home - paramedic’s orders! - has kicked in. Either way, nothing broken.

But I do have a pretty good case of road rash, a throbbing right knee and shoulder and a seriously enflamed rage center.

How it went down

I was riding south on Clark on the way to class. I had just passed the mess that is Ohio, which is helpfully torn to shreds during what I hope is a repaving process.

Once navigating that mess, I was riding in the implied bike lane - there is no marked lane there, but traffic law states that bikes have right of way where there is no marked lane - between parked cars and the flow of traffic to my left. Just as I got through the intersection I was passing an open parking space to my right when a car to my left began to veer into me as he positioned himself to parallel park.

View Larger Map

I bounced off the front of his 2001 Honda, went careening into a parked car in front of me, then crashed into the curb knee first.

I was right next to the passenger window of the car when he hit me. Clearly he didn’t check his mirrors. It was still daylight, I ride a bright orange bike and had my light - flashing - on.

A Postal Service employee was just getting off work and saw the whole thing. She was nice enough to stick around and called 911. And boy did they show up - two firetrucks, an EMT and a cop SUV. They washed out my wound, took my statement and suggested a few libations to take the edge off.

The driver - his legs are visible in the photo - was pretty cool and very apologetic. And it was hard to be terribly enraged at him while he held his kind of scared 3-year-old daughter on the side of the road. But still, come on, people. You have to use your damn mirrors!

Look, I ride by the rules of the road. I stop at lights and stop signs. I signal, use lights, wear a bright yellow neon coat and generally try to be a responsible street commuter. But I also understand none of that means squat if the driver of a 1,500-lb. car decides to turn into me. I could stand to lose a few pounds and ride a sturdy steal cyclocross bike. But it’s no contest between little old me and nearly a ton of steel and glass.

What next

I often get people asking if I’m scared to ride on the streets. And my answer is, and will remain, a resounding “No.” Even leaving work at bar time on Fridays with the psycho cabs and drunken morons stumbling into traffic has never gotten to me. Perhaps it’s just a minimal adrenaline rush I’ve come to need, like my morning coffee.

Or maybe it’s that Chicago is, by and large, a cycle friendly town. I think most drivers do do a good job looking out for me. And while I see plenty of bikers that make me cringe with their poor riding habits and unsafe ways, I’d rather ride the city streets than the bike path any day.

My bike is at Kozy’s getting a checkup. My front tire was flat as the Earth in a right-wing textbook. And my steering seemed very stiff. So hopefully it’s just a pinch flat and some minor alignment. I love my Lemond and if ever there was a bike to withstand a nasty wreck, it would be this solid beastie, made for hard tumbles on the cyclocross circuit.

So bike in the shop and a bloody, stiffening knee means no riding tomorrow. Maybe the day after depending on what’s wrong with the bike, if anything. But I’m eager to get back in the saddle.

Riding to and from work in weather good, bad and ugly is almost always the highlight of my day year-round. I rode through 40 mph wind during last week’s storms, through snow, ice and cold last winter and through the heat of the summer, as brief as that was this year. And when I get my bike back, I’ll be on the road again.

Oh yeah, almost forgot

I did a pretty nifty bandage job on my leg - very bloody, very oozy. If you ever find need of a good field dressing, let me know. Do not, however, ask Jenni Newman. Not her forte. She is keeping me in beer and chocolate chip cookies, though, so still gets Dr. Mom cred.

Just cleaned off about 10 lbs. of gunk - leftover from recent...

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:49:34 -0500

Just cleaned off about 10 lbs. of gunk - leftover from recent rains. Just in time for mor rain.

fuckyeahcycling: The leg muscles of German gold medallists Rene...

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:46:31 -0500

fuckyeahcycling:

The leg muscles of German gold medallists Rene Enders, Robert Forstemann and Stefan Nimke, from left to right, are seen during the podium ceremony of the men team sprint at the European Championships Track Cycling in Apeldoorn, eastern Netherlands, Friday Oct. 21, 2011. (via The Leg Muscles Of German Gold Medallists Rene Enders, Robert Foerstemann And Stefan Nimke, From Left To Right, Are - Yahoo! Sports Photos)

doaskid: jonxmack: Congrats, you fucking ruined a great...

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:25:36 -0500

doaskid:

jonxmack:

Congrats, you fucking ruined a great frame.

I disagree. Frames like this are illegal to race in pretty much any sanctioned event now, and, while they’re gorgeous (and were state of the art at the time), they’re hardly the fastest thing on the road anymore either.

What is so wrong with someone setting one up whatever way gives them the most enjoyment? In doing so, the useful life of the bike is PROBABLY being prolonged greatly; these things end up as showpieces far too often.

I personally would LOVE to commute on something like this; it looks fun as hell to ride, and it’s wild to see that even with the high-rise stem and bars there’s still a good bit of saddle-to-bar drop.

Color me jealous as all hell of whoever this belongs to. Only thing I’d change would be moving the shifters up to the bars with some Paul thumbies. That downtube is a long way from those handlebars.

BikeBrain tells me I hit 43 mph on the way home last night. I...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:25:44 -0500

BikeBrain tells me I hit 43 mph on the way home last night. I killed the ride, but huh? Maybe on the downhill?

This is why we wear a helmet? In case a giant buck rams us at...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:16:00 -0500

This is why we wear a helmet? In case a giant buck rams us at full speed in South Africa while mountain biking? Funny, did’t see that one on the helmet advertising. Yet.

It's gotta be the shoes

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:11:13 -0500

I am not what you would call a shoe person. In any facet of life.

But after a week of pop-up showers and blustery winds, I was done with wet, cold feet and sodden, heavy shoes. Every day this week I’ve been caught in some sort of downpour leaving my feet freezing and my shoes in an eternal state of murk.

Leaving work Thursday night, just as it started raining again, I’d had enough. Kozy’s, my bike shop of choice, is only a few blocks away and on the way home, so I popped in for an upgrade.

I use pedal clips - the mountain bike style - and usually rock the Specialized Tahoe. It’s a great shoe, pretty comfortable for just casual wearing around in fact. But a mudder it ain’t. Gets wet quick and stays that way.

So I picked up a pair of the Specialized Defrosters. And after two days, I’m sold. They aren’t as comfortable - yet, anyway - as the Tahoes. But they are warm without making my feet sweat and provide a nice, tight ride.

In fact, I touched 30 mph - granted, with a stiff tailwind - for the first time on the way in to work today. And averaged 17 mph.

The only real complaint I had was something in the right rear ankle area rubbing against my leg. The top of the shoe is a sealed, waterproof nylon structure, but it may need a little breaking in as it’s kinda stiff out of the box.

Oh, and there was this:

The clips are new, tight and just slightly off what I’m used to. Getting started off a light on Damen my foot slipped and a got a nice shinburger for my efforts when my leg scraped the pedal as I flailed to keep from crashing completely.

On a side note

If you live in Chicago or find yourself biking here and need a shop, I highly recommend Kozy’s. They’re a little pricey on some stuff, but nowhere near as bad as Village Cycle Center. But they more than make up for it by the helpfulness of the employees.

I always have a good experience and this time was no different. One of the guys saw what I was buying and chatted me up for a bit on his experience with the shoes and some general bike talk. We both ride year-round so we swapped some tips and stories for a bit.

Laid back, helpful and not at all snobby about cycling. Perfect for a bike shop.

Video of the bike and jogging crowd getting hammered on the...

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:54:35 -0500

Video of the bike and jogging crowd getting hammered on the lakefront path today. Not exactly warm out there before getting soaked.