Visibility

In the first chapter of the wonderful book The Invisible Gorilla, by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, there are a couple of paragraphs on inattentional blindness to which cyclists and motorcyclists should pay close attention.

Analysis of over sixty accident reports involving cars and motorcycles showed that none of the car drivers had any experience riding a motorcycle themselves. It appears that those of us who ride vehicles that the majority of car drivers don't expect are more likely to notice similar unexpected events.

Wearing bright clothing should make a bike or motorcycle rider easier to notice. However, as Chabris and Simons point out in their book, looking at something doesn't guarantee that you will actually see it. Wearing conspicuous clothing "will increase your visibility, making it easier for people who are looking for you to see you. Such bright clothing doesn't guarantee that you will be noticed, though."

Just remember, hi-viz clothing is not an excuse for you to stop paying very close attention to the road and traffic around you. This has been a public service announcement from the Committee to not get Squashed Like a Bug.

Cathartes aura

Went out for a leisurely ride during lunch. I didn't like the way this guy looked at me.

I've never been that close to a Turkey Buzzard (some of you might call it a Turkey Vulture). I rode to within four yards of him and he just hopped to the side a bit. A slight twinge of the heebie-jeebies and I was on my way. Sorry for the blurry phone photo.

Heeding my own advice

Ask my kids, ask the scouts; when I'm taking new riders out for a ride and we enter a parking lot I explain that this is the most dangerous part of the ride. And so it was today.

I was riding through a parking lot on the way to my bank and noticed a jeep driving through empty spaces 20 or so yards away. I remembered my advice to new riders and told myself "keep an eye on her."

I'd lost track of the Jeep for a moment. The driver saw an open spot by a store's front door through a gap in a row of parked cars and gunned it at the last minute. She must have caught a glimpse of me and slammed on the brakes. The Jeep's front bumper was, I kid not, 18 inches from my leg.

I know I'm not permitted to add a 27th verse to Psalm 136 so I'll just create my own mini psalm here:

He kept the jeep from hitting me,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Oh, yeah, about that hill...

Yesterday our church had a picnic and I convinced my wife and one of the boys to ride our bikes rather than drive the 3 miles to the park. What I didn't tell them was that the hill going up Lamar from 95th to 91st is a bit of a challenge for someone rather new to cycling. Oops. They did well, although as I tried to chat with my wife 3/4 of the way up she made it clear that she was not in the mood to talk.

Our pasta salad, Mexican dip and chips all fit into my panniers. We all enjoyed the ride (especially the ride back DOWN the hill).

That's not paint

The other day I noticed some reddish splotches on my rear tire. I figured I'd ridden through some paint or something. When out riding with CAT over the holiday weekend, those splotches got bigger and more frequent. I took a closer look and it appears it is time for me to order another set of Michelin Transworld City tires.



CAT asked me how many miles I thought I got out of them and I guessed 5,000. I checked my spreadsheet (I know, I know) and it turns out they've given me 4,973 miles. Sure, I didn't get 8,500+ like Noah, but these tires were inexpensive and I'm more than happy to order another pair. The front tire isn't in that bad of shape and I may root around in the attic to see if I've got another former front tire up there that could get me by for a while. In the mean time I will get back on the Mendota and enjoy the change.

Note to self: with this next set, rotate the tires at around 3,000 miles.

Nary a rude driver

Memorial Day. Thanks to those whose loved ones have served.

It's been a wonderful weekend. CAT and I took another ride yesterday, 13.3 miles on the Indian Creek Trail to Wornall in KC, MO and back home. One stop at Sonic to get a lemonade slush, but hey, it was our 28th anniversary ... we splurged.

We were both a little sore from 6 to 8 hours of yard work the day before. More yard work in store for us today.

I took a solo ride of 16 miles on OP and PV streets this morning. It was interesting to see just how polite all the drivers were today. Not one jerk. Doesn't give me much to write about, but sometimes it's nice to not have to hear about close calls and rude gestures. Many thanks to all the people that gave me more than enough room and to those who waited patiently behind me at red lights when they were signalling for a right turn.

From General Bike Pix

There was a good mix of sunshine and clouds along with a cool breeze. Great morning for a ride.

Wild Life

This last Christmas I got my wife a beautiful new bike so we could enjoy cycling together. This spring, of course, the weather didn't cooperate. We've finally had a chance to get out on the Indian Creek Trail. I'd told my wife about the abundance of wildlife that I've seen in the past but all we'd really seen this morning was the occasional rabbit and squirrel.

Then we rounded a corner and crossed a bridge. "See, there you go" I exclaimed as we passed the male jogger relieving himself at the side of the path.

Good to be back

Let's just say the last several months have been real busy. Being on call 2 weeks on and 1 week off might be part of it. The last time I'd been on a ride of more than an hour was the end of November and the one before that was in early October. Looking at the numbers validates the general malaise that I've been under this winter while working from my basement. Today was a chance to change all that.

Last night we had another Eagle Board of Review for one of our scouts. Afterward the group was asked if anyone would have a chance to run the paperwork by the Scout Office in KC, MO. It just so happened that I'd be taking the day off since this was the first time I could take the comp day earned for being on call on President's Day. I knew I'd be taking a ride today, just hadn't made any concrete plans. I told them I'd be happy to run the papers to the office. This would give me a chance to check out the addition to the Indian Creek Trail that opened in December. This winter's weather crushed all my planned attempts to ride out there with Peter.

Sunny and 41 degrees as I headed out the door. Really sunny. I got to the underpass at Wornall and went from extreme bright to what appeared to be pitch black. It was a good thing I slowed down a bit as my front tire became mired in this...


6 inches of mud.

I walked up to Wornall, rode across and continued on. The new stretch of trail begins at 99th and Holmes and is reported to end at Banister and Lydia. I figured I could ride on Lydia and work my way around to the Scout Shop and avoid the nasty traffic on Holmes. Turns out that the trail ends rather abruptly and although it is in the vicinity of Banister and Lydia, the closest tie-in to a road or parking lot is a mile or so back.


I back tracked a bit and decided that even though the ground here was pretty muddy, it would cut some time off my ride if I climbed the hill up to Lydia. Yeah, it was a soggy mess and further than it looks in this picture...



I made it to the Scout Shop and locked Bucephalus up to the closest thing to a bike rack that they have (see below) and turned in the paperwork.



When I got home I checked the bike computer: 18 miles in 80 minutes. I feel great. I realize now that rides under an hour are great and all ... but it's the rides over an hour that really clear the head and make me feel, well, wonderful. I don't know how many times I'll get to ride that far in the next couple of months before school ends; but I'll do my best to get some more rides like this one in.

A² +B² =C²

Temperature at departure = 52° F (11° C)

Many thanks to the blond woman in the Lexus convertible who was nice enough to stop at and trigger three traffic signals, allowing me to keep a steady pace and ride through each light without having to stop.


View Got a little help in a larger map

I must admit that I don't know much about trigonometry, so I was not quite sure what you meant when you said "Sum of the pitch." Perhaps you meant pace or cadence; I'll ask my son who is a senior in Civil Engineering, he's pretty good with that stuff.

Carving out time

With temperatures in the 40's this afternoon, I had 30 minutes during my lunch hour to sneak in a ride. Mapped out a 5 mile ride, mostly on 99th/99th Terr. A little traffic sure helps bump up the average MPH.

Glad I got it in. Looks like more snow and ice are just about here. Back to the gym tomorrow.

Yesterday it wasn't quite as warm, but I had a few more minutes to use so I headed to the library to pick up some more of those videos I complained about recently... My bike was a bit lonely in the rack. The camera phone made everything a little blue (perhaps because of all the snow?).

Howdy Neighbor!

Temperature at departure = 26° F (-3° C)

What a weird encounter! With three hours sleep last night and the threat of freezing drizzle and snow on the way, I decided that I needed to get out this morning and jump start my day. It was a nice ride on mostly side streets -- until I was just shy of one mile from home.

I was riding on a two lane, minor arterial street. A car was approaching from the other direction and slowly crossed the yellow line into my lane. It was a neighbor of mine from a few houses down and they had a really angry, determined look on their face and were muttering something to themselves as they traveled head on my direction. I pulled down my balaclava, exposing my face, smiled and waved. The look on my neighbor's face was, as they say, priceless.

Now, there are many ways I could handle this. I've decided, for the most part, to just act as though it never happened ... with this one exception:

With five kids, I've never really encouraged them to go door to door for the various fund-raisers that they participate in for school, sports, church, scouts, etc.. I just didn't want to be a pest. Now, however, this neighbor of mine will be visited for each and every fund raiser my kids have. Within the next month they'll be encouraged to buy trash bags, cookie dough, entertainment books and flowers. Why not have fun with it?

Library Rant

Sunshine and 33° F

Nice weather for a ride to the library to pick up some DVD's that they had on hold for me. Yes. Videos. You see, I'm cheap. I don't rent videos often (two trips to Red Box last year) and I don't belong to NetFlix. Why should I, when I can put a hold on videos when they come out and check them out for free? Thank you taxpayers of Johnson County. I'm not really happy that the library had to resort to competing with Blockbuster in an attempt to get people in the doors. I'm sure it was a rational decision, so I can rationalize my using the service. I would imagine that the majority of the items checked out from the library now are DVD's and video games. Sad. But, like I said, I'm cheap. If I think about it, is checking a movie or music CD out any different from checking out a book? It is still a tax subsidized way to circumvent paying an author for their work. Last year I read 20 books, 17 of which I borrowed from the library.

But I digress. Using my trip to the library to pick up the videos on hold for me as an excuse to get out on the bike, I saddled up and away I went. I locked my bike up to the otherwise empty bike rack and headed to the self-checkout section. I had four items on hold and only one item (a music CD) was there. I went to the desk to ask if they could check in back for the three DVD's and was told that a bunch of DVD's were stolen the day before and the ones I had on hold were among the missing. The librarian made a comment about $15,000 dollars worth being stolen. I don't know if that is a yearly total or if it was this last weekend's loss. I said I was sorry to hear it and she said "I'm sorry. It's your tax dollars." And it is. But should we be spending this much money on providing free DVD rentals which also appear to be so easily stolen? Do we spend more tax dollars on security systems or personnel to protect the DVD's? Do we stop libraries from buying DVD's and have them gradually revert back being a source for reference books and books that we want to read but don't want to own? I don't think there's a good answer for any of these questions.

We're Back

Temperature at departure = 26° F (-3° C)

As I suspected, fall's bumper crop of acorns has produced a bumper crop of squirrels. Tons of rodent toddlers on the path this morning. Looks like the deer are back as well. There haven't been as many out the last two years. Perhaps the herds in Shawnee Mission Park are tired of being shot at and decided to migrate south a few miles. Whatever the reason, I welcome their return like the bike path seems to have welcomed mine.

38 Days

On Sunday, the streets had finally dried out for more than an hour or two. It had been 38 days since I'd been on my bike. My excuse, snow Packed streets for close to a month with temperatures well below freezing and the resulting melt off keeping the air and streets wet and foggy for another couple of weeks. So when I finally got a day with dry pavement and at least a little sunshine, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride to the library. I could tell I'd been away...

Yesterday was a bit better. I had time after dropping kids off at school to take a quick ride. The temperature was 28° F so I layered up and took off on the Indian Creek Trail.

I was amazed at how quickly I'd made it to Leawood Park. I was averaging a little over 17 MPH with ease and felt great. I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy winter riding. Yeah, that should have registered a bit of a warning, but I decided to extend the ride to State Line. When I turned around to head home I realized why I'd made such good time on the first half of the ride: tailwind of 21 MPH with gusts to 29 MPH.

The ride home was a lot of work. I don't know what the wind chill was and don't want to know. I pedaled for all I was worth and by the time I'd gotten home, my average speed was down to 13.5. I was tired and sweaty and (according to my wife) my eyes were as bloodshot as all get out. I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy winter riding.

It's colder today and I've already got my lunch-time ride planned. It is good to be back.

Christmas Igloo 2009

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had a bit of a blizzard here in Overland Park ... but family made it up from Wichita and in from Topeka and we had a blast.

I gave my wife a bike for Christmas so we can finally enjoy riding together (once the snow melts off). I'm pretty excited about that.

And, I thought I'd share a quick video of the igloo that Trevor and Peter (my two oldest) made on Christmas Eve. Enjoy.

Abby Someone

Winter came quickly here in Overland Park. And cyclists in and around Kansas City (like Noah and I) have once again become "hard core."

Of course, it doesn't have to be winter. Anything under 50° F seems to inspire awe in those that don't ride.

The temperature was 30°F when I rode to the grocery store yesterday during my lunch hour. I got some strange looks and one, "Isn't it too cold to ride a bike?"

Last weekend, my son Peter and I took a 24 mile ride that we'd been meaning to take since this last summer. It was 63° out, warm enough for shorts, although I still went with a long sleeved tee shirt. Not bad for late November.



As warm as it was, I expected to see more people out on bikes. Wasn't the case, and we got a couple "what the heck are they doing?" looks as we sat outside and enjoyed a mid-ride smoothie.



Nearly two months earlier it was ten degrees cooler when Peter and I rode ten miles out to Spin Pizza. As we were locking up our bikes, a couple walked by and we heard the guy say to his wife "Oh, it's normal to see people riding bikes here when it's warmer..."

Fredrick: Abby Someone. Abby Who?
Igor: Abby ... Normal.
Fredrick: Abby Normal?
Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name.

Fitness

You think to yourself: "I'm fit. I ride my bike; I get up early with my wife and hit the gym a couple times a week. Yeah, I'm fit."

Then, you play dodge ball with the scouts at the lock-in.

Where's that heating pad?

Flashback Ride

We finally had a nice, ridable day again today. I took to the streets during my lunch hour and made a point of staying off the bike path. I did this for a couple of reasons; the path is most likely strewn with soggy leaves - and - I didn't want another ride like the one I experienced on Friday the 6th.

I can't fully describe the odd experience I had that day when I used my lunch hour to ride the path I used to take to work. I wanted to get out and ride, but it was so windy that I figured I'd be better off riding through the woods than on the street. The first half mile of the ten that I rode was fine and uneventful. The next 40 minutes was bizarre and unsettling.

How do I describe it? It started as I pedaled past the Christmas display on Metcalf just north of 103rd. I remembered riding home the previous year and having to half walk the bike through all the employees of the business there who were gathered on the path to formally light things up. From that point on, the entire length of the ride, memories of past rides flooded in. It was kind of spooky. I remembered minute details like the time three years before that as I rounded a particular corner I thought to myself that I should get my brake pads checked. I remembered the faces of pedestrians and other riders I'd encountered. I remembered words from a podcast that I was listening to during a ride two years ago. As I came to some sections of the trail, I remembered encounters with various wildlife. There were ideas for blog posts that were never written. Vibrant, exacting, mundane details.

As I rode past the office where I spent perhaps the best 3 or 4 years of my career, I realized how much I miss hanging out with the guys and just how good we had it for a while. I remembered random conversations and specific games of Call of Duty. The memories kept coming and coming and just wouldn't quit. This must be what it is like to have your life flash before your eyes. It is overwhelming and disturbing.

Putting the bike away in the garage and heading back down to the corner of my basement where I now spend my working hours, I sat there stunned for a bit, mentally exhausted. I miss many things -- including the daily commute on my bike. I didn't realize what a big part of my life it had been.

For 45 minutes or so, I biked around aimlessly on side streets within a couple miles of my house today. It was a good ride. It was a safe ride.

Bumper Panda

It was a beautiful day and the jazz band was playing at the middle school during the lunch hour. I hopped on the bike and headed out.



Waiting for the light on the way home.

I've been taking advantage of every opportunity to ride as I can come up with lately so when I needed to make a run to the credit union today I figured that I could make the 12 mile round trip within the alloted hour for lunch.

I pulled up to the drive-thru and was greeted by a message that I should consider a loan for a new car.

No thanks, I'm good.