Rode without a helmet this morning. It happened by accident - one minute I was running to get under the closing garage door, the next I realized I'd left my helmet inside. Too much of a hassle to get the keys, go around the back, and risk waking everyone up, so I got on my bike and figured today is as a good day to die as any.
On the road, the streets are empty. Schools out. Fuck yeah. It's nice and quiet. I pass a dead skunk on the road. Poor little critter. Fucking murderous cars. I pass the morning drunks out by the train trestle, getting their Coors light on. I consider joining them, ya know, cuz, alcohol and weed are cheaper than the therapy that office jobs inevitably drive us to. But they're bros and hobos and a lot tougher than me and besides, I don't drink Coors.
Monday afternoon, at the bike rack by the bus stop on the corner of Mission and Bay I noticed two mountain bikes completely stripped down. Okay, well...their wheels and seats were gone but the handle bars and brake pads were still there. Around the area were multiple bike locks still clinging to the rack - no bikes though; and one lone front wheel - It wasn't even locked to anything. It was a sad sight and I thought, "yup, schools out." I thought, "bike vandals are like baby pigeons, you know they exist, but you never see them." I thought, "The cops will cut a lock to take away a striped frame, but what happens to the locks that have no frame or anything attached?" And then, I kept riding.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
King Street Bike Boulevard Dead in the Water
The headline in the Senile today reads, "King Street Bicycle Boulevard on Hold" but the article itself doesn't back that claim up. If anything, the King Street Bicycle Boulevard that many of us fought so hard for after 2 people died on Mission Street, is dead.
Noticeably absent from yesterday's Public Works Department wish (a.k.a. Capital Improvement Projects) list presented to the city council, the King Street Bike Boulevard has been put on "indefinite hold" due to a budget deficit the size of the grand canyon...or Ryan Coonerty's gut. But budget issues only tell a part of the story - political will, priorities, and the fecklessness of our so-called "progressive" city council is the other part.
This isn't simply a defeat for bicyclists. It is a defeat for folks concerned about oil dependence, global warming, and yeah, bike safety. Public Works Department assistant director Chris Schneiter claims that accidents on King Street are already low so it's safe for bicyclists to ride but that's not the issue. The issue is accidents on Mission Street being high, and likewise the need for an infrastructure that encourages more people to ride/walk while simultaneously discouraging driving. The interests of bicyclists verses automobile drivers here are mutually exclusive.
Even at a deeper level this illustrates the fundamental flaw in approaching something like a bike boulevard as being solely an issue of transportation when in reality it involves ecology, mental health, safety, and sustainability. So the King Street Bike Boulevard is dead....and wouldn't you know it? It's Earth Day today.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_12196586
Noticeably absent from yesterday's Public Works Department wish (a.k.a. Capital Improvement Projects) list presented to the city council, the King Street Bike Boulevard has been put on "indefinite hold" due to a budget deficit the size of the grand canyon...or Ryan Coonerty's gut. But budget issues only tell a part of the story - political will, priorities, and the fecklessness of our so-called "progressive" city council is the other part.
This isn't simply a defeat for bicyclists. It is a defeat for folks concerned about oil dependence, global warming, and yeah, bike safety. Public Works Department assistant director Chris Schneiter claims that accidents on King Street are already low so it's safe for bicyclists to ride but that's not the issue. The issue is accidents on Mission Street being high, and likewise the need for an infrastructure that encourages more people to ride/walk while simultaneously discouraging driving. The interests of bicyclists verses automobile drivers here are mutually exclusive.
Even at a deeper level this illustrates the fundamental flaw in approaching something like a bike boulevard as being solely an issue of transportation when in reality it involves ecology, mental health, safety, and sustainability. So the King Street Bike Boulevard is dead....and wouldn't you know it? It's Earth Day today.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_12196586
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Obama, Trains, & Hobos
"Eat shit boozshwa pig!"
Railroads. James Howard Kunstler has been talking about this for years. Namely, the United States' myopic reliance on building a bloated and costly auto-infrastructure while neglecting rail lines. From an anti-capitalist perspective, both of these forms of transportation enable the exploitation and export of life we humans refer to as "resources." Today though, I'm gonna look the other way and say that Obama coming out and supporting railroads as an alternative to a 100 years of car-addiction is a step in the right direction.
Considering yesterday's idiotic tea-parties, Obama has my support...at least for this week.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53D78C20090414
Friday, April 3, 2009
Cannondale layoffs
two words: fuck globalization
Apr 3rd, 2009 | BEDFORD, Pa. -- The company that makes Cannondale bicycles is eliminating 200 jobs at a south-central Pennsylvania facility that will no longer make the bike frames...
http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/business/2009/04/03/D97B55K01_cannondale_layoffs/index.html
Apr 3rd, 2009 | BEDFORD, Pa. -- The company that makes Cannondale bicycles is eliminating 200 jobs at a south-central Pennsylvania facility that will no longer make the bike frames...
http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/business/2009/04/03/D97B55K01_cannondale_layoffs/index.html
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Beer + Bicycles = : )
Stepping out of a party late friday night, a friend asked jokingly, "you okay to drive?" We both laughed as I clearly wasn't but then again i wasn't about to get behind the wheel of a car.
Call it an unspoken perk of riding - being under the influence simply isn't as big of a deal. In fact, it's rather enjoyable. It's also a de facto sobriety test, you have to be really fucking wasted not be able to ride. That is to say, you'll find out real quick if you're too drunk/high to ride when you can't get on the saddle. At which point, you'll be forced to a) call a cab; b) wait till you sober up; c) walk home. Either way, you won't have to deal with the b.s. that comes w/ worrying about parking tickets and picking up your car the next day.
Of course, there are plenty of pro-bike anti-fun folks who will cry "think of the children!" (helmet nazis I'm talking to you) but such priggishness belongs at a Pilgrim convention.
Let's get real - You're just not as likely to maim, kill, or die in a drunken biking accident as you are in a drunken car accident. It's a difference of technology. Bikes are light, small, require a certain level of dexterity to operate, and don't go too fast (unless you're Lance). Cars are heavy, large, simple to operate, and very fast. That's why I don't think bicyclists should have to adhere to the same vehicle laws that cars do and why most of us don't.
Cruzing through the Santa Cruz streets past 1am, feeling the sweet ocean breeze, what a fantastic feeling. And yeah, I made it home just fine, just a little sweaty.
Call it an unspoken perk of riding - being under the influence simply isn't as big of a deal. In fact, it's rather enjoyable. It's also a de facto sobriety test, you have to be really fucking wasted not be able to ride. That is to say, you'll find out real quick if you're too drunk/high to ride when you can't get on the saddle. At which point, you'll be forced to a) call a cab; b) wait till you sober up; c) walk home. Either way, you won't have to deal with the b.s. that comes w/ worrying about parking tickets and picking up your car the next day.
Of course, there are plenty of pro-bike anti-fun folks who will cry "think of the children!" (helmet nazis I'm talking to you) but such priggishness belongs at a Pilgrim convention.
Let's get real - You're just not as likely to maim, kill, or die in a drunken biking accident as you are in a drunken car accident. It's a difference of technology. Bikes are light, small, require a certain level of dexterity to operate, and don't go too fast (unless you're Lance). Cars are heavy, large, simple to operate, and very fast. That's why I don't think bicyclists should have to adhere to the same vehicle laws that cars do and why most of us don't.
Cruzing through the Santa Cruz streets past 1am, feeling the sweet ocean breeze, what a fantastic feeling. And yeah, I made it home just fine, just a little sweaty.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Pulling flats
One of these days I'm going to listen to my inner voice and put a little extra air in my tires before heading out the door...that, and verify that I am carrying tire irons. Between 3 bicycles, it gets to be a pain in the arse making sure each has a lock, patch kit, working lights, and yes, tire irons...and well, sometimes I get neglectful. But flats are to bike commuting what dings are to a car's paint job - inevitable I suppose, but why do flats come in series?
Finding myself walking my bike a quarter of a mile in the rain twice within the last two weeks wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the bloody cars. The noise is unbearable and stains whatever natural beauty I can take in on a crisp Santa Cruz morning.
Still, there's so much to be thankful for...
US Automobile Sales Plummet
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200933202145636939.html
Demand for Oil Collapsing
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090303/ap_on_bi_ge/awash_in_oil
Many many years from now, I will sit with my grandchildren around a campfire, surrounded by wild grasses that have almost completely erased the semblance of the parking lot beneath us, and I will tell the story of the mechanical monster that once tried to own the world and devour everything it could see....Forests, mountains, rivers, oceans, everything. Then one day, it was eating too fast and started to choke. Many whom had fed off the scraps that the monster had let "trickle down" its massive mouth, panicked and tried to stop the monster from choking but it was too late. Yes, I hope to tell that story many years from now.
Finding myself walking my bike a quarter of a mile in the rain twice within the last two weeks wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the bloody cars. The noise is unbearable and stains whatever natural beauty I can take in on a crisp Santa Cruz morning.
Still, there's so much to be thankful for...
US Automobile Sales Plummet
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200933202145636939.html
Demand for Oil Collapsing
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090303/ap_on_bi_ge/awash_in_oil
Many many years from now, I will sit with my grandchildren around a campfire, surrounded by wild grasses that have almost completely erased the semblance of the parking lot beneath us, and I will tell the story of the mechanical monster that once tried to own the world and devour everything it could see....Forests, mountains, rivers, oceans, everything. Then one day, it was eating too fast and started to choke. Many whom had fed off the scraps that the monster had let "trickle down" its massive mouth, panicked and tried to stop the monster from choking but it was too late. Yes, I hope to tell that story many years from now.
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