For the Love of Bikes

Life is better on a bike!

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Fair is Fair

October 20, 2010 /

I find there can be peer pressure even when riding bikes.

When riding in a group, you have individuals riding a multitude of ways.

You might have a rider pass the group of riders on a hill in the other lane where they can’t see (as far as I can tell) whether a car is coming up on the other side of the hill.  Seriously - I ‘m not kidding.

There are crazy drivers, there are crazy cyclists too.  Crazy is just, well, crazy.

More commonly, you have some riders who stop at stop signs, and some who don’t.

I’m not talking about a put your foot down and stop (unless the situation calls for it, say at a red light or a two way stop with traffic); I’m referring to a quick stop and then go, such as at a four way stop.

At a two way stop where the opposing traffic has the right of way and there is traffic I will stop and then go when traffic allows.  Not everyone stops in that situation, I find that surprising.

I guess I am a naive group rider.  I have been riding consistently for 20 years and 99% of that time has been by myself or with Mark,

I know how to ride in groups in that I ride predictably, hold my line, take pulls, etc.  What I don’t know how to do is ride in “group think”.  I have enjoyed my recent rides with a group, nice people, and it is fun to mix our rides up.

The dilemma is how to ride according to my own rules of the road, yet still ride as part of the group.

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Why I Ride

October 15, 2010 /
 
Remember what it felt like when you rode your bike as a kid?
 
 
 
It still feels that way.
 
I want everyone to rediscover the fun and joy of riding a bike.

Bike enthusiasts and advocates often try to promote bicycling by pointing out the health benefits or the benefits to the health of our planet.

Both of those things are true – riding a bike improves your fitness, so consequently it improves your health.

Riding a bike instead of taking a car is good for the environment.

Why I ride has little to do with either of those things.

Basically, I ride because it is fun.  Pure and simple fun.

 

 

Why do you ride?

Country Roads

October 13, 2010 /

 

We took a ride east yesterday at an easy pace and just enjoyed the weather and the views.

When you are on a bike you see everything.

You talk to a lot of it too – cows, horses, a rabbit.  You stop to take pictures of things you wouldn’t even notice in a car, much less want a picture of.

Like this grass – which I thought was beautiful.

 

 

Not to mention the beautiful blue sky.

 

 

Leaves that haven’t turned are on the ground – if you’re lucky they fall around you as you’re riding by.  I love that – raining leaves.  We had such a hot and dry summer I’m afraid we may be seeing all the fall foliage we are going to get.

 

 
 

 

At least we still get the other parts of autumn – cooler temps and beautiful sunlight and that sky.

Maybe the sky always looks like this, but here in the heat belt, the sun is so hot and BRIGHT for so many months you actually can’t look up at the sky until mid-late September.

 

 
 

 

The grasses, like buffalo grass and the native grasses that grow along the roads, also change color.  The color change is more subtle, but it’s there.  At least to my eye.

 

Bike Like a Driver

October 13, 2010 /
"The number of kids who bike or walk to school in the US has fallen from nearly 50 percent in 1969 to 13 percent today", according to an article by Amy Pearl.
 

To increase the number of students riding, and more importantly, teach them to ride predictably and safely, a NY bike group held a clinic for local middle schoolers entitled, "Bike Like a Driver".

Bike like a driver is a concept all bike riders need to know and practice.

An equally pressing question is, how do we get more kids on bikes?

One program designed to do just that is the Safe Routes to School program.

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Use Full Lane

October 12, 2010 /

In Oklahoma City there are plans underway for “Use Full Lane” signage to be installed along 70 miles of designated bike route.  This is a huge step forward for our bicycling community toward making the roads safer and more rideable.

Photo provided by Mike Flenniken, Team Bike Buddies

Unfortunately, when you have progress you sometimes encounter opposition to that progress.

Mike Flenniken,Team Bike Buddies, notified TBB members this morning that someone had vandalized by running over the very recently installed “Bicycles Use Full Lane” signage installed on a four mile section of Hefner Road between Morgan Road and Cemetery road in Oklahoma City.

Flenniken reported that the signs were singled out as it appeared the driver had to cross from one side of the road to the other to take them all out.

No good deed goes unpunished as they say.

No bad deed should go unpunished either.

In an effort to apprehend the person or persons who destroyed the signage, a fund has been established for a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

To donate to the reward fund, please contact Mike Flenniken at [email protected] or call him at (405) 613-9767.

Mark and I donated to the fund this morning, hopefully the biking community will contribute what they can, and with any luck the person(s) that did this will be caught and convicted.

Until then, ride safely and take satisfaction in the fact that here in Oklahoma City, we are getting signage installed along 70 miles of designated bike route that spell out our legal right to use the road.

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