It's official

Word has finally arrived that my Brompton folding bike is going into production in the next couple weeks. Brompton is a premier folding bike handmade in the UK--it folds into a space of 22"x22"x10"--it's incredible. These pics are obviously generic, but mine will feature a black main frame, titanium kit (fork, swingarm, other tidbits), Brooks saddle, SON dynamo hub lighting system, 6-speed (3-speed internal hub, Brompton 2-speed derailleur) and so forth. It should arrive in about 1 month, so you must wait in angst for actual pictures. I'm excited for what this bike makes possible (such as 42 bikes in 1 parking stall).

This article, published in the SLTrib, is EXACTLY what I'm talking about with my last post! Some quick math:

Living in Eagle Mountain, people average 67% of the $45,833 median income for the area on housing and transportation, or $30,708 per year. Their study shows that living along a mass-transit-accessible area reduces housing and transportation costs to as low as 35%, or $16,041, even with a more expensive home. That's at least a savings of $14,500 per year due to reducing use of the personal automobile as the primary mode of transportation. These savings are achieved due to the reduced need for vehicles (1.9 per family to 1.3), in addition to reduced operating costs of the vehicles you do keep.

The study implies that as transportation costs increase, i.e. fuel prices, so do foreclosures. Remember the stilts analogy?

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14766028?source=most_viewed

Slaves to the Machine

Traffic in the LA area-5+ lanes + overpass stopped for an hour (midday).

This past week, we took a small trip to Disneyland and to visit family in Van Nuys and Simi Valley. We opted to make the 10(+) hour drive with the 4 and 2-year-old girls, so we packed up the car and headed West. The drive through Southern Utah, Nevada, and most of California was, of course, little better than torture. From San Bernardino into the LA area, however, was unbelievably worse.

We arrived in the LA area around noon local time, and, to our surprise, were stuck in stop-and-go traffic. At noon? Really? Not for lack of infrastructure, with 5+ lanes and several freeway options within a small area. I even saw pedestrians outpacing the automobile traffic (imagine what a bicyclist could accomplish!).

Here are some thoughts on the matter:

1. Literally millions of people get in their personal automobile, drive by themselves to work, park their car for 8+ hours in a parking space someone has to pay for, then drive back home alone. I don't think 2 hours of daily commute time is uncommon. This is viewed as an acceptable amount of time lost daily--away from family and from the life that working pays for. If this were viewed as unacceptable, changes would be made. Perhaps this is the problem, that the majority is unaware of better transportation options. Hmmmmmm.


2. Second, this method of transporting one's self to one's place of employment and back seems extremely wasteful, yet quite fragile. I imagine a house held up on stilts. One of the stilts could be labeled "Employment," another "Location," another "Health," one "Investments," yet another "Debt," and, I argue, "Transportation," among others. During a crisis such as the Great Recession--arguably in recovery--one could easily lose employment, rack up debt, lose investment value, effectively pulling out stilts from under this house. With fuel prices relatively low as we speak, this stilt remains as a support to the structure, but what happens when fuel prices spike as they did in 2008? Those whose lives are propped up by a decreasing number of pillars will ultimately collapse, in part due to dependency on the personal automobile as the primary method of transport to the workplace.


3. Finally, a quote from Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood at the recent Bicycle Summit in Washington, D.C.: "People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.”

What do you think?

Lifesavers (better than Butterscotch)

These little buggers have saved me on several occasions. What? It's suddenly snowing/raining/hailing/wind-ing? Why, let me roll on my Rain Mates (chaps for bicyclists) and keep on pedaling.

They've worked as a wind break when the temps hit single digits (F), and have kept my precious quads dry and warm whilst pedaling. As I stand up after affixing the last Velcro® strap, an innate urge to shout "YEEEEHAAAAAW!" overcomes me, literally. Even if you don't bicycle in inclement weather, consider the benefits that come from an enlarged network in Herriman and Lehi. At least think about it.

Here Goes

I often have random thoughts and commentaries, mostly relating to how the bicycle can solve so many problems. Here is a good place to post these thoughts.

This is a picture of me commuting to work with 1 leg in a knee immobilizer. I had new stitches just above the knee (from a biking accident, of course!), but was not ready to give up commuting just because one of my legs couldn't pedal.