Ignorance abounds

As I approached a red light today, as I always do, I lined up in the middle lane, as my intent was to continue straight through the intersection. This intersection has a left-turn lane, a thru-traffic lane, and a right-turn lane. The light turns green and 2 things happen:

1. Some really smart guy yells out of his Corolla, "You're not a car!" He was in the left-turn lane as I passed him.

2. Some other really smart guy (riding a bicycle) rode the line in between the thru-traffic lane and the right-turn-only lane. There were only 4 cars in line in the thru-traffic lane.

My responses:

1. Quoted from Utah Code Title 41 Chapter 6a Section 1105 1(c):

A person operating a bicycle or a moped on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as near as practicable to the right-hand edge of the roadway except when:

(c) traveling straight through an intersection that has a right-turn only lane that is in conflict with the straight through movement

That was easy. Dummy.

2. Similarly:

A person operating a bicycle or a moped on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as near as practicable to the right-hand edge of the roadway except when:

(vii) a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.

If you're riding in between two lanes of moving traffic, you're unsafely close to vehicles on both sides. Within three feet, now that I think of it. I feel better that I caught this guy within a block of the intersection while I was riding with this (he was on a road bike, riding in the drops):

It's Beginning

I received a package today from Spain. Perhaps the cart is in front of the horse on this one, but it's contents are gorgeous. Here's a picture:

This little contraption is a child seat attachment for Brompton folding bikes (mine is currently being built in London). A bicycle saddle is installed on the short, protruding post, and the child places his/her feet on the pegs (which fold up while not in use). The child then sits in front of the rider, holding onto the handlebars. One of the best parts of this tool is that it does not compromise the intricate fold of the Brompton. Click here to see how it works, here for the Spaniard's blog, and here for Portland, OR's Clever Cycles post.

Some more pics:

Front view with pegs down

Front view with pegs up

Mind Boggling

This data is a bit mind boggling. 3 trillion vehicle miles. Subtracting miles for trucking and buses, the total is still 2,795,883,000,000 miles. Just over 9,000 annual miles per PERSON! Our family drives roughly 7,500 miles/year with 4 people, or 1,875 miles per person. Another family of four would need to drive 64,500 miles for our two-families to average 9,000 miles/year/person.

This calculator takes one minute and gives an idea of your household carbon footprint. Our estimate is 20,369 lbs of CO2/year, compared to an average of 83,000 for a family of four.

BTW-I rode my bike to run errands to Home Depot and 5 Buck Pizza today. Felt good.

The Rock Biter—Extreme Bicycle Commuter

This guy commuted all the way from the "North" to the Ivory Tower.

I think he's riding a fixie.

One of the real reasons Why I Ride

The ten-year anniversary of the death of my last living grandparent is approaching. Clifford LeRoy McBride died in May of 2000 at the age of 76. Cardiovascular system failures resulting from years of unhealthy lifestyle choices were finally too great for his body to overcome. This is installment 1 of 4 on Why I Ride, sort of "unplugged" style.

I remember good times with Grandpa McBride. He would visit regularly from Grants Pass, Oregon, where he lived with his mother--my great-grandmother. Every few years, we would make the trip to visit his home and spend time with him and great-grandma. Unfortunately, she outlived her son, and I missed out on getting to know him. As a young child, and through my weird teenage years, I wasn't too interested in "old people." Looking back, I wish I would have spent more time with him, getting to know him. Most of my friends and even Lisa have living grandparents, and Lisa's parents are the grandparents to some three score humans. As I see others' grandparental relationships, I feel that I lack the benefits of such relationships, and want to be a part of my children's and grandchildren's lives.

The air we breathe can literally kill us. Earlier this year, my wife and I had some blood work done for some life insurance. My results showed high levels of nicotine, apparently only possible from smoking or from second-hand smoke. The company next to my work employs a high concentration of smokers, through a pack of whom I rode on my way home from work--immediately before my blood sample was taken. What seemed like a brief, inconsequential brush with cigarette smoke had a measurable negative effect on my body.

Looking toward the future, I am making a conscious effort to minimize the negative effects that lifestyle can have on my health while also maximizing the positive effects that I have control over. I don't see how this can be a bad thing. The other benefits I extract from using my bicycle as transportation are secondary, or tertiary, to the benefit of a healthy heart and lungs.

In some small way, I like to think that riding my bike for commuting and small errands saves a significant amount of toxic air from entering the atmosphere. My actions may or may not go unnoticed, but at least I know that my mode of transportation is a zero emission solution. Perhaps my quality of life can be improved, and my quantity of life increased.