Honk-Honk, Rattle-Rattle-Rattled...

Thursday, the hot weather finally broke, and I was feeling much better in terms if whatever is left from my recent cold and allergies. So, I got home from work, and I thought "yay! I'll ride my bike to my rehearsal tonight." 

On the way to my rehearsal, it was still pretty warm. I also had to ride pretty defensively at times, because the sun was setting and I knew it made me pretty hard to see. (As in, impossible.) You know when car lights don't make a difference that little lights aren't going to help you, no matter how much they blink. Still, it was a nice ride, an I enjoyed being back on the bike. My legs and lungs definitely took note of the time since I last rode (too long ago!!). Erffff. Back in the saddle...literally.

After rehearsal, darkness had fallen, and in preparation for my ride home, I turned on my bike lights. I set them to blink any time I can (anytime I don't need the steady beam to see where I'm riding), because it makes me easier to see (small, steady light is easier to ignore; super-blinky crazy lights might just get you to stop texting and not run me over). As I pulled onto the "busiest" street on my route home (4 lanes, but pretty quiet by "real big street" standards) a large SUV pulled up close behind me and laid on the horn. As they passed me, a woman in the passenger seat leaned out of her window, waving her arms at me and screaming obscenities. 

Awesome. 

Not. 

Of Illness + Excuses

Ever since I returned from Montreal on the 27th, I have been fighting major allergies and a cold. I'm currently at the stage where the tissues aren't needed constantly, but breathing continues to require extra effort. 

I have struggled with minor asthma issues throughout adolescence and adulthood -- usually brought on by strenuous exercise or very extreme weather (heat/cold). 

This is a huge reason why I run very slowly - I top out at 5.5mph and often run as much as 1mph slower than that - and am so happy to embrace "slow biking". 

At any rate, this is all to say that when breathing is hard, it's exhausting. I wanted to ride to work on Tuesday (low in the upper 50s, high in the lower 80s) and I slept poorly and was so exhausted that it just seemed like a miserable proposition. Then it warmed up, and I didn't feel any better. 10 days after I started to feel icky, I'm still feeling... exhausted. Under the weather for sure.

The weekend will be warm, but next Thursday, we return to highs around 80 and lows in the 50s, so I'm hoping to bike to work again next week. It's been a long time since I've biked to work, and timing and/or meeting locations have not allowed me the extra minutes I need to make biking a viable option, which is problematic, too.

This is why I want to talk about reasons for biking and St. Louis: traffic. For all its ups and downs, St. Louis has pretty amazing traffic. Drive in Chicago, New York, or any major city in Europe, and you realize that our "rush hour" woes are pretty insignificant, especially if you can avoid the central corridor (we generally can with our work commutes). In those big cities, people often hop on the bike because it's faster than public transportation and faster than sitting in the virtual parking lots that rush hour can become. But that's not the case for me in St. Louis, and, as a result, biking too often becomes the "if I have time/luxury" option, when I'd like to strive to have it be the first priority, at least with a little more regularity. Between heat, illness, and, frankly, inconvenience, added to the fact that there isn't as much visible bike-commuting in the county (which is a safety issue), I have allowed myself to fall into a pattern of making excuses to take the car instead. The car is, frankly, easier, and I find myself a little bit jealous of the bloggers who are in towns where biking is the easier, better, faster option, because it provides the extra incentive to hop on two wheels instead of four. 

My dedication to incorporating bicycling into my life has not waned; I knew summer in St. Louis would be a challenge and remain shocked that I have been able to ride as much this summer in glorious weather as I have been able to do. But if I'm struggling with some of these "ifs and buts", then you probably are, too. So let's look at them.

Weather. The heat is a real thing. For me, I am unwilling to kit up and then change at the office. My door doesn't lock, and the bathrooms are small, and I don't want to get ridiculously sweaty, since there is no shower at work. So for me, that means lows in the 50/60s and highs not exceeding 85 (all Fahrenheit) or so is the max for an hour ride or longer. My test ride to work last June was to/from (back-to-back, or about 13 miles) in slightly shy of 90-degree heat. Even with water, it was hard, and it took me well over 30 minutes to cool down. I don't enjoy running or bicycling in that type of weather, so I don't. I am not naturally inclined to exercise, so one of my rules for myself is that if an activity makes me resent being active, it's not worth it. Riding when the weather is more pleasant, on the other hand, makes me wonder why I don't do it more often!

Similarly, I will not ride when rain is very likely on the way in (sprinkles are fine) or if thunderstorms are likely. It's not particularly safe to ride in lightning, and it's not worth the risk to me, when coupled with decreased visibility and slick roads (for me and for the cars). This is as much a reflection of the fact that St. Louis is becoming, but is not yet, a particularly bike-friendly city. Especially in the County.

Not sure about snow policy yet; I am planning to set up my mountain bike for some light commuting, and if it handles well in light snow, I'll base my winter precip policy accordingly.

Illness. If I can't breathe easily, it will affect when and how I ride. So bad allergies, upper-respiratory illnesses, and asthma can affect how I feel about riding. These are safety, comfort, and "potential resentment" issues, too. 

Time. This is my biggest issue most days for work, or for church. It takes me 7 minutes to drive to my church and park, so I need about 10-15 minutes from door to seat. I don't sweat when I drive (at least not just from driving), so I don't need cool-down time. It takes me 25 minutes door-to-seat for work in the morning. Ditto sweat/cool-down comments. It takes me close to 20 minutes to bike to church, and 10 minutes to cool down. It takes me 50-60 minutes to bike to work, and 10-20 minutes to cool down. So if I can leave at 10:15 am for a 10:30 church arrival time by car, I need to leave at 9:55-10:00 by bike. If I can leave at 8:30 am to comfortably be in the office by 9:00 am. I need to be on the bike by 7:30-7:45 am in order to be just as cool, calm, and presentable by 9:00 am when I travel by bicycle. 

Some of this is problematic because of how I'm wired... I tend to procrastinate, and I don't naturally manage my time well. So even when I get up early enough to be ready and leave by 7:30 or 7:45, I often get distracted by coffee, the Internet, some project I decided to tackle "really quickly" before leaving for the morning. 

I am very curious to see how trying the mountain bike and road bike, once they are ready for a commute, affect my transpo time to work, and affect my feelings about the hill that is in the middle of the ride!

So time, she is my biggest enemy. The issues cut straight to my personal Achilles' Heel (time management) and flirt with the temptation of faster travel and convenience. 



I want to address these because anyone biking in St. Louis is likely to face these same issues (maybe not the heat as much if you sweat less than I do or can tolerate it better). Part of incorporating bike transportation into my life will be about changing my habits and prioritizing bicycling over the ease of the car. This may require tweaking my hours slightly, forcing myself into better morning routines, or just getting out there even when I'm hesitant. I continue to look to the more consistently cool fall weather to have multiple days to push this new (to me) habit. The one thing I know for sure is that the more I ride, the more I want to ride; the less I ride, the easier it is to just take the car.

Do you have "nah, take the car" voices that you fight off when you get on the bike? If so, let's talk about and through them. Let's talk. And then ride! 

Cheers and happy riding,
R

Inspiration City: Montreal

From Saturday until Tuesday, my husband and I traveled to Montreal, Quebec. I was surprised, given Canada's reputation for long winters, and what I would assume would be substantial lake/river-effect snows, to find a remarkably bike-friendly city. So, while I suffer back in the Midwest with near-100° temps, I'll share what I saw, and photos, too.

Montreal has a bike-share program (exactly like the Divvy Bike program in Chicago, or the CitiBike program in NYC). They are grey bikes with red logos and are called "Bixi Bikes". There are stations all over town, so that you can rent a bike in one part of town and drop it off in another with little difficulty. Trucks come around periodically to relocated extra bikes to empty stations as needed. (The one below had just been "restocked".)

Bixi Station by Day

Bixi Station by night.

The Bixi bikes were equipped for all riding conditions in the same manner as other bike-share-style bikes, and featuring many things that consumers have to pay extra for on entry-level city bikes or when outfitting nontraditional city bikes (mountain bikes, road bikes) for regular city/commuter/transportation use (whatever your bike means for you, insert here - we all use our bicycles in different ways). They featured pedal-powered, blinking, front and rear lights (to make you visible; the light was inadequate to help you see anything, so you had to rely on adequate street lighting, which was plentiful in downtown Montreal). The bikes had front racks for bags or purses, and covered chains and skirt-guards to keep your apparel clean. 

Riders on Bixi Bikes

Rows of Riders in Montreal

Rentable bikes near the river in Montreal

Tandem riders in Montreal

Parked bicycles

Parked Bikes in Old Montreal

We saw a fair number of people riding the Bixis, and a lot of people had their own bikes, too. Drivers accepted the bicycles, and even in our scramble to find the tiny road names and decipher new (to us) direction signs, we were easily able to drive and watch for bikes. This was largely due to the fact that there were so many bikes. Volume increases safety for everyone by increasing awareness to the presence of and visibility for all bicyclists. 

Even when folks weren't riding their bikes, there was abundant evidence of their presence, as bikes were parked all over town. There are those electric parking meters for on-street parking, and they have loops added to the posts that show your space identifier (e.g., M031), so riders can lock up there, too. Bike racks were plentiful, and people locked to fences, sign posts, etc., too. There was not too evidence of theft, but we did come across a sad blue bike that was rusting out because its back wheel (the more expensive wheel, with the gearing) had been stolen. I tried to snap a photo, but it didn't turn out. Still, most of the bikes locked up appeared to be in pretty good condition, well-maintained, and probably used on a regular basis. 

Montreal makes gracious accommodations for bicyclists in the form of dedicated, distinct, well-marked - and sometimes - protected bike lanes. You can easily see some of them at work in the top and second photos of riders (protected lane). There are huge bicycles painted in the lanes to make them easy to see (especially as compared to the small road signage). The protected bike lanes are two-way, so that the bikers are completely separated from traffic. This made for some interesting intersection set-ups, but they clearly mark the way for bicyclists, and it all seems to work.  

I would love to see lanes and really obvious intersection markings like this on Manchester, Brentwood, Hanley, and Clayton roads, where bikes are less common, the roads are not very safe for riding due to lack of bike lanes and shoulders, and cars travel at pretty high speeds (35mph is a terrifying prospect in the age of distracted driving). The great thing about the protected lanes (as opposed to "sharing the road" model that we often use here in St. Louis) is that people on slow bikes (Bixis, uprights, Dutch-style, cruiser, or due to the physical limitations or desires of the rider) don't have to try to keep up with traffic. When I ride to work, I'm terribly aware of my few minutes on McKnight Road and Clayton Road, where traffic averages 30-40mph. In both cases, the morning commute is preferable (and really feels fine), because traffic is staggered, people seem more relaxed, and they can easily go around me in the second lane in each direction. At 5:00pm or so, everyone is leaving at once and between the rush to get home and the dense traffic,  I feel (as I'm wheezing up Clayton Road for a couple blocks at 5mph) like I'm an inconvenience and at a higher risk of getting hit because someone doesn't leave me enough room. (Seriously; I'm only on the road for a few blocks and I am probably going to switch to the sidewalk for those few blocks for the commute home because it's so unpleasant; I hop up onto the sidewalk for the crosswalks to cross Clayton anyway, since neither crossing point is a major intersection.)

Speaking of hills, Montreal is relatively flat near the river, but this region of Québec has these random little "mounts" (big hills out of nowhere), which often serve as the name of the town: Mont Royal = Montreal, Mont Ste. Hilaire = the town of same name, etc. As you approached Mont Royal, you rapidly had very steep hills, and we saw about half a dozen people hop of their bicycles and walk up the hills. No shame in that - I have to walk up one of the hills on my way home, especially when it's hot. And my hill was smaller.

As we were in the city for less than 24 hours each time, with a pretty strict agenda each day, I did not have the opportunity to rent and ride a Bixi myself, but one of my traveling companions, who went up a few days early, did ride one, and we bumped into him next to the Bixi station in the top photo. I took the opportunity to ask him about his riding experience. He confirmed that the roads become very hilly very quickly as you move toward Mont Royal, and that underneath the plastic Bixi covers, the bikes feel pretty stiff and failed to offer a particularly-smooth riding experience (in other words, it's no Pashley or Workcycles Oma), which isn't terribly surprising (cost control). Still, he offered that it was an amazing way to see the city, get out and about for a bit, and get a little exercise in the process. No one can argue with that.

Anecdotally, helmet use among Bixi riders was rare; use among other city-type bicycles (bikes clearly used for transportation) was about 50/50, and close to 100% on road bikes where folks were kitted out in lycra outfits and clearly going for speed.

We're back in St. Louis, and the temperatures have been holding steady this week in the high nineties, which is pairing with some leftover crud I developed due to a severe seasonal allergy attack while I was in Canada (much more foliage, and much closer to autumn), but rumors speak of a break from the high temperatures by Monday, and I am crossing fingers for the opportunity to spend some time on the bike again soon. 

Happy riding!

x

Ninety-Degree Weather and a Mantis

This has been a disappointing week, in terms of biking. Heat and humidity have returned to St. Louis (hopefully, temporarily), I spent the first part of this week not feeling well enough to bike to work, and the rest of it not being able to control my schedule enough to allow me to bike to nearby meetings, or attend this month's bike events, and I am generally frustrated as a result. I am really looking forward to autumn weather...and settling into the routine. We'll see if it shows up in September, or if St. Louis offers us an Indian Summer that stretches into late October (hardly uncommon).

In the meantime, I offer you an amazing photo of a praying mantis on ferns (source, other great photos).

August Events for Women Bicyclists

Hi friends, and happy Friday! 

I don't have a lot of riding stories right now, because despite the amazing weather we've had this summer, certain scheduling and other events in my life have conspired against my bicycle riding hopes. Never fear, fair readers, as this is temporary.

I wanted to update you about the August events through Trailnet's Arch Women and Cycling Savvy.

The August Lunch Meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 21, 2013 from 12:00-1:00pm. This is a brown-bag lunch event. This month's session will address body image -- specifically, the conflicting messages that we, as women, face, and how if affects how (and how much) we eat, and how we determine what is "healthy" for ourselves. This is often a really important topic for active women, since we need to healthfully fuel our biking habit! The lunch is at the Railway Exchange Building downtown, in the 12th Floor Lobby. (Map)

Do you wish you felt more confident on the road on a bike? Cycling Savvy is hosting their Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling course on Thursday, August 22, 2013 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at 6174A Delmar in University City (Map). The course costs $15, and is described as follows:

Through guided discussion with video and animation, this session familiarizes students with bicycle-specific laws, traffic dynamics and problem-solving strategies. Students discover that bicycle drivers are equal road users, with the right and ability to control their space. Bicycles are not needed at this session.

The next Trailnet on Tap meeting is Wednesday, August 28, 2013 from 7:00-8:30 p.m. at Urban Eats Cafe (Map). This month's topic features similar concerns to the women's lunch meeting. Personal trainer Tracy Herold will discuss how to be healthy whatever your size and physical condition, and the role active transportation plays in your health. RSVP on Facebook if you plan to go!


Hopefully, if your schedule allows, you can make one or more of these events. 


Cheers and happy riding!

Image Source
Article from Bike Radar about "How to Lose Weight Cycling"

Locked Up vs. Locked In

Sorry for the Monday post, after proclaiming Friday would be my posting day. I started this, and then got distracted, and then went out of town for the weekend! Whoops. 

:)

Bike security is a meaningful issue for those of us who ride. I have had two bikes stolen in my life (lucky so few) and I'm very careful with my Linus and Trek bicycles. This means, generally, and whenever possible, they live inside, rather than outside. This protects them from inclement weather, as well as theft. What does this mean for me?

1. At Home. My bikes come inside with me. They don't live in my garage. I keep an "active" bike on the main level, and "dormant" bikes in my basement. This is also part of why I purchased a Linus "city" bike instead of a heavier, more traditional bike, like a Pashley or WorkCycles Oma (that, and I didn't want to take the >$1000 plunge until I had a better sense of which bike works to get me to work, around my neighborhoods, and out for fun - this may well end up being three different bikes).




2. At Work. My bike comes inside with me. I am fortunate to have my own office, and an area where I can stash my bike so it's out of the way.  This is in front of my credenza, which I face from my desk. I am in an older office building, which is probably the only reason I have enough room in my office for me, my desk, and my bike. Many newer offices are barely larger than cubicles. The rest of the office layout is such that I would have a hard time finding a place for my bike inside. In that case, I'd either have to find a place to lock up outside (on my surface lot or in front of my building); neither has a particularly appealing place to lock up. Maybe at a parking meter? So I'm thrilled Fleur can come inside. (The plastic on the seat is a super-sexy shower cap. See how I'm wearing white pants? Yeah, I rode in those. Not worth any chance the leather would bleed.)

3. At Church. Inside, again, most of the time. The first time I rode to church, I locked Fleur up outside, but there are no bike racks near my church (!!) and I was worried she was blocking a major entrance for people who need the accessible ramp, and that's no good. The second time, I took her upstairs (and way out of the way) and locked her to the upstairs railing. This is fine, but required me to shove her in the elevator, so the next time I was there for Sunday worship, the Children and Family Ministries Director suggested I stash it somewhere out of the way on the first floor, so now I do that on Sundays. I still lock her up, even though she is inside (you never know; I'm not worried about fellow congregants or well-meaning visitors, but there are people who abuse the safe and trusting environment of a church during worship time to look for unattended purses... and sometimes bikes*). I take a large enough bag to accommodate my helmet and her lights, which I remove any time she's parked outside, no matter how short the duration (lights and locks are the most important things to spend money on, after all). For evening meetings, and for choir practice this fall, she just sits in the room where I'm meeting or singing. On Sundays when I sing, I'll lock her up in the same manner I do for summer worship on Sundays. You'll all be tickled to know that my music director hums the "Wicked Witch of the West/Almira Gulch" music at me whenever he sees me arrive on two wheels. He thinks he's pretty hilarious. (OK. He's pretty hilarious.) In other news, I might have figured out my Halloween costume this year. 

4. Errands. I haven't done a ton of errands so far on Fleur, but when I have, she gets locked up outside the building where I'm "erranding". This has included meeting a fellow blogger for coffee in Webster Groves, and two trips to my nearest grocery store. No issues any of those times. My rules for outside lock-ups are this: (1) in a visible spot near a main door and (2) locked to something more substantial (read: harder to cut through) than my U-lock. I generally only use the U-lock, but remove the lights and anything else I wouldn't want to replace (e.g., I'm okay leaving the seat and mirror and bell, which would be hard to remove, and my wheels and seat are not quick-release, so I don't sweat those). I lock through the rear triangle so that my frame and my rear wheel (the more costly of the two to replace) are secure. I generally don't take my cable with me since I haven't grown terribly accustomed to parking Fleur outside where she'd need the extra security; I made this call after talking to some other bikers about their security measures. As I widen my area and ride more (hopefully in the fall), I'll probably start taking the second lock, but it seems largely redundant when you're not in a high-crime area, or perhaps when you are... if someone truly wants Fleur, they will take her, whether it takes them 30 seconds to cut through one lock or 60 seconds to cut through two. Part of item ownership is taking good care, but not being so attached to the item as to be unable to part with the thing. Also, I have a good set-up to ensure I always have my U-lock, and the cable isn't quite as convenient. You can see from the above photo, and in this detailed photo from a prior post that I tuck my U-lock in my rear-rack bungees. I keep the key on my keychain, which is on a carabiner, which I clip on my front basket while I'm riding, and onto my bag or person when I'm off the bike.  

5. Fun Rides/Exercise. When I ride to Grant's Trail, I ride to/from my house. No locking needed. When I ride on Creve Coeur Mill Trail or other more-distant trails, I drive to/from the trail and so the bike is in my car before and after the ride.

That's that, for now! Cheers and happy riding!

*Sadly, we've had folks wander in and take everything from wallets to gifts under Giving Trees that were purchased for poor families, including children's bicycles. So while I'm trusting, I'm also cautious. 

Yes, I sweat when I ride to work. But it doesn't last long. And the ride is worth it.

Of course I sweat when I ride to work: it's summer in St. Louis, Missouri. But this summer has been much cooler than average, so I've actually had the opportunity to ride in some upper-60s/lower-70s temps, as well as testing the 80s and 90s I expected this month. 

The unofficial rule list I've cultivated for commuting this summer seems to be:

1. Anticipated daily high no higher than 90°F.
2. No thunderstorms in the forecast between 7:30-9:30am or 4:30-6:30pm.
3. No heavy rain in the forecast for the same timeframe.
4. Get out the door by 8:00am.

Honestly? This last one is the hardest. I have a hard time getting moving in the morning, and making sure I am ready to hop on the bike instead of into the car is one more excuse to keep me from going. Will this shirt work? What about this skirt? These pants? Which helmet? Oh, I need my gloves. Wait, I forgot something else...I make riding to work a bigger deal in my head than it is and, frankly? the ride gets easier every single time I do it. After a nearly 20-mile bike ride for fun this past Saturday (returning in a strong headwind; something I don't have to deal with, really, on my commute, due to the neighborhood streets I frequent), today's 6.5-mile jaunt felt borderline leisurely. 

That said, the trail I ride on has no meaningful hills except for a few rolling streets in the 2-mile ride to/from the trail-head. 

That said, there are a few points in my commute route where I'm a-huffing and a-puffing. I cannot reach the top without breaking a sweat, no matter the gear I'm in, and I suspect, no matter the outside temp. In some cases, I could be standing on the bike, pedaling my heart out, and it's still a solid minute or more of continued exertion. 

So, I glow buckets.

The thing about riding is that you have a lovely breeze on you as long as you're moving. And then you stop, and your face starts to get red, and the sweat really starts to pour, and you're just bloody hot for about 10-15 minutes. If I'm someplace where I plan to lock up my bike outside, this is a great reason to take my time locking up the bike. This is also a great reason to get where you're going 20 minutes before you need to look presentable. Because really, that's all it takes. If you're staying somewhere hot, outside, everyone else will be sweating anyway. If you're going in side, chances are the a/c is set to "arctic" and you'll cool down faster than you expect. When I arrived at the office Wednesday, I had maintained a slow-enough pace and kept well-enough hydrated that I wasn't too red-faced, but I was sweaty and my hair was pretty wet underneath (at the nape of my neck). But this is what I looked like just 10 minutes after I arrived at my office:

I still *felt* warm, but really, I looked fine. I even biked in the clothes I was wearing, and didn't need to change my top at all. So if you're just starting, in the summer, like me, then YES it's hot, but it gets better, and really, you look better than you think you do...or will in about ten minutes.  And no, I didn't touch up my make-up or anything - this is whatever was left from what I put on in the morning (my normal mineral foundation, powder blush, lip balm, and mascara).