ready for a new bike

Although I'm of the mind that the most important part of cycling and building a cycling culture is just getting out there and riding, it's also true that riding the right bicycle is still a big part of it.

Last Spring I bought a bike. An acceptable bike at an acceptable price that rolled, braked, changed gears, and carried my junk. Most of all, it served one supremely important purpose: it made me fall in love with cycling. It changed my world.

Alas, after a year of riding, its limitations became clear. In addition to not being step-through (enough), the cables run down the top of the top tube and I, with my short and inflexible legs, are constantly hitting them as I try to step over the bike. (The basket on the rack makes swinging my leg over the back not an option.) There's no chain guard so I have to wrap up the ankles of my work pants with those velcro things (but black ones, thank goodness). Lastly, the posture is too hunched over and I find myself riding leisurely through the park with barely my fingertips on the grips, just to be able to sit up a bit more.

You know it's time for a change when...

Admittedly, the handlebar-shape and -height may be able to be modified for a more upright ride, but with the other cons -- not to mention the fact that it's halfway between boring and ugly -- I'm ready to move on to something different. Besides, I don't own a car or any real estate or even fancy stereo systems or buy a monthly bus pass, so this is no place to be pinching pennies. My bike has become, for 8 months of the year, my primary transporation.

Up next: the bike(s) I have my eye on.

new route to the cinema

The middle of downtown is a hill. All sides slope down towards water or at least sea level. Living partway down one side of this hill and working on the opposite side, I've always circumvented the centre in order to ride at a fairly flat plane. I've avoided riding into locations in the middle, presuming that I'd need to ride up or down enough to make it inconvenient. That area of the downtown core is also more trafficed and I haven't been confidant enough yet to brave it.

Tonight I found out: not a problem at all.

I went to see Alice in Wonderland (loved it!) at a theatre right in the middle of that area and discovered that the increase in elevation takes place over about half a block in a residential area. The rest is almost perfectly flat. There's also a pedestrian-controlled light at the place where I need to cross a major street, then a bike lane along the 1-way street almost as far as the theatre.

For the second day in a row .... easy peasy!

Oh, and the bike racks out front of the theatre were packed with a whole variety of bicycles. I love to see it that way. If I'd had my camera with me I would have taken a photo. I think I need a new cell phone.

3 little rules to grease the system

What do you do when you wake up on a Saturday morning, all ready for an April weekend of bicycle riding, and find that it's steadily raining? Sigh, then tuck in with a cup of coffee to catch up on writing blog posts. Perhaps it will dry up later.

Last Saturday, despite a busy weekend at Lindy Bout, I did get a ride around Stanley Park, albeit early afternoon, which is not my preferred timeslot on a sunny day. Why? I like to say... "The hordes are out." The seawall, and Stanley Park in particular, are a magnet for tourists on rented bikes and roller blades. This in itself is not a problem; I personally recommend to visitors I know that they rent a bike and go for a ride here. The problem here is that these folks probably don't ride too often so aren't used to the conventions that make riding in crowds a not-too-unpleasant experience. It seems to boil down to 3 main things. They seem common sense to me, but apparently not to all. Could the rental services do a better job of reminding their customers of these easy guidelines that would keep us all (including pedestrians) happier?

1. Keep right except to pass.

2. Don't stop on the path.

3. If the sign says "dismount" and it's a busy day, dismount.

Easy-peasy!

all in black

On Monday I was waiting to cross Beach Drive and saw a girl wearing all black with a black Electra (I think) cruiser and small puffy dog in the basket. She was talking to someone else waiting at the light and I overhead that she'd cycled over from Yaletown. She looked kind of Yaletown.

Today I rode across the Cambie bridge after work, a route I don't usually take on weekdays, and was passed by a girl on a black Biria Easy Boarder. She was wearing a black helmet, black jacket (looked wool), black skirt, and black wedge heels.

Oh, and it hailed.

rant: an ugly standard

I know that it's branding\advertising\marketing\blah\blah but I can't stand the fact that 99% of bicycle manufacturers emblazen their name in the most horrid fonts across the centre of the frame of their bicycles. ROTTEN FONTS. It can ruin a perfectly lovely design. Have we learned nothing from modern typography? There are so many possibilities! Ugh.

Sure, I love to be able to check out a bike and quickly see who made it. But can't we get some artistry involved here? And isn't that what headbadges are for, too? And finally, is it just me?

night rider

I'd forgotten what a thrill it is to ride at night. Saturday, 8:45pm-ish, Pender Street-- so it's the "business district" area of downtown and weekends are its off-time. With wide open streets and not too many parked OR moving cars to deal with, I made it home in no time flat.

It was like flying.

first spring ride

In honour of it being the spring equinox right about ... um ... NOW, I'm going to record my first spring ride.

Okay, okay. It was actually yesterday. which was techincally still winter. But it was Friday and gorgeously sunny and since we'd already moved the clocks forward last weekend I was able to ride my bike to work. Headed home, and then ... kept going. All the way around Stanley Park. So little traffic on the cycle path (except one poor pedestrian who was walking on it just after a blind corner; I think I scared him even though I ride fairly slow).

Then, on the way to the video store, I found out that they'd extended the bike lane from the park up along a side street as far as the next north-south bike route, Cardero. Hooray for connectors!