I'm gonna do it!

On Saturday, I talked about Phil Keoghan and his ride across America. In that post I said that you could register to ride with him at each leg of his journey, and the closest he was coming to my little corner of the world was Cedar City, Utah – a four hour drive away.

I also mentioned that, as fate would have it, I have April 2nd off from work.

What I haven’t mentioned is how patient and understanding my beautiful wife is in regards to my wild, half-cocked ideas. She knows how much I would enjoy something like this, so she is going to let me go! Yes, you read correctly, I am going down to ride with Phil Keoghan on Thursday! Since it is a four hour drive, and registration for the ride begins at 8:00am. I am driving down Wednesday night and plan on sleeping in the van in a nearby parking lot.

This will be me, except in a van, not a tent.

Have I mentioned how understanding my wife is? She is not only letting me go, but she is letting me take “her” vehicle down there. Yep, I got myself a good woman there!

I have printed off and signed my registration forms already. I just need to go home and start getting stuff ready. I have a feeling that the first three days of this week are going to be some very, very long days.

signed and ready to go!

I really hope that there is an opportunity to take pictures, even if there isn’t expect a post-ride report Friday or Saturday.

Sunday funnies

Frazz

Phil Keoghan's Ride Across America update

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about Phil Keoghan and his ride across America.

Well, His ride started his ride today, from Victorville, Ca. You can follow his progress from his site, http://www.philridesacrossamerica.com/ or you can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/philkeoghan.

The Closest Phil is coming to Salt Lake City is Cedar City on April 2nd and Kanab on April 3rd. You can register to ride with Phil when he comes to your area. I have the 2nd off. If it wasn't so far down to Cedar City, I would be tempted to go down there and ride with him.

Good luck Phil!

Tour de Cure sale

Salt Lake Bicycle Company in downtown Salt Lake City is having a sale next Saturday for the Tour de Cure:

Brent, the owner has been a great supporter of the Tour de Cure this year, and he has opened a really nice shop in downtown SLC. Go support him, and support the American Diabetes association at the same time. More information about the sale, and about Brent's shop can be found on his website www.slcbike.com

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Two Mile Challenge

Once again, Kelly is my muse. One of her comments on yesterday’s post has prompted today’s post. Yesterday she wrote,

“…Most of us, in my opinion, just ride for short distances and for entertainment.... not for exercise or marathons.”

I agree wholeheartedly with her, and I also feel that is where the most change in the perception of bicycles as a viable and sustainable mode of transportation needs to happen. People need to see the bicycle as an alternative to the car for those short distance trips that we all make throughout the day.

Fortunately, I am not alone in this belief. Because, seriously, who would listen to a guy with a measly blog that barely manages to pull a couple dozen hits a day? Several of the major players in the bicycle industry are working on portraying the bicycle as a legitimate vehicle, and the smartest choice for short distance travel.

Energy and nutrition supplement company Clif, has created the 2 mile challenge website. They state on their site that in the United States:

• 40% of all trips made are 2 miles or less
• 90% of those trips are by car.
• 25% of CO2 emissions in the United States come from motor vehicles.
• Driving releases 20 pounds of C02 pollution per gallon of gas.
• If 1 out of 10 car commuters switched to a bike, CO2 emissions would be reduced by 25.4 million tons per year.
• The cost of operating a car per year is $5170.
• The cost of operating a bike per year is $120.
• 12 bicycles can be parked in the same space as 1 car.
• 100 bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources required to build 1 medium sized car.
• The US has more bike owners per capita than most countries, but is near the bottom of the list for using them.
• If 1 million people replaced a 2 mile car trip once a week with a bike ride, CO2 emissions could be reduced by 50,000 tons per year.

One of the cooler features on this site, in my opinion, is that they provide you with a map showing you exactly how far 2 miles is from your house, and what services you can find within that 2 mile circle. You enter your address, and it provides a google map of your area with a big green 2-mile-diamater circle around your house, like this.


It will also show you the locations of various places you would normally travel, such as grocery stores, parks, banks, etc… and how many are within that circle. This picture shows the grocery stores in the area. .


A disclaimer, this is actually a map of my Mom’s neighborhood. This is my 2 mile circle.


Needless to say, Eagle Mountain desperately needs to work on their infrastructure. The only thing within 2 miles of my house is my kid’s elementary school, the city library, and a few parks, including the new skate park.

You can also actively participate on the site by tracking the 2 mile or less trips you make.
There are other companies that have created programs similar to this. They may become subjects for future blog posts.

Snobbery and Bicycles

Kelly and I flew to Las Vegas this past week for our 15th Anniversary. On Thursday, we decided to drive down to Primm and go shopping in the outlet mall there. On the way down there, we saw a semi with a couple of bikes tied to the back of the cab. I made an offhanded comment about the origin of the bikes (Wal-Mart), which got Kelly started. She accused me of being a “bike snob” because I constantly deride people for their choice of bikes, usually refer to those bikes as “crap” bikes, and am never happy to see people out riding, no matter what the type of bike they are on. She went on saying that maybe that is all he could afford.

Her comment actually stopped me, and I couldn’t immediately come up with a response to that accusation. I had never thought of it before, but I am somewhat of a snob when it comes to bikes. After a while I explained that I don’t think that most people can only afford bikes from Wal-Mart and other big box stores, I think that most people don’t think of shopping for a bike at a bike shop. They go to their local big box store to do all of their other shopping, and see the bikes there. It’s easy. One stop shopping. That is the American way of life, convenient one stop shopping. How many of us buy our produce from a farmer’s roadside stand, purchase our bread from a bakery, or get our flowers from a florist? No, we go to the nearest mega mart, where everything we could ever want is all under one roof. The quality isn’t as good as it would be from a store that specializes in a particular item, such as bread or bicycles, but the cost is lower, and the convenience is greater.

Another reason I believe most people don’t go into their local bike shop to purchase their bikes is the perception of exclusivity that seems to permeate most bike shops. It feels like they are walking through the door of an exclusive and private club that they don’t belong to. They aren’t wearing the right clothes, and they don’t know the secret handshake or password. Unfortunately, that is more often the case than not. There are some bike shops that you feel that once you walk in the door, you are given a visual once-over by the staff, and if you don’t have the waifish build of Cat 1 or Pro cyclist, or don’t exude the aura of someone who “belongs” you aren’t worth them wasting their time helping.

Most marketing that bike shops have done in the past has been targeted towards that very specific group as well. That, however, is changing. With the uncertainty of gas prices and the economy, and with more and more people looking for alternative methods of getting around, bike shops are starting to take notice. More and more shops are springing up that cater to the casual, everyday cyclist than the racer type, and more and more shops are starting to carry a larger selection of commuter and city bikes. They are also changing their attitude, realizing that for years, they have been alienating what could be a potential cyclist.

My last argument is about quality. Just like I mentioned before that a loaf of artisan bread from an actual bakery is far superior to a loaf of Wonder bread, and the flowers you would purchase for your significant other from a florist are more beautiful and fragrant than the selection available at your local mega-grocer, a bicycle you would find at a bike shop is of much better quality. More time and skill has gone into making the frame of the bicycle, and the components are of a higher quality as well. People who are used to riding a lesser-quality bike are surprised by how responsive and quick a well built bicycle is, and how good a bike that is fitted and adjusted to you feels to ride. They are also surprised at the difference in weight – my 6-year-old had a bicycle that actually weighed more than my road bike!

So, to conclude, I think most people either feel like they don't belong in a bike shop, or they haven't even considered shopping for a bike at a bike shop. Attitudes are changing. Go to your local bike shop and take a look around. Not everyone is Lance, and not everyone needs a bike like his. Most reputable shops know this, and will spend the time to talk to you and find out what type of riding you are doing. They will fit a bike to you, and your riding style, not the other way around. If you want to know a good shop in the Salt Lake area, I can suggest several.

Overheard conversations and helmets

I overheard a conversation at work this morning. Sorry, nothing juicy or salacious to report. A couple of co-workers were talking about the recent death of actress Natasha Richardson. They were talking about getting helmets for their kids when they go skiing. A quick search on the Internet netted this article that was talking about the same thing; people, concerned for their - and their kid's - safety, are getting helmets to go skiing.

You have to wonder. What is it going to take? Is some famous celebrity going to have to die on a bicycle without a helmet before the general populace realizes that bicycle helmets help save lives? I know that one of the co-workers I was eavesdropping on is aware of the relevance of wearing a helmet. Not long after the initial conversation that prompted this blog I was talking to her about the hit-and-run between a bicycle and a BMW on Thursday - the cyclist is a good friend of hers, and her husband is the one who got him into cycling.

Here are some statistics, courtesy of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute:

• There are 73 to 85 million bicycle riders in the US.
• 700 bicyclists died on US roads in 2007. Over 90 percent died in crashes with motor vehicles.
• The "typical" bicyclist killed on our roads is a sober male over 16 not wearing a helmet riding on a major road between intersections in an urban area on a summer evening when hit by a car.
• About 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year. Of those, about 67,000 have head injuries, and 27,000 have injuries serious enough to be hospitalized.
• Bicycle crashes and injuries are under-reported, since the majority are not serious enough for emergency room visits. 43,000 cyclists were reported injured in traffic crashes in 2007.
• 1 in 8 of the cyclists with reported injuries had a brain injury.
• Two-thirds of the deaths here are from traumatic brain injury.
• A very high percentage of cyclists' brain injuries can be prevented by a helmet, estimated at anywhere from 45 to 88 percent.
• Direct costs of cyclists' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $81 million each year, rising with health care costs.
• Indirect costs of cyclists' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $2.3 billion each year.
• Helmet use in the US varies greatly in different areas and different sectors of our society. White collar commuters probably reach 80 per cent, while inner city kids and rural kids would be 10 per cent or less. Overall, our best wild guess is probably no more than 25 percent.
• Usage rates: Sommers Point, NJ, where a state helmet law is in effect, found that only 24 of the 359 students who rode to school in one week of the Winter of 2002 wore helmets (6 per cent) until the School District adopted a helmet rule. North Carolina observed 17 per cent statewide before their law went into effect in 2001, with big variations by area and type of rider. Others:

Portland: 76% (transportation cyclists)
Alaska: 17% to 35%
Washington State 33% in east to 56% in western areas.
Duval County FL: Toddlers 100%, most others 25%
Ft Lauderdale, FL: 25%
Hollywood, FL: 15%
Hawai'i 2002: 20%

• Helmets are cheap. The typical discount store price has risen from under $10 to about $20, but there are still models available for about $10 at major national retailers including Target and Wal-Mart.

Will a helmet stop you from having an accident? No. Will a helmet allow you to survive a crash or wreck? Possibly.

Wear a helmet.

warning sign generator

I came across the following websites while catching up on some of my favorite blogs last night.

http://www.warningsigngenerator.com/

http://www.warninglabelgenerator.com/

www.jjchandler.com/tombstone

http://www.streetsigngenerator.com/

Have fun!

Sunday funnies

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Happy Anniversary!

No, not for this blog, that is still a couple of weeks off. This anniversary is the important one. 15 years ago the girl of my dreams said yes.

In case any of you are wondering, yes, I am the luckiest man alive. And, yes, everything that I have accomplished is solely because of her.

For the past several years - pretty much starting with 2002 - we have taken a small trip for our anniversary, usually somewhere close by. We have gone to Logan (2x), Idaho, Disneyland (okay, not close) a cruise to Mexico (really not close) and Sedona. This year we are flying down to Las Vegas for 3 days. Our friend Doug found a great deal on airfare and a hotel stay. I have tried to convince Kelly (jokingly) that we should have Elvis re-marry us at one of the drive-thru chapels while we were down there. She didn't think that was such a good idea.

This is not our cake topper. I like it because it is
bicycle-themed, and this is a bicycle-themed blog.

So, I just want to say Happy Anniversary to my sweethart, my best friend, my reason for living, the love of my life. Happy 15th Anniversary, Kell. I Love You!

p.s. the bicycle will not be accompanying us on this trip.

If you want to see pictures, check out Kelly's blog. I'm reasonably sure that she has a post scheduled to go out at the same time as mine, and she will have a ton of pictures on her post.

Simpsonize me!

Here's a shocker, this post has absolutely nothing to do with bicycles. Except for the previous sentence.

I was messing around on the internet last night when I came across this website. It is obviously a leftover from when The Simpsons Movie was in the theaters. You upload a photo of yourself and it "converts" it into a Simpsons character. After it gives you your look-alike, you can tweek it a little to make it more similar.



I dunno, Pretty good likeness.

Save Energy, Ride a Bike!

Just watch...

Sunday funnies

from http://www.rosscottinc.com/

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Share the Road plate update

I just read on Jared Eborn's blog that House Bill 102 passed through the transportation committee this morning.

Sounds like the only thing left is for all of the cyclists to start thinking of what they want their vanity Share the Road plates to read:

Although, this last one may be more appropriate with this special intrest plate...

Can anyone else come up with any more vanity plate ideas for your favorite cyclist?

Phil Keoghan to ride across America

Phil Keoghan, the host of The Amazing Race will be setting off from Los Angles on March 28th for a 40 day, 3500 mile bike ride across the United States. He will finish on May 9th in New York City. He plans on averaging 100 miles a day, and has pit stops planed in 30 cities along the way.

The ride is intended to support the national Multiple Sclerocis society, and Phil will be attending Bike MS rallys along the way.

Here is a link to the story, and a press release from the National MS society and CBS.

I don't have much to add, except Cool! If there are any updates, I will be sure to post them.

Share the Road Licence plates pt. 2

Back in August I posted about how the Utah Bicycle Coalition was working to get a "share the road" licence plate similar to other states here in Utah. Today, I opened up my March issue of Cycling Utah, and came across this article:

Share the Road Licence Plate Under Consideration in the Utah Legislature

Cyclists throughout the state hope that Utah will become the 17th state to adopt a Share the Road licence plate. Legislation authorizing the special group plate was initiated by Senator Wayne Niederhauser (District 9 - Sandy) who recently presented the Bill to the Senate Transportation, Utilities, and Technology committee. the committee unanimously supported it and sent it to the Senate floor for a vote. If approved, the Bill will go to the State House of Representatives for another round of review. If signed into law, the Share the Road Licence plate would become available on October 1, 2009.

Vehicle owners may then purchase the plate when renewing their annual vehicle registration. The cost will be an extra $25 per year. This fee will go to replenish the Share the Road licence plate inventory and support bicycle advocacy activities of the Utah Bicycle Coalition (UBC). The UBC with generous support from the Bonneville Bicycle Touring club, other cycling organizations, and individual cyclists has raised enough funds to purchase 2500 plates, the minimum number required by the Utah Tax Commission to ensure that plates are available at all of the Department of Motor Vehicle offices throughout the state. Similar to other special group plates, the design will include a 4 inch square decal on the left side of the plate, and a slogan at the bottom of the plate.

The UBC is a non profit organization made up of recreational and commuter cyclists, bicycle manufacturers and retail shops, and transit advocates. Bicycle advocacy activities focus on developing good laws and legislation that promote safe cycling, participating in transportation planning and construction that provide safe accommodations for cycling, educating cyclists and motorists about safe cycling, sharing the road, and obeying the law, and developing a network of safe cycling routes throughout Utah. Through these activities, the UBC hopes to promote sustainable healthy lifestyles, support Utah's cycling industry, and assist local bicycle advocacy groups.

-Ken Johnson, UBC President

This should be what the plate will look like. Soon, we will be able to let others know how we feel about bicycles and cycling.

Sunday funnies

zits