how bout some vintage fat tire bike, circa 1930 NYC

A little misleading commentary in the 'debate' about bike facilities, from a rider that really should know  better, a cycling instructor! In this fear-laden, misleading article, Cycling Savvy instructor Karen Karabell projects her personal bias that runs counter with the evidence into the bikelane debate."


"in this fear-laden, misleading article, Cycling Savvy instructor projects her personal bias into the bike facilities "debate"

more of the same, tired anti-facilities screed previously associated with the group that called themselves 'vehicular cyclists' -these riders are characterized as willing to ignore the preponderance of the evidence, and make wild claims about bicyclists safety being ensured by first being directly in line with traffic.

It's a ludicrous tautology that even the proponents of cycling savvy don't seem to agree with when discussing this article. many make a lot of asides of course, riding to the side is also safe, as is using bike lanes when safe, and that higher speed roads just aren't suitable for some riders.

 it's a very transparent tautology. suprising it gets so much traction by self-ascribed 'savvy' riders, who all claim to know that controlling lanes is not always required.

 if it isn't - why does cycling savvy's proponents drone on endlessly about controlling lanes to be noticed? It doesn't match up with the control lanes only when reasonably necessary riding styles of some of the ardent defenders of 'savvy' cycling.

I taught a bike commuting class of 8 people in sub-zero temperatures in Houghton today, windchill to 25 below. Coldest group ride i've ever done.

Houghton averages 18 feet of snow a year. Hardy folk up thataway. 

Bike Initiative Keweenaw Winter 2014 snow biking seminar

how cold was it?

Something like two below zero and windchills to 18 below- before riding into the wind today. Ridden a few times already this year, but today takes the frozen ice cream cake as coldest ride this season.  And I've got it pretty good, the lake keeps it warmer here than say, Minneapolis. A big, moderating heat sink  until it freezes over, which it's doing pretty quick. Harbor is frozen, the big lake is still wide open. i could see some rollers out on the horizon, people are still out surfing.

the clothing choice for today -

Well, that's from last year's polar vortex, and i was feeling pretty lazy today so didn't bother taking a photo today since the look was near identiical and the only aging that might be discerned would be the fading of the hat.

 I read somewhere on the internet that taking photos interfere with the formation of memories- i'm not sure how that works once memory loss sets in, but by that time i figure i will have already lost the photos so it's going to be a wash. 

 The ride today, in shrinkingly cold weather today, actually turned into a recreational ride of sorts, with my textbooks for the upcoming semester in the panniers and me having a great time taking an extra lap by the beach while my eyelids froze in place. I contemplated deploying the goggles mid-ride, but have an aversion to the 'captain spaceman' effect they have anyone but someone on skis - not that this look is any better.

Try it, you'll like it. As a side note, i am scheduled to give a winter commuter cycling class up in Houghton this winter, got some great riding tips  for people to try out.

 Stay warm - remember, there's no bad weather, just bad clothing, but if you've ever wondered if riding into the wind when the windchill is 20 below feels any cold, the answer is HECK YES.

Winter redux

I have been remiss in posting as I am semi-serious about bloggery. About nine months ago I went out with the camera and did some skiing. Here's some winter cycling from 2013.

north country trail upper michigan monstercross bike ride

I got turned around last week on the bike and wound up on the mostly hiking North Country Trail in Marquette County.

 The text link is to the Vimeo video, which has a little better quality for some reason than the You Tube video.

 Short, felt pretty small in the scale of it all, thanks to the ant who went center stage at one point in the video shoot.

The snow finally melted.