Rain, Dumpster Bikes, and Robert Smith's Face

In Southern California we don't get much rain. When it does rain though, our toughness gets washed away like Robert Smith's awful make-up after a long night of crying.

"Boy's don't cry, that's why I look like a girl" - Robert Smith (probably)

So you can imagine the gigantic suitcase of courage I needed when I manned up and decided to ride in the rain during our epic storm this weekend. The "storm" dropped about 3 inches of rain and totally eclipsed anything seen on the Eastern seaboard. I decided to go out anyway since I put fenders on the Surly. For a while I wondered if I would ever use them considering we had 85 degree weather like 2 weeks ago but they finally saw action.

H.M.S. Surly at full sail.

The SKS Longboard fenders do what they're supposed to. The only downside to having fenders, is that it doesn't rain enough in SoCal to justify having them mounted all the time unless you're constantly riding through puddles or bum urine. Usually they just catch the wind and push the bike sideways but I'm so lazy I probably won't bother taking them off unless they start rattling or something. If you live where it rains and don't have fenders you need a set of these. Unless you want to look super badass while riding in your own wheel spray:

Look how tough we are Jens!

I'm also proud to say that after their first dousing my lights and dynamo proved to be sufficently water-resistant. Riding around in the rain will be a breeze from now on. I can't wait to do it next year when it rains again. Awesome!

That hub is so wet.

In other news, a good friend of mine recently found a bike in a garbage dumpster. I think it's a 1974 Raleigh, what I don't get is why someone just threw it away. It was quickly rescued and I've fixed it. I'll provide better coverage and photos when I get around to it.

Bicycling in Suffolk County

A 17 year old kid named Matthew Cutrone wrote a letter to his local legislator in Suffolk County because his mom was hit by a car while riding her bike. This was the fifth incident where someone he knew had been struck by a car. Prior to his mother's accident, four classmates were struck by cars; two did not survive. He asked his legislator, Thomas F. Barraga, about what the county was doing to make roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. What he got was this. Because I drink 3 gallons of carrot juice daily, my eyes can overcome the blurriness of that photocopy. For those of you with less-than-Superman vision I've transcribed the body of the letter below:    

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January 29, 2014

 Dear Mr. Cutrone,

Thank you for your recent letter concerning bicycle safety and bicycle lanes. Let me at the outset express the hope that your mother will have a complete recovery from her accident in September while riding a bicycle in West Islip. 
     
I have lived in West Islip most of my life and my personal feeling is that no one who lives in our hamlet or for that matter in Suffolk County should ever ride a motorcycle or a motorcycle. I cannot tell you how many constituents over the years have told me that they are taking up bicycling for pleasure and exercise. I have told them not to do so but they usually do not listen - 90 percent of those people eventually were hit by an automobile many like your mother with serious physical injuries. 
     
I have heard the suggestion of bicycle lanes and additional signage but unfortunately this would do little to solve the problem. Suffolk County is a suburban automobile community - drivers expect to see other drivers on the road not bicyclists and motorcyclists. Even in those areas outside of Suffolk County where a portion of the road is for bicyclists - they still get hit by motorists. Signage has limited effects - there are currently 135 signs between Montauk Highway and Sunrise Highway on Higbie Lane and Udall Road - most of them are ignored by drivers. 
     
Reality at time can be difficult for some to come to grips with but giving false hope would be inappropriate. 

Very Truly yours, 

Thomas F. Barraga County Legislator 

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You can arrive at your own opinion but I had just 3 thoughts I wanted to share: 

1. Thomas Fartface Barraga (I think that's what the "F." in his middle name stands for) is not doing his job. His job isn't to share his opinions (I'm a blogger, that's MY job, actually it's not a real job, but still). His job is to create legislation to solve problems and ensure the safety and well-being of ALL his constituents. If he feels so strongly that bike lanes and signage would do little to reduce accidents then he should take his own advice and remove all the traffic signals at every intersection in Suffolk County. By his logic, people will get into car accidents at intersections anyway so there's no point in having traffic lights since drivers will probably ignore them.

2. Travelling freely is a right. You can ride a bike, walk, take the bus or moonwalk without anyone stopping you. Driving is a revocable privilege. If motorists cannot drive safely or heed road signage without hitting other road users with their cars, they should lose that privilege. Thomas Fartface Barraga seems to think that bicycling is just something people do for "pleasure and exercise." I suppose he can't imagine that some people may have no other choice but to ride their bikes to work, despite living in a "suburban automobile community". 

3. Thomas Fartface Barraga recently sponsored a bill requiring all cyclists to wear helmets in Suffolk County. Unfortunately, his noble gesture won't be much help when you consider a helmet will do nothing to protect you from a 4500 lb vehicle being driven by a negligent driver. The only way to truly reduce accidents is to enforce existing laws requiring drivers to act responsibly and install cross-walks and bike lanes wherever feasible. If improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure isn't effective why would cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York spend millions of dollars on new projects? There are independent studies here, here, and here showing that bike lanes decrease the frequency and severity of accidents. 

Best of luck to anyone riding in Suffolk County. The only reality that needs to be confronted is that Suffolk residents bear the responsibility of making sure Thomas Fartface Barraga is not re-elected. 

Best of luck...

The basics for staying upright.

Like all things, cycling can be both advantageous and disadvantageous. Cyclists love it because it gets them high on smugness. That smugness can come from avoiding traffic jams, finding parking more easily, not paying for gasoline, etc. Among all of those benefits there lies just one major caveat. It's the fact that sometimes cycling can result in a serious injury or death. The ghost-bikes we've all seen at some point are a reminder that bad shit can happen. It's safe to say that the one thing every cyclist doesn't want is a ghost-bike made in their memory.

A sobering sight.

Most of the time even the stupidest, most unaware cyclist can ride through town and avoid the reaper. The thing is that eventually bad habits or lack of attention can catch up and that lucky streak might run out. So what should cyclists do to avoid injury besides staying home and watching Wendy Williams?

A family that wears their helmets backwards together, stays together.

1. Keep your bike in decent shape. 

This doesn't mean you have to be OCD about it. Just pay attention to things. Does your bike squeak? Does your chain look like crap? Are your tires bald? The benefit of having a bike in good working order isn't just efficiency. A bike that won't break down in a bad neighborhood might just save from getting jumped. 

2. Carry a flat kit.

You're gonna get a flat. Maybe not today, or tomorrow but eventually you'll hear a hiss and realize you've run over a piece of glass or something. You need to have seat bag attached to your bike (carrying stuff in a backpack just means that the one day you don't bring your backpack is the one day you get a flat). Stuff the seat bag with at least 1 tube, 1 tire lever, 1 patch kit and carry a real pump. Don't be a sissy and insist that a Co2 pump is enough. You don't want to end up feeling like a dumbass because the only thing holding you back from riding home is a Co2 cartridge that you DON'T have.

3. Plan your ride.

There's this thing called Google and it has these things called maps. It's freakin' amazing! If you're starting a commute for the first time then you need to plan out where you're gonna ride. Select the view that shows you all the bike paths in your area. Use as many roads with bike paths even if it means riding a little bit out of your way. If parts of your route have no bike paths then find the streets with the lightest traffic and the widest shoulders. Sometimes that means creating detours, but a detour is better than a shattered femur. Besides lets be honest, you probably need the extra mileage. 

This might sound like common knowledge but I've met riders that never take the time to research a safe route. They're the ones you see riding in the gutter on major boulevards where cars are flying past them at 55 mph.

4. You're invisible.

It's true! You've mastered invisibility. As soon as you straddle a bike you become invisible. This is a fact because when you get hit by a car the first thing a driver will say is that they didn't see you. You can counteract this by doing things like riding with lights on, even during the day. Riding in the same direction as traffic. Avoiding situations where a car might cut you off as they make a right turn and being as predictable as possible. 

Don't be an idiot and try to save yourself from danger by riding on the sidewalk. It will only result with your face on someones windshield. You'll be riding along and a car will pull straight out of a driveway and into the sidewalk. Drivers only look out for other cars. Be where the cars are and maybe drivers will see you and mistake you for a car too. Riding on the street will give you more time to see cars as they exit driveways or merge into your path. 

5. Learn from every close-call.

If you ride long enough you'll eventually have a close call. A moment where you could have gotten injured but didn't. Life lessons usually come with a price, close calls are freebies. Don't waste them. Think about what you could have done differently and put it to use. Every town has it's own special mix of dangers, learn them.

There's probably 100 more tips for safe riding but these are the ones that I think are most important. I might add some pointers later on if more come to mind.