Advocacy

Ride #74
Wednesday, May 18th

10ish miles in Sacramento on the Ride of Silence.

We had a small group for the ride (sort of a last minute thing with not a lot of advertising): at least 4 from one of the groups I belong to, 2 from another local group (I can tell from the jerseys), 2 folks about whom I have no clue, and a very interesting utility bike with a side car for the child. I might have missed a few people.

There are at least two ghost bikes near Sac State's campus, so we rode over there to add some flowers to those memorials. The person who ended up hosting this ride was recruited at the last minute (since the original planner was off in Moab for a few days) so there was not a lot of participation. She's thinking of a 100 person ride next year.

The logistics of getting even 10 bicycles clustered around a memorial without impeding foot or vehicle (I include bicycles as 'vehicles') was ... interesting. So I think the organizer's idea of having multiple destinations for next year's ride and splitting the group up (and starting in a place with a larger meeting area) are all Good Things. And maybe if the meeting area had publicly-accessible bathrooms that'd be nice also. A middle-aged bladder is Not Fun.

I encountered again the idea that folks who ride recumbents ride them because they have some disability that prevents them from riding a 'normal' bike. Sigh. As if I'd ever want to ride such an uncomfortable thing ever again.

Our route took us on quiet streets in Sacramento, some with speed-bumps/undulations. I would call them speed-humps (but many people I know would take that totally the wrong way) since they are low and smooth and easy to ride over. Some of these undulations are full width and some are two with a sort of a gutter in the middle. I was surprised by the gutter-type and it was a very strange feeling to have my two front wheels go over the humps, and my rear wheel not. Undulations are fun!

I blinged out my trike with extra front and rear lights, wore my yellow high-viz with reflective piping jacket, and used both reflective flags. I was determined to Be Seen!
Three forward facing white lights; one strobing and one steady on my ride's frame, and a wimpy cheap camping headlamp on helmet. For red lights, I have a Serfas seat-stay blinker mentioned in an earlier post, and a NiteRider Cherry Bomb blinker that is Very Very Very bright. Really, the CB is so bright the Serfas does not add a whole lot. I wonder if I can figure out how to attach a second CB to my headrest?
There are several schemes to add side-visible lights to one's bicycle. Some are passively reflective, like reflective bands on one's shoes or ankles, or reflective sidewalls, and of course the CA legal code mandated side reflectors; but some are active, usually battery or generator-powered LED lights. I got to get me some of those.

I've decided I don't like riding around a city at dusk/night. Especially if it is one I don't know too well. Of course, this attitude might come from having momentarily misplaced the car. I knew it was two blocks down and one right turn away from Fremont Park (our meeting place) but with all the one way streets around there it took me a while.
I did remember that I had parked across from a lively and loud bar.
There are a lot of bars in that area.
Oh dear, oh dear, whatever shall I do?
How about a bunch of U-turns on the handful of two-way streets!
Did I cross the train tracks? I think so....
Hey, is that my Prius?! It is.
Whew.

And now for a public service announcement.
Let the flames begin.

Bicycles are vehicles.
They belong on the road, if the rider so chooses.
A rider choosing to use the road has a few obligations that are mostly describable as:
"Don't be a jerk."

You are a vehicle. You are subject to the vehicle code.
Don't blow through stopsigns or lights.
Don't ride against traffic.
Be predictable, visible, and safe.

May is Bike Month

Ride #67
Sunday, May 1st

19 miles, some on the ARBT

Today is the first day of my favorite month of the year. How better to celebrate then to go for a ride? And even better, a ride I'm not leading! I got to hang out at the back and veg. Lovely.

We had an assortment of eight riders, some on road bikes, some on hybrids, a handful of mountain bikes, and me on my orange beastie.

I did see four other recumbents while we were out and about: one hand-powered and three foot-powered.

The group started from a shopping center on Sunrise Blvd., but I decided to park up at the light rail station and get a few more miles in and have more elbow room for unloading and loading.
In general, I don't mind parking at a shopping center to go for a ride, but I feel a lot better about it if I'm going shopping or eating at the center as well. I did not need to shop, or eat, so I'm just as glad I parked where I did.

There are three ways to get across US50 in the suburban Sacramento area: an overcrossing near Hazel Blvd, the tunnel on the South Canal near Gold River, and an underpass paralleling Sunrise. The Sunrise underpass has been around since 1997, but it seems very little used. The underpass hooks up to a stretch of abandoned road, then to a lovely paved multi-use sidewalk that runs down to the entrance at the Sunrise area on the American River.

The abandoned road. No idea what the name used to be.

I'm very glad the county set that underpass up, since trying to negotiate the Sunrise/US50 area in anything less than a ton or so of steel is just too ... exciting. It is remarkably difficult to find out about this alternate route: I found it by accident several years ago, and try to spread the word. It shows up as the usual green dashed line designating bike paths on the ARBT map, but it is not labeled.

I arrived at our shopping center meeting place in plenty of time, and watched the rest of the riders trickle in. I'd met some of today's riders before, but I have another batch of new faces for which I can forget the names.
Sigh.
I answered the usual questions about my trike: is it comfortable, what kind of brakes, how does it handle, how is up hills. Interestingly, I did not get weight or cost questions, so that was refreshing.

One of the folks on the ride had a flat tire (I had actually never heard the distinctive 'pop' and 'hiss' of a flat before, so that was cool). Most of the group waited while the tube was changed out, taking the opportunity to chat without having to watch for oncoming and overtaking bicycle traffic.

I solved my "brake" issue of yesterday. It was not a brake thing at all, but rather my wheel reflector banging around in the spokes. I removed it entirely. Now I just have to figure out how to put the thing on so it stays put!

On the way back I got tired of vegging and took off like a cat with a scalded tail. Earlier, I had not commented on the handful of folks who, I suspected, felt that a trike might have trouble keeping up with 'real' bicycles. I'm pretty good at sprinting, and took advantage of an ever-so-slight downhill and zoomed past the group doing about 20mph.

Oh yeah. Eat my dust.

The jog over to Gold River shopping center shows up on the way back. Sue me.