The good folk over at Pedallas tuned me in to a nifty looking cycling site, Biking In Dallas, today by linking to a recent article of theirs, Go Get a Newspaper. See the World on a Bike

In one sense, it’s a pretty good article, encouraging others to get out and ride their bike and enjoy the world around them as they ride.  However, there’s something in the tone of the article that just put me off to the point that I felt the need to comment on it, and that tone starts right away on the article:

I do a lot of my bike riding at White Rock Lake, or in that general area. I see a lot of people out there that are wearing spandex, and strange shoes, and riding very expensive, very fast bikes. They seem to be quite focused on their ride. But I always wonder: do they ever just get on their bike and go to the grocery store? Do they commute to work? Do they ever accomplish anything with their ride other than some intense workout?

I read this a couple of hours ago and my first thought was, “Well… have you ever bothered to ask them?” You can often see this type of cyclist getting ready for or cooling down from one of their training rides either up at the north end of the lake or in and around the many parking lots around the lake.  Why not stop and talk to one of them? Or why not  show up at one of the group rides in the area before it begins to ask the riders if they commute, run errands, or otherwise just toodle about on their bikes?  They are, after all, just people, despite all the lycra and carbon.

The author then goes on to talk about all the wildlife he’s seen and experienced around the lake, and marvels at how the others never seem to slow down or look at the world around them.  Now, if you’ve spent any time hanging around cycling forums or other websites, you’re probably aware that this is a pretty common argument/complaint/discussion (often borne of comments such as “Stupid roadies never wave hello, who do they think they are?” or “So I totally dropped this Fred on my last ride”).  And you just as likely are aware of the discussion that follows, so I don’t want to spend much time on that.  However, it is important to reiterate that if youare actually training on your bike, you shouldn’t be focusing on (or even paying attention to) to the things, like wildlife, around you; you should be focused on your training. Wondering why someone working on a time trial isn’t drinking in the world around them is a bit like wondering why someone at work isn’t drinking beer and watching TV.  What’s more, if you see someone not drinking or watching TV at work, it’s not likely that you’d wonder if they ever did that sort of thing, would you?

And that sort of brings me to the main point of this post, and the other thought that came to mind as I was reading the Go Get a Paper article: Why does the cycling world seem to be so Balkanized? Why doesn’t the author know any “roadies” to ask if they ever just take a slow enjoyment ride?  Why do roadies look down on “commuters” and “utility cyclists” for their heavy gear, fat tires, and slow, plodding pace? Why do commuters deride “fixie kids” as damn dirty hipsters?  And why do the urban cyclists mock the “Lance wannabes”  in their spandex and cleats?

I suppose that technically, I’m a roadie, as all of my bikes are road bikes (Although I am building up a cross bike slowly.  Real slowly.  At my current pace I could order a Vanilla and get it before I expect to finish this thing), but I’ve never raced (at least not against anyone who knew I was racing them), and I don’t train nearly as often as I should.  Really, most of my time spent on the bike is in my commute to and from work.  Of course, I like to do a lot of long charity rides too, like the Lone Star Ride and (if I can raise enough funds), I’ll be doing the Tour du Rouge this May.  And I’m trying to run more of my errands by bike this year too.  Hell, just yesterday I worked out a route from the office to home via the liquor store so I could cut those occasional booze runs out of my driving trips. And frankly, if I had the disposable cash right now, I’d love to add an Xtracycle to my collection, as well as a fixie, ’cause damn if those things don’t look like fun.

The bottom line is, when I see someone on their bike, I don’t judge them by the gear they’re wearing, their riding style, or the kind of bike they’re riding.  I’m just glad that there’s another rider out there on the road.  I know that there are others who feel the same way, but sometimes it just seems like we’re outnumbered.  Maybe that wouldn’t be the case if more people stopped wondering and started interacting and expanding their horizons.

By the way, I don’t want this to sound like I’m attacking Mr. Hubbard, or accusing him of being a bicycle bigot.  In fact, I fully agree with his core point that everyone who rides should really try riding in all sorts of ways.  But that also goes for Mr. Hubbard, to whom I might say, put down that paper and try a time trial. The world will still be there when you’re done.

So, last month I posted about trying to cut back on the amount of driving I do starting with my average over the previous 10 months, and shaving about 10 percent off of that per month until I get down to roughly 50% of what I’d been averaging the year before.

It’s a noble plan, to be sure, but kind of a useless one if I don’t actually put it into effect. So, have I?

Sadly, the answer is, “not so much”. In the month from Dec 13, 2009 to Jan 12, 2010, I put 562 miles on my car, a slight increase over my monthly average (sadly I wasn’t keeping records until February 2009, so I don’t know how it compares to the same time period last year.

Now I’ve got a few reasons why I did so poorly in my first month. Some are just excuses, but there are a couple of valid ones in there as well. Two trips to the airport and back added 124 miles to the tally; that’s 22% of my total. And recovery from an illness lead to a full week of driving, rather than riding into work, adding another 70 miles (12.5%) to the total. Each of those items added more to my tally than I was hoping to cut off.

Of course, while the illness was unexpected, the trips to the airport weren’t, and I really could have planned around them a bit better. I’ll just toss that one into the lessons learned category.

Anyway, sitting where I am now, I’m adjusting my goals that will take me into February. Instead of shaving 10% off of my total this month, I’m looking to shave off 15, to get me closer to being back on track to my year-long goal. That means I’m looking to put on no more than 468 miles this month. Can I do it? Well, 10 days into the month, I’ve got just 130 miles on the car, and that includes three days of driving commutes and two side trips that really could have been avoided (or at least shortened). So I’m well ahead of my nominal pace,  and even ahead of my original goal of 440 miles in the month. In other words, so far, so good.

Nothing too important to see here folks. Just that in the light if the recent case involving Dr. Christopher Thompson, who might not have been convicted had other cyclists not documented his previous aggressive behavior towards cyclists, I’m just cataloging here an incident that happened this morning in the extremely unlikely event that it can be used to help out a fellow cyclist down the road.

This morning at approx. 7:45 a.m., heading south on Shiloh Rd, between 14th St. and Plano Parkway, I was passed within approximately two feet by someone driving a white pickup truck from Welch Air Conditioning with Texas license plate number 430LC3 (note, that may be an ‘O’, not a zero). The driver also hit the horn just as he overtook me, something that all cyclists (and seeminly no drivers) know is foolish and dangerous.

I’ll be sending a letter to Welch Air tomorrow so the event is registered with them as well.  I’m not looking for them to punish the employee (and I’ll be stressing this in the letter) because, for all I know, the guy might have been having a horrible day and decided to take it out on an easy target without knowing the potential consequences of his actions.  Lord knows I’ve done stupid things on the road when angry or distracted and I can understand when it happens to others.  However, I would hope that the owner or manager of the business will be able to impress upon the employee that driving like that will not be tolerated in the future both because it reflects poorly on the company and, hopefully, because it’s the wrong thing to do.  We’ll see.

Anyway congratulations to whomever was driving that truck this morning. You’re my first recorded assjack. Perhaps I should prepare a plaque for you, if you’d like to claim it.

Since 11 Feb 09, I’ve put 5620 miles on my car.  On average, that’s about 18 mile per day, 130 miles per week, 550 miles per month, and 6725 per year.

I’d like to think that that’s not too bad, especially since I’m averaging about 16,000 miles/year on that car since I purchased it.  And in fact, I do seem to be doing a little bit better than the average American: According to Brighter Planet, my auto-based carbon footprint is 12% below the national average.  Now I’m not a particularly “green”guy, so I don’t really know how much that means, but I’m pretty sure it means I’m not making like the Road Warrior and living in my car as it rolls down the highway.  However, I still think I can do better.

As I said above, I’m not a particularly green kind of guy, so I’m not trying to save the planet or anything, but I am a bicycle guy, and I am always looking for ways to get more riding in.  Plus, my belly is learning new and effective strategies in my ongoing battle with banishing it from my body, so more exercise is always a good thing (at the very least I can eat more pie without getting too much fatter).  And so I’ve decided to try to ride more and drive less in the upcoming year.  So I’m setting a goal to reduce my monthly driving mileage by 50% by the end of the year.

Now, as with anything,there are always some caveats.  I don’t plan on reducing my driving that much straight-away.  For one thing, it’s December, and it’s starting to get friggin’ cold out there.  I do ride in the winter, but I don’t have as much winter gear  as I would like to ride all the time in the winter (plus none of my bikes are set up for riding in any snow or ice, so on the rare occasions that happens here in the Metroplex, I’ll be hopping back in the car), plus I’m not really set up yet for larger trips to the store — all I have are my messenger bag and a rack that’s calling out for a basket.  Throughout the year, I’ll be working on getting more utility gear so more and more of my shopping trips (like those to Costco) can be done by bike as well.

And so, my plan is to try to shave another 10% per month off of my total mileage, so that by the end of May I’m down to about 250-275 miles per month by car.  I suppose that I should also add the caveat that this doesn’t include miles driven for work purposes (not commuting, but things like business trips).  I’ve recently developed a full-blown fear of flying (which I would love to get over, but I don’t see that happening any time soon), so all of my travel for work is going to involve a rental car or a train.  And since one round-trip to Iowa would eat up seven months of my driving allowance, I simply can’t count those miles towards my total.

Anyway, I’ll be checking in here regularly, updating y’all on my progress towards my goals and maybe even sharing spiffy graphs or pics of poorly assembled bike trailers that nearly cause me to tumble over into traffic.

So my boss saw that I rode my bike in to work this morning (22 degrees with light winds) and while expressing his amazement let me know I was a freak for riding in this cold. I can’t exactly argue with the guy.

While it’s really not all that cold once you get going, there are just enough annoyances associated with cold weather biking to make you wonder if it’s worth it: your toes are never quite warm, even with the double socks and wind covers; your fingers are still cold, despite the thick windproof gloves; and don’t get me started on the mix of glasses, cold air, hot breath, and a balaclava…

But despite all of that, I still find the simple act of riding my bike so fun and worthwhile that I’m willing to bundle up like Randy Parker and voluntarily head out into the frost with no windshield, no roof, and no heater beyond my own body, while the rest of DFW zips by in their cars, thinking I’m a freak.

They’re probably right.