Even bigger challenges ahead

While everyone I know in person is tired of hearing about my bike ride to Montreal, I can’t seem to get my head around how to write about it all. It was such an amazing experience with so many incredible moments that I don’t even know where to start. The short story, though, is that I made it – 660 km in 6 days and I arrived not only in one piece but feeling really good as well. And thanks in part to many of you, I managed to raise over $2,600 for the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation. It went so well, in fact, that I’m not only doing it again next year, I’ve set some personal fundraising goals – and if I exceed them I could ride all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia – over 2,000 km from Toronto. And I promise to keep you up to date on the preparation whether it be my personal training, my getting my bike outfitted properly, as well as some of the fundraising events I’m doing including several raffles from some very generous donors. And once the ride starts, with Sage’s assistance, I will be podcasting the trip as I go.

You can follow all that over at http://www.longrideeast.com/

A Series of Challenges

For many years I’ve been fascinated by stories of folks taking long, human-powered journeys. People like Peace Pilgrim and Colin Angus inspire with their efforts and a part of me wanted to take on something similar.

No, I’m not quitting my job again and going on the road with a small yurt towed on a bicycle trailer (Maybe that’s next year’s challenge). I’ve signed up to participate in the Friends for Life Bike Rally. This ride, which takes place starting July 25th will take me, and several hundred others by bike from Toronto to Montreal. This is a huge challenge for me. The distance between here and Montreal is in the neighbourhood of 600 kilometres – just over 370 miles. The ride is six days long – most days’ rides are in the 100+ km (60+ mile) range. At my most active I was doing daily rides in the 40-50 km range and weekly totals in the 250 km range. So I’ve got a ways to go to get there.

Which brings me to the second, part of the challenge: Training. I have zero doubt I can do this ride but not without preparation. This requires a pretty large commitment to training. I’ve already started this one, starting small with spinning classes nearly every day and a few rides as well. When I can (weather/road condition-permitting) I intend to ride the 25 km each way to the edge of the city where my current client is. There’s a pretty substantial hill between here and there which will give me a nice challenge in the morning as well.

Eating and nutrition are being the third part of the challenge, and I suspect as my training gets more and more intense this is only going to get more difficult. The first thing that has to happen is my caffeine consumption has needed to drop pretty substantially. I was up to 6 mugs a day. I’m down to two now. I’d like to eliminate it entirely but those last couple of mugs are being tough to part with. The reason I want to give caffeine up is two-fold. First off, it stimulates the pancreas and seriously messes with my blood sugar levels. If I don’t eat enough and drink coffee I find myself feeling ravenous and low on energy. Second of all, the way I feel when I exercise with more than a little caffeine is kind of like it felt to work on a computer 15 or so years ago that happened to have the “turbo” button disengaged. I get out of breath faster, my heart rate tops out more quickly and I feel like there are whole energy stores that I’m unable to tap because of this. So as much as I like to work with a mug of hot coffee sitting next to me, that’s going to have to go by the wayside, sadly.

Eating in general is going to need to change as well. Eating healthily is going to take on a bit more importance in my life, for sure. And one kind of disappointing side effect is that my tolerance for spicy food is dropping. Oh I can eat it just as much as I could before and enjoy it when I do, but a few hours later when I exercise it turns my stomach to acid and is incredibly unpleasant. Guess I’ll save the vindaloo for my training breaks.

Overall I’m really looking forward to it. I’m trying not to think too far ahead lest I get overwhelmed, for example, at the prospect of keeping up with a bunch of fit, experienced people on a 100+ km training ride when today a leisurely 25 km commute is my speed. So for now I put it out of my mind and remember that the last time I switched from a mostly sedentary lifestyle to 3-5 days/week commuting 20 km each way my progress was quite rapid. There’s little reason that it should be any different this time – especially starting 7 months in advance.

The cause is a good one. The Toronto People With AIDS Foundation (http://www.pwatoronto.org) is the largest direct support service agency for people living with HIV/AIDS in Canada, providing patients with treatment programs, food assistance, and income assistance, all at little or no cost to the patient. But providing this kind of service (Last year alone, they provided over 62,000 unique services to more than 2,000 individuals.) costs a great deal of money and this is where the Friends for Life Bike Rally helps. Last year this event raised over $900,000.

They’ve given participants a pretty steep fund-raising goal but I’m certain that with a little help from everyone I can reach it. Any donation is appreciated and donations can be made online here. I’d really appreciate your support.

Nasrudin the Smuggler, Revisited

This week I’m once again on the road. This time, I’m off to Grand Island, NY. Usually, given the car-centric nature of the area, I pick up a rental car and drive down. This time, though, I was determined to try to find a better way. And, indeed, I found one. I took my bike.

Now originally I had big plans to ride all the way from Toronto but with heavy panniers, potentially bad weather, and the fact that it’s been a while since I’ve ridden more than 10-15km, it was probably an unwise choice. So instead, I pumped up the tires on the folding bike and headed out to the bus station. But as (good) luck would have it, my rear tire blew out rather spectacularly with a loud *BANG* a block away from the bus station – and, incidentally, about 20 feet from a Zipcar. Undaunted, though a bit crabby, I had Sage key in a reservation for me, folded the bike up and tossed it in the trunk and drove off to the bike shop. Turns out that a scrape I got when I almost fell on the streetcar tracks was just weak enough that the tire completely blew. Not, I might add, in a desolate industrial area outside of Buffalo with no bike shops around, but right next to a ride to the bikeshop.

So within a remarkably short time (Thanks, Urbane Cyclist! for fixing it right away) I was back at the bus terminal and was on my way to Niagara Falls within about 15 minutes.

Once I got to Niagara Falls, I was pleasantly surprised at the ride that waited for me. What I expected was a dismal ride through a post-industrial wasteland. What I got instead was a lovely ride on a dedicated trail next to the Niagara River all the way to Grand Island and then really nice roads for the rest of the way.

The biggest surprise, though, had to be my US Customs experience. Now let me preface this by saying that my experience with US Customs near Buffalo, NY has not been great. Other crossings in Michigan, Washington, and Vermont have been problem free, but NY is where I get the attitude. The most obnoxious was when I drove a rental car down a few trips ago. The guard asked: “Whose car is this?”

When I told him it was a rental he asked why I had a rental. “Because I don’t own a car.”

There was a pause.

And then a scowl.

And then: “You DON’T own a CAR?!?!” “No, my company pays for the car.”

“Your company PAYS for this? What do you do?

“I work in pharmaceutical regulatory compliance – I consult with companies to help them be ready for FDA inspections.” (It’s easier than trying to explain all this in a sentence or two).

“Yes, well what do you DO. Do you just stand around all day? What do you DO?”

Other crossings there have been varying degrees of the same. I expected much worse when crossing with a bike. If they were weirded out by my going on a business trip with a rental car they’d surely give me a body cavity search for daring to enter the United States of Automobiles without any motor vehicle at all.

But instead it went like this:

“Where are you coming from?”

“Toronto”

“What did you do there?”

“I live there.”

“Where are you going, then?”

“Grand Island to work for the week.”

(scan passport)

“OK – have a great day!”

And I headed out, shocked at how easy it was given my previous experiences. And then I realized today that from their point of view there was minimal risk. My panniers couldn’t hold much to smuggle, there certainly were no illegal immigrants stashed in my bike. I laughed, though, when I was reminded of the Mullah Nasrudin’s experiences as a smuggler:

Nasrudin the smuggler was riding a bike with panniers loaded full of clothing An experienced border inspector spotted Nasrudin coming to his border.

“Halt,” the inspector said. “What is your business here?”

“I am an honest smuggler!” replied Nasrudin.

“Oh, really?” said the inspector. “Well, let me search those panniers. If I find something in them, then you are required to pay a border fee!”

“Do as you wish, “Nasrudin replied, “but you will not find anything in those bags.”

The inspector intensively emptied and searched the bags but could not find a single thing in them. He turned to Nasrudin and said, “You have managed to get one by me today. You may pass the border.”

Nasrudin crossed the border with his bike while the annoyed inspector looked on. And then the very next week, Nasrudin once again came to the border with a pannier-carrying bike. The inspector saw Nasrudin coming and thought, “I’ll get him for sure this time.”

He checked the panniers again, and then searched through Nasrudin’s clothing, and even looked inside the seat tube. But once again he came up empty handed and had to let Nasrudin pass.

This same pattern continued every day for several years, and every day Nasrudin wore more and more extravagant clothing and jewelry that indicated he was getting wealthier. Eventually, the inspector retired from his longtime job, but even in retirement he still wondered about the man with the bike.

“I should have checked that bike’s frame more extensively,” he thought to himself. “Or maybe he hid something in its tires”

Then one day he spotted Nasrudin’s face in a crowd. “Hey,” the inspector said, “I know you! You are that man who came to my border everyday for all those years with a bike. Please, sir, I must talk to you.”

Nasrudin came towards him and the inspector continued talking. “My friend, I always wondered what you were smuggling past my border everyday. Just between you and me, you must tell me. I must know. What in the world were you smuggling for all those years? I must know!”

Nasrudin simply replied, “Bicycles.”

Pedestrian Helmets are Good Helmets

Copenhagenist talked about a new, likely tongue in cheek, ad campaign in their city suggesting that A Walking Helmet is a Good Helmet. Given the recent news in Toronto, it does make one think a bit.

In just a few days, a woman was struck and killed by a sidewalk-riding cyclist, and a sidewalk-riding cyclist was hit and seriously injured by a car outside Yorkdale Mall.

If one steps back a little, one could suggest that maybe both people needed a helmet (there was no discussion as to whether or not the cyclist hit outside the mall was wearing one but he suffered head injuries which either means they weren’t wearing a helmet or possibly they were wearing one and it may have saved them from a worse fate). But my point is not to suggest that bike helmets are a bad idea (I wear one) or that pedestrian helmets are a good idea (though statistics might suggest so). My point is that the common thread between these incidents was that they were likely preventable with better infrastructure and education. Cycling is dangerous because it has been engineered to be so by an auto-centric city design. And right or wrong many ride on sidewalks because of the perception that it is more dangerous to ride on the road (and in many cases outside the downtown core, I can see why)

The helmet is not the answer, but the question. What is it about cycling that is so dangerous and what can we do to make it safer? When a neighbourhood experiences a number of shootings we don’t lobby for requiring flak jackets in the area, we try to address the issue. Why does our culture look at cycling, an activity that shouldn’t be much more dangerous than walking through a neighbourhood, and decide to do everything but address the problem?

Disrespect for over a century

Bike Snob NYC had a link to an interesting article: The Dangers of Cycling (pdf link) from an 1896 issue of the Lancet.

It’s an interesting, albeit a little discouraging read. While lots has changed, much has remained the same. The hazards of inexperienced cyclists, wet streetcar tracks, and even angry taxi drivers remain very much present. And even the attitude of drivers hasn’t changed one bit:

Drivers of light private vehicles again frequently show the utmost contempt for the cyclist whom they seem to think has no right whatever to the use of the road. This feeling on the part of drivers often shows itself against pedestrians and it cannot be too frequently pointed out that the road is not the exclusive property of the drivers of horses and carts.

In fact, perhaps the only thing that changed is that the cars got heavier and faster with big heavy doors that can fly open into your path at any time.

The more things change, the more they stay the same?

Good and Bad Bollards

There’s been a lot of complaint about a staggered double-set of bollards added near the entrance to Toronto’s Boulevard Club on the Lakeshore trail. The idea is to slow cyclists down enough to be able to have time to sufficiently react to motorists making rapid left-turns from Lakeshore Blvd. in to the driveway. I haven’t experienced the bollards myself (I don’t get down that way often) but I tend to agree that they look like they are designed to take out cyclists. Have a look here.

While in Quebec City, though, I’ve seen several what I would consider good uses of bollards.

Here, they are used to separate pedestrian traffic from bicycle/rollerblade traffic. I’d love to see these on the Don Trail.

And here they are used to separate motorized from nonmotorized traffic. And while it doesn’t *prevent* parking in the bike lanes, it does make it more difficult. I should note that in 5 months here I have yet to observe anyone parking in on-street bike lanes. I’m sure it happens but to nowhere near the extent it does in Toronto.

Now granted, the Quebec City cycling infrastructure “closes” in October (though there are year-round cyclists here as well) but so far I’ve been extremely impressed not only with the high-quality infrastructure they have (less than Toronto by gross numbers but as compared to the city’s size) but the drivers themselves. Sure, we have the same percentage of idiots on the roads here. And like in Toronto, they take all kinds of transport, cars, trucks, bikes, skateboards, feet. However, I have yet to encounter, in the nearly six months I’ve been here, a single angry motorist. I find that fascinating. Any idea where it comes from? It can’t just be population, can it?

My past is coming back to haunt me

So a couple days ago I got the idea that I might actually sell my full-size folding bike and replace it with a smaller one. The full size is fantastic on the road with a fast and solid ride. However, it weighs 26 lbs and the fact of the matter is that when folded it is still the size of a full-size bike folded in half. Because it is. But it looks as if future work prospects will involve much more work in the distant suburbs and I need something that easily fits on various transit systems. Better still, it should be able to be stealthily brought on a city bus when it rains and I need to get home.

So I was doing a bit of research on the subject and came across a prototype of a bike called the Locust that has been made by Josef Cadek. If it is ever mass-produced, I don’t know how well it will ride, or how practical it will be but it is really interesting to look at and folds up very small. It’s actually kind of cute:

(photo via ecogeek)

But it reminded me of something and it took me a day or so to identify what it was. How many of you had one of these as a kid?

Bike Buses Arriving in Toronto Soon

Along with everything else I’m working on, I’ve started a new and very exciting project, bringing Bike Buses to Toronto. Already successful in cities like Sydney, Vancouver, and San Francisco, bike buses make a tremendous amount of sense in a city that has the perfect storm of high gas prices, numerous cyclists, and inadequate cycling infrastructure. Watch our new site: Toronto Bike Buses for more details as things develop!

Another reason to commute by bike

People in Hungary know – cycling improves your physical condition and, you can use that improved physical condition on and off the bike.

(ht: carectomy.com)

Overcoming Obstacles to Cycling

Bike Snob NYC has a great article on how to overcome some of the common obstacles to cycling. I particularly like this point:

“But what about the cars?,” you may ask. “Surely I should fear the cars.” Well, you should be aware of the cars, and you should know that many of them are driven by people so stupid they can barely operate them, but you should not fear them. Rather, you should know them and understand them. You’re at a distinct advantage because, being stupid, most drivers are easy to figure out. It won’t take you long to anticipate their stupid behavior in the same way you can usually figure out what your dog is about to do next. Oh, and don’t let them bully you. Ignore the beeping. A driver honks to express one of three things: 1) I want you to get out of my way; 2) I want you to go faster; 3) I just don’t like you. The correct response to all of these is, “I don’t give a fuck.” Drivers don’t honk when they’re about to kill you because when they kill you it’s because they didn’t see you.

Full article may be found here.