Waiting out the storms

A huge storm front has moved into Northern California, making cycling difficult. Here's what we're up against at 2 pm (click on photo to expand)

We're in a cycle of cloudbursts, rainbows and translucent moments like this one.

Into the mist...

Under threatening skies, I headed out. A little rain won't kill you...




A mile later I pulled into an inviting cafe. No point in overdoing it.




You really can't go wrong at "The Coffee Break."






Ten miles to the north where the Mad River wanders into the Pacific, seals often gather. None appeared that misty day. Note to environmentalists: the river isn't supposed to be up here. Some years ago an overzealous planner pointed the whole river north to this remote beach, instead of letting it flow south across the Arcata bottoms and into Arcata Bay as it had for the past few million years. It's still pointed north, but now quite a few homes and portions of interstate Highway 101 (!) are perched perilously close to a crumbling cliff.

More rain is on the way.





I wasn't the only cyclist who ventured out that day.

Eureka Bay, 1 hour before the earthquake

No dogs barked, no bugs went bananas, no weird currents. Peace on earth...

Nevertheless, there is something faintly ominous about this photo.

What I did last night

Priorities: when exiting a bar during a 6.5 earthquake, do NOT leave your beer inside! Some——but happily, not all——of these patrons forgot their beer.

2010, First ride

Ride north or south from Arcata and you're within sight of the Pacific much of the time. When the weather is changing, you can hear the breakers long before you see them.

I rode north on our lovely Hammond Trail. I've done this ride hundreds of times and I always come home feeling great.





The Mad River train bridge hasn't seen a train in decades. It's just wide enough for two bikes to pass.





The Mad River was named for a dispute between party of frustrated gold miners. They didn't find gold, just a new river. It turned out to be a great place for a screaming argument.





The road ahead, across the Arcata bottoms. If you lived here, you'd have a palm tree in your view.




Another roadside attraction...




A few Latte Warriors, my cycling group. Rain or shine, some of us might be out there on a bike.





My recumbent, a homemade bike modeled on the Rans v2 but with remote steering. It's like riding a couch.





My son Matt, me, the Pacific



One thing about the Pacific, it rarely disappoints. That's the town of Trinidad perched on the cliffs on the other side of the rainbow.

The Year in Review

Last sunset over Arcata Bay 2009



Later that night



First ride of 2009



The road ahead



Same road, Leaving Tsunami Zone...Moving right along...



The old Bayside Church, now home to Hot Yoga



One month later



Arcata to Bayside bike path





Arcata Marsh



Valentines Day, Eureka Bay



March dawn, Aleutian Geese

More to come soon. Stay tuned...

A model of the proposed new Marina Center on Eureka Bay

Note the multi use path complete with tiny cyclist. I'm going to propose adding bike lanes and bike parking throughout.

Such a development would transform not only the post-industrial Eureka waterfront, turning it into a bike-friendly place to hang out, but the whole city. I particularly like the modern architecture which opens to the harbor. It's a welcome relief from the oppressive "Victorian Village" theme that has run its course elsewhere in Eureka. Victoria was a nineteenth century English queen, whose reign was known for its embrace of imperialism and repression. Where does it say that we have to honor her every time we build something in Eureka, California in the 21st century? Furthermore, faux Victorians never get it right while real ones take a lot of TLC. And yet, "Victorian" seems to be the architectural default in Eureka, for those who can't imagine anything else. Our waterfront deserves more: a 21st century treatment--with bikes.

And now for something completely different

What it will take to get Americans on a bike?

Wytze's graduation project for Cannondale from Eelke D. on Vimeo.

After the war, life was hard in Europe. The Dutch created a bicycle utopia (video below) because so many of them had no other choice for transportation. They moved up from walking to a faster, more convenient means of transportation: cycling. We're trying to do the opposite when we propose a shift from cars back to a less complex and slower mode, cycling. I think such a shift will be fashion driven. People will cycle, not because it's good for them or "green" but because it's cool.


A tip of the helmet to David Hodge for this video.

Stardust: Holland in the 50's

For a cyclist, Holland still has the same relaxed feeling. I've done two bike tours there. More to come, I hope.

About 30 years ago I was visiting a Dutch friend in Eindhoven and he put me on a bike. I've kept it up ever since and it's changed my whole life. If you want to introduce cycling to a friend you might consider a Dutch vacation. As you can see, the bicycle is an organic part of Dutch life.

A tip of the helmet to VELOslo for this delicious little video.

The end of the world...or the beginning?

This is Tierra del Fuego National Park in Ushuaia, Chile,  at the southern tip of South America. Ever since I took this photo a few years ago I've thought about returning someday. Some places you never have enough time...

I'm not sure you can reach it on a bike from either Chile or Argentina. Its at the southern extremity of Tierra del Fuego, a watery wilderness that stretches for hundreds of miles.

Here's a couple that's going to try it on a bike! They seem to have reached Isla Bonitas in Belize on "day 393," which was August 9, and stayed until August 16. Nothing more since then. I for one will stay tuned.

HPV heaven

Mark Mueller of Windwrap Fairings rode with my cycling group, The Latte Warriors, a while back. That's Mark in the foreground inside the white creature with yellow detailing. It was a fast, well-equipped HPV, complete with lighting for night riding.

Please can we now have our bike trail from Arcata to Eureka?

Wilson (liberal) and Marks (conservative) have been elected to the Humboldt Bay Harbor commission. I'm hoping that doesn't checkmate our hopes for an Arcata to Eureka bike trail, along an unused section of railroad track. Wilson promises to turn the abandoned railroad into a bike path. Marks wants yet another round of "rust belt" industrial development, which has already turned our beautiful bay into a polluted mess several times in the last century. All this for "jobs."

If this were Holland or Denmark, we'd have six bike paths connecting these sister cities. As it stands, bike commuters must either ride far to the west of the bay--in traffic all the way on Rte 255 (map on right)--or take the direct route by braving the shoulder of US RTE 101, a four lane Freeway. Meanwhile, Arcata Bay remains the most beautiful urban coastal waterway in California. What will it take to be able to ride a bike along it without risking life and limb?

Vancouver to Kamloops

What will the new world look like?

In the next 25 years our cities will grow by millions of people. Before you reach for the panic button consider this: what if they all rode bikes? Don't miss the 9 minute video in the middle of this presentation.

A tip of the helmet to David Hodge for this fascinating look at what could be a very happy future: a city designed for bicycles. Happily, this is not science fiction. In fact, in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, we've already got a couple of working models.

An electric HPV amphibian

amphibian velomobile from Jan Jan on Vimeo.

What if Ann Dussert had had one of these babies?

Return of the Land Schooner

During the Alaskan gold rush a group of Wall Streeters came up with a serious proposal to build a kind of covered wagon with sails that would "skim" across the Canadian shield in no time at all. Having crossed the boggy Canadian shield by train I have to say it didn't look that "skimmable." Today, the land schooner has morphed into the petrosail trike, which does all the work for you...if the wind is right. Note that the rider is not pedaling at all.

Ann Dussert vs. The Himalayas

I've been reading Three Cups of Tea, the story of one man's battle to build schools in the Himalayas. Against all odds the author manages to survive in one of the world's most hostile envioronments. And neither ice storms, nor bad roads, nor duplicitous tribesmen can stay him from his task.

What if he'd been an attractive female and tried it on a trike?

Dussert may not have built any schools, but sometimes just coming home alive--with photos like these--is reward enough.

OK, trike fans: settle back, pour yourself something calming and check this out.

The Sundial Bridge, Redding CA.

I can't get enough of The Sundial Bridge. Somebody in Redding found a pile stock certificates in the attic that had been purchased during the Depression. Voila! The town got a new bridge over the Sacramento River. It's open to pedestrians and cyclists. No cars.

The roadway is made of glass.



You end up dreaming about this bridge.

Across Africa by tandem trike

Of course these folks would have appeared incredibly rich to almost everyone they met. I'm not sure how one deals with that on a bike tour. Have you ever had such an experience? If so, how did you deal with a vast net worth gap between you and your hosts?

Addendum: The video footage has now been updated. What a gorgeous trip!

Irish pastoral

I'm off the bike for a while due to back trouble. So while I work on exercises, a trip down memory lane. I took this photo on a bike tour of Ireland in 2003. Click to expand.

painting by Iris Schencke

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping

than you can understand.

The Stolen Child, W.B.Yeats

14th century biking

The artist, Claire Iris Schencke, calls this a mixed media painting. More on her work here.

Will Eureka's Marina Center include bicycle access?

At the center of town fronting California's most beautiful bay, Eureka sports a huge fenced off wasteland. What do to with it? We could fight about it for another twenty years; that's definitely one possibility. The proposed Marina Center shown in this Wetlands Fly-Over represents a promising new direction. I'm just wondering what happens to cyclists when they leave that lovely new bike path along the bay? I see 4 lanes for traffic--none for cyclists--inside the Marina Center. Are we expected to park outside of town and walk? Or are we expected to continue taking our chances with downtown traffic? A development like this needs good bicycle access with well-marked bike lanes and easy-to-find bike parking racks.

Build it and they will come.

Death wish at the NYT

When Jonathan Swift suggested that Irish children be fattened up and fed to rich landowners he was KIDDING and everyone knew it. The terrible Irish potato famine could have ended at any time, if only rich British landowners had simply dropped their selfish opposition to imported potatoes. Famine on your doorstep is a life or death issue and Swift wanted to wake people up.

However, when The New York Time's cycling advocate Robert Sullivan (Bicyclists vs. Pedestrians: An Armistice) proposed that bicyclist yield the hard-won separate bike paths which we share with pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge in favor of "physically protected bike LANES" on the road itself he is dead serious. If we do this we will "earn the public's respect."

Here, friends, is the Brooklyn entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge in a decidedly leisurely moment. Note the visible space between a few cars. Note too how many cars are attempting last minute lane changes as they approach Manhattan. The existing bike/pedestrian lane is on the left. To "earn respect" we'll be giving that up to merge with traffic on the right. See any room for a bike lane, with or without "physical protection?"



Say you got tied up in traffic on the way to the bridge. (You wouldn't be the first New Yorker to be so afflicted). It's getting dark, but Brooklyn looms just across the river. So you strap on your trusty rear flasher and decide to go for it. This is what the Brooklyn Bridge would look like on a typical night if you looked back over your shoulder from your "physically protected" bike:

Don't forget to signal when changing lanes.

Nobody needs these but...

Admit it: you have been kept awake at night wondering how to recycle your used bicycle parts.

In your dreams a discarded chain ring morphs into a recycled rubber clock. Stranger things have actually happened...




SOMEBODY HAD TO DO IT..

Resource Revival Interview from Graham Bergh on Vimeo.