Ten years ago I was riding ten miles to the Arcata Airport with Doug Ingold. Then it was on to the Sports Bar for a high calorie lunch while the fatties around the wide screen TV marveled at our endurance. "Ten MILES on a bicycle??" We felt like heros. Really well fed heros.
Roger said: You guys are lazy; you can do a LOT more. Add ten percent a week to your ride.
So we started going further. Now we ride round trip to Trinidad, a total of 40 miles, every Sunday. And our group of 2, now known as "The Latte Warriors," has grown to 35!
We still stop for snacks at a sweet little cafe in Trinidad called The Beachcomber. Occasionally, Roger shows up but he seldom stops for long and he never snacks.
We could still do more...
Roger himself. Background: Trinidad lighthouse and point, a good place to watch whales. Note the uncluttered bike, which is very Roger.
Our ride home follows the aptly named Scenic Drive, south of Trinidad. We had the wind at our backs last Sunday.
Where once we dodged trucks on hairpin curves, we now have this beautiful bike lane, connecting east Eureka with Arcata. At last!
I rode it yesterday to and from an appointment in Eureka and had it all to myself in both directions. Note that the lane is duplicated on the other side of the road.
You want to love Pedaling Revolution, but as Jeff Mapes himself points out in his introduction to the book, bike riders find "physical fitness, low-cost transportation, environmental purity -- and, still all too often, Wild West risks of sudden death or injury." Which takes us to the note I received from our resident engineer and on-hands test rider, Ken Thiessen:
Regarding my book review on Pedaling Revolution, I started of with the best of intentions then was diverted by a text chapter review for my former professor, three deaths of friends and family this winter, executorship of a substantial and messy estate and finally, I crashed hard on my bike last summer and this past fall I had two near misses with vehicles on my commute to work.
I feel like I am no longer such an advocate of utility bicycling as it remains far and away the most dangerous thing I do and seems irresponsible given the responsibilities I must put first. I have fallen from the choir and I don't feel like I can champion the cause that Jeff Mapes puts forward, which is what I really wanted to do.
Even in Portland, the bicycling routes are awkward and confusing patches placed on top of an already complete and integrated car transportation infrastructure. On my six mile commute, my bike route quits seven times at roadway sections too narrow to allow a bike lane, over three bridges, and a Y-fork in the road. In these sections, I become a vehicular cyclist and I hope the cars know why I am in the lane. There is a safer scenic route available to me but my commute then takes twice as long. I do take the scenic route on my way home.
There you have it bike lovers. Even in Portland. OK Ken was under a little stress for a while, but he claims he married a terrific woman a few months ago. Not only that, I sent them my new book/dvd on massage. In other words, Ken is a happy guy! And as a trained engineer, he can maintain a steely Zen detachment even while holding forth on the advantages of wooden bike frames. I've known Ken for many bike rides and I've never seen him lose his cool. Once it turned out that we were 20 miles from town and the rainy season ahem... hadn't actually ended. Ken took that as a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how much faster his carbon fiber bike was than my steel framed model.
We all dream of a bike-friendly society with few gasoholics and fewer fatties. Kids will ride bikes to school again. People will shop, commute, worship and date by bike. Geriatrics will cruise around the woods and parklands in groups of eight or ten on a sunny Sunday afternoon just as they do on all over Holland.
Must we get out there in traffic and die to make this happen?
Since the northcoast of Calfornia is a Rhododendron center, the city of Eureka sponsors a Rhododendronparade once a year. I won't tell you that the streets are lined with Rhoddy lovers; part of Eureka's charm lies in its utter inability to line five miles of streets for any reason. However, some spots along the route were pretty crowded. I joined a contingent of intrepid cyclists comprising event #27 in the parade. We pushed off a little after 10 am.
Mark Mueller, founder of Windrwrap Fairings, led our group while towing rick Fugate, uninhibited accordion player/singer.
Adorned with American flags and rhododendrons, we rode for about five miles through downtown Eureka. Just ahead of us, a jazz marching band set the beat, just behind a half dozen blaring fire engines kept us on our toes. People cheered from the curbs, several actually saluted.
For a full screen playback click the four squares on the bottom right margin of the video.
Talia helped us decorate the bikes.
Checklist for ride: Trikes, accordion, park bench...
Mark Mueller towing Rick Fugate while he sings "I Want to Ride My Bicycle" at a volume suitable for parade acoustics.
Despite the fact that our group voted unanimously against rehearsing, we were almost able to execute complex, synchronized biking routines!
We attracted some swooning fans.
Every few hundred yards the parade stopped dead in its tracks. But the accordion music went on. It's the American way.
If George Washington had had a trike after he crossed the Delaware it would have looked like this.
Iris' family owned a 56 Chevy when they lived in Mexico in the 50's.
Once a year Arcata offers GODWIT DAYS, a birding festival that lasts nearly a week. This year the festival added a new event: Birding by Bike.
It works pretty much the way you would expect: bike a little, bird a little. Bring binoculars.
The Arcata Bottoms, a marsh land between the ocean and the town, is a great place to bike--and bird. Egrets are happening on almost any day of the year.
I grabbed the bike and headed to downtown Arcata. We really do have a great art scene here. Good coffee too.*
* But the popular "dark" blends are often overcooked to the point where the beans are simply burnt. Darker beans do not equal stronger coffee. In fact, over cooked beans can turn the taste decidedly bitter. If you want an aromatic, truly pleasant coffee, order the lightest blend.
Rte 101, the freeway Bob Dylan "revisited," stretches from the Mexican to the Canadian border, passing through Humboldt County as a kind of afterthought. We don't have enough people to justify a Freeway; this one serves as a necessary transit point between the cities of the Pacific coast. In Los Angeles where it's known as The Hollywood Freeway, it widens to a twelve lane monster. I can't imagine anyone trying to ride that on a bike (but of course, in LA bikes will have wandered out into gridlocked Freeway traffic along with horses, camels, dogs, parrots and feuding spouses. I actually saw a dog on this Freeway near San Diego a few months months ago. As for feuding spouses...what are Freeways for?
In Humboldt County 101 narrows to a mere four lanes. We may have qualified for a Freeway but it didn't include many cloverleafs. Commuters, hay trucks and--gulp-- cyclists and pedestrians (!) are on their own when crossing Rte 101. Many drivers have never been here and seem intent on rushing though. Some seem surprised to see cyclists on the Freeway's shoulders but that's where we'll ride until we get a proper bike path between Arcata and Eureka. After a rash of nasty accidents between the two towns the State reduced the speed limit to 50 from the usual 65. So for five miles the traffic is only going three times faster than I can peddle on a commuting bike.
I rode 101 today, with a cold wind at my back during the return from Eureka. A "multi use" sign reminds drivers that cyclists have a right to use "their" Freeway, cold comfort indeed.
To the right of the Freeway, spring is happening early.
The sun returned for a day and I headed north to Trinidad. First I had to cross the rusty old Mad River bike bridge. It had survived another storm...
At the Scenic Viewpoint above Clam Beach, I found these earnest young birders. Somebody had to speak up for the endangered Snowy Plover. Choosing to reach out to people who are actually in touch with birds, they set up on the cycle path, not in the nearby parking lot. And not a moment too soon--the Snowy Plover population on Clam Beach (in the background) has shrunk to just 15 birds.
I pressed on against noticeable headwinds. The short stretch ahead is the only remaining unpaved portion of the Hammond Trail.
The paved portions of the trail look like this:
The last three miles of the ride are on Scenic Drive, south of Trinidad. It never fails to take my breath away.
The trip home across the Arcata Bottoms was fast and beautiful.
I took these photos with my iPhone camera, thus the rough edges and indefinite color. Much as I loved the Canon G10, it proved too bulky for day-long cycling. The new Canon S90 is close to the same camera in a much smaller package. But a slippery body with no handgrip, a free spinning selection dial and a popup flash sent my ergonomic warning dial into the red zone: this is a camera that fairly begs to be dropped in the middle of a pleasant bike ride. So my search for the ideal cycling camera continues.
