Ding

  Part 3 of a 4 part series on commuting, recreational riding and the social interaction called "Traffic."

Why a bell?

  Sure you can shout “Hey!?!”, but the hearer would hesitate, turn around to see what all the “Hey”ing was about and by then it would be too late. 

  Or you could call-out the tedious, “on your left” but that must be said when you are in close proximity and can be startling and also comes with the stigma of sounding like, “Hey slowpoke your flab is oozing into my path get out of my way!” Or to those of us who are “right-Left” challenged it can just be confusing. 

  But a bell is straight-forward, impersonal, non judgmental, and not intimidating (at a safe distance). It’s a signal to warn that there’s a bike behind you, how far back you can perceive from the sound. It warns you to not be surprised if you should get passed and reminds you that the entire pathway is not for you to takeover so stay to the right. If cars had bells rather than aggressive sounding horns there’d be a lot less anger generated on the roadways. Horns sound angry, bells remind us of Santa.

  I rode for quite awhile before I remembered to use my bell. It was just one more thing to be aware of and do in an overwhelming situation. But as I became more practiced at commuting I was able to add the bell to the list of controls that were at my finger tips. 

  My advice is to not cheap-out, get a nice bell. The cheaper ones are harder to control volumetrically. The first time I tried using mine (I cheaped-out) I was not forceful enough and the sound was too wimpy, and the slow weaving rider in front of me continued to take up the entire lane of the bike path. By my second attempt I was far too close to him for as loud as it sounded. It could have… should have, startled him, but he must have been deaf (seriously). Finally after several attempts at getting his attention I swerved out into the grass to pass him.

  After that I decided I needed dinger practice, so on a part of a trail where I had not seen anyone for quite a while I pulled back and rang the bell. Just as it sounded, an oncoming rider coming around a sharp blind curve, with a startled expression on his face, fought to get his bike back into his side of the path. “Wow, not only did the bell save us both from impact, but he thought I actually did that because I was smart enough to realize it was a good idea when approaching a blind curve, not just because I was playing with my bell!”

  Now, more fully understanding the powerful tool at my fingertips, I tried to not be obnoxious with it’s over-use and tried to only use it when it seemed prudent. In one situation an obviously first time roller blader struggled to stay upright by holding onto a railing. She had her back to the edge of the trail and was facing inward. Surly if she has any peripheral vision at all she’d see me coming and as twitchy as she looked the bell might have startled her. As soon as I passed her she let out a gasp of surprise, and by the sound of desperate shuffling behind me, I’m pretty sure she fell down.

  The key seems to be “Go ahead and ring the thing”. If you wait too long as you assess the situation, you might get too close to ring without startling someone. 

Worst case you are at least putting folks into a Christmassy frame of mind.

“Come-on ring those bells…”

Toronto Commute Continued

  Part 2 of a 4 part series on commuting, recreational riding and the social interaction called "Traffic."

After some careful observation I decided to try a bit of cyclo-commuting Toronto style. But first I felt the need to get a bell for my bike, there are just too many people coming & going to & fro to be without one  AND there's a $90 fine for not having one, so my first stop was a bike shop just a few blocks away.

  I am not a helmet Nazi. There are times when a helmet may not be necessary, like when you are in your house or walking to the mailbox, or casually riding an upright bike in a sleepy neighborhood. But I WANTED to wear my helmet for my inaugural toe dip to test the waters of cycle commuting in Toronto. I wanted full body armor like a huge bomb casing with cut-outs for head arms and legs.

  The ride to the bike shop was short and strange, never before have I encountered so many practical (as opposed to recreational) cyclists on the road, in fact I was one of the few recreational riders out there at morning rush hour but I disguised myself as a commuter by wearing normal-people cloths and a backpack.

  Once properly “ding” equipped I followed some bike commuters around just to get the hang of commuting in a city with so much going on. It was pretty crazy, but everyone but me looked like they thought it was no big deal. Unlike any other urban area I've ridden in, here you don't want to go fast for the most part, again, there's just too much happening everywhere. Going fast just means less time to process what’s going on and how to deal with it. By following riders I was hoping to learn proper cyclo commuting etiquette but it was kind of a free-for-all... some riders stopped for lights, some didn't, some rode in marked bike lanes, some didn't, some rode through pedestrian crosswalks, others dismounted and walked, but amazingly the motorized commuters did not seem to get upset by the lack of consensus. It was a dance they had all done before but no one knew which steps were next, only once it was clear which step was needed at the given moment there was no hesitation, the dancers flowed smoothly. 

  At first I latched on to slower riders and followed them. Unfortunately, I found I was usually following women that were less aggressive, though to be sure, competent commuters, but after several blocks I felt that they might think I was stalking them, so when they turned abruptly I took that as a hint that they were getting suspicious and I continued traveling straight. Sometimes this got me into trouble as the bike lane, or road would end or the lane would get ugly with construction, tracks, or other obstacles.

  Sometimes the sidewalk was the only logical place to end up, but that is illegal, sidewalks are for pedestrians. Fortunately that law didn’t apply to me. In order to accommodate children being able to ride on sidewalks rather than in the street, the law in Toronto is written to allow bikes with tire diameters of less than 64cm to be ridden on sidewalks, as most adult sized bikes have wheels larger than this… but not my travel bike, it has kid sized wheels! I did not abuse my free pass, but at times I certainly took advantage of it!

  Following the paths of least resistance and avoiding turns and routes that I was not sure of the legality or prudence thereof, I ended-up pretty far from the hotel and I was not dressed properly for extended riding, in jeans, normal shoes, and a jacket that was getting to be too warm, so I latched onto a serious looking road rider wearing a bike racer costume (a fellow recreational commuter) that seemed to be heading in the right general direction. He made some odd turns but I stayed with him and the wisdom of his route became clear. He got me back to familiar territory and from there I managed my way back to the hotel. 

“What about the bell?” you ask? “Did it save your life?”

That story will be told in the next exciting installment…

Getting Around

  Part 1 of a 4 part series on commuting, recreational riding and the social interaction called "Traffic."

   I attended ExpoCycle, Canada’s annual bicycle dealers trade show, in Toronto a couple of weeks ago. Afterward I had a few days to explore the town on my bike. 

   First, (or actually by now, second) let me tell you Toronto is big. Compared to Miamitown… well even Cincinnati, for instance. Toronto is way bigger. In Toronto EVERYBODY rides a bike… well except everybody drives too, and takes taxi’s, and walks, and rides streetcars, subways, trains and busses... Yes, I know it doesn’t seem to add up... let me explain… 

   If you took everybody in greater Cincinnati and cloned them 9 fold, and put each iteration on one of the aforementioned transportation modes, then took the last batch and divided them up to travel by skateboard, roller blades, roller skates, and “other” (I’m not exaggerating, there really are a number of commuters in the streets with traffic, using skates and skate boards), I think you’d have an idea of what’s happening out on the streets of Toronto. 

 

   When I’m stateside, I commute the vast majority of the time to work via bicycle, I’m no newbie at this game. Most days I bet I have to interact with a dozen cars, as well as an occasional pedestrian or squirrel, in my 3.5 mile journey to and from Miamitown. A couple times a week I even see another commuter on a bike on Harrison Ave. 

  In Toronto I had to interact with dozens of cars, pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, boarders, and “others”, just to get out of the parking garage driveway, then dozens more as I plowed my way to the first intersection, all the while overtaking and being overtaken by cyclists traveling various speeds on and amazing array of bicycle styles.

   But it’s more complicated than that. Bike lanes come and go. Street car tracks seem to be everywhere just begging your tire to slip on the steel track or get wedged in the gap between the track and pavement. Pedestrians are swarming the sidewalks and oozing onto the streets at intersections. 

  There are a separate set of traffic lights for the street cars right next to the lights for the rest of traffic so at times you are simultaneously faced with a red light AND a green light. Cars parallel parking, or pulling away from curbs, car doors opening and closing. Cabs diving from left lane to the curb just inches in front of you to grab a fare. Roads end, or become one way “Do not enter”, no left turn, no right turn, road construction… it all comes at you so fast...

 

   From my description you may think that it’s bumper to bumper gridlock... no, actually it’s not even what one might call “crowded” much of the time. There’s lots of traffic moving but it’s a sort of roomy traffic like on a busy college campus… except on the “expressway”, there it’s grid-lock. Could the prohibition of bicycles be a contributing factor?… Hmmm…

Well, what d'you know?

No really, what do YOU know?

  A customer came in to the shop today. He's one of many over the years to tell me something stunningly inaccurate, laughably so, only the laugh must be withheld in the interest of compassion since the would-be comedian is not attempting humor with the statement. "This is a pretty nice bike." he said, nodding toward a bike he brought-in for a tune-up. He was referring to what I would have called a "hunk of junk on wheels." I had seen the exact model of "bike" before. A customer GAVE us 2 of those bikes because they were clogging up their garage... they "... just never rode them." It was a situation where "it's the thought that counts" because it was in reality no better than giving us two bags of garbage "because we want you to sell them and make a little money."

  They seemed to be "like new" which in this case is a misleading phrase that might lead one to believe the bikes were in "good shape." Actually they were barely used junk. It's no wonder the owners found things to do other than ride them. They we're likely clueless to the fact that there is a huge difference between what some of us call a "bicycle shaped object" (BSO) sold at discount stores and a real, ride-able, bicycle shop quality bicycle.

  But people who don't know bikes don't know that.

  I know bikes, I can spot a BSO from a distance, but people that don't know bikes don't even recognize one when they're riding it. This is incomprehensible to me, but there are certainly things that I don't know, about things that I don't know... like golf. If you showed me bags full of shiny new clubs, I would certainly be able to spot quality differences in machining, fit and finish (which many discount bike purchasers don't seem to have an eye for), but beyond that I have no clue. You could hand me the cheapest one to swing at a ball and perhaps I'd even make contact with it propelling it some distance, but since I have no experience beyond "putt-putt" golf, the action would mean nothing to me... it looks like a club, and I was able to move a golf ball with it, and it's shiny, I guess it's a "pretty nice golf club."

  I've often mused about professional bicycle racers. They are paid to ride really nice bikes. I wonder how much more they'd have to be paid to race on a BSO. I wonder if any pro rider would, even for money, be willing to subject themselves to the complete lack of fun that riding a BSO would offer. I think it would be interesting to watch a race where pro riders were all on BSOs and recreational riders were given pro level bikes. What would happen? Would a BSO even make it through one stage of the Tour de France? I'm pretty sure it would not. Could an elite pro racer manage to hang with an average Joe (known as a Fred in the bike world) in such a race? I doubt it, but I'd like to see it proven. There's no question that there would be many injuries to the pros do to the misfitting of these "one size fits all" "bikes" Perhaps seeing the carnage from such a race would be a wake-up-call to the average clueless bicycle consumer, that just because something looks like a bicycle it is not necessarily worth riding.

  I've heard the illogic many times "The bike was a great deal, it was a third of the cost of the cheapest bike at a bike shop." ... So if a piece of rancid meat cost less than an edible one is it a good deal?

  What do YOU know? If it's bikes then you know what I'm talking about. If you don't know bikes then you'll be better off not pretending you know anything about them. And I won't pretend I know anything about golf bats.

  At WTB we don't mind chatting with people that don't yet know bikes. It's very satisfying to see the light-bulb come on when a person understands for the first time the difference between BSOs and a real bike. And it's even more satisfying when a customer rides a real bike for the first time and appreciates the difference. "Well, what d'you know!?!" they exclaim, "You were right. This IS fun!"

  There are few opportunities within a reasonable day-trip of the Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky corner of the US to ride off-road for distances greater than 40 miles, and even that distance would require backtracking every mile of a trail. But one day each year, during the Brown County Breakdown (BCB), 3 mountain bike trail systems are linked via private land, horse trails and a few Indiana back-country gravel roads, giving off-road adventurers the opportunity to ride up to 100 miles... if they have it in them.

This year was the 7^th annual BCB. The October 9^th event was attended by over 500 riders from as far away as New England to the East, and New Mexico to the West.

The BCB is more than just a long ride in the woods. It's a 3 day event that includes product demos, raffles, family rides, live Bluegrass music, and even free beer!

The ride itself is special not only because of the amount of trail that is linked, but also because of the festive atmosphere that is cultivated throughout the ride. There is live Bluegrass music at each of the 3 SAG stops (SAG is bike event speak for “rest stop”), and even the occasional lone musician out along the trail.

This year, our shop West Trails Bicycles, became a Supporting Sponsor to help promote our shop while helping the event get better. We donated a Norco Judan Belt bicycle which created quite a stir as it was raffled off. The eventual winner of the bike proclaimed from the moment she first saw it “That bike is mine. I'm going to win it!” Much Norco swag was also given out randomly to registered riders.

Our shop also set-up a tech support area at the first SAG stop, which in the past had only provided food, drinks and moral support. Our mechanics were overwhelmed by riders in need.

We also brought cases of Powerade to hand-out to riders that came back through our SAG late in the afternoon, after riding some of the more remote trails, those riding 65 miles or more. There were many very grateful, previously very thirsty riders that came upon us late in the afternoon.

I was not willing to give-up the ride just because our shop was a major sponsor. This was my 3^rd year participating and it's just too fun to pass up.

I proudly rode my 2009 Norco Jubei 1 with it's distinctive green rims that always seem to be noticed.

My riding partner Eric and I headed out into some of the more remote trails. We were surprised by how few riders attempt to ride them, most riders choosing to ride 65 miles or less, and why not? This is a fun event NOT a race, not a contest.

About halfway around one of the 2 most remote loops, Eric's derailer hanger snapped in half. It was then that I remembered that I had failed to pack a spare for my bike, or one of the universal hangers that I ordered in to bring along. We were way out there, no cell phone coverage, and no guarantee that any other riders would be coming up behind us. The best we could hope for was that a horseman would come-by eventually during our (or Eric's) long walk back. But before I could break the news to Eric that I failed to bring the hangers, he said “Good thing you mentioned I should try to find my spare hanger... I never would have considered that it might be needed. I'm sure glad I have it with me.” Well I was glad too!!

Then on the next remote loop the trail markers disappeared. There was a 3 way trail intersection with no indication of where to go. It would have been a long way back to back-track, so we were motivated to continue on, but clueless as to where to go. Fortunately a couple of local riders eventually came up behind us and helped devise a route to get us back to the outer sag. We wasted a lot of time trying to get back on course, so we skipped some trails and bailed out on some road short-cuts to get us back to the start finish in a timely manner. We had a goal of getting back by 5pm and ended up only a half hour late. We got in almost 70 miles, which is a record for us, we were very satisfied!

The après-ride Hog Roast was a welcome filling for our ravenous appetites.

Since this years Breakdown the International Mountain Bike Association has named the Brown County State Park mountain bike trail system an Epic trail destination. And that's with only about half of the planned trails built! The monies raised during the BCB will help hasten the building of more trails at Brown County and throughout Indiana as well.

Please join us next year. Come ride and support this event and the building of more quality trails!

  I'll just come out and say it, I like to write. Writing is like having a conversation but with a chance to consider my words before saying them and to stay on topic. A real conversation... you know, where you speak with someone, is hard work for me, it's multi-tasking and I don't like multi-tasking. I like to enjoy what I'm doing, not just distractedly get something done while distractedly getting something else done. No, I still don't say things perfectly when I write, I still look back and think how I wish I had said, or not said, this or that, but I at least I get a chance to think at least a little about what I'm saying.

  I'm not a deep thinker, I can't/don't ruminate on philosophical or theological quandaries, I don't get caught up in polarizing debate... I can almost always see that both sides have at least some value worthy of defending. “Liberals” get some things right, “Conservatives” get some things right too. I don't need to know THE answer, I'm OK with mysteries and partial answers.

  The biggest problem I see with any sort of conversation or expression of thought, whether spoken or written is that people tend to permanently link “what you have said” to their understanding of “what you believe”, they fill in the gaps with their prejudices and then pigeon-hole you into their idea of the sort of person you are... “Did you hear what he said? He's one of THEM.” But conversation is more like improvisation than creed, and even a statement of belief is only accurate in the present. Even if I say most enthusiastically and sincerely that I'll believe in something forever, that statement has no power on the me of the future to force it to believe. Things that I say, and therefore things that others say are at best only accurate for the moment. How many times have I thought after I said something “I don't believe that! Why did I say that?” The answer is that I was improvising and multitasking and sometimes I just say stuff... And sometimes I just write stuff.

  So often, words from someone's past whether written or spoken, are used as weapons against the present version of that person as if once words are spoken they are always accurate and cannot be rescinded or tempered. I try hard to let people be who they are today and not assume they are who they were yesterday... this is very hard to do and unfortunately frequently disappointing...

  I believe now and have for sometime in the past (and have high hopes for future continued belief) that there is a God and that Jesus was/is somehow part of this God entity. I also believe that the words and beliefs that Jesus expressed were not of the fleeting/temporary nature that everyone else's are. He was not winging it, he was not “thinking out loud” His words had the power to effect the future. Does that mean I'm a religious weirdo or from another perspective a unorthodox heretic? Yeah, probably...

  Isn't it dangerous as a business owner to express your beliefs (as wish-washy as they are) publicly and risk offending potential customers? Yeah probably...

  But life is short. I want to make an impact on the planet while I'm here not just blend in with the homogenous flow in the gutter of popular culture and safe business practice. If someone is offended by what I have written here they must be trying awfully hard to be offended.

  It's Easter. Yes there is are at least 4 perspectives on this “holiday” Pagan, Christian, Humanist and Commercial. Allow me to emphasize the humanistic at the risk of bolstering the commercial. Easter is a celebration of new beginnings and breaking free from the past. I really want to help people make the transition from an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one by getting on a bike and getting fit. Sure that might benefit me, but not nearly as much as it benefits the one making the change. The concept of “New Life” exists in the biological, theological, and spiritual sense, as well as in daily lifestyle. My Easter wish, dare I say “prayer” is for all who seek change toward something better to find a way to overcome and start anew.

Change the world. Change You. Ride a bike.

WTBY2

March 25^th 2010

   That's the day West Trails Bicycles sheepishly opened it's door for business. The storefront glass had all been covered in white-wash during the previous three weeks of renovation of the space that had been vacant (other than storing a huge collection of junk) for more than half a decade. Most of the glass was still covered on that Thursday morning. The front door was cleaned off first, then a patch in front of the used “Open” sign that we found on Craig's list. By the end of the day most of the glass was transparent again.

   Some very supportive friends put in a lot of time helping us transform the derelict store into a charming (if I may be so presumptuous) little bike shop. We had a couple of lookers the first few days, there was a lot of curiosity about what was happening to that old corner storefront, and many disappointed locals that were hoping for a more convenient place to buy smokes and Cokes, but even they were supportive of having something new come into Miamitown rather than another business going away.

   There were many, many, kind words... lot's of verbal encouragement and support from visitors, but no income for the first few days. We had to wait 4 long days before our first sale of any kind. But by day 5 we sold a bike! Within a few weeks we were fairly overwhelmed with business. We were not rolling in the dough, but we were paying our expenses and (hopefully) establishing a reputation of integrity. When colder weather slowed things down in the fall it was a welcomed break from the onslaught.

   All in all, it was a good first year, no major screw-ups, we did our best to under-promise and over-deliver. We met a lot of nice folks and even made some friends. We helped get some people with physical issues back on a bike, and lots of people back on track to a healthier lifestyle. We enjoyed having bikes come in for service that had just been “serviced” by certain other shops but worked no better than before the fleecing. We offered discounts to those folks, because we enjoyed showing off our competency, and we wanted them to get what they paid for even if most of the pay went to someplace else. And though it has been a LOT of work with little monetary return on investment, so far, it has seemed like a good trade.

   We will be smarter this year, and hopefully wiser, and we hope to be able to offer even better service.

Thanks for supporting us.

Please spread the word. Tell your friends about us. Review us online. “Like” us on Facebook. Come back and visit us.

WTB has survived its first year!

In your future... I see... a... Mountain Bike!

   In the early 1980's I saw a mountain bike (MTB) for the first time and I bought it immediately. It was great fun, at least theoretically, but there really was nowhere near me to ride it to take advantage of its rugged design, so after a few years I sold it. In the years that followed, mountain bikes became more and more popular but I paid little attention to them, I had a “been there, done that” attitude toward them, and still assumed that Cincinnati was not the right place for them. As a diehard road bike rider I felt there was an “Us and Them” separation between the two bike genres and I was definitely an “US”. 

  About 3 years ago I was working, working, working... business was too good (this was before WTB) I was getting burned out. In the middle of a project I started questioning why I was putting myself through such stress, the answer of course was “money”, but with a wife, 2 kids with orthotics, 1 with a big appetite, a house, some cars, who knows how many pets,... the money no longer came to me and had lost it's value as a motivator. So on a whim, to give my toil some meaning, I bought myself a MTB. The immediate result was that my attitude toward the project I was working on improved amazingly, there was a reward for my labor. The side benefit occurred the first time I rode the bike off road... I was lousy at it!

   I had no idea how bad a bike handler all those years of fast road riding on predictable pavement, with relatively wide turns and consistent traction had made me. I fell a lot. Nothing dramatic, just low speed tip-overs from not having the skill to merely ride slow, or turn sharply, or relax when a tire skidded. This pathetic lousiness and the realization that it was just a microcosm of the “set in your ways” resistance to change that creeps into our lives over the decades, inspired me to ride my new bike to stretch myself beyond my comfort zone. I quickly learned that confidence was the key to MTB riding, and I was decidedly NOT confident about riding off road, so I learned to ride as if I were confident... just fake it... “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!”. How exhilarating! Yes I was scared, but if I forced myself to ride as if I thought I could make it rather than hedging for safety's sake, the majority of the time I would actually get through some pretty tough parts of the trail. I got tired of the scabs and bruises after awhile, and in desperation bought knee pads and elbow pads, these were wonderful investments that made risking fake confidence a little less risky.

   This is the start of my 3^rd season of Fall/Winter MTB (I go back to road riding in the spring) This year the pads have not been needed, I wear them every ride but falling over just hasn't happened... till this weekend. One of my riding buddies and I realized that we were no longer getting our money's worth out of our pads so we decided we needed to push ourselves a little harder. So we forced ourselves to push our limits a bit. It was challenging, and scary and fun, and resulted in a few uses of our pads.

   I had a gentleman in the bike shop last week, he was about my age, who said “I'm too old for mountain bike riding.” Well here's my theory of why he's not and why more of the “over thirty” crowd needs to ride off road. When you hit some point in your thirties you start putting a lot of effort into not falling down. You get so good at it that by the time you are in your eighties and you slip and hit the deck, you shatter like glass, WHY? Because bones need to be stressed to the point of creating micro-fractures in order to rebuild and stay strong. Road bike riders have low bone density according to research and MTB riders do not. Every time I fall off my MTB I'm improving my bone density! And even when I manage to hang-on the jarring of the rugged trails still provides the impact and stress that my bones need. You are NOT too old for MTB but you may very well be old enough to need it.

Road riding is my first love, but Mountain bike riding is my density...

Confession

  After the paper route (yes I actually delivered newspapers by bike), my first job with a boss that I could see, was as a bike mechanic for Jim's Bicycle shop. I can proudly say that I was Jim's first mechanic (thanks Jim!). I was a clueless, arrogant, road bike snob.

Old people would come to the shop (in their 20's and beyond) and whine about how their hands hurt, or their butts hurt, and I would reluctantly sell them unnecessary accessories like padded gloves and saddles that weren't made of concrete.

   Kids would come in to ask how they could remove the colored anodized finish on their BMX gear because the peer driven fashion trend had swung in a new direction and they had to keep up. I would roll my eyes and tell them “oven cleaner and steel wool”. Did it work? I never tried it myself, but no kid ever came back to say it didn't.

   Occasionally someone would come in to buy a bike to ride around the neighborhood. They had no interest in racing, or going fast, or in touring foreign countries... that seemed kinda pointless... oh well, I showed them some bikes anyway... Even riders that I should have some respect for would come in and ask questions like; “which color handlebar tape is the lightest?” Perhaps it was simply because I had never considered that sort of question before and was jealous of their higher level of reasoning, I would automatically judge these folks as geeks.

   The Mormons I could respect. Each year, 2 fresh ones were sent out to enlighten the local heathens. They bought stout utility bikes to travel the neighborhoods proselytizing. They didn't drive around, they rode their bikes around, it wasn't racing, or going far or fast, but it had a purpose (like delivering papers) and they bought bikes I would never have had the experience working with otherwise... heavy black Ralieghs, real ones, made in England, with rod actuated brakes rather than cables, and wheels that seemed huge! (these were 29'ers, before there were 29'ers) These “missionaries” would ride their time machine bikes, dressed in outfits to match... starched white shirts and neckties, out in the August sauna, smiling and meeting folks. They didn't complain about hands, or butts, or component colors, neckties, or grams. Their lives were centered around bikes, and selflessness, (they had me beat).

   It took some time, decades really, before I had some appreciation for the typical customer's concerns. Eventually when I got into my 20's, and beyond, gloves and less painful seats did seem like worthy accessories. Having a bike that looks good, not just one that is good, is a nicety that I can now appreciate. Occasionally riding a bike around the neighborhood, or trail with no destination, or competitive goal, is attractive to me. A light weight bike is a joy to ride, even if the handlebar tape clashes with the rest of the bike. And if it were possible to deliver souls by bicycle I'd even be willing to wear a dress shirt and tie as I made my rounds... for a boss I couldn't see.

Prosthesis, Catalyst, or Muse?

I've gotten used to people reacting in amazement when they learn that I've ridden my bike some distance. Almost any distance seems to be enough to cause disbelief; “You commute every day on your bike to the bike shop... and on Harrison Ave.!?!” or, “You rode 80 miles this morning before you opened the shop!?!” or, “you rode 50 miles after work!?!, you're amazing!” Such statements are usually followed by; “I wish I was in that kinda shape...” or, “I just don't have the energy for that sort of thing.” or, “Wait till you get to be my age, I'm just too tired anymore...”

I used to, egotistically, receive such words as confirmation of how fit and above average I was as a rider, and how sluggardly and out of shape were the sayers. But now I have a deeper understanding of the perspective of many of these folks. Some days, just walking 50 feet or less can feel overwhelming to me, after such a heroic effort I need to sit and rest. I attended my wife and daughters to the park recently, it was about a hundred feet from the parking space to the playground, that's nothing to most folks, but to me it felt like an immense effort. I got to the edge of the play area and sat and watched my daughters play. I had no gumption to join them at even the most rudimentary level by merely climbing a few rungs on the slide. My wife asked if I wanted to join her for a walk, I rolled my eyes assuming she was joking... next thing I know she was gone and later returned after completing the 1 mile stroll around the paved path at the park, then my daughters RAN around the loop!! I dragged my weary bones from the timber curb I was perched on to a picnic bench to wait out their return. I'm not kidding, it was truly overwhelming to me to just get back to the car. Settling into the passenger seat feeling like I was made of lead, I thought of my poor grandfather who lived well into his nineties, “Geez” I thought, “I might only be half the way to dead... how much more worn out will I feel with each passing decade?”

BUT, put me on a bike and suddenly I'm the energizer bunny. When I ride with “the boys”, which generally happens 3 times per week, we usually ride 50 – 80 miles, usually over pretty hilly terrain, and usually average around 20mph. Yes, I get plenty exhausted racing up the climbs or sprinting to be the first to the various town limit signs we contest, but after a few minutes of recovery I'm ready to pound the pedals for many more miles. I get tired on a bike but not weary.

So I wonder... am I missing some vital member such that I need a bicycle to compensate so I can lead a normal life, like someone who has tragically lost part of their body and needs an artificial something-or-other fabricated by engineers and artists to help them lead “normal” lives? Is my bike my prosthetic?

Or does riding on a bicycle change me somehow, causing me to be better when in contact with it... a catalyst... like the antithesis of the relationship of Kryptonite and Superman?

Or am I inspired somehow by the flight-like freedom of such rapid self-propelled transit, that I forget to be weary, and rise beyond my own status quo (that's Latin!) to push the limits of my endurance? Is my bike my muse?

I don't know the answer, but now I wonder if many of the very people that have been amazed by my bicycling exploits might also be transformed if only somehow I could convince them that I'm not just making this all up in order to sell bikes.

As the slogan says “Change the world, change you, ride a bike.”

Change

Bicycles can change the world?

Yes! They already have.  





I'm not kidding.

In the US, so many people were smitten by the allure of the freedom and self-powered speed that the bicycle offered, even in its early, awkward forms, that they were able to work together as a positive force to get municipalities to pave roads that had previously been rutted dirt tracks, quite suitable for horse travel but lousy for bicycling. These new, relatively smooth roads, made it possible for people to travel by bicycle from town to town, not just for pressing business matters but for fun and adventure. Imagine the convenience of just being able to hop on your self-powered machine and travel at horse speed but without the burden of care, feeding, saddling, or storing a horse! And no unpleasant deposits left behind.
The bicycle is even credited for helping the women's rights movement. It certainly forced changes in women's fashion toward more practical clothing styles. Have you ever wondered what happened to the hoop skirt? There's a quote attributed to Susan B. Anthony;  "the bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world."
Unfortunately, the freedom and paved roads that were brought to us by the bicycle were soon usurped by the automobile. The 2 things that are most ironic to me about this development are; 1) The vast majority of Americans now seem to think roads exist for automotive travel and bicycles are a dangerous intrusion. And. 2) The burden of care (maintenance, repair), feeding (gasoline, oil), saddling (licensing, insurance, financing) and storing (garages, driveways, and the overwhelming waste of otherwise productive land as parking lots) that the bicycle relieves us of, has been accepted without question as a reasonable tradeoff. And then there's the unpleasant deposits left behind in the form of air-born pollutants, noise, and toxic fluids spills.
At West Trails Bicycles, we want to be part of a new revolution, brought about by the lowly bicycle. Sure we want to change the world, for the better, but our focus will be to change our local community, ourselves, and YOU, by promoting the glorious simplicity that the bicycle offers as a mode of transportation, a soothing and fulfilling form of recreation and exercise, and a challenging, character testing, skill-building, adventure machine.

Change the world. Change you. Ride a bike.

Mindset Reset

Mindset Reset

  My friend Rob is a genius, but he just doesn't get it. He can't imagine paying $2000 for a bike. “My first car cost less than that!” Rob exclaimed.
  I'm sure he's not alone in this mindset, but I'm not sure it's at all logical. Now, not too many people “need” a $2000+ bike, but not very many people “need” a $20,000 car either, yet many more people seem not to have a problem buying a car that is way more than they need or can afford, to provide the transportation that they could get from a really nice bike for tenth of the cost or a merely usable bike for 2% of the cost.  Let's say Rob's first car cost him $500. Compared to a $2000 bike it seems he got a whole lot more for his money and indeed he did. His $500 car came with HUGE operating costs. Most of us don't stop to consider these but according to AAA, the average cost of operating an automobile in 2009 was 15.42 cents per mile. With a 10,000 mile yearly average, thats $1542 PER YEAR! That operating cost doesn't include much of the expense of car ownership, just tires, gas and maintenance.  Ownership costs, including insurance, license, registration, taxes, depreciation and finance charges, on average in the US, add a staggering (brace yourself)  $5783 PER YEAR!!  At 10,000 miles per year AAA estimates a car costs an average of $7067 per year!!!  How many cars do you own? Many individuals and families own more than one car. How many $2000 bikes can you afford each year if you eliminate one car from your life?
  Yes, a bike requires maintenance and there again is a point of contention. Folks riding bikes that cost them $200 or less, have a hard time justifying sinking more than 25% of that cost into their bike each year for a tuneup. But Rob likely spent over 100% of his purchase price for maintenance of his first car, EACH YEAR! Then there's the fact that most people have never experienced a bike that costs more than $300, they think about the ride of their sub $250  bike and think “why pay so much money to replace something I already have and is so uncomfortable to use?” I detect yet another lack of logic. A $2000 bike of recent vintage is an amazing vehicle, truly a joy to ride. If you are considering loosing a car, and commuting by bike you could buy BOTH a Breezer Villager AND an Uptown 8, two really nice commuter bikes, and still be under $2000!
  Oh and did I mention what kind of fuel a bike requires to operate? If you deduct the cost of a health club membership from your yearly bicycle cost of ownership, I think you'll find that a bicycle costs less than zero dollars per year to operate.

Reset.