Do a little work to get what's yours

Here's how a couple of phrases could end up paying off big time for those of us who ride to work. Legislation rolling through Congress would extend the definition of transportation in tax law to include bicycling. That change would allow employers to offer certain benefits — that could even include cold, hard cash — to employees who cycle to work.

This sounds similar to a system that's been in place in Great Britain for some time. Of course, if it's as similar as I think it is, employer participation is voluntary. Tell your senators and representative you think this change would be a good idea. This has the tire marks of a League of American Bicyclists lobbying effort all over it.

My plan had been to post this a week ago and include a link from the league leading to prewritten letters that could then be sent with a handful of mouse clicks to our senators and representatives. However, reading through the league's letters, I noticed that they were using bill numbers from the last session. I e-mailed to point this out but never heard back. Maybe it was my smart-ass comment about Mark Foley having been a sponsor in the last session (I did not say a pedophile can't like bikes or that he could not offer me a financial incentive to ride to work). A check today reveals the league has removed the prewritten letters from its site instead of correcting them. Anyway, if you're feeling compelled to prod your elected officials, the correct bill numbers are S. 858 and H.R. 1498.

What am I missing here?

So there I was looking through my bicycle newsgroup alerts and saw a hit at alt.energy.homepower for a solar-powered bicycle. Since it's an open forum and I'm tired and irriated, this was the most diplomatic thing I could write:

Solar energy has a lot to recommend but I am skeptical of this application. Isn't the point of a bicycle that the rider expends the energy? Riding a bike that weighs 75 pounds would be like riding an anvil. I'm all for being chintzy with fossil fuels but it seems to [me] this vehicle sacrifices efficiency in many ways for the sake of being solar powered. Though admirable intentions are at work here I think someone missed the point.

Less diplomatically I have to ask two questions: what are they thinking and how fucking lazy do you have to be?

The other retirement

The valve nut for my front inner tube bent and then broke off this afternoon as I was preparing for another go at my own private time trial. This situation necessitated replacing, after two-and-a-half years and how many thousands of miles I don't know, the original tube. After putting on the new tube and several attempts at refitting the original front tire, it became clear that the bead of the tire would not seat properly. The tire, like the tube, served me extraordinarily well. Both will be missed.

My own private time trial

As I mention in this post, this 9.35-mile back-and-forth fills the bill when I want to ride hard — for me — but not long. In the original post, I said I wanted to bring this one in 30 minutes or less, with emphasis on less. Today I came in at 27:51.9: 20.13 miles per hour, after two rides last week that blasted through the half-hour barrier. While for an overaged schlepp I'm thrilled and proud of my 20.13 mph, I'm also willing to put my effort in some context. David Zabriskie holds the Tour de France time-trial record at 33.97 mph over a course of 11.8 miles in 2005. I don't expect to race Zabriskie any time soon. Even with his longer route he will have finished his first beer by the time I join him. Figuratively, anyway, since he probably hasn't enjoyed a beer and cheeseburger in a much, much longer time than I have.

Is this really necessary?

One of my favorite generic irritated questions to ask is, "How fuckin' lazy do you have to be?" Granted, I'm extremely grateful that I don't have to grow my own wheat, mill it, keep a yeast colony growing and cut my own firewood, among other things, to make the bread for my peanut butter sandwiches (or, for that matter, shepherd my own peanuts from seed to lunch). But for instance, as much as I love my car, it irked me that the model only came with power windows. How much effort does it take for someone to roll down the windows him- or herself? Same with television remotes. After all, I can get up and use the switch on the television. It is not an imposition. So when I saw this article, I had to wonder if someone had missed the point. Oh yeah, one more thing: we all drive stick in this house. It's just not that hard.

Retired

A friend of mine recently had his first experience getting a flat fixed. That made me realize that I'd ho-hummed getting on my third tire and fourth or fifth tube on my rear wheel over the weekend. The first tube I replaced took about an hour; the procedure for time and tubes this time took about 10 minutes (the first tube I put on had two holes in it). I've read rears go bad more quickly because they bear more weight. A bead failed on the first tire. The second tire died a death of maybe a dozen cuts and nicks. It also appeared to be fatally compromised by what felt like several strands of jewelry wire. The third tire is holding up well after 16 miles. Those first two tires managed to survive a variety of indignities, including rocks, nails and cotter pins. The tubes did not endure the indignities as well and suffered from some I inflicted, such as a valve stem I kicked off and particularly pointy rock that I hit at just the wrong angle. Not to mention nails, pins and wire. Yet at the other end of the bike, after thousands (eight? 10?) the original front tire thrives. Go figure.

A glimpse of the buffalo

There I was, closing in on the middle of nowhere. Another cyclist turns right from a side road to my left and starts coming toward me. "Huh," I said. "His jersey has blue sleeves and a red body just like the one I'm wearing." As we near, I realize his jersey has the same message as mine: "New Belgium Brewing Company." Go down a couple of entries and you'll see what I'm talking about. I didn't just give a polite cyclist's wave, I pointed. I've never thought of southeastern Chatham County a site for synchronicities but maybe I'll have to reconsider.