100 Miles

My goal was to ride 2000 miles on my bike this year. That's not an epic number, and I've had years when I rode more, but for me, this year, it seemed like a legitimate goal.

After today's ride, I'm at 1900 miles. 100 miles to go, four weeks, that should work.

After all, you can hear the whistle blow 100 miles.

Burying The Lede: The Delta Queen Suggests A Sea Change

Sean Hamill has a well written story in Saturday's Post-Gazette about the Delta Queen and her possible return to service as a riverine resort, a moored motel, or a crap-shooting casino.



The article tells the vessel's history and the fortunes of similar ships from the same era. The story goes on to describe the effect of the recent election on the ship's future utility, and in doing so hints at the pending sea change in transportation policy.

To lift a few details from Mr. Hamill's excellent piece, the 1966 federal Safety at Sea Act (P.L. 89-777) forced any predominantly wooden boat to cease operating as an overnight cruise vessel if it carried more than 49 passengers.

Although the Delta Queen has a steel hull, she has a wooden superstructure and carries up to 174 passengers. Congress had granted her nine exemptions to the Safety at Sea Act since 1966.

The last waiver expired Oct. 31, 2008, after Rep. James Oberstar, D-MN, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, denied the owner's request for a tenth exemption. Oberstar said he was concerned about the possibility of a fire on the wooden boat.

Company officials claimed that Mr. Oberstar opposed the tenth exemption because the company had forced the Seafarers International Union, which represented the Delta Queen's crew, off the boat when they bought it in 2006.

In this month's elections, Mr. Oberstar lost his House seat to a Republican challenger, ending his eighteen consecutive terms.

Since the House went Republican, the new Chairman of the House Transportation Committee is Rep. John Mica, R-FL. Mica's ascendence bodes well for the vessel's owners; this Republican has never met a union-busting Company that he wouldn't sell grant a safety waiver to.

To WWVB's untrained eye, this smacks of union-busting. A new Company bought the ship and forced the union out, replacing them with lower-paid employees. Oberstar, a good man and a union supporter, gave them a taste of their own medicine; in a way, he locked out the owners the same as they threw out the union.

Mr. Hamill's story about a parochial point of interest paints a broader picture of the times and suggests the shift we'll soon see in trucks, trains, ships and planes.

Support Your Local Bike Shop: 7 Bicycle Christmas Gifts

I'd like to present WWVB's First Annual Christmas Gift List for Bicyclists. I urge you to eschew the web, shun the big-box retailers, and Support Your Local Bike Shop.

Supporting your Local Bike Shop (aka LBS) is in the Spirit of Christmas, and if your cyclist decides to return/exchange your gift it'll give them a reason to visit their shop. Every bicyclist likes to have a reason to visit their LBS. I certainly enjoy visiting my LBS.

Bike Bell
Bicycles generally don't come with bells anymore, but they are required by law. They're not sexy-cool but they are very practical. They're used to get the attention of a pedestrian or another cyclist, generally to convey the message "Hey I'm over here, don't get me killed n'at". Bells are more civilized than air horns or electric buzzers. A bike bell is a universal signal; people get bells much more than they understand secret insider phrases like "on your left". A basic black bell is always a safe bet.


New Water Bottles
Every bicyclist uses them, even the riders who have CamelBacks. The best water bottles to get are ones depicting the logo of their LBS. It's a tribal thing.

There is an interesting new product that meets the "better mousetrap" criteria: the Clean Bottle. The Clean Bottle opens at both ends, resulting in less nano-nasty in your drinking water.

There is one exception to the LBS Bottle / Clean Bottle prescription for bicyclists that suffer from OCP (Obsessive Compulsive Poseur) Syndrome. You'll be able to recognize OCP Syndrome if the rider's helmet, shoes, clothing, and bike all "match". They'll often choose a Gatorade flavor based on which colour matches the bike. Riders with OCP Syndrome will only use water bottles that also match.

CO2 Tire Inflator
Flat tires are inevitable, what with two tires on every bicycle. Your cyclist probably already has a pump, a tube and/or a patch kit. If you give them a CO2 tire inflator, they will gratefully think of you whenever they get a flat, or even think about getting a flat tire. It's akin to giving a driver a AAA membership.

I suggest that you want a minimalist inflator that works with both Presta and Schrader tire valves. Again, buy it at the Local Bike Shop. Note whether the inflator uses threaded or unthreaded cartridges, and pick up a few spare cartridges to include with the gift.

Bento Bag
The term bento comes to us from Japan, signifying a small lunch box. In bicycling, a bento bag is a small bag that mounts above the top tube that keeps power bars or snacks accessible to the rider. I usually keep a few Fig Newtons and a few Starbucks honey packets in mine.



Pack of Power Bars
This is a gift you can only give effectively if you know the rider's preference. Generally, people like one or two flavors/brands, and the remainder are anathema to them. (You never want to give anathema as a gift) Banana Malt Flavor? Cookies and Cream? Clif Bar? Guessing is not good.


"Effective Cycling" by John Forester
This book discusses the physics of riding, the various causes of accidents, the nature of bicycle gearing, and the science of lighting and night bicycling. If your bicyclist thinks that OEM reflectors are sufficient to keep them safe at night, get them this book.

Forester advocates a philosophy of Vehicular Cycling (VC), which holds that bicycles are vehicles that belong on the road and in traffic. I own several copies, and usually most of them are loaned out. This is a gift you're not likely to find in your Local Bike Shop.

Uncertain? Fancy jersey? New tires? Spring tuneup? If you're not sure what to get your cyclist, but you want to give a gift that shows you grok them, consider the LBS-GC (Local Bike Shop Gift Card). It supports the cyclist, they get to choose what they want most, and - once again - it gives them a reason to visit their LBS, which is always a good thing to do.

If your bicyclist doesn't have a relationship with an LBS (perhaps they bought a bike at Sears.com), then a LBS gift certificate is a great gift and a great way to get them in the door.


Finally, if the bicyclist in your life is named Alberto Contador, you might consider getting them a membership in the Exotic Meat of the Month club. (via bikesnobnyc)


We Cannot Recommend: BICYCLING Magazine
You may be tempted to give a subscription as a gift. Don't do it. Friends don't give friends subscriptions to Bicycling magazine. There are only 14 actual issues of this magazine, and they just present them in a different sequence with updated photos every year.

Winter Bike Riding - Kepis, Booties, and Lobster Gloves

Today was a great day for a bike ride, although it was the first time this year that I took out the bike when the temperature went below 40 degrees. There's a lot of stuff involved in winter riding, and today's ride was made possible (and enjoyable) by a few bits of gear I've accumulated over the last few years -- a helmet cover, booties, and mittens.

My helmet cover is from MEC, which I guess is the Canadian equivalent of REI. It's the ultimate bike-geek Fred accessory; one abandons all pretext of a semi-normal appearance when you put this on your head. It does keep your noggin warm, though, and the kepi-flap in the back keeps any rain from sneaking down inside your jacket collar.



If wearing the helmet cover makes your head both warm and ridiculous-looking, these booties deliver the same benefits to your opposite end. When you put these on you appear to have Herman Munster feet, but they do keep your feet warm and you can still clip in to your pedals.


I've been using these gloves in cold weather for a few years. They do a real nice job of keeping the hands warm, it seems that keeping the fingers in the lobster claws reduces heat loss. The problem with these is that you really can't use them for tasks involving manual dexterity (ie, flat tires) and you end up working with bare hands, so I'm looking for something better.


With all this gear keeping me warm, it was a nice, comfortable ride today. Something to be thankful for.

Steelers Better Without Ben?

I am not a sports fan, but I know how much the Steelers mean to Pittsburghers, and what the generally accepted wisdom is.

Big Ben Roethlisberger. The key player. He's the franchise. The man. Sure he's had some problems, but Pittsburgh needs him. Lucky to have him. Couldn't do without him. Glad he only got four weeks for that icky stuff.

Curiously, when you look at the Steelers' performance (in terms of winning games) this year the Steelers actually did better without Ben than they've done with Ben.

In fact, the Steelers (with Ben) would need to win the next three games straight to match their performance without Ben. The Steelers (with Ben) would need to win the next four games straight to exceed the non-Ben team's performance.

Week 1: Atlanta	WIN	No Ben	75% WIN WITHOUT BEN
Week 2: Tennessee	WIN	No Ben
Week 3: Tampa Bay	WIN	No Ben
Week 4: Baltimore	LOSS	No Ben

Week 6: Cleveland	WIN	Ben	60% WIN WITH BEN
Week 7: Miami	WIN	Ben
Week 8: New Orleans	LOSS	Ben
Week 9: Cincinnati	WIN	Ben
Week 10: New England	LOSS	Ben

Will we appreciate the irony if the Steelers would've been better off firing Ben?

Awaiting further data points.

Week 11: Oakland	---	Ben	???
Week 12: Buffalo	---	Ben
Week 13: Baltimore	---	Ben
Week 14: Cincinnati	---	Ben
Week 15: NewYork Jets	---	Ben
Week 16: Carolina	---	Ben
Week 17: Cleveland	---	Ben

Charting Halloween

According to the author:
The Graph-O’-Lantern – 6% pie, 5% Venn, 13% bar, and 100% gourd!
The description of each chart, clockwise from the upper-left:

• Typical Witches’ Brew Composition By Weight (pie chart)
  
• Known Scare Tactics Of Ghosts And Zombies (Venn diagram)
  
• Vampire-Related Deaths Per Decade, Transylvania, 1960-2009 (bar graph)

Moving Away From The Light

We are all, I suppose, in tension with the forces around us. The last few weeks I've been in increasing tension with the Hours of Darkness. While that would be very dramatic on the metaphysical plane, in my instance it's fairly mundane: it's been getting dark earlier and that interferes with my bicycle riding.

Sunday's change from Daylight Savings Time into Standard Time will make a pronounced shift into earlier darkness. It is a capricious problem, driven by the consensus alignment of employment with sidereal noon, and I am fortunate to have some flexibility in my schedule. It's just harder to get out there before sunset. I miss the luxury of June's lengthy daylight.

I know that it's only a short-lived phenomenon - the days will get shorter until the winter solstice, only seven weeks away, and then things will start improving - but I resent the intrusion of Nature into my comfortable life. I mean, this is the stuff of Droids Druids, affecting me in modern times.

There are technological applications that help. I've had some very good lights on the bike in previous years - in front I've used a PlanetBike Alias HID (high-intensity-discharge) light, and in back I've used a Cateye TLD-1100. They've been excellent lights but the technology has advanced.

This year I'm augmenting the front with a blinking 2-watt LED light, the PlanetBike Blaze 2W. It isn't a light that helps me to see, as much as it's a visibility marker to help others see me. In the back, the new RadBot 1000 by Portland Design Works produces a remarkably bright blinky. The video compares the new Radbot 1000 with my previous best-in-class favorite, the Cateye TLD1100.



I've been doing most of my riding on the trail system, but when riding in winter I'm inclined to ride more on the roads, which makes lighting more important. The trail is certainly safer from a bike-vs-car perspective, but in the event of a major bike malfunction I'd rather be closer to civilization and heated spaces.

I do believe that one should never wish that time would pass quickly, but I'm eager for the luxury of longer days again.

---

From today's NY Times, written by Mary Oliver -

Every year we have been
witness to it: how the
world descends

into a rich mash, in order that
it may resume.
And therefore
who would cry out

to the petals on the ground
to stay,
knowing, as we must,
how the vivacity of what was is married

to the vitality of what will be?
I don’t say
it’s easy, but
what else will do

if the love one claims to have for the world
be true?
So let us go on

though the sun be swinging east,
and the ponds be cold and black,
and the sweets of the year be doomed.

---

Geek Monitor Bling