Cars Suck

Sorry, time for a little rant here...
As much as I would like to not depend on automobiles, our family does own and use them. I still see them as an evil necessity in our lives. I know, the auto does provide a way to transport one or more people and much cargo long distances quickly. What I don't like (besides the pollution and waste they produce) is all the stuff that goes along with them.
OK, here is the cause for my rant - yesterday while looking for a parking space at a local shopping center, another person in their car backs into mine. I am stopped, waiting for cars in front of me to move, and this person backs out of an aisle to my left and into my front left fender. My two kids were in the back seat, and fortunately no one was hurt. What this really brings to mind is the inconvenience that a situation like this brings about. What was a minor fender bender has left me and the kids a bit shaken up, and phone calls to the insurance company, and later getting the car repaired. I do have to say, I have my insurance through AAA, and they have been extremely helpful so far. Which raises the point of how much money is spent in providing this mode of transportation. We pay plenty in car payments, insurance, gas, registration, and maintenance and repairs.
What about the alternatives? Let's say that our family decides to sell the cars, and look for other ways of transportation. In our city we have the metro bus and trolley system, and the trains for longer trips up the coast. We could probably get monthly transit passes for the 4 of us for about or a little cheaper than the car and insurance payments per month. The problem we would be left with is the convenience of the car would not be there. Our bus schedule leaves quite a bit to be desired. The trolley system is great, except it doesn't go anywhere you need it to.
I commute by bicycle, but I cannot see the bike taking the place of the car for the rest of the family right now.
I know that this is a lifestyle that we have chosen, just like most of the country. If something happened today that took away our cars, we could get by. We are fortunate to live in an area where we can get around if needed. I know plenty of people in rural areas would have a much tougher time. Car culture is ingrained in our society pretty well. All of the inconveniences that go along with having the convenience of the car are just accepted as "normal". I at least realize that this "normal" is a fallacy, but haven't quite figured out what to do about it.
If you have read my rant, thanks for taking the time.

Holiday Commuting

Commuting by bike is great just about any time of year. I find it especially nice around this time, when all the Christmas lights are on display throughout the neighborhoods. On my ride home, it is a nice diversion to see all the festively decorated houses. These types of sights you just cannot truly enjoy while speeding by in a car. Riding a bike is the perfect cruising speed to enjoy them. Actually, riding a bike is the perfect speed to enjoy most things worth seeing. Walking is great, too, but the speed of the bike also makes it efficient to travel a fair distance.
If you never get out of your car and slow down a bit for the holidays, you are really missing the spirit of this magical season.

Good News if You're Nuts

A new health study shows that a diet enriched with mixed nuts may reduce heart risks. Published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, the Spanish study concluded that a Mediterranean diet enriched with mixed nuts may help manage metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a group of health problems that includes abnormal obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and high glucose levels, which all can be risk factors for heart disease.
After many years of being told that we should eat a low-fat diet, now there is some evidence that the natural high-fat content in some foods are actually good for you. Everything in moderation, of course. The closer to the source you can get for your food, the better, I say. Both in eating foods grown locally, and eating foods in their most natural state.

Grow Your Own, Mr. President

Here is a cool little video urging President-elect Obama to convert the White House lawn into a vegetable garden, complete with time-lapse photography on what the author Roger Doiron did.
(http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009021.html)

This raises a good point about our fascination with green manicured lawns. Most of this precious land would be better served growing something useful, like stuff we can actually eat. Victory Gardens were popular once, it's time to bring them back!

Instead of buying vegetables that have most likely traveled thousands of miles to your door, why not grow them in your own garden? Don't have your own yard? Then see if you can go in on a community garden.

There is no reason why everyone cannot grow their own.

Exurbs and Transportation Woes

NOW on PBS video called "Driven to Despair". This video looks at the life of a family living in the exurbs and compares it to the living in the city. It focuses on how the high cost of gasoline has affected those with long commutes. It also shows how more public transportation has the ability to make a difference, if given the chance. Great video to watch!

The Change Has Begun.

The rising cost of oil has already set in motion some interesting trends. Driving is down and public transit use it up.
Sales of larger vehicles are declining, which is putting American auto manufacturers in trouble. For years, they have relied on larger vehicles (SUVs) to make most of their profits. With slipping sales, they now have to focus their energy on smaller fuel efficient cars. Even scooter sales are on the rise.
Mass transit is enjoying an increase in riders, but many cities are now experiencing growing pains. They are having trouble keeping up with the demand, and funding is not able to keep up.
We are now trying to catch up to cope with a problem that began many years ago. Unfortunately, we did not heed the warnings until it hit us where it counts - the bottom line. Now that we are beginning to realize the real cost of energy, there is scrambling to figure out how to deal with it. We have been building sprawled out subdivisions for the past 50 years, assuming there would always be cheap oil to allow everyone to drive anywhere they pleased. As a result, we will now have a difficult task ahead if we want to offer alternatives to everyone driving their own vehicle everywhere. Some people will choose to move closer to where they work, or closer to the central part of a city. But, what about the millions of families who are stuck out in suburbia? How do we undo 50 years of sprawling development? It would take years to get good public transit out into the suburbs. Not everyone will be able to move into the city.
Perhaps shopping more locally will start to make sense. Instead of driving 30 miles to Wally World, we might do our shopping at the local grocery, drug, and hardware stores (if you are lucky enough to even still have them). Maybe you will choose to visit the local sites on your vacation instead of driving 500 miles to visit something out of state. Maybe you will dust off that old bike setting in the garage and see if you can use it to visit the local grocery or convenience store.
Even some outsourced jobs may start coming back to America, as transporting goods across the world may become cost inhibited. We may see more locally grown food instead of having our lettuce shipped 3000 miles. We may even have to buy more seasonal fruits and vegetables, since we may not be able to afford produce grown and shipped from countries around the world.
It's probably too late for America to make a smooth transition into living with high energy costs, but hopefully enough people have the common sense to start making adjustments on their own.

3 Years Ago

3 years ago today my grandfather passed away. I still think of him often. Thinking of his life has caused me to reflect a bit on some current stuff going on in our country.
I just read an article in the paper about a push for more urban areas to allow residents to raise chickens. Several cities had previously banned residents from keeping chickens, but there has been a growing effort to get those bans lifted. Many cities now allow up to 6 chickens to be raised on a residential property, usually with the consent of neighbors. The owners get the obvious benefit of fresh eggs, but the chickens also help to control weeds and bugs, and they fertilize the ground. This is just one of the latest parts of a growing trend of people wanting to raise their food closer to home. Many are returning to growing a vegetable garden in their back (or even front) yard. More are making a conscience effort to seek out locally grown food and locally raised animals for diary and meat. With the ever increasing cost of gas and diesel, transporting food long distances is making less economical sense. Locally grown food also is usually fresher and better tasting. There is also a lesser chance of an outbreak of a deadly disease from locally grown or raised food. Even if there is an outbreak, the number of consumers affected is much, much less than food grown or raised on large factory farm environments.
If you cannot raise or grow the food yourself, at least try to get the know the people who do. These people are certainly not in this business to make a lot of money, they want to see people eating fresh, healthy food. Go out and visit a farmer's market the next chance you get. Maybe you can even find tomatoes there!

Memorial Day

Last Memorial Day, I was pondering how to really honor the day. This year, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to at least, in some small way, pay tribute. My wife and I joined the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts at Rosecrans National Cemetery for a ceremony in which the boys and girls place flags on each of the grave sites there. For one thing, it was quite an experience to be among so many people there to honor the fallen. Secondly, it was rather spectacular to see how quickly thousands of flags get placed so quickly on all the graves.
It was a time to pause and give a quick "Thank you" to those who fought for our freedom and especially to those who gave their lives trying. It doesn't matter whether you are pro or anti war, what political affiliation you have, this is a day to pay tribute to those who gave up their tomorrows so that you could have yours.

Mid-life Crisis

I'm approaching that age when some men go through a mid-life crisis. I was reflecting on my situation, and wondering if I am going through one. However, I think mine is a little different than a typical man's mid-life crisis. For example, usually the guy will go out and buy a $50,000 sports car. I want to buy a $400 Xtracycle so I can do away with a car. During this time, men usually want to do away with their family obligations - leave the wife and kids, maybe hook up with a younger female, or whatever. I am planning and looking forward to doing more things with my wife and kids. My kids are getting to the age where things like going camping, hiking, and biking would be real fun. Both me and my wife are getting more involved with the kids in Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts. I could not imagine walking out on them now (or anytime). So, maybe I am going through some sort of crisis. Maybe a reverse mid-life crisis?

Organized Charity Bike Rides

This will probably be a bit of rambling here, but I am rethinking my perception of organized/charity bike rides after participating on one this weekend. I rode in the Fallbrook Avenue of the Oaks Metric Century charity ride Saturday. As for the ride itself, it was challenging. There were many, many hills. In a way, I was glad it was over. I have ridden a few organized rides over the last few years, but this was my first in over a year. In that time, I think my attitude towards rides like this has changed somewhat. I used to get psyched up for these types of rides. Although they are not races, it was still fun to see how many riders you could pass, see how quickly you could finish. This time, I did not really care about who I passed. I passed several, and several passed me, too. I was not concerned about how quickly I could finish. I was also more aware of the types of riders among the group. Most seemed to be men ranging from their late 20's to mid 50's or so, most had nice, fairly new, sleek, expensive road bikes. I might be wrong, but I would guess that most of these men (and a few ladies) only ride in group rides or training rides. They probably do not do much, if any, cycling with a destination as a purpose (such as commuting or shopping), or just simply cruising around by bike for fun. I guess I might classify them as "wanna be racers". I'm not really knocking that, it can be a lot of fun. For many people, organized rides are the closest they will get to riding a race, kinda like riding in the Tour de France if you will. There is a certain thrill in that. I guess where I am coming from is that my take on riding has morphed from riding for the thrill of riding in a big loop as fast as you can to riding with a purpose (as in a destination), or just to get out and cruise around a bit, preferably with the family when possible. I do still like to get out by myself on long training rides when I can, since those types of rides do help build endurance and give me a chance to unwind in a way. However, I try to makes these rides not an act of punishment, but as a way to see some of the local sites in a way that you cannot by any other method. Bikes do not only need to be recreational, they can be everyday transportation vehicles as well. If every one of the riders in this last organized ride were to commute by bike or run errands once in a while by bike, wow what a difference that would make. There is definitely not a lack of cyclists in this country, it is just their purpose for cycling that, if modified to include practical uses, could really make a huge difference in the world.

Biofuels are NOT the answer.

The full Time/CNN story here:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975,00.html
March 27, 2008
-by Michael Grunwald

A few quotes from the article:

..."several new studies show the biofuel boom is doing exactly the opposite of what its proponents intended: it's dramatically accelerating global warming, imperiling the planet in the name of saving it. Corn ethanol, always environmentally suspect, turns out to be environmentally disastrous. Even cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass, which has been promoted by eco-activists and eco-investors as well as by President Bush as the fuel of the future, looks less green than oil-derived gasoline."

"Meanwhile, by diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks, biofuels are jacking up world food prices and endangering the hungry. The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year."

..."using land to grow fuel leads to the destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands that store enormous amounts of carbon."

"The environmental cost of this cropland creep is now becoming apparent. One groundbreaking new study in Science concluded that when this deforestation effect is taken into account, corn ethanol and soy biodiesel produce about twice the emissions of gasoline."

"People don't want to believe renewable fuels could be bad," says the lead author, Tim Searchinger, a Princeton scholar and former Environmental Defense attorney. "But when you realize we're tearing down rain forests that store loads of carbon to grow crops that store much less carbon, it becomes obvious."

"Why is so much money still being poured into such a misguided enterprise? Like the scientists and environmentalists, many politicians genuinely believe biofuels can help decrease global warming. It makes intuitive sense: cars emit carbon no matter what fuel they burn, but the process of growing plants for fuel sucks some of that carbon out of the atmosphere."

"There was just one flaw in the calculation: the studies all credited fuel crops for sequestering carbon, but no one checked whether the crops would ultimately replace vegetation and soils that sucked up even more carbon. It was as if the science world assumed biofuels would be grown in parking lots. The deforestation of Indonesia has shown that's not the case. It turns out that the carbon lost when wilderness is razed overwhelms the gains from cleaner-burning fuels."

..."the market drives behavior, so without incentives to prevent deforestation, the Amazon is doomed. It's unfair to ask developing countries not to develop natural areas without compensation."

My guess is that there will not be a magic solution to the eventual decline of oil production to allow us to continue consuming the extraordinary amounts of energy that we have become accustomed to. There is always going to be an ugly side-effect of any energy source that allows us to do the amount of work that we are able to with cheap oil.

As far as I am concerned, biofuel should be the burrito that you eat after your bike ride.

Man, this wind really blows.

The commute yesterday was rather windy. I actually ride into the wind both ways...it comes from the east as the sun warms up the air, then in the evening the wind blows from the west/southwest off the ocean. Yesterday's evening winds were especially gusty. By the time I got home I was wiped out. The outside of me was cold, and I was burning up inside. I would still rather ride the bike, but sometimes the commute can be a bit challenging. I'm sure these winds were nothing compared to what a lot of riders endure, but it is all relative. It just makes me appreciate the nice days even more.
This morning's ride in was calm, but with the cool temps I was freezing when I started, complete with almost numb fingers. By the time I got to work I had starting warming up, then realized that I was sweating under the layers of clothing. Sometimes it is hard to dress accordingly for a fairly short ride like this. But, that's OK. At least it is still an adventure. Part of the fun of cycling is experiencing the elements, not always riding in a shell being protected from them.

Back in the Saddle Again

Finally getting back into the cycling groove after not riding for over 3 weeks due to sickness and weather. The warmer, sunny weather has been a welcomed change. The riding has been a bit hard, but slowly getting back to normal. Some inspirational reading from the Practical Pedal helped. Reading their latest edition about winter cycling made me glad to have the nice weather that I have to ride in. Even though they publish their issues online, I subscribed to their print edition also. I know it uses trees, uses transportation to deliver, etc., but there is still something about holding a printed paper, book or whatever, and turning the pages, reading it front to back. Especially when feeling lousy like I was, lying on the couch reading a paper was much easier than trying to sit at a computer reading a screen.
I also learned today that I can fit a case of Girl Scout cookies in my messenger bag...and my lunch...and a change of clothes. Pretty sweet!

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

The last couple of weeks have been a struggle with a cold and what I believe to be a sinus infection. The first 3 or 4 days were rather rough, then I started becoming coherent again. I thought it would all be over within a couple more days. I figured I would just take it easy, no biking or hiking, get plenty of rest, and this will be knocked out soon enough. Days and days have now passed, and the lingering sinus and general tiredness have not really improved. Been trying natural and homeopathic treatments, but nothing seems to be bringing much relief. As much as I believe in the body's natural ability to heal itself and faith in natural resources, I am about to give in and go to the doctor. I'm sure I will end up getting a round of antibiotics if I go. As much as I hear about how bad our overuse of antibiotics is, there comes a point where you just want to feel better. I know they are over-prescribed, often not even for a bacterial infection, and they can lead to a built up intolerance to infections in the future.
It has been discouraging not having the energy to do anything active. It has been about 2 weeks without riding the bike, and I am just about at the breaking point for that. To top it off, we have about 3 or 4 days of cold, rainy weather in the forecast, so I'll probably be stuck at least until next week. Can't wait.

Messenger Bag or Panniers

The question of the week...to go with a messenger bag or panniers for bike commuting? I've been using a messenger bag for a few weeks now, and although it is very cool looking, I am wondering about the long term practicality of it. It is quick and easy to stuff the normal commuting items like a change of clothes and lunch, throw it over my shoulder and go. However, it can get old always having the bag on your back. Panniers would allow me to let the bike carry the bags and get the load of my back. With panniers, though, the bike has to be outfitted with a front or rear rack to accommodate them. This probably wouldn't be a big deal since I usually only commute with one of two bikes. One already has a rear rack, and the other one can easily be fitted with one. There is the added time of removing the pannier, but that shouldn't be a big deal, either.
For simply commuting I don't think it makes much difference which way to go. I'm thinking more long term...things like going out for longer rides and wanting to bring along a few things. This would get rather uncomfortable with a bag on my back. I'm also daydreaming about some short touring adventures, hopefully with the family. This would obviously favor panniers over a bag.
As I write this, the panniers seem more and more like the right thing for me. Now I just need to figure out a way to unload my messenger bag and score a pair of nice panniers.

Slow Ride

On New Year's Day I went for a bike ride...all of probably 1 mile, and it was great. What made it great was not how far I rode, but who I rode with. My whole family went riding at a nearby lake. I was on an old Schwinn 5 speed, my wife on her old Trek mountain bike, my 8 year old daughter on her first "real" 2 wheeler, and my 6 year old son on the hand-me-down 2 wheeler with training wheels. We just rode the short distance by the lake on a relatively flat paved trail, stopping at about 1/4 mile to feed some ducks. Then we proceeded back and stopped at another spot to feed more ducks. We then rode about another 1/4 mile to another area to again feed the ducks and have a little snack for ourselves. Obviously, the riding of bikes was not the main objective of this little outing, spending time with the family was. It was nice getting outdoors on a fairly mild day and actually doing something together.
Part of me cannot wait until the kids are old enough to really go on bike rides with me. Yet, I also don't want them growing up too fast. For as much as I love riding, we don't seem to be able to all get out and ride together as I wish we did. Maybe investing in a tag-along bike or tandem would make it easier? We have a trailer, but the kids have just about outgrown that. Anyway, even these little riding adventures beat sitting around the house watching TV or listening to the kids argue over everything. Now I just need to make sure we do them more often.