Bike to Work Week diary 2019

Mayor Brad Hart looking sharp in the must-have shirt of the year

It's time for Bike to Work Week, an annual celebration-promotion of bicycle commuting! As the week begins, two news items remind us why we're doing this.

The Planetizen blog reports the Oregon legislature has passed a law declaring that bike lanes continue through an intersection whether or not they are marked. This is true most places for crosswalks, and the logic seems to apply to bike lanes, too. Even so, The Oregonian says judges had been loath to prosecute drivers for hitting cyclists where right-of-way is not clarified. Remember, America's streets and roads were built for cars, and most drivers are not used to sharing.

Strong Towns last weekend re-Tweeted a piece from Curbed reporting that widening I-405 through the Sepulveda Valley in metropolitan Los Angeles has not resulted in shorter commuting times. At some parts of the day commuting times are actually longer. This is consistent with experience in other major metropolitan areas. Private cars simply do not scale up. Bikes can do this. So can public transportation.

Bike to Work Week officially began Saturday with the annual MPO Ride sponsored by the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization and AARP. The route included Marion's Uptown Artway Project, Squaw Creek Regional Park, and both new and planned sections of the Grant Wood Trail. I had to skip the ride due to Commencement Weekend at Coe College, but was there at the gathering point in New Bo.

Reports were good, despite the chilly temperatures and off-and-on rain.

Monday, May 13

Bike to Work Week began early on this chilly morning. It was 41°F (5°C) when Mayor Brad Hart read the official proclamation, but thanks to the wind and my inadequate preparation it felt more like 5°F. But nothing, and I mean nothing, can dampen the joy that is Bike to Work Week.

Mayor Hart being interviewed by a TV news crew

We gathered for the proclamation at the usual place, though Red's Public House has become Jimmy Z's.

This is the second Bike to Work Week proclamation of the Hart administration, and though someone who was possibly me tried to start a rumor that he was going to go rogue and declare biking to be evil and make this Drive to Work Week instead, he called it straight. The proclamation hit the usual notes about traffic congestion, the environment, and physical fitness.

The route for the ensuing group ride changed last year. We rode down 3rd Street to 16th Avenue in New Bo, around the block, and back.

1300 block of 2nd St SE

There were, despite the festive occasion, more drivers than bikers. BTWW is more like celebrating Ramadan (at least in America) than Christmas. There were a few surprised drivers behind our group, but no surliness. Bike infrastructure like the lanes on 3rd Street...

...means there's room for everyone. Also, a grid street pattern means a driver can quickly identify an alternate route.

There were complimentary bacon and eggs at Jimmy Z's after the ride.

Jimmy, a former radio personality in town, took care that we tipped the bartender and cook, who were working on their days off to make the celebration happen. He also wanted to commend the lunch menu, which includes sandwiches named for local celebrities, and I am happy to cooperate. Their normal hours are 11 a.m.-2 a.m.

The City of Cedar Rapids officially began their bike share program Monday night in Green Square. The bikes were all there...

...soon to be dispersed around the center of town:

After a series of speeches from city officials, participating sponsor Wellmark Foundation, and the vendor Veoride...

...attendees were invited to give the new electronic-assist bikes a try.

Riders reported they could instantly tell the difference, with comments like "Wow!" This surprised me because the streets around the park are flat. A few blocks away, 5th Street goes up a steep hill, but apparently you didn't need to go up that steep hill to notice the electronic assistance. Abby Huff, director of the Czech Village/New Bohemia Main Street District, reported Tuesday, "The assist ride is awesome! I took one from Czech Village to New Bo this morning, and will probably take one back after work." The one rider who told me he didn't see much difference was riding on the sidewalk, for which he was quickly admonished by the city officials. (More on the bike share program in this Gazette article by B.A. Morelli.)

Veoride will have a representative in town, a car-free cycling enthusiast I met last week, so they will be regularly monitoring the bikes, swapping out the batteries and avoiding this...

Ofo bike in a Washington DC alley, April 2018

...or this...

Ofo is no longer in business

Good luck to them!

There were piles of swag at the kickoff...

...including some delightful t-shirts imprinted with the map of the city. But I had to be somewhere else, so I neither tried the bikes nor garnered a t-shirt. Will that change, or am I doomed to wander swaglessly about the Earth? Stay tuned!!

Tuesday, May 14

How we incorporate cyclists and pedestrians into our auto-centric streets is an issue everywhere. This morning John Beattie on BBC Radio Scotland had a long segment in which bike advocates and opponents traded barbs. I utilize all three forms of transportation, as well as occasionally taking the bus, so I see the problem not as one homogeneously evil group harming everybody else, but as aggressive (or erratic) behavior in general. In an auto-centric society with auto-centric streets, cycling is different enough to be remarkable, and cyclists are easily identifiable as "the other" in a way that auto drivers, such as the three cars I saw blowing stop signs in one day last week, are not. Otherness is a cheap card to play, but it accomplishes nothing towards a common life or a sustainable community.

This morning two young men from Wells Fargo Bank were staffing the pit stop where the Cedar River Trail crosses 1st Avenue.

It's an interesting crossing, to put it mildly. 1st Avenue is the main street on the east side through downtown, as well as being State Route 922. Passing between the white posts triggers flashing lights which are supposed to signal drivers to stop. Most do. A fair number of cyclists and pedestrians crossed the street while I was there. At least one pedestrian was confident enough to talk on her phone as she crossed. The guys at the pit stop told me that one cyclist earlier had hit the crosswalk at full speed and had nearly been hit. But I bet he's a prize as a driver, too.

It was still chilly, but 49° is on the right track! The pit stop had bananas, granola bars, and utensil kits, but... no t-shirts! The banana I had was good not to mention potassium-rich, so I'm already doing better than Charlie Brown, even though I have as yet not scored a t-shirt.

This afternoon I finally gave the e-assist bikes a spin. I rode up the Cedar River Trail to McLeod Run Park, where I thought there was another pop-up pit stop. (Turns out I didn't go far enough... it was another mile on, near New Pioneer Co-op.) On my way back I noticed Sierra Drive NE...

...whose steep grade would surely challenge the bike. Then I turned onto Linnmar Drive, which has an even steeper grade. My legs certainly felt the effort of the climb, but probably not as much as I would have felt on my own bike. And I probably went faster, too.

When I returned the bike, the cost for my 45-minute ride was $7.75. That's a pretty expensive bike ride. The bike also staggered in 3rd gear, which I found later was a maintenance issue with the specific equipment and shouldn't be an issue next time. I might see myself checking out a bike for a quick run across downtown, but not regularly and not for any length of time.

Wednesday, May 15

Joyous near-summerlike weather surrounded Bike to Lunch Business Challenge, with celebrants gathering from their various workplaces at New Bo City Market. We were joined by some colleagues from Coe, which was holding a faculty workshop across the street. The luncheon festivities included more e-assist bike demonstrations. Herewith Wes from The Full Bowl returns triumphant from his test ride.

I never found out what the Business Challenge was. I also did not see any t-shirts. Still unclothed and unfulfilled.

Thursday, May 16

I missed the annual Ride of Silence last night because of a schedule conflict. The toll of deaths and injuries inflicted by auto drivers on anyone else using the streets--not to mention each other--is a sobering reminder that we have a long way to go before streets are truly open to all users. We can argue about education, or cultural differences, but a lot comes down to paying attention. Yesterday the news group in the neighborhood where I lived in Washington last spring heard from David Wyman, who had survived a scary encounter that day:

My morning commute was more eventful than I had hoped. I was traveling westbound, coming out of the K St NE tunnel under the train tracks. The rear passenger of a vehicle opened their door into traffic as I was passing. The door stopped my bike and I continued over the handlebars.
I’m fine other than some stinging bumps and deep bruises. Had I fallen differently, the injury could have meant something more severe, possibly even my life.
Bikes and cars don’t know where each other should be. Vision Zero has been a lot of talk and disproportionate progress. K St, Florida Ave, Maryland Ave to name a few just in our back yard. I applaud [Ward 6 City Council member Charles] Allen for introducing the Vision Zero Omnibus Act. But when are we going to SEE comprehensive implementation on our roads for cyclist safety.
I filed a police report and am now another statistic. I only hope that - along with this story - helps move our mission forward faster and with more urgency.

Here in Cedar Rapids, a fellow BTWW participant reported nearly being hit in a protected bike lane by a car which was parallel parking. Maybe the best that can be hoped that a greater daily presence of bicycles and pedestrians, and events like this week to draw attention to them, will improve awareness.

Today Goldfinch Cyclery sponsored a pit stop at New Bo City Market.

When the wind came up, a bicycle served to hold the tent down.

No t-shirts, but I scored a pair of sunglasses, a can of LaCroix brand sparkling water, and a koozie. What? Do I not have a drawer full of koozies? I do not have a koozie that looks like this:

Or rather, I didn't use to have such a koozie, but now I have one.

I'm a model, you know what I mean...

Nearby Marion hosted a BTWW event this evening, the Pedal Marion Ride. We gathered at City Square Park.

City planner Kesha Billings got the ride underway...

...but first we were asked to give our consent to be photographed for the city website. Of course, we all signed. The column under which our names went was headed "Name of Model." My talent has been discovered!

We models headed east from downtown, and joined the newly-extended Grant Wood Trail.

The trail tunnels under State Route 13.

We turned around at Waldo's Rock...

...and returned downtown (which in Marion is called "Uptown"), where I enjoyed a beer in the company of Corridor MPO bike guru Brandon Whyte and his family. The Art Alley is an amazing gathering space, like a little slice o' Europe... probably a subject for another post.

Friday, May 17

Bike to Work Week  continued, but I didn't... hit the road to Minnesota to see No. 2 son's college graduation. 

SEE ALSO:
"Bike to Work Day 2018," 20 May 2018
"Bike to Work Week Diary 2017," 15-19 May 2017
"Where's the Sleet? MPO Ride 2017," 15 May 2017
Mark Dent, "Can Car-Crazy Dallas Learn to Love Bikes?" City Lab, 16 May 2019