Life Without Wheels: Chronicle of a Car-Free Lifestyle
 
Thursday: Mac n Cheese from Marie Calendars for lunch; buffalo wings with bleu cheese dressing and 3 beers for dinner.
Friday: Tempura Tofu and Vegetables for lunch; buffalo wings with beer for dinner, plus The RIde with No Name and Kellog's Fruity Snacks.
Saturday: Ride over Cahuenga to Universal. Breakfast: Cinnabon and a beer. Lunch: hot dog and a beer. Dinner: Philly cheesesteak sandwich and fries. Ride out to Santa Monica and back to K-Town.
Sunday: sleep in until 330pm, order pizza and watch movies all day.
Monday: weigh in for friendly co-worker weightloss bet. Results: Lost 1/2 a pound.

Not kidding...eat junk food, ride bike, lose weight. I love my bike.
 
 
Wake up eat bike work bike eat bike BIKE FAST eat bike sleep wake up eat bike work bike eat bike BIKE FAST eat bike sleep wake up eat bike work bike eat bike BIKE FAST bike....I think you get the picture. Clearly there are some things missing from my life, but biking isn't one of them! 


I've been out riding fast at night lately, with lots of speedy guys. New posts coming up soon! In the meantime, feast your eyes on this! 
Picture
 
 
'Okay, first the legal: I am not responsible for anything you do on the streets or anything that happens to you. 

Second:

On the way home from the grocery store on Tuesday, with a bike weighed down with 30lbs of groceries, I kept it to an easy 12-15mph. I noticed that at this speed, drivers were safer when passing me, and I didn't have as many conflicts with them (ie, right hooks). 

My experiment: I would like a few people to join me in an experiment. We will alternate days when we actively stay at a slower pace of 12-15mph and when we ride at the speed we desire. For me, that's normally between 17-20mph. It might be slower for you. I want to do a quasi-experimental evaluation of how cycling speed might affect your ride and interaction with motorists. I invite you to make your own speculation on why certain speeds incur certain results. This is definitely a subjective test, but I want to see if anyone else experiences the things I do.

So how bout it? Any volunteers? Email me at danceralamode@gmail.com for details on information. (And it's totally okay if you don't live in LA.) 
 
 
I rode a century on Sunday, from my apartment in Korea town, straight down the LA River, to Oceanside. (Okay, it's actually about 5 miles short of a full 100, but I made up for it by riding my bike home from Union Station.) When I got home, after my bike bit me and left a huge, painful contusion on my right lateral malleolus, I began contemplating what it is I really love about riding--not just commuting, but hard riding. This philosophical pondering began on Thursday as I climbed a 13% grade for about 6 miles trying to get out of Avalon then tore across Middle Ranch Road on Santa Catalina Island, trying to make it across the island to Little Harbor on a mountain bike. 

Going up the mountain on Thursday was awful. I was on a heavy mountain bike, it was scalding hot out, and it was a steep, steep climb. It was painful, but I was happy. I didn't question anything, I didn't think about anything, my only goal was to get to the top. Then I coasted down, and I had to concentrate on the hairpin turns and not hitting potholes. Then, Middle Ranch Road, which cuts across the island, is mostly downhill, so you just pedal fast, fast, fast, and go fast, fast, fast...but for some reason, it wasn't doing it for me. 

Then on Sunday, whilst riding south to Oceanside, I realized my favorite part of the whole ride was the rolling hills and climbs through Laguna, Dana Point, and to a smaller extent, Camp Pendleton. As I sit here typing, it's perfectly clear to me: I like climbing. I love climbing. It's my favorite part of riding. And it's not because I get to fly down the other side. In fact, I could do without the flying down at plus 30 miles per hour. 

Why? Why, you ask? Why would I love torturing my legs to climb up huge grades and not do it for the reward of the coast down? Because I'm KING OF THE HILL. I am Napoleon. I am the MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE.

Or, at least I am when I get to the top of that mountain. Yes, at that moment when I reach the peak, the summit, the top of the climb, I have all the answers, I know the meaning of life, I can cross the space-time continuum, and I am the Master of the Universe. I am a God. I control the fate of all beings. 

So I ask, readers, dig deep, philosophize a bit, and tell me: what's your favorite aspect of riding and why? And don't give me that, "oh, it's good for my health," bullshit. Tell me the truth. The whole truth. And nothing but the truth, so help you Amanda. Tell me the real, dirty little secret of what gets you off about cycling. I really do want to know.
 
 
Him: (rolls down window, pulls large red van up next to me, says confrontationally) Why are you shaking your head, what did I do!
Me: (calmly) You're talking on your phone, and it's illegal. 
Him: (defensively as he puts cell phone down) Well...I lost my girlfriend, so...(as if this is an excuse for breaking the law)
Me: That's fine, sir. If you need to make a phone call, just pull over off the road. That's all.
Him: (grasping for straws) Well, well, what are you? The political police?
Me: (patiently and restraining from telling him that he knows he's wrong and should just shut up) No, it's not about politics, it's the law and unsafe.
Him: Well, it's not like I hit you (then honk horn and speed off as light turns green)
Me: (talking to air) So the law doesn't apply to you because???? 


Here's the deal: regardless of how good a driver you think you are, the law in the State of California says that you can't hold your phone and talk on it. You must have a hands free device. You also can't text and drive. Period. It doesn't matter who you are or what you're calling for, you are breaking the law. These laws were enacted for a reason: to improve safety for all road users. I don't care how safe you think you are or how good a driver you think you are, turn the fucking phone off. You don't get to decide which stop lights to stop at, do you? No! You have to stop at all stop lights. And you have to turn the damn phone off (or use a hands-free device). 


Studies have shown that talking on the phone while driving is so distracting it is basically the same as being intoxicated while driving. Could you please respect the lives of the people around you and turn the phone off? You don't have to like me or like anyone else on the road, but you can certainly respect my right to live, can't you? So turn the G&#*!!!!$%#@! phone off. 


Thank you. 
 
 
I'm on vacation, which is really a staycation because I was going to blow my brains out if I had to go into work without some extended time off...Since I have no plans, I'm going to try and log 100 miles a day or 500 between now and Saturday. Anyone wanna take bets I can accomplish this?
 
 
Wow, how time flies! When I started this blog I didn't really know anyone else who used their bike as a sole mode of transportation, nor did I even know that there were cycling blogs or commuter blogs out there. Since my first post in October, I've shared stories about doing laundry, stolen bikes, becoming  a superhero, discovering group rides, discovering long distance riding, and learning how to work on my bike, (and how not to work on my bike).
Picture
I started on my beloved Blue Huffy with her functional baskets.
Picture
Bike with sewing maching on top
Then, after she was stolen, upgraded to my first ever road bike, which changed my life.
Picture
After a little over six months on the Death Machine (pictured above), it was time to invest in a bike that fit me and had a few more gears. So I again upgraded to my dearly adored GoFast.

And I saved and scraped together cash to buy my first (used) race bike (picture to come later) on which I plan to go really REALLY fast.
This blog has clearly leaned heavily on cycling. And I must say, "Guilty as charged."

Cycling is addictive. And if you're a nerd like me, not only do you become engrossed in the activity but everything involved in that activity. So, yes, this blog greatly focuses on the life of an urban cyclist. And while I've still got a  LOT to learn (and always will) about bikes, people, community, and life in general, I thought I'd reflect on my experiences over the past eight months, and some specific lessons I've learned.
 
 
So the big secret is I saved up some money and bought a race bike. It should be delivered soon, but in the meantime, it's taunting me from afar via Twitter. 
Picture
 
GoFast is Born! 06/25/2010
 
Wow, so much has happened in the past month, and I haven't had much time to blog (otherwise you would have gotten an update by now!). Anyhow, let's turn back the clock and look back to a quieter, simpler time...one day before May 2010 Los Angeles Critical Mass...

GoFast was in a semi-ridable state. All parts attached. Brake cables installed, rear derailleur cable installed. I was still in need of a solution for the front derailleur. To refresh your memory (I can't remember if I even told this story) the shifters I bought were indexed, which, in the end, meant I needed cable barrel adjusters on both the front and rear derailleurs. However, I needed something to clamp the cables and barrel adjusters to the downtube with. A twitter friend (@jhvu) suggested I use the clamp from a downtube derailleur and screwed the cable barrel adjusters onto it. 

So I rode the bike from work to the Bikerowave in Venice/Mar Vista, and got there just as they were opening. An excellent and knowledgeable mechanic named Mike was there, and I explained to him the bike build project, and what was left to be done. I explained to him the solution for the front derailleur, and we set to work digging through downtube shifters for a clamp that would work. And what do you know??? We found one. 

However, since I only had one cable barrel adjuster, we decided to put that on the downtube clamp for the rear derailleur, and the one I had ordered online would be used on the front derailleur once it came in. So I left on 7 gears instead of 21, but all I had to do was install. The clamp was on, all I needed was another cable barrel adjuster (which isn't a common used part to come by). In addition, while there, I re-routed my rear brake cable, trued the rear wheel and installed some new spokes, AND Mike taught me how to use a presta valve. And the total bill? I think it was about $27. Plus my friend @cyclo_astro came by with beer and cupcakes for all. It was a pretty awesome night, when I left the bike was totally ridable, and I had learned a lot. 

I also want to give Mike a HUGE shout out, because not only was he helping me, in my needy state (I was building a bike, for god's sake), and like 10 other people throughout the course of the night, sometimes answering questions from 3 people at once. I'm just saying, a guy that knows that much about bikes...totally hot! 

Below are pictures from my night at the Bikerowave, which I will be visiting again soon to re-true my rear wheel and another secret project I will unveil soon. 


If you click on the first image, it will open the slideshow so you can see the captions on each pic.
Since my visit to the Bikerowave, I have changed the tires to higher quality (yeah those barbie tires last like a day), and I'm changing the color scheme slightly--have decided to go with black bar tape instead of pink. What can I say, it's a continual work in progress.
 
Bicycle Power! 05/30/2010
 
Picture