P.A. MacLean, March 15, 2007
Biking over to the weekend farmer’s market,
happy as a shaggy dog rolling in the grass because it was the first real
spring day this year. And then I
see it. One of my biggest peeves
about cities that put in bike lanes then have the street sweepers blow all the
dirt and glass out of the traffic lane and into pile in the bike lane. Piles of little bits of glass that just wait to give you that
next flat. Clean the
corners folks. Or don’t
throw those beer bottles out the car window on Saturday night to smash on the
street.
By Cecily O’Connor, March 14, 2007
Great. Now sitting at my computer might put me at risk for deadly blood clots. That's just what I want to read after I've been typing away on my home office laptop for the past four hours - and have several more hours to go. And just when I thought all I had to worry about was carpal tunnel and bad posture. As if that's not enough. As an office worker I can attest to the fact that stretching is commonly overlooked, even though the activity can help circulation and (maybe) remedy our dreaded, hunched-over computer posture. Excuse me while unglue my eyes from the computer screen and take a break and stretch out, and (hopefully) chill out!
P.A. MacLean, March 14, 2007
Last week I had to invoke the three-patch
rule. Got a big old hunk of
glass in the tire just two blocks from work.
Walked in and got it patched in the building basement.
Once a tube has three patches it is officially cooked.
If I get a fourth flat on the same tube it goes to the tubular
graveyard.
Tom Murphy,
March 11, 2007
My colleague, P.A. MacLean, makes a good point or three
in her story
about bike commuting. I know because I’ve commuted by bike for more
than 20,000 miles over the past two decades, with most of that coming in a clump
of 6,000-mile years. In my first year in Marin County, California, I cut my car
mileage to about 3,500 miles from 15,000 the prior year simply because Marin
makes it so easy to ride a bike just about anywhere: to work, to the store, to
get some exercise with friends. Just think how much the price of gasoline would
drop if everyone would do a shopping trip a week using a bike. Think how clear
the sky would get if they would ride their two-wheeler to the office now and
then. Think how medical costs would fall if we dared to get a little extra
exercise on the old velo. Pretty soon, we might start riding as much as they do
in Amsterdam, which is way ahead of us on this. Maybe more kids would even start
riding their bikes to school again along safe routes that are now crowded with
SUVs. Just maybe.
