For anyone who's ever tried to use Caltrain to get home from the city late at night:

They are planning to add new trains in the evening -- YAY!

But the trains are prosposed to leave on the half-hours, with no train between 10:30 and 12:00 out of San Francisco. If you want an 11:00 train, please write to Caltrain at the address on the page, or plan to attend one of the info sessions.

This morning I was definitely reminded of the utility of having two bikes. When I got out to my commuter bike, I saw that it had a flat tire in the front. I don't know how it happened, but I was running a little late and didn't really want to deal with changing it. I'd been debating riding Maia anyway, and luckily had her tires pumped up from a ride yesterday (Santa Cruz/Foothill/Page Mill down to the shop to have her looked at for cable stretch -- a 16 mile round trip in the hot sun, but more fun than just riding Bryant), so I just changed my shoes and off I went. Made it here in just about 45 minutes too.

Of course, now I know that in addition to bike-cleaning awaiting me tonight, I also have a mysterious flat tire to deal with. So it goes...

Yesterday was Bike to Work Day, and it was pretty cool. I got ready early and left the house by 7:45 so I could make a few stops on the way and still be on time to work. My first stop was the Willow Place bike bridge, where the city of Menlo Park was running an Energizer Station. I picked up a goody bag and a bagel, and chatted with a woman I ran into Wednesday when she was piling BTWD stuff into a car. I was pleased to see that, at least in San Mateo County, the North-South Route map was included in the bags. I told the woman that I had helped with a test ride of the route, which she thought was neat.

Then I was off flying down Bryant -- and it did feel like flying, ever so much easier than pedaling the hybrid. I saw about five times as many people as usual, maybe more. It was nice to have camaraderie and all the cyclists were polite and everybody flowed smoothly -- most were even law-abiding, minus the whole not-stopping-at-stop-signs thing. At one intersection, we saw a guy with a high-wheeler (a bike with a large front wheel, instead of gearing that makes the ratios work out). Pretty neat.

It was 50 minutes later when I pulled up to the intersection of Mary and Maude and found another Energizer Station, this one with coffee cake! I also grabbed a couple of Sunnyvale Bike Maps, one for me and one for a coworker who may soon start biking. It was nice to chat with the people staffing the station and with other cyclists. Most of the others I talked to are also regular commuters, which was interesting. I was hoping to get to meet a few people who had gotten on their bikes just for the day, but it was also good to know that there are other regular commuters out there that I don't normally get to see.

The ride went smoothly both directions, although on the way back there were a couple of extremely rude motorcyclists who loudly revved past me and then turned right in front of me. (I want to like motorcyclists, because motorcycles get good gas mileage, but percentage-wise only about 20% of them are polite, so overall I strongly dislike them.) I didn't fall over or have any other clip-related mishaps, and I really enjoyed the whole ride process. No one else at work rode, so I was spared providing anyone else bagels. :P I was disappointed by that, since there are others who ride sometimes or are considering it, and BTWD is a good first day to ride because of the moral support and free materials you get.

Today I checked out the various front pages of the papers at the train station and saw that there was a picture about Bike to Work Day on the front of the Mercury News. I was excited to get to work and see what story they had, and was disappointed to find that there was no story. There was only a short caption and a reference to the "Drive" section of the paper for MPG tips. They did do a story preceding Bike to Work Day, but it was a short story and not prominently placed at all. I wrote the following letter to the editor:

I was disappointed today to open the front page and find that Bike to Work Day was covered only with a blurry, unidentifiable picture and short caption. Thousands of Bay Area commuters left their cars in the garage and got on their bicycles; hundreds of volunteers turned out to offer support at Energizer Stations. There must be hundreds of interesting commuting stories among these thousands of people, deserving of much more than a blurry photo and a reference to upcoming MPG tips. Bike to Work Day is news -- news of a healthier, more environmentally friendly way to commute. Instead of looking for tips to get a 10% gain in MPG, put your car away and get on your bike. Your MPG will go sky-high.

I doubt they'll publish it, but they know what I think now.

Another small increment of my 15 minutes of internet fame is ticking by: A coworker interviewed me (and one of her co-church members) for an article about cycle commuting on a website for Christian social activism! She also posted the Bike to Work Day event and mentioned it in the article.

I did my best to give some useful basic tips and a few personal ones (like my Buff and Mr. Bento), and I'm really pleased to see them in print. I think my coworker did a great job of being informative without making biking to work sound intimidating, and of placing it positively in its social and environmental context.

I posted an email about Bike to Work Day to my work mailing list, and I just now realized I haven't reproduced the same information here, in case anyone in the Bay Area (or elsewhere, if you want to make your own BTWD) is interested. Here's relevant info:

• This year's Bike to Work Day is Thursday, May 17, 2007.
  
• Energizer stations with food, water, and bags with maps and other useful items will be staffed at the San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View Caltrain stations, as well as many other locations.
  
• Lots more information is available at the SVBC website for BTWD.
  
• If you want, you can ask me about routes and tips for safe and fun riding (though, all of you being my readers, you've heard all my tips already :-).
  
• I liked these pictures from last year. It's fun to see other people doing what I do (besides my usual companions on the Caltrain).
  

The SVBC explains the benefits of Bike to Work day and biking to work:

Almost 40 percent of Bay Area commuters live within five miles of their workplace, a distance considered ideal for bicycle commuting. If every person living this close to their workplace pedaled to their job on Bike to Work Day, more than 60,000 vehicles would be off the road, reducing tailpipe emissions by more than 150,000 pounds. Bicycle commuting also eases the parking crunch -- twelve bicycles can fit in the space needed to park a single car.

I hadn't realized so many people in the area are short-distance commuters, since almost everyone I know is a 10+ mile train or car commuter. Very cool.

It's been a while since I've seen any really top-quality driver idiocy, but I couldn't resist posting about this one. It doesn't even entirely have to do with my being a cyclist, because I've heard of this happening to drivers as well.

My last maneuver before arriving at work is to merge from a bike lane across two lanes of traffic, into one of those dual-direction center turn lanes. Then, if I'm lucky I can make the turn right away, or I wait a little bit. Sometimes it does take a while but the traffic is rarely all that heavy and there's a light nearby that cuts the traffic periodically. Which is all just to say that making this turn is not hard at all. Merging is harder than making the completion of the turn.

So today, I pull into the turn lane, see that there's a short line of cars coming after which I'll be all clear, and stop and put my foot down to wait. Some idiot in the left lane slows and stops, clearly "trying" to allow me to turn in front of him. Only, see, there are two lanes of traffic, and there are people in the other lane. Who have not stopped, and who will not stop just because he did. So it's utterly useless and he's blocking any potential traffic. He just sits there, while I hope he'll get a clue and move on with the other traffic. Finally when it's all clear I realize he won't move, and gesture at him to move along already. If there had been more cars coming, all this bullshit probably would have meant that I would have missed my turn opening, but fortunately for my ire level, that didn't happen.

This kind of behavior is not courteous. It's dangerous, because anyone behind you will have no clue why you stopped, and it's pointless, because I can't take advantage of it. And even if I could, I wouldn't, because it violates the rules of the road, and I depend on the rules of the road to stay alive and upright, and I don't appreciate being given rights-of-way I don't have and don't need. I bet you're also the kind of guy who waves cyclists on at stop signs when they've already gone to all the trouble of stopping. Don't do it. Just drive, for Pete's sake. We'll deal.

In other news, I finally cleaned my bike yesterday. Yay clean bike.

Back on my bike today for the first time in almost a week (got sidelined due to a cold and some needed bike repairs), I had the unusual experience of running into two other cyclists on my route going the same way.

One of them came up to me as I was doing a Cyclists Left from Evelyn to Mary, because the train was coming and was going to screw up the regular left-turn in the light cycle. (I really ought to write to Mr. Roadshow about that light. It would be pretty easy to program it for green-final left-turn arrow after a train came; it's already prorgrammed for a super-long green afterwards.)

I could tell from the way he positioned himself that even though he had arrived second, he wanted to go in front of me. I really do have to ask those who've cycled more and longer than I on this one -- isn't that rude? Unless you absolutely know that you're a faster cyclist than someone (which he couldn't have known about me because I've never seen him before), I feel like if you come second, you should get in line second.

I let him go ahead, because he clearly wanted to, and he started out fine, but I came right up to him and had to brake. I would have passed him if I could, but I neither could nor wanted to, since single-file on a road with such fast traffic is the best policy.

At the next intersection another guy joined us, and I have seen this guy before and know he's fast. He, however, stayed behind until right before the light went, then went out in front on the last of the other direction's green arrow, quickly followed by Mr. Fast Start Slow Ride. I've been burned by this as a pedestrian before so I don't do it -- you never know when a fast final left-turner is going to speed through. And I didn't think it was really right to go out right at the end. State your intention clearly, at least.

I ended up a few cars behind them, and there was what I thought was the usual slowdown from right-turners into the Infamous Driveway, but then I heard someone honk, I think -- not sure -- and then Mr. FSSR was turned funny, sitting nearly still in front of a car, gesturing, and then sped off into the driveway. (Mr. Jump the Gun was ahead of him pedaling away.) I can't really figure what happened, except that he was perhaps "blocking" by someone's opinion, who honked, and he tried to give them a piece of his mind. I hate people honking and it's inappropriate, but his reaction blocked traffic and was dangerous, too, so, not a fan. Plus, it made me miss the next light.

In summary, cyclists are just as rude and impatient as drivers sometimes. It's not the vehicle, it's the attitude.

I was merrily rolling along down Central Expressway this morning, just starting to build up speed when I felt my bike come to a rather sudden and unplanned stop. You'll be glad to know that both it and I stayed upright during this process. But after I stopped, I heard the tell-tale hiss of air escaping from my back inner tube. When I got off, I found that a large, twisty piece of metal wire (about 1/8" in diameter) had become embedded in my tire and pulled my fender so it was folded almost totally in half.

( Tales of the fixing (which will likely bore you if you've ever fixed a flat, or never want to) )

So much for my first flat (amazingly, I've never had one before). And of course it comes on my first day riding after the bike being broken for other reasons! Oh well.

I did wonder why the piece of metal would puncture my tire. Surely, pieces of twisty metal don't usually sit with their points straight up -- gravity would tend to make them fall. My guess is that I bounced against it, it popped up, my fender caught it, and it proceeded to twist right into my tire. So there are hazards to fenders, as well as benefits.

Today, my first day back on my bike after last week's fall, I saw all of the following:

A cyclist riding the wrong way on Central Expressway, and using an entrance ramp to exit
HINT: You're going the opposite way on one side of a divided expressway. Everyone on this side is going the other way. This is obviously illegal.

A pedestrian deciding to start crossing the street just as the cross traffic light was turning green.
HINT: If you're going to jaywalk, at least know your light cycles.

A cyclist casually go out into the intersection from a left-turn lane on a red left arrow while 50mph cross traffic had a green light. (Luckily there was no cross traffic.)
HINT: Red light means stop.

This all occurred at an intersection (Central and Castro) where I regularly see people turn left into the crosswalk from the left turn lane and ride their bike in the crosswalk, on the sidewalk, and on the train platform. The Mountain View police would make a mint giving out tickets there -- I wonder if they ever do.

Regarding tickets, a friend of a friend was recently complaining about being giving a ticket for not stopping at a stop sign when there's no cross traffic. I simply don't understand why you would complain about this. It's the law. It doesn't not apply to you because you're a cyclist (unless you're in Idaho, where cyclists are allowed to treat STOP as YIELD). Did you know that? Yes. You decided to take the risk. So don't complain. And don't run the stop signs. You make life difficult for those of us who do follow the rules, because you make drivers not expect us to, and that makes sharing the road hard, because they can't trust us.

A lot of the road-sharing issues are due to ignorance, but today's experiences show that obstinate me-first behavior is a large part of the problem too.

According to Commuting in America III:

"Driving Alone remains the lowest in average travel time of the major modes; Commuter Rail the longest. Average transit travel times remain roughly double that of driving alone."

Transit has a number of other benefits, but when you're stuck on the slowest form of commuter transit, you at least hope that the responsible agency cares that you're giving up time in favor of those other benefits...

I got a little flier about reducing waste in my mailbox today. The most interesting thing in it (besides info about how to deal with batteries) was the factoid that when Ireland introduced a 17-cent (I'm guessing Eurocent) tax per plastic bag, usage dropped by 95%.

I'm far from perfect on not using plastic bags, but I do reuse them and for shopping, I primarily use reusable bags. I had been using my backpack and canvas bags, but during the San Jose Jazz festival my mom was visiting and we checked out a street fair. A guy there was selling non-woven bags made from polypropylene, made in the shape of regular paper shopping bags but highly foldable, with optional inserts to support the bottom and keep it flat. They only cost $1.50, compared to many bags offered at grocery stores which can be as expensive as $7-$15. They're great bags and I've given away or sold (at cost) several to admiring friends. I just ordered a bag of 25 from their online site, MondeAmi.com. About 15 are already claimed, but I'm quite willing to send anyone who's interested one, or you can buy your own. I also like the tasteful color and design.

Onto a less pleasant subject. Not too long ago, I wrote a letter to Caltrain expressing unhappiness with their attitude about cyclists on the train and lack of interest in creative solutions to accommodate all their customers. I'm disappointed to report that their response not only didn't make me feel any better, it actually made me feel worse towards them.

The fact that I got a response at all does give them some points, but the nature of the response takes them all back and then some. It's basically a page-long dismissal (I'd say it in coarser terms, but I don't actually want to denigrate them that much). Under the cut is the text of the reply, with interspersed analysis.

( Caltrain response letter and analysis )

So, I won't be talking up Caltrain to people anymore. Caltrain is poorly managed and unresponsive to customer complaint. I wrote them a very polite letter suggesting that some people are unhappy and perhaps a change of attitude and maybe a few creative solutions could make people happier, and I got back a "Yes, we know you're unhappy. Too bad. We're going to make you even unhappier." I didn't expect much, but a nice "Thanks for your letter, we're very sorry you're experiencing inconvenience, we are doing our best, thanks for your custom and your patience with this difficult situation" would have been a good minimum to aim for. A "We'll be trying to decrease your unhappiness in the future," even if it's meaningless corporate happy-talk or an implementation of some fairly insignificant change, would have really made me a happier camper.

Instead I have turned from a Caltrain advocate to a Caltrain tolerator. I used to look forward to my train journeys; now my enjoyment is much diminished. I'll take it for as long as it's a reasonable solution for me, but I'll be looking for better solutions (like riding my bike the whole way) and I'll be telling others not to go out of their way for Caltrain, because Caltrain sure as heck isn't going out of its way for them. And now is not a time when Caltrain should be pissing off its advocates, not with the recent spate of delays due to collisions and mechanical problems. The collisions aren't their fault, but they do make the annoyance of taking the train already forefront in everyone's mind, so without advocacy people may just turn away from the train or never start taking it. It doesn't help that whenever there's a delay, there is no way to get accurate information. They don't tell the train operators much of anything, and they only update the phone customer service people at irregular intervals. When I called them last night, the woman told me the delay was still an hour and 30 minutes. The actual delay was about 30 minutes going north, but 90 going south. I was going north, so her info was, it turned out, totally misleading, and she had no idea when they would be updated again. This makes Caltrain even more useless than usual, especially in the evenings when it already has a shittier schedule than usual.

As for the collisions, there must be Stupid in the water lately, because there have been four fatal pedestrian collisions and one non-fatal collision with an empty car in the last several weeks. All the pedestrian collisions are believed to be due to attempting to "beat the train." Another PSA: Trains go fast. If you're ever tempted to go around or under a bar, or cross at a crossing with lights flashing but no bars, Just Don't. Wait 30 seconds and save your life and save the trauma level of everyone around you while you're at it.

A coworker pointed me to this interesting (if not particularly well-written) history of the bicycle. I particularly liked this:

Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel. It gives woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. --Susan B. Anthony, 1896

I'm pleased to know that Susan B. Anthony would stand and rejoice to see me today, and that I'm part of a noble tradition of emancipated women riding bicycles. I do feel that my bike emancipates me, although it has nothing to do with my gender and everything to do with being able to get where I need to go without having to give in and get a car.

( route/equipment rambling )

The bike car of my train has been madness recently. I'm considering switching to a combination of riding all the way and taking the slightly later bullet, which I've heard is less crowded. I sent my bike letter to Caltrain last week. I wonder if I'll get any response.

At the train station this morning, there was a woman waiting up at the north end where the bike car is. I guess I was giving off friendly-vibes today (I think the bike helps, too) because she said "It's a nice day, isn't it?" (which is a funny conversation starter for the Peninsula in the fall, because it's always a nice day, but she turned out not to be from around here) and we ended up chatting for a while, mostly about trains. She talked about how cool it is to see people commuting by bike and train, and about a train journey she took across the western US when she was 13 or so, and how the people who control all the Union Pacific trains are in Omaha (where she's from) and what they do. I was fascinated, since I love trains. She was meeting her daughter on the train and they were going to Carmel. Sounds like a nice day to me. And my day was definitely improved by having such a fascinating conversation. That kind of thing really restores my faith in my fellow humans.

Today for the first time I cycled the full distance to work. I wasn't going to work, just testing a route. The test was quite successful. On the way down I took an off-road path on Waverly St between E Meadow Dr and E Charleston Dr, but that turned out to be poorly maintained, so on the way back, I cycled on Middlefield until I reached E Meadow.

Two things remain annoying: the periodically poor pavement quality on Bryant between Oregon Expwy and N California Ave, and the partial lack of bike lanes on the small section of Middlefield between E Meadow and Old Middlefield Way, particularly the total lack between Charleston and Old Middlefield. Both were unexpected. My maps say that Middlefield has bike lanes for its whole length between Loma Verde and Central Expressway. This is apparently false, and it's not obvious to me how this falsity came about since it doesn't look like Middlefield was ever striped for bike lanes there, although there are wide curb lanes (interrupted somewhat by parking) and it certainly could be. And I don't understand why certain small sections of Bryant are really old and poorly repaired. The road is designed to be used primarily by cyclists, with frequent barriers for cars. Cyclists suffer much more than cars on poor pavement. Most of Bryant is fine, but there are some very annoying sections. Dear Palo Alto, please fix your "Bike Boulevard". Love, every cyclist in Silicon Valley.

The route distance is roughly 9.5 miles (not including the beginning from my house to the bike bridge) so I rode about 20 miles today, in about 2 hours with a 20-minute rest. I think the trip down was about 55 and back about 45, despite a headwind. I was really tired when I got back, though.

A more serious complication occurred when I got home. When I picked up my seat to move the back end of my bike closer to the post, the suspension portion of the seatpost came out from the rest of it. It's squeaked a lot since before I went to Scotland, and just recently it had felt looser than it should be, turning back and forth in a way I found a little bit odd. I really should pay attention to my hunches about such things, it appears. Just glad nothing happened while I was on the road. So the bike is going to have to go to the shop again, since my recently-acquired repair guide suggests consulting the manufacturer's manual for such things, and I don't have it. I think while it's there I'll have them just do an overhaul on it. This was something I was hoping to avoid by gradually learning to do repairs myself, but I think maybe I'd be better off starting out doing basic preventive maintenance and then later simple repairs on a largely healthy bike, rather than one that may need some significant work.

Anyhow, I'm very pleased that I managed to design a largely successful route to get me to work, and that I'm fit enough to ride it once on some days and have it take no more time than a regular train/walk or train/bike commute.

Today's commute was kind of stupid -- as Michael would say, a clown show -- from start to finish. ( slightly ridiculous Caltrain/bike machinations )

The ride was fine until I got to Evelyn and Mary, where the train crossing is. The bars came down right after the arrow (which I was too far away to make) had gone green. I stopped behind a guy who had had to back up back into the lane. I left a bit of space for acceleration and to avoid his exhaust, which was none too clean. When the gates came back up, some idiot cyclist was sitting on the sidewalk on the left side of the road, and went across on the train crossing, which is even more idiotic than riding on the sidewalk/pedestrian crossing, then turned into the road while attempting to avoid right-turning traffic. Nitwit.

Not too long before the light was going to turn, a guy pulls up in the (straight) lane to the right and says "Do you mind if I get in front of you?" My reaction is pretty much disbelief, because there's no way there's space. I didn't leave a whole carlength plus room to move into it. Besides, what the heck is he doing trying to butt in line? I say "Yes, I do. Please don't. I left that space for safety and acceleration." He mumbles something I can't quite catch, with the general gist of "Seriously?" I say "I have a right to this lane too. If you wanted to turn left, you should have gotten in line." (The line was long, but the arrow is always extra long after a train goes, so everyone usually gets through. More muttering. Finally I'm like, oh, whatever, I'll just slide up by the first guy. So I do (a mistake, since EW EXHAUST). I don't know what he does -- I assume butts into line. We turn, and of course, I end up ahead of him and blocking his path slightly, since he's too stupid to cut a tight turn into the left lane. I take my usual space in the rightmost lane. As he passes me (since he does need to be in the left lane, it appears) -- he yells "bitch" something or other. I'm really kind of giggling at this point, like, gee, I feel so insulted by an idiot who can't drive and whose path I'm not even obstructing.

I should have taken his license plate number and sent a letter to the MV police -- I would have been entertained, at least, though I doubt anything would come of it. Which is really the problem with all the bullshit that goes on on the roads -- you can never prove anything, so if a police officer's not watching and there's no accident or damage, you're screwed for getting anything done about it. So idiots cruise the road with impunity, and it's just a clown show out there.

After I wrote my entry about Caltrain's Bike FAQ, I decided that I really should actually write to them, not just rant on the internet about it. So, I wrote a (warning: long, probably boring) ( letter to Caltrain, which will eventually be sent to them. )