So at risk of being a rule obsessed roadie, I have to share two rules I think everyone should follow while road riding in response to this video I recently discovered. We could call them best practices, but then you might ignore me and end up like this guy:

It appears this ride ended up fairly unscathed, but you might not be so lucky. I have logged tens of thousands of miles in group rides, and this could have been prevented. Please follow these rules to avoid his fate.

Rule #1: Aero bars are verboten in pace lines.

This rider’s biggest problem is he is tucked in his aero bars at the back of his pace line. Not only does that mean he has no ability to slow down his bike, but the aero bars are completely unnecessary! The whole idea of a pace line is to draft on the guy in front of you. Your aero bars are providing you no benefit while your crash is becoming a “when”, not “if.”

If you are going on a group ride, leave the tri bike at home. If your road bike has aero bars, stay out of them unless you are taking a pull at the front or when you get dropped.

Sitting in your aero bars in a pace line is dangerous to the people around you and does not help you. Don’t do it!

Rule #2: 32 spoke, triple cross wheels rule.

When you are training, save the low spoke count wheels for races. This guy should not have overlapped the rear wheel of the guy in front of him, but when he did and got hit, the reason he lost control is that one of the spokes on his ridiculously low spoke count wheel snapped causing a catastrophic failure of the wheel.

Low spoke count wheels look cool and sometimes save weight (though many times not … often the manufacturer has to beef up the rim to take the high tension this wheel build requires negating much if not all the weight savings of the fewer spokes.) Unfortunately, they have little to no redundancy. I have experienced a low count, radial built wheel completely fail with a single broken spoke.

Read this book and you will understand the beautiful balance of strength and weight in the triple cross wheel (plus you'll learn to build your own!)

With wheels, tension is the most important factor for the overall strength of the wheel, both enough and that it is even. I have a strong preference for hand built wheels as you know the tension will be right (plus I really enjoy building my own wheels.) Machine built wheels are pretty good these days too, though you do not get to choose your wheel parts which often leads to the 32 spoke variety being heavier than they need to be for economy.

Now before you say I am not being “Pro” or whatever phrase you want to use to describe roadie orthodoxy, take a look at what most pros ride on training rides. More often than not it is 32 spoke, triple cross wheels. They are dependable and pretty cheap even for the nicest pair… perfect for the abuse on long miles. Many pros choose this type of wheel for training because it makes senses.

This is why I am wary of the guy who shows up to a training ride on his Zip 404s. He is broadcasting to me he does not have the experience to know you save those wheels for race day or pre-race tune up rides. This is not someone I am going to feel comfortable jumping into a pace line with because he may just do what the guy in this video did.

So there. I broke my own rule by making some rules. The only difference is these rules are not about making me feel better than you but hopefully making that next group ride a better experience for everyone.

Fall riding in Texas past 4 pm calls for lights. The current laws in Austin require a front light and a back reflector. And, I’ve already heard of first hand accounts of police stopping cyclists to remind them of the laws. My favorite front light is the Monkey Light spoke light (although Monkey Electric, the manufacturer states that Monkey Lights are not to take the place of a front or rear bike light, but rather to be used along with).

I first heard about the Monkey Light after it made a debut at the Makers’ Fair here in Austin a few years back. The spoke light, as the name indicates, is mounted on the spokes of any wheel, front or back. It only takes 3 zip ties to snugly hold the light on the spoke. Along with little rubber shock mounts that prevent the light from vibrating against the spokes. It stay in place, doesn’t slide up and down, and doesn’t shake the wheel at high (or low) speeds.

There is a row of approximately 32 ultra bright LED lights that, get this, change color, a rainbow of colors, not just the traditional white and red of bike lights. The lights can make an array of patterns based on the rotation speed of the wheel. My favorite pattern looks like the clover leaf. I’ve nicknamed the Monkey Lights the Seizure Inducer: the lights are intensely bright and they continuously pulsate to create the shapes and patterns.

Studies show that there is an increased incidence of pedestrian and cyclists getting hit by vehicles right after the time change. The simple reason being that it puts bikes and cars together in the dark during the busiest traffic time. A horrible cocktail for disaster combining evening rush hour and a light-less bicycle. And even if you have lights, bike accidents tend to be T-bones. Vehicles don’t see the front and rear lights when approaching perpendicularly to bikes and crash into them from the side. Hence my gushing admiration for the Monkey Light because they make me visible from the side. The lights are so bright that it illuminates the pavement on both sides of the wheel.

When I started writing this,  I didn’t intend for this article to end up being a product review. Rather a kind reminder that it’s the season for bike lights. Although during fall in Austin I can still wear skirts in route to work without freezing, I’ve got to wear lights from work to home to make it there in one piece.

At times myself, I’ve imaged these put-together European mothers, and decided I don’t need to wear a helmet either. I want to perpetuate women on two wheels that are strong, but the science behind it says that bones of a skull just aren’t stronger than cement or asphalt. That science makes me convince my kiddo to strap in, but I can still work out a loop-hole for myself: “I’m only going a couple of miles.” “There’s a bike lane the whole way.” “I’ve got lights on.”

This weekend I visited the 4th Annual Texas Custom Bike Show. The spacious room housed bike enthusiasts and bike experts, amidst some of the finest hand built frames in Texas. One of my favorite frames of the show was built by Freddie himself of Freddie Frames (based out of Oklahoma, not Texas). The frame was modeled after an 1918 Elgin bicycle. I’d never seen an Elgin bicycle before, but imagine Pee Wee Herman’s red bicycle, with a thinner frame and lower curved top tube, and you’re on the right tract. Freddie claimed that he had the original Elgin back in Oklahoma with all of the original pieces and parts, including the rotting and flaking original tires. I was impressed. I conjured up a visual of an Elgin mounted with a rider back in it’s hay day, and even in my imagination the rider had no helmet. A stretched leather rugby player helmet from that time era was the closest I could come up with. And Pee Wee, no way, no helmet through his big adventure.

I have a cool lady friend from Austin who did a solo bicycle tour down the west coast of Oregon without a helmet the entire journey. Coolness or craziness, I get a similar sense of awe from her adventure that I do from the cycling Dutch mother. But unlike the stylized Dutch mother, the wind blew my friend’s hair out of place the entire time. And the last day of her tour, a strong head wind, combined with her tiredness at the end of the day, blew her and her bicycle over. She cracked open her skull and it took 11 stitches to seal it back up.

My hope is if we talk about helmets more, maybe we’ll think about wearing them more, to the point that we won’t think about it, we’ll just do it. Hair styles wont be considered. Myself included.

The program has a lot of cool projects including a weekly walking bus (where an adult leads a walking route to school picking up kids along the way), a bike bus and bike rodeo, prizes for kids that walk and bike, and city code compliance officers making sure people do not block sidewalks and cross walks with cars, trash cans, etc. It looks like a really good program, and it begs the question if we are serious about reducing car use and addressing obesity and air quality why we are only funding 6 campuses a year for this? Road expansion projects cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, but how much less would it cost to fund staffing these programs at every school in town every year? It would not be cheap, but it would show us where our priorities are.

While this program is great and I am excited to participate in encouraging other families to bike and walk to school, I also got the nagging “ignoring the bull” feeling. This phrase was coined by Mikael Colville-Andersen of the site Copenhagenize to point out all the little ways we do not confront or attempt to work around the dominance of the automobile in our communities. He says is it like we have a wild bull loose in a china shop and instead of wrestling and subduing the bull, we scold people in the shop for not getting out of the way of the bull.

Two things jumped out at me in the presentation. First was the little data tidbit that nearly 1/3rd of 5-9 year old children killed by motor vehicles are on foot (there is no citing of source on this in the materials so take or leave this number). This is a bit of shock tactics which will surely make parents worried about children walking place, not encourage them to walk. Of course, ignored in this data is the flip side of the statistic: the other 2/3rds killed were passengers in a car. If the data were presented to show how dangerous cars are to the passengers as well, perhaps it would be easier to get helicopter moms out of “safe” SUVs and instead walking with their kids.

The second thing that was more disconcerting was the absence of any programming targeted towards drivers to take responsibility for looking out for vulnerable street users, those not encased in steel. As Uncle Ben would say “with great power comes great responsibility.” Yes, we need to teach our children how to navigate street crossings and be aware of their surroundings, but why do all these programs leave it to the least among us to overcome the danger created by the most powerful. While I truly believe we need to build our streets to be safe for all users (we still have long section of the neighborhood on the way to school with no sidewalks!), infrastructure improvements are outside of the scope of this particular program. Nevertheless, I hope the program can evolve to interact with all parts of the safe streets equation and stop ignoring the bull.

Good news! The CNA LUT Committee approved the Original Proposal, by a vote of approximately 15-5. Thanks so much to the regular attendees and newbies (both including several LOBV members) who came out to tonight’s meeting.

This recommendation will be given to the CNA Steering Committee (CNA SC), which meets next Wednesday, Sept. 14th at 6:30, at the Cherrywood Coffeehouse. If the CNA SC makes a decision at next week’s meeting, that will be considered the official Cherrywood Neighborhood Association position.

If you live in the neighborhood, and can spare time at an establishment that serves food, beer, wine, coffee, and smoothie, please come attend next Wednesday’s CNA SC meeting (Sept. 14th 6:30pm). Usually the CNA SC affirms the CNA LUT Committee decisions, but that is not a guarantee (and the three CNA SC members in attendance tonight voted against the Original Proposal tonight).

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The League of Bicycling Voters is inviting all concerned cyclists and Cherrywood Neighborhood supporters of keeping the bike lanes on Cherrywood Road to tonight’s neighborhood association meeting to decide the association’s position on bike lanes. In response to the City’s original proposal to make bike lanes no parking areas and the partial removal of on street automobile parking to accommodate this, a group of Cherrywood neighbors have organized to not only block this proposal but also call for the removal of the current bike lanes. If they succeed, this would be the first sizable removable of bicycle infrastructure in Austin and a set back for creating safe space on our roads for all users.

Tonight’s meeting is an official Cherrywood Neighborhood Association meeting. The group is welcoming all cyclists who are interested to attend however only residents of the neighborhood will vote on the groups recommendation. This will carry great weight in how City staff move forward on bicycle facilities for this road. If you are a resident of the neighborhood, please be sure to show up tonight and vote for the City’s original proposal.

TONIGHT’S MEETING INFO:
What: Support the City’s Original Proposal for Cherrywood Road bike lanes.
Who: Anyone can attend. Cherrywood Neighborhood residents can vote.
How: Attend the Cherrywood Neighborhood Meeting in support of the City’s Original Proposal
When: Wednesday, Sept. 7th, 7:15-9:30pm (you can arrive by 8:00pm for the bike lanes item)
Where: Cherrywood Coffeehouse, E. 38-1/2 St. and Lafayette Ave., Austin, TX, 78722

The Master Bicycle Plan calls for eventually no vehicle parking in bike lanes throughout the city. The reasoning goes that bike lanes are a lane of traffic, and it is both dangerous to force cyclists into the other traffic lane and the obstacles make the facilities less appealing for general use. Using the formula that first successfully developed on Exposition Boulevard and since repeated all over the city, the initial proposal for Cherrywood Road was to remove on street parking on one side of the road while keeping it on the other. This allows enough space for both two way automotive traffic, sufficient vehicle parking for the vast majority of the time, and most importantly bike lanes that are meant to be unobstructed by parked cars.

During the planning process, neighborhood opposition to this plan sprouted up, and there has been virtually no pro-bike lane support. In response, the City of Austin’s latest plan removes bike lanes instead of growing the network of facilities for all street users. There will be one more meeting about the plan, and the League of Bicycling Voters is asking all bike lane supporters, especially those that live in the area, to show up next Wednesday evening in support of the original plan.

Opposition to bike lanes on Cherrywood Rd. threatens to remove them completely. We need you to attend the City’s public meeting this coming Wednesday, August 31st. This is our last chance for a public showing of support for the bike lanes.

Based on feedback at the City’s Open House on July 6th, which included stronger opposition than support, the City was compelled to strip away some of the bike lanes for their second proposal. The opposition is still fighting to have the entire length of bike lanes removed. They will succeed, unless the bike community comes out in large numbers to next Wednesday’s public meeting.

We are asking you to show your support for the City’s Original Proposal for Cherrywood Rd. bike lanes. The City presented this proposal at the July 6th public open house, and it is endorsed by the Austin Bicycle Advisory Council. While the Original Proposal is consistent with both the Upper Boggy Creek Neighborhood Plan and the City of Austin 2009 Bike Plan, the second (current) proposal is not.

Take Action:
What: Support the City’s Original Proposal for Cherrywood Rd. bike lanes.
How: Attend the Public Meeting
When: Wednesday, August 31st, 6:00-7:30pm (arrive 10-15 minutes early, if possible)
Where: Asbury United Methodist Church, E. 38-1/2 St. and Cherrywood Rd., Austin, TX, 78722

Note that a presentation will begin just a few minutes after 6:00pm, so please arrive promptly.

P.S.: We also need support from within the Cherrywood Neighborhood, but so far only a couple people have spoken up at neighborhood meetings with unequivocal support. We know that there are hundreds of people in the Cherrywood Neighborhood who ride almost every day, but we need to bring them to action at neighborhood meetings. Right now, we are losing this debate. (I say “we”, because I live in the Cherrywood Neighborhood.) If you are a Cherrywood resident, or would like to organize neighborhood support please contact Tom immediately at tom@lobv.org or 512-203-7626. Time is running out, and we have already missed some opportunities.

The newly stripped bike lane icon has a definitely laid back position. Are City staff subtly suggesting we should be riding recumbents?

Before this project was done where there was any bicycle infrastructure at all on this section of South Congress, it was a mishmash of bikes lanes that started then petered out within 50 feet or came to an abrupt stop feeding you into speeding traffic. The angled parking created so many blind spots for cars backing out and was such a nail bitter for cycling that during a 3 year period I commuted south on this stretch, I would ride into the Bouldin Neighborhood just to avoid it.

What a difference the new bike lanes make! Southbound there is now a bike lane that runs the entire length of South Congress from Riverside to Oltorf (where it meets up with an already existing bike lane that runs for miles south.) The car parking is now back in angled parking which means the driver looks right at you as they leave the space. At the SoCo District stretch, this is especially welcoming as the grade gets a bit steep and now you do not need to have the double worry of being buzzed by an impatient motorist while dodging cars backing out of parking spaces.

The view south from Riverside. Cars are now forced to merge out of the bike space and the bike lane now runs the length of South Congress.

At Academy, the southbound bike lane no longer has the abrupt end.

All in all, this is a great edition to South Congress, a major route to downtown for those of us south of the river. It is also good to see that City staff came up with a good solution without caving to hysterics from some local businesses that assume any concessions to those not in a car will destroy the local economy.

Back in angled parking is now the standard on South Congress from Academy to Oltorf.

I’ve been more reserved about responding to claims of disproportional targeting of cyclists after hearing APD stats that indicate while cyclists may make up 1-2% of road users in Austin (and as much as 5% in the center city), they only make up 0.3% of the violations issued. It is easy to string together 2 or 3 ticketings and turn them into a “crackdown.”

One area where it seems that cyclists and pedestrians do get the short end of the stick is in the way wrecks with cars are treated. Take Austinite Brad Harmon who was the victim of a hit and run in April. He received broken bones in his left arm and leg from the crash. Unfortunately, the police decided there was nothing to be done since he could not identify the driver (is this realistic in a hit and run?) Harmon did not give up and did the investigators’ work for them making a pretty compelling case that he had found the prime suspect in the case. APD’s reaction? Do nothing and tell cyclists that is their responsibility to not get hit by someone driving a vehicle over 100 times their mass. The 3 foot safe passing ordinance was supposed to highlight that road users not in cars are vulnerable and deserve special caution from drivers who have such an overwhelming advantage in a wreck. While recently Los Angeles passed anti-harrassment ordinances for cyclists, it seems like the concept of strict liability might be the only thing that will rid of us of the go-cart mentality of drivers.

Sadly, Bill Harmon may had gotten off easy compared to an Atlanta woman who was charged and convicted of vehicular manslaughter this year while being a pedestrian. In this heartbreaking case, a mother was crossing a street with her children coming home off the bus when she was hit by a driver who fled the scene and admitted to being under the influence of alcohol and pain killers. One of her children died while she and her two other kids were injured. In their infinite wisdom, the Atlanta DA cut a deal with the driver and went after the victim. Ugh, this case puts a pit in my stomach.

At times, it feels like the justice system is balanced to favor the machines.

We are making real progress towards making Austin a truly bikeable, walkable community for all users, but this progress can easily be lost if people are treated like sub-citizens or criminals when they interact with cars. It’s time to stop giving legal and structural priorities to machines and put human beings back at the top of our legal system and streets. Otherwise, more often than not we won’t be the windshield … we’ll be the bug.

Shoal Creek Boulevard Closure

The northbound and southbound bicycle lane on Shoal Creek Blvd. will be closed today near the intersection with 46th St. for most of this week. The closure is needed for the Shoal Creek-Rosedale Storm Drain Improvements Project.

Lance Armstrong Bikeway Closure

The Austin Water will begin a project this month to refurbish an aging section of a 42-inch wastewater pipe that runs below Cesar Chavez Street to Brazos Street. The Pfluger Bridge will remain open and the pipe will run along the east-facing railing. Orange security fencing and cones will separate the bypass pipe and bicycles/pedestrians. In addition, there will be lane closures on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, San Antonio
Street, Cesar Chavez Street and the cul-de-sac at the end of Brazos Street (south of Cesar Chavez) to station construction equipment.

Below is the project schedule:

July 18-27-Bypass pipe is installed
July 27-August 15-Wastewater line refurbished, bypass active
August 15-22-Bypass removed, trail restored

We will keep you updated on specific closures of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway from July 18-August 22.