RSS Subscribe
Jun
20
Surprised to see a photo of a bike commuter on a a train on the cover of this morning’s North County section of San Diego’s Union Tribune newspaper. “That’s great!” I thought at first. Then I read the headline: “Cutting back on bikes onboard – Officials cite safety in limiting number to 4 per car on train” Just what I was afraid of with the huge growth in bike/train commuting recently.
Photo by CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
The story deals with the recently inaugurated Sprinter light rail line launched earlier this year in northern San Diego County. I haven’t had a chance to ride it yet, though I suppose I could take it to my current Metrolink train in Oceanside. There’s been criticism that the line is a “train to nowhere” from Escondido to Oceanside, California. As a result, apparently many more than expected (upwards of 12 per car, according to the article) are bringing their bikes on board to complete their journeys at either end.
“We have really been overwhelmed with bikes so far – more than we expected,” district spokesman Tom Kelleher said. “It’s a pleasant dilemma.”
I agree – this is a “pleasant dilemma” to have, right? This is a great sign and takes the mission of a light rail system one step further: people leave their cars behind even to get to and from the train. With the encouragement of this great participation by cyclists, all that’s needed is a creative and “pleasant” solution. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with government bureaucrats here. Their answer to so many bikes on the trains: limit them to 4 citing safety reasons. The transit district is also proposing that bikers just use the 278 bike lockers installed at the stations along the route. Yeah, no need for your bike at the other end of the line in a suburban setting…
The limit is planned to go into effect on July 1st.
“On July 1 there are a lot of people who just won’t ride the Sprinter anymore, which is just going to be unfortunate,” Keehan said. “It’s not good for the transit rider or the transit district to not accommodate those riders.”
The commenter “Left Coast” summed up the situation best and provided the best solution:
so let’s see, right at one of the MOST significant times in public transit history, where they have the greatest opportunity to increase ridership, and help the environment, what do these dummies do?!
ENCOURAGE people to bring bikes… many, many bikes. make one of the cars one big bike rack. think you idiots, THINK! stop being bureaucrats for once in your lives.
I just hope Metrolink doesn’t get any ideas from their peers to the south and try something like this. I really like the idea of making one of the cars “one big bike rack.” I chat with a fellow bike commuter on the platform, but when the train comes we have to split up so that we won’t compete for the limited bike racks. Would be great if we could ride on the train with the other bikers.
To end this post, I’ll leave you with one final comment to help frame the situation with a bit of humor:
Pack the train with bikes and people! It is not about comfort it is about saving fuel!
In 3rd world countries you could be setting next to a box of chickens or a pig head.
Jun
19
Is More Bike Culture the Answer?
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Interbike | 11 Comments
I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the last couple of posts here that dealt with the rise of bike commuting have generated so much interest and feedback. I guess this isn’t surprising considering the attention to commuting by bike that I’m increasingly seeing in all areas of the media (and the huge increase in bike commuters I see on the roads).
One particular comment from Justyna on this recent post made some great points about where she sees the problem with getting more people to commute by bike – and it’s “not about the stuff”, as she puts it. She linked to a post she wrote following her trip to Interbike last year where she caught an interview we did on our “Good Morning Interbike” show from the Media Center with Tim Parr and Sky Yeager of Swobo. (Here’s a link to the video – you’ll have to sit through Ned Overend and John Tomac, Lennard Zinn and Jonathan Vaughters…lots of enthusiast candy in there).
This discussion of what it is that is keeping more Americans from cycling is complicated and very interesting at the same time. Same goes for the issue of why people do cycle already. I don’t want to go through the whole Coasting thing again, but Shimano has spent a lot of time and effort trying figure this out (yes, so they can sell these people more stuff, I know…) and, among many insightful observations from their research, determined that the culture and environment of bike shops is off-putting and intimidating to many non-cyclists.
Justyna wrote that what is needed is more of a “bike culture” here in the States. While more awareness and acceptance of cycling and cyclists by society is always welcome (and what I guess she really means), I would hazard to guess that the nature of the existing bike culture (that most shops are great at nurturing) is one of the reasons that many don’t currently ride. As a commenter on blogger BikeSnobNYC’s great post today, “Get Over It: Surmounting Obstacles to Cycling”, mentions:
No “culture” is as inclusive as it thinks it is. It’s only a few individuals that make it inclusive.
It could be the fear of looking silly in lycra, of complicated bikes, of fixie hipster attitudes, of riding in traffic, of small hard bike seats, of confrontational critical mass’ers, of the arrogant racer shop clerk, of expensive bikes, of not being accepted by experienced cyclists – all these are bike culture components whether real or perceived. What needs to happen is a lessening of some of these cultural components from the general image of cycling held by society at large. As the Snob himself writes:
If I’m hard on the fashionistas and the gear whores, it’s because I think one of the greatest obstacles to new cyclists is the uniform and equipment it seems necessary to own in order to join in the fun. From the outside you’d think you can’t own a fixed-gear bike without having full sleeves and a HED tri-spoke, and that you can’t own a road bike without having an SRM and a pair of wheels that costs over $1,000.
As the Coasting project determined, we (as an industry) have done such a great job of framing cycling as a sport or fitness endevour, that people who just want to ride feel intimidated, or worse, don’t even give cycling a moments consideration. My point (and Bicycle Retailer’s in the article I discussed in my post) on the question of whether bike shops are selling the right bikes, is that (most) bike shops are set up to service the enthusiasts (think the “Lance Effect”, etc.) very well and cater to that culture and as a side effect, turn off many of the non-cyclists who aren’t part of the clique. To these people, a skate shop, fashion boutique a friendly website or even (gasp!) a Wal-Mart or Target could provide a more welcoming environment to take the plunge into cycling. They just want to buy a bike and ride, right?
A final note: I know there are many great shops out there doing a wonderful job at encouraging new cyclists. In my work in the industry, I calculated once that I’ve visited about 350 of the best shops around the country, and have seen many awesome shops and met many passionate cyclists. By no means is this an indictment on all bike shops, but a critical look at ways in which we as an industry can take feedback from a group of outsiders newly interested in being “one of us” and ways we can encourage them.
Enjoy the ride!
May
16
It’s Bike to Work Day in SoCal
Filed Under Advocacy, Deep Thoughts, Rides | 4 Comments
As if you didn’t know, bike community members, today is Bike to Work Day in Southern California. I guess other regions have it on different days. Judging by the number of bikes on the train platform this morning, I going to guess that its will be a pretty successful BTWD. The ongoing challenge, of course, is to keep everyone going beginning Monday. MasiGuy’s blog had a comment this morning that describes this well here.
A side effect of BTWD is the crowded trains. I guess it’s a positive sign for cycling, but the 2 racks per car on Metrolink here don’t cut it. There were 5 bikers on my train home last night. Can’t wait for tonight’s crowds.
On a positive note, there happened to be a “market research” person from Metrolink on my car. I commented to her about the need for more racks. She smiled and handed me a survey to fill out and suggested that I use the comment area to mention the problem. Also was able to put down that the bike is my mode of transport pre- and post-train ride. Bonus.
Along with the four other bikes there were four other bikers on the train. Had a nice conversation with one who was on a really nice carbon road bike. He’s definitely one of the industry’s “VIP Customers.” So much so, that after he found out that I worked for Interbike (did the jersey and socks plastered with the logo give it away?), he mentioned that he loves Interbike and goes every year. When I asked him how he gets in, he said that he’s a very good customer of his shop and they get him into the show. Now this volatile topic is worthy of a whole other post, but suffice it to say that if any type consumer should be let into the show, this is it. He doesn’t ask for price lists or deals or sponsorship, knows that the show is for the dealers and manufacturers to conduct their business and he buys everything he sees there from his local shop.
I’m not advocating at all that it’s ok for retailers to do this. They still need to respect the exhibitors and those other retailers who are uncomfortable with this and have expressed a desire to keep the show for the trade only. I do have to admit that this guy’s passion and love of bikes and cycling is strong enough to get him to drive 5 hours each way to Vegas and pay for his own hotel and expenses just to ogle cool new bike gear.
Continuing the trend of interesting conversations that happen when you bike and train to work instead of driving, I met the publisher of Skateboarder magazine this morning (they’re also based in San Juan Capistrano and are the sister mag to Bike magazine). He bikes to work most days of the week. Great talk about the future of traditional media and the web and also nuances of the various core “tribes” within the skate world. Good stuff. Would never happen in a car by yourself.
Finally, here’s one more pic for Carlton Reid (congrats on your award, btw!) who enjoys seeing where people live, work and ride. I was bit early this morning to the train and rode a couple of blocks over from the station to the beach. Another beautiful day to ride.
May
15
Scenes from a Bike Commute
Filed Under Cycling, Interbike, Photos, Rides | 6 Comments
In the spirit of Bike to Work Week, I thought I’d show a few scenes from my bike commute. I live in northern San Diego County and my commute is multi-modal: 14 miles by bike to the Oceanside (California) train station and then a 25-or-so minute train ride up the coast to San Juan Capistrano in Orange County – mostly through the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. I try to leave the house by 6:15 when I commute by bike. I can be showered and ready to go by the 8:30 start of our work day.
For simplicity’s sake and to protect my nice camera, I just used the camera on my cell phone. Not bad, but not exactly stunning color repro – there was actually beautiful blue sky this morning that doesn’t come out in these photos.
That’s my bike in front of a piece of sculpture in Oceanside. This is near the start of my own version of the “Stupidest Bike Lane.” It’s seperated from the street (as you can see in the photo above), is perfectly paved and striped, has nice signage but it is only about 500 feet long through a residential neighborhood and has 2 stops signs along its route. At either end of this path there’s nothing more than some of those “Bike Route” signs. Not lane, no path. This is just a random piece of bike facility that lives in a vacuum.
This is my local shop. It’s not the closest to me by any stretch, but it’s the one I chose to frequent. I have two bike “super centers” – one that I can even walk to – and while they’re nice and all, I still prefer the old- school independant shops like Pacific Coast Cycles in Oceanside. Chuck, the owner, used to work for Masi Bikes years ago and is a great guy to chat with and he’s got a bunch of cool classic bikes and parts in the shop. He’s also very opinionated about what he likes and dislikes in bikes and the bike industry. Worth a visit if you’re in the area. I try to make a point of stopping in to say hi on my ride home.
The Oceanside train station is near the beach and pier (visible in the background). Also near the station is this blue house that you may recognize from a little old movie called TopGun that took place in and around San Diego. This is where Charlie (Kelly McGillis) lived and was visited by Maverick (Tom Cruise). It’s in pretty bad shape and is scheduled to be torn down, the last I heard, to make way for a big resort complex. Pity. Not exactly a significant piece of American heritage, but a neat part of American pop-culture.
There’s my bike on the train now. The Metrolink trains have room for two bikes on each car. Not a problem in the morning as I get on at the first stop, but it can be a problem going home at the end of the day since the train comes down from LA with lots of commuters. I have to guess which car will be emptiest and hope for the best since there’s no time to “browse” all the cars to see which has room for me. More often than not I’m stuck holding my bike the whole trip in a crowded car. No telling what Bike to Work week crowds will be like.
Here’s a little nod to our friends at Timbuk2 bags. I love this backpack they made for us with the Interbike logo. It’s a nice change from the messenger bag I usually use. This is also a nod to the guys at Bike Hugger that recently had a discussion about the best bags for laptops and bikes. This one holds a MacBook Pro very nicely, by the way.
This is a typical view out the window of the train during the commute. What you see here is the pier in San Clemente and some nice waves. I tried to catch some of the many surfers in action, but the phone camera makes them look like specs. Suffice it to say that this is probably one of the most beautiful train rides you can do: along the beaches and coastline of Southern California. Dolphin sightings are common, too.
We’re there! Waiting for the train to pull away so I can cross over the tracks to roll to the office.
This what’s on the other side of the tracks: the Los Rios district of San Juan Capistrano. I believe that it’s the oldest neighborhood in California going back to the time of the missions (don’t quote me, though). Very cool old neighboorhood that feels more like something you’d see in Disney World’s frontierland – but it’s authentic.
From the station, I hop on the San Juan Creek bike trail for about a minute. I runs along a small canal that looks like the ones they always had car chases in in 70’s police shows and the movie Grease. Being a non-native Californian myself, I always enjoy seeing this type of Hollywood-inspired California imagery. Along the same lines, I still chuckle when I see CHiPs officers on motorcycles.
That’s our office as seen from the bike path. If you keep heading down the path, you’ll hit Doheny beach in a couple of miles. That’s the way we usually head during our lunch time rides.
So door to door, it’s about an hour and forty minutes. At 14 miles of riding each way, it’s a decent enough workout. And the shower at work helps make the commute more enjoyable for my co-workers.
What’s your commute like?
Update: Per Carlton’s request in the comments, here’s where my bike I live between commutes:
The bike lives just around the corner from my cube during the day. Jennie, our art director, keeps her Electra beach cruiser on the other side of my cube. During any given week, you can see a Fuji (mine), an Electra, a Giant, a Burley, a Ridley, a Trek, and a Felt. Sometimes I break out the old Bridgestone RB-1 with Campy C-Record and Delta brakes for fun and style on the commute. Downstairs in the bike rack are a couple of rusty cruisers that a couple of people use for running errands or getting lunch.
My cube. Not much to say about a cube. Actually, looking at it in this photo, it looks pretty sparse – even for a cube. We moved cubes earlier this year, so there’s not much decoration other than the Eddy Merckx being interviewed in the Interbike Media Center poster on the left and the Bikes Belong musette hanging on the wall. Up on the shelf there’s a team High Road/Shimano/Giant pint glass that I got at the Tour of California, a Trek shot glass and cowbell from Sea Otter and a travel mug from the Interbike/Bikes Belong coffee giveaway at last year’s show. That’s about it. Feel free to send me some schwag to help decorate the cube…