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Seeing the 1993+, 40 minute uTube offering, has prompted me to continue the you're "Giving up" thread. I had not seen that. 20+ years evidently goes by quickly!
I wondered awhile back about the observations you made about my post on continuing to enjoy my commute from HydePark to Metric @ Braker. I have been employed in that very small area off and on (more on) since 1986. It seemed confrontational, but is much more understandable given what you have said here.
Living in Hyde Park has offered me all the advantages of biking as mentioned in the uTube documentary. However, I have a couple items of advice for casual readers of this thread for consideration of reducing the threat of severe injury (death) while riding bikes. The mood for jotting these down will dissipate if I give too much attention to pros / cons. With that self apology...
1) At any time there comes something you need .. there will be more than one likely supplier .. located "around" AND there will likely be predictable car traffic flow over the time a bike ride might be used to get the needed thing. I have found that a trade off can be made to choose the supplier that I can get to with the most reasonable safety one can expect ... and I go that supplier.
2) In the same manner if a supplier is *really* the one I want to shop at, then I think "when would a bike trip to it minimize my exposure to worrying traffic?" Then comes all the weighing of this focused on information to see if I can reach an accommodation between fears (pushed to so near zero as to be able to think about the other weights .. phoning ahead for reasonable assurance that the trip even stands a chance of success) and engaging some pleasure otherwise missed .. again. We do this sort of decision making all the time, usually in matters where injury is so close to zero as makes no difference. But with experience I know that over time it rates higher and higher as a chance of getting my attention.
3) You correctly surmised that my commute to work (or anywhere else I go .. your prompt for self evaluation pointed out to me) was probably circuitous. It is! I bike just over 9 miles, but whether I take Lamar or Burnet or MoPac then the car distance is 7 miles. My advice to those getting on bikes to go somewhere is to consider the tradeoffs: You can lower the weight given to reaching a destination in the minimum amount of time and raise the weight of a path that might yield some sort of feeling of pleasure (often that will be to envision lemonade when if I sense that lemons are part of the decision information). I work full time (my embraced choice) and the remaining time in a day is reduced by about 30-40 minutes due to the difference in going and returning by car as opposed to by bike. That time is up for assessment of how to spend one's life. Such assessment fluctuates a lot, even over just a few hours, but DOES HAVE IT LIMITS (one weight -> 0 .. another -> maximum).
4) The last, for now, is keeping a vague list of things that recur. For a trivial instance I have CFMMP memorized to such an extent that in the mornings with a Pavlovian bent, once I am dressed for leaving (e.g. hard soled shoes instead of sandals) when I reach for the exit door handle ... CFMMP will come to mind and I expand it silently by voicing keywords that spark (some) thought: Coffee Food Mask Money Phone. My hand is still on the door knob and I have ticked off a list that "IS PLANNING". All in the space 3 - 5 seconds. If even 1 silent word leads to silent thought of the immediate future ... it won't stop there. It *may* cause me to drive to work so I can attend to a much more diffuse need or at least dramatically increase my options to tack on other small things I have put off for just such an occasion. That is rare enough that it hasn't become an excuse to ignore *all the reasons to NOT get behind the wheel*. The point is I have reason to keep "planning" as a common task. I can remember when our child was still at home, I didn't plan. Get in the car and THEN think "What needs doing first?"; and it hardly mattered .. time between became zero in my mind. Only a hand full of places to go to get "stuff" or attend to rearing's demands or ....
I cannot say when things moved over into the "look ahead" way.
Really, thanks for the uTube reference. I worked on Fred's "newspaper" one summer to track down the buy/sell items that to me were out-of-date. Sometimes 2 were separated on the page with identical info! But, "proof" would really be heeded by Bob Farr when it came time for the layout. And I did get `at-ta-boy's from Fred. That uTube sure mentioned a lot of people I haven't seen in years. For Fred? Well, it is a sad explanation. I almost don't want to know. If serendipity puts me in the presence of one, great. Hmm. Maybe I wish I hadn't had my memory stirred with that video. Too late, now.
Hey, Michael
[I'd like to email you. My email address is G@cjwyche.org. I cannot update my profile and the email for ggw is woefully out-of-date.]
Middle of June, 2021 and I believe that environmental summer here is starting.
I ride a recumbent and really don't like to be rained on. Even trying to evade it by carrying the recumbent to a nearby porch is not a sure thing due to the length of it and handle bars to stick out, so I usually don't commute in the late spring when rains are predicted daily.
Today was a very good day to commute. It gets light about as early as it can get, there was the light breeze from the north and a temperature still in the lower 70s.
I'm 74 now. I have biked *fairly* continuously since arriving in Austin in 1965. The pandemic removed my commute which has always, regardless of my employer, been about 9 miles for some 10 months; and this unusual winter and slow start to the spring-summer made me wonder when I set out how I would react to my usual choice of route to north Austin whose path I know very, very well. I am not a competitive cyclist .. not even in my mind for about the last 40 years.
I turned my corner at Woodrow to head north and heard "click click" a bit further north.
I feel a need to mention that I am a bit nearsighted and have a pair of glasses for distance and another optimized for 20 inches for viewing a medium sized monitor for my software programming job. I accidentally headed off with the "close up" pair on. I planned to dismount and rummage through the bag stuffed into my pannier, but the riding felt too good to stop for that AND (the point of this aside) I find that I think better of the world around me if it slightly out-of-focus. ..Through (figuratively speaking) Rose Colored Glasses. Having, like many Austinites, not been face to face for conversations for about 14 months (Yes. I have been going to work for some 4 months now, but there hardly any one there and .. until the end of May wasn't *fully* vaccinated there was not fraternizing with others. With pulling in the horns of my employer we have half the employees we did as 2019 drew to a close, so everyone has their own office, so I mean it about conversation missing for 14 months.)
What I see is part of the conversations I have with myself. I (we) don't wallow in the imperfections of the road way, homes in disrepair, cars obviously pretty much abandoned, closed businesses whose marque remains months later, .. that sort of thing that fades in to distance when you cannot see them all that well.
The "click, click" was a cyclist up ahead snapping his feet into the petals. Another 30 seconds went by and I was clearly (pun there) had gained on him. He got to Keonig Lane about 15 seconds before me. There were 2 cars at the stop light to head north and 1 on the other side heading south. The cyclist bolt across against the light (this was about 8:15). I don't run lights (driving a car or riding a bike) so I waited behind the 2 cars. Woodrow curves a bit to the left before straightening out to lead us very straight for a mile or 2. It is also the 1st rise.
I was moved to imagine why it was that the guy wasn't that far ahead. You can imagine a half dozen things without trying. So I watched the fuzzy being as I once again gained on him.
This entire post is a build up to this: I was now about 1/3 done with my commute and I was enjoying it as much as anytime in years and years. How could that be when I'm years and years older? I think it is because over my life I have never (a software programmer team of one) had deadlines that I overextended myself to meet (..learned that about myself as my sophmore year at UT drew to a close). I ride my recumbent to a set of attributes that is a sense of resistance. That sense of resistance is one I know I can maintain all day. If I increase my effort I get winded and have to back off to between 8-9 mph for or I won't enjoy my work and will go to sleep early, wake up too early to arise for the day .. just all messed up. 9 miles of city commuting isn't going to ever sap my energy for long. Maybe when I'm 80?
o I don't race against others, so I won't be getting disappointed when I can no-longer keep up.
o I don't race to "beat" stop lights, so I won't be getting T-boned .. for *that* reason .. if I could no longer have that burst of adrenalin to be well clear of traffic that "can't catch me".
o I stop at stop signs realizing that "starting up" is good exercise for muscles that otherwise wouldn't get much.
o Not being winded affords me many more opportunities to say "Hi" or to thank someone (3 someones on my way home about 6:15pm) who makes admiring noises (recumbents*still* do that especially this Mike Librik Special with high rider bars).
All of those things have a perception level that changes slowly with this rider. Those levels are particular to me and as a commuter with my own path there is no "comparing" to others.
o My 9 miles to and 9 miles from have no speed limits above 35 (most are 25) so my hand grip mirrors work great at being aware of traffic coming up from behind. It is hard to quantify how much stress that removes from constant wariness.
I hope I've gotten across why bicycling stays the fun activity that it is year after year.
Heh. An hour or so ago that guy and his family rode by Shipe Park. He didn't even bother to pedal. (The whole family never slowed down for the way stop the turned right at!) He did wave.
How might I go about recycling my bike tire?
After a # of years I have replaced the rear tire on my recumbent. The now useless tire is staring at me. I want to recycle that tire. Internet search for "Austin, TX recycle bike tires" was disappointing .. "bike" being ignored even when I put quotes around it.
Thank you, Darron.
I have done exactly as you have said for some years now .. south to St. Johns, east to Lamar and take it from there.
I had to read the Monitor article to get a better sense of the issue, but after that, re reading your reply to Michael made great sense.
I realize some of my puzzlement is due to being unfamiliar with the terminology. Can you recommend a reference that could help me appreciate more of what I gloss over, hoping it'll make more sense in later context of a read (.. but doesn't)? A title from the library would be great, but .. I'll take what you can mention.
George Wyche
@btrettel
I have followed your pursuit through the legal system.
I applaud you for your fortitude and coming to terms with the outcome.
With a friend I followed (by being in the court) a vaguely similar case through the legal system from arrest to the end ... over a year's time and it was mind numbing to be sure. My friend & I were the only "public" ever in any of it though the aggrieved parties were in the dozens (I was one of them, my friend was not).
You have my admiration. Mine was an unpleasant education.
That the very thought I had after reading the previous posts.
We don't want a possibly injured person left unattended. What happened is not considered a crime.
Make it clear (as we reasonably can) that we (society) really want the victim attended to. No fault (as long as a personal relationship between the parties is not pertinent).
If you think you may have come in contact, stop, give aid as seems appropriate, pass the situation off to a responsible party, and you are done.
[It is my personal opinion that any lack of feeling of guilt by the perpitator will not be altered, but they may still be willing to give immediate aid in one way or another.]
I was a constant customer way back when they were at the end of the shopping center next to Nau's.
I really am having to let the old go away.
I had to catch myself again when I found out early this week that Crump's Plumbing quit being open for normal business hours. I've been there soooo many times. Now I have no such places left at all. They all quit on me. All of that makes me (contrary to my 2nd sentence) want to visit Home Lumber Co. even though I don't need anything right now. I had been partial to East End Lumber. I don't even WANT to remember all the electronics parts stores I went to. Sadly, I found myself (bragging) about buying copper mesh from Davis Hardware to build a Faraday shield... gawd that place had everything. I remember robbing Blond Electric blind 'cuz the old man had lost touch with how much stuff cost! Hah! I did talk myself out of getting an (really) old Daily Texan and doing one of those KUT 30 second Old Austin segues just reading the names of the businesses from the paper ads... and I'd finish with a tiny flash mentioning the day the Campus Corner burned down... or just a slow naming of all the businesses that have occupied the N.W. corner of 24th & Guad.
I'm afraid to mention bike shop names!
Having had similar situations, I found that, with a single exception, the its best to stop. Mostly for the author; YOU will have more time for things that keep you interested. This does not.
ggw
btrettel, it's easy to avoid that kind of collision with the driver turning right across stopped cars: Don't pass on the right. I say that in 3 of the 10 Ways to Not Get Hit by Cars. If you must pass on the right, you have to do it with an incredible amount of care.
@Michael
I (re)read the 10 suggestions. If you authored it all, then kudos to you. It is well written.
Can I assume that by "Passing on the right" while in a bike lane is a short hand phrase that leaves out the assumption that a car in the line of cars you are passing CAN turn right? We are NOT talking about when there are no roads, alleys, nor driveways, yes?
More than one pathway I take in my commute between 44th & Speedway and Metric & Braker at times will have a line of cars and my bike lane will have been present for some distance and is marked all the way to an intersection. I can cite the specifics, but at a max speed of 17 mph in those conditions, I won't be passing any cars. *IF* I am already (practically) in the crosswalk, waiting for a light, my going when the light changes doesn't count as "passing", yes?
I am quite familiar with cars (apparently) not thinking that 17mph is THAT fast and make right turns in front of me (for whatever reason). But.. that is off topic.
This is a better link. It was a fun refresher:
I first saw it yesterday, Saturday morning, 2013-02-23. There was a road bike on its side chained to the fence approximately where the previous Ghost Bike was. That might explain the change in location. Since this is being done anonymously (or at least this forum is out of the loop), it might be moved when the road bike is gone?
Michael Crider has suggested that double chaining/locking of it will aid in preventing its removal. (Its still there today!)
There is a "U" lock on it. Anybody got a spare cable + lock? I'll contribute $5 toward a 2nd lock if nobody does.
The red pickup truck was past a straight line formed by the 44th street south curbs. It wasn't so far into the intersection that another vehicle would have to swerve to negotiate 44th.
More detail than that I cannot remember.
I did not see Debra get hit. I came to the intersection from West 44th. Saw the guy sitting by his truck, heard what he said, looked north, saw Debra on her back with her arms and legs making a star pattern in the middle of the road, and dead. It seems to me that Debra had been knocked off the bike and she rolled to her resting place, which is many yards down hill to the north from where I stood. There was a woman with a phone to her ear and she was hurrying toward Debra from the North and was about 10 feet away. There was a man just to the east of that woman. There was other activity farther away. I think I recall noise, it may have been shouts.
Reports later said that the bike was under the truck. I don't even remember seeing the bike. But since I saw Debra riding on other occasions, I would have known that she had been on her bike. Those details, I guess, just didn't seem important once I realized it was Debra and she wasn't moving. I do remember wishing that she was just hurt.. unconscious. I really felt utterly powerless.
As I mentioned earlier, at this late date I don't really want to dwell on it. Her 2 childern are adults now. I never saw them again after the memorial in Shipe Park somewhat later.
AND, today after I got home, the Ghost Bike was taken again last night, but it wasn't in the creek this time. I haven't located anyone who knows how the bike came to be there. The investigation is young.
FWIW I was the one painting the sign in the intersection. Wish I was a better artist, but then I knew it would be about the art, and not about Debra.
I painted it because I came upon the accident about 30 seconds after it happened. I'll go to my grave with the image of her laying, inert, in the middle of Ave. G, with people with phones to their ears and hurrying to her body, and me turning to see the guy sitting on the pavement next to his pickup truck saying over and over, "I didn't see her".
I had some very significant deaths in my close social circle in 2012, and it caused me to wonder at my repainting Debra's commemoration every year (more when it would become defaced). I knew Debra Prokop through our memebership in Hyde Park Neighborhood Association. She was not a close friend.
When the city of Austin repaved all the cross streets in Hyde Park a couple months ago I decided that 10 years of mourning, however shallow or deep, is enough. I don't want "mourning" to be a signficant part of my remaining life.
I am content to see a more institutionalized monument like the White Bike maintained by a wider community. I would eventually have a guilty conscience if I did not take action on this desecration. I worry about a 66 year old guy navigating down the banks of Waller Creek, jumping into the water at dusk, hauling the bike out, pushing it up and out, carrying it the 60 yards back to where it had been. I made no plans, sought no help... just acted like I might have back in 2001. There are a lot of things that I believe will have to stop.
In the talk about the trial bicycle lane just off Kinney, with the pylons to encourage more cycling, Ben Ware, et. al. interviewed cyclists coming and going. One guy was classified as one for whom none of extra amenities mattered one whit. It described me to a T as I've cycled since 1965; cycle to where I need to go; don't need help (don't reject it either), and am no longer within the range of sensitivity to "new to cycling" to be able to be relevant in a conversation. I don't like it.
I'll do a little web searching for White Bike. Bicycle Austin is the only cycling oriented forum I visit.. 'cuz you got it all! :^)
PS: No one showed further interest in my last post about how misbehaving cyclists in heavy traffic genuinely make motorists fearful. The exact cause of (that particular) fearful event is soon forgotten, but the gut of the motorist's body does not forget... it gets associated with cyclists. It is an issue worthy of consideration. But I, at least, have seen none of it.
White bike desecrated
Who originally placed the bike?
This white bike subject is topical to Bicycle Austin because it commemerates Debra Prokop who was commuting to work when a pickup truck at a 4 way stop ran over her.
The white bike was found today (Feb 3, 2013) in Waller Creek about 60 yards from 44th & Ave G where it was locked to the fence around the Shipe Park Pool. The lock was on the ground where the bike had been attached. It was open.
I dredged the bike from the creek and put it back, but the lock is surely defective so I left it there. A tennis player said the bike was in its proper place yesterday, Saturday.
I want to get in touch with the one who put the bike there and arrange for securing it again before next Saturday night.
George Wyche
g /at/ cjwyche.org
458-9709
I am too wordy so this will come out in several posts (if it seems
germane).
Basically, motorists can freak out at their 1st close encounter with a
cyclist, andriline flowing (think fight and/or flight). Later, any (all?)
cycling infractions that might conceivably run the motorist's subconscious
by that palpable stress cause the subliminally thought, "They have the
nerve to put me through this pain over and over".
After I present my illustration + 2 "close encounters" from people I know,
maybe we can talk about ways that might address this.
George Wyche
So there is a driver perception of cyclists problem.
I propose that drivers DO see cyclists as a threat.
That feeling is misplaced, but is, none the less, felt.
I haven't run across much discussion of that phenomenon. I have a scenario that illustrates this + 2 first hand accounts of drivers that I know displaying that behavior.
George Wyche
My post reads like I'm "piling on", but you cannot turn left from 38th onto Shoal Creek anyway. Did he mean 45th? More "not awake yet"?
I concur with Michael. I have bicycled and commuted in this town since 1968, and have NEVER heard of even half that stuff happening... I attended all the courteous mass rides except one when we had them, and none of them resulted in any altercations, verbal or otherwise, between anyone.
I certainly have had close calls that put my heart to pumping as a participant in bicycle|car interactions (being alternately on/in one vehicle or the other) where voices (and fingers) were raised, but always from a distance and no projectiles were ever involved.
George Wyche
@Mallory Art
I empathize. I haven't met anyone who isn't affected by this sort of public humiliation.. regardless. I can testify that for the most egregious ones some of the mental baggage will remain.
I don't know how to minimize the possible long term effect. Are there any psychologists reading this that have suggestions?
You should evaluate the "education mitigation" option. I didn't. After it was all completed I didn't save any money and had my work schedule disrupted by the requirements. However, one might squeeze worth out of the process because you end up rubbing shoulders in an extended manner with fellow citizens in a distinctly abnormal way... a lot like serving on juries.
Please believe that what happened to you was a random hook thrown into a huge school of fish. It won't happen anytime again soon. The infraction on your record is inconsequential unless you ever might be in a position of public trust (what a phrase!) where it might be brought up by your opposition. Barring that, "erasure" should be a non-consideration.
At the least you have yet one more of the scars of life that slowly accumulate. At party circle chats those grant you a nod of the head in a world weary way.
The only other pictures I have that include "public" figures are the several months of "Courteous Mass" which was also from 2001 later in the year. Those do not have annotations like what I already posted.
If and when I put those up at cjwyche.org, I'll write to this same post.
ggw
Check out the Bike To Work day from 2001. That year I was working downtown and Eric needed volunteers for BTW day, so I did it. It took Eric, Kathryn Otto, and myself nearly a month to put it together. I particuarly took on the "wait person / clean up" that year, but found plenty of time to take photos that day. I was strictly a grunt work guy, and did none of the planning. Eric was really riding high that year.
http://www.cjwyche.org/bike/20010504/20010504BTW.html
I don't know where he got all the energy. He was certainly appreciated at the time!
ggw
Needed for TV appearance: "Austin bicycle commuter representative"
I participated in a group appearance last Wed. morning that was exclusively covered by Jenni Lee of Fox 7 TV.
Because I had to be somewhere soon AND because she remembered me from being around the court house for all the Tommy Kelly TIRE STABBER appearances, Jenni singled me out first for chit-chat. It came out that I am a bicycle commuter and had ridden the previous day when it peaked at 103 deg F after work.
Ms. Lee took down my particulars and said she "Wants to do a segment on bicycling". I'm pretty sure she means it.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm not particularly photogenic so I want to steer her to someone else who has a broad knowledge of "Wah'z happenin'" in Austin when it comes to bicycle commuting. Who would be willing and good at not sounding like a political advertisement?
George Wyche
If all 30,000 showed up at once there would be 8.8 square feet/person for this event
Sorry to chime in so late, but how much density is too much?
I'm a home owner now with my 50x150 lot in the "middle-of-town" and quite contented. There are condos at a diagonal property which is high density by my view, but it causes me only a little bit of pain when their parking of vehicles (a U-Haul truck) on the street becomes consistent.
I commute by bike to N.Austin and really only have crossing of 45th to worry about. I'd have no problem there if traffic was 30mph, but its usually higher, raising wreck probabilities. Higher density might cause the average speed to go down, but higher density might also increase the number of cars forcing me to a worst case of sitting, seemingly forever, at the 45th & Speedway light.
I suspect that MORE DENSITY would put property tax pressure on the likes of me compared to now, and not because of increased cost of service derived from the various taxing entities.
ggw
You might benefit from reading a book about persausive talking.
There are a few simple, but lengthy, steps to follow. Those steps require you to engage the person (or your target audience) in conversation to find out what they will accept for an answer. It is often quite narrow and requires addressing other seemingly unrelated issues before you can get back to the one you are interested in.
I am an uncharismatic, aged, engineer and find that if I really desire someone to change, every individual is different. I have to REALLY want that change. The recidivism rate is depressing and I have to give subtle booster shots, lest a single exception to the different way is taken as "I knew I was right with the old way!". There is just so much data of varying quality out there clamoring for attention.
I know that is vague. Just my experience.
The situation is very different when someone has a question.. they have motivation which I don't have to know. I answer as honestly and sincerely as I am able, otherwise my words carry no more weight that others around me with whom I often do not agree.
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I can see it, why can't everybody else?
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