Author: bbcbike

By Allan Edmonds

Saturday saw the club ride head north to Paragon, as we typically do once a year. It was a well-deserved day of nice sunny weather, if a little windy.

Leader Bob DeGroff got the large group of about 40 riders organized, and off we went.

It was an interesting group of all levels of experience. It was clear from the beginning that we would – and should – break up into several smaller groups, after regrouping a couple of times on the way out of town. Bob took the leader’s role of watching out for the newer and/or slower riders seriously.

Bob assured us that he had checked that Bottom Road was unflooded and passable, although he couldn’t vouch for the final 4 miles into Paragon.

A few people took the 29 mile shortest option, including Tammy and Glenn B. who were riding dual tandems with kids on the back. They’ve often been out with a tandem, but this was the first time they brought both kids and both tandems, and they thought it prudent not to push their luck too much.

I was in a small group that decided not to to the out-and-back portion to the stop in Paragon and do the 38 mile middle option.

We were taking a short break in the Morgan-Monroe Forest when some of the other riders caught up to us. It had turned out that the route into Paragon was flooded and they had given up trying to ride through the water. At that point some riders had opted for extra miles by going on to Martinsville and following our M and M route. Others met up with us and decided to go through the forest, DOWN Beanblossom Hill and back to Old 37 on Anderson Road, instead of staying on Old 37 the whole way back into town.

For those new to the club, who naturally wonder how fast club rides go, I note that my small group averaged around 13.5 mph, including time in town on both ends, and a little under 12 mph including stops. For most of the ride we were averaging somewhat over 14 mph. We were definitely among the slower riders.

P.S. I was a bit surprised to have gotten a bit of a sunburn on my arms. I guess it’s time to start being more careful about sunscreen.

P.P.S. Note for next year’s ride calendar: We’ve been flooded out several times on this ride. Maybe it needs to be a little later in the Spring!

I am very very far from being a roundabout or transportation expert, but it seems to me that there should be deterrents to slow down traffic before this circle. The 25mph and 27mph estimates scare me! I also noted that the roundabout has parts that are only 1 lane making there no room for mistakes for vehicles. Isn't the purpose of the roundabout to continue movement in all directions and not hinder it. I suggest that the circle have 2 lanes in its entirety. And maybe the HT should publish articles on how to drive in a rotary. I've almost rear ended a police cruiser because he came to a complete stop at one of our current roundabouts! Jim Schroeder

Chris brought this up at the start of the OWLs ride tonight. I grew up with roundabouts in the UK so am well used to them…and I think this is a bit of a monstrosity. How many of you have seen motorists stop at each exit on the roundabout on Winslow/High Street/Rogers? I know I have. I dont fancy their chances on this.

Cyclists turning right will have to yield / filter in to the traffic continuing straight across the roundabout…which would to Chris's point above be travelling at a greater speed than if this were a 4 way stop. This is even more of an issue coming up the hill from Rogers and turning right…worse continuing straight as you'll be going across the traffic coming north on Sare. I'm not the slickest getting into pedals at the best of times!

Thanks Allan, Chris, Buff for bringing this up.

Rob Evans

Allan, I also spoke in opposition to this at the Citizens Action Committee And have spent time with the city engineer who is willing to consider signage establishing priority for vulnerable road users.

To be fair, Buff's picture above is a bit misleading because it excludes pedestrian oriented improvements including crosswalk refuges. In addition, the circle is exactly the same radius as the High Street Circle. The detailed plans can be seen on the city website at http://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=35 In addition, to a cyclists going straight or to the right, the lane separation may actually reduce confusion. The real issue for cyclists will be the left turn. Unfortunately, road cyclists are the only constituency that loses something in this.

Nonetheless, this will take an intersection where everyone stops and change it to one where the left turning carsvare projected to go at 17mph, right turning cars at 27mph, and straight bound cars at 25mph (all despite 15mph posted speeds).

The next step is the policy committee on 4/8. I will attend as the BBC safety director AND, REGARDLESS OF MY PERSONAL WILL ADVOCATE A POSITION ON BEHALF OF THE BBC THT REPRESENTS A CONSENSUS OF FEEDBACK I RECEIVE. Feel free to email me at the address in the club roster.

Chris Tietz

Some of you are aware of the city’s plans to construct a roundabout at the intersection of Sare and Rogers Rd, near where our OWLS group starts most of its Tuesday-Thursday training rides. We send large groups of cyclists through the intersection about once a week in season.

Just take a look at the planned monstrosity:

It looks like something more appropriate for I-69. It is completely unacceptable for use by all but the most daring bicyclists, and completely unacceptable for pedestrians.

This plan is on the verge of final approval!

Local transportation activist Buff Brown (founder of B-TOP) made an eloquent plea a couple of weeks ago to the Citizens Advisory Committee, pointing out serious flaws in the plan and advocating for a more sensible, vastly smaller, four-way stop sign. (Even in its current state the intersection is vastly too wide, at 100 feet between the east and west stop lines.)

The proposal is part of a larger package – called the Transportation Improvement Program – of such roundabouts. In addition to its intrinsic flaws it will eat up much or all of our local federal allocation for transportation infrastructure. It is now moving on to the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board meeting, Friday, April 8, 1:30 pm, at City Hall.

If you are concerned about bicycling infrastructure (not to mention urban sprawl, increased vehicle traffic, speeding traffic, etc.) it would be worth putting in an appearance at this upcoming meeting. There will only be a limited opportunity to get this proposal changed.

Buff Brown has prepared a detailed 16 page document addressing fundamental concerns about this proposal and proposing more reasonable alternatives. Click here to download it. (6.8MB PDF file)

Edit Monday April 4: Taking into consideration the public input we have received, including the resolution passed by the Citizens Advisory Committee, Mayor Kruzan has decided to postpone the construction of the Sare and Rogers roundabout by one year until Fiscal Year 2013.  This will allow for more consideration of the design and details of the roundabout.  The City will be making this recommendation at the Policy Committee meeting on Friday, April 8. [From City Director of Public Works, Susie Johnson.]

This last Saturday afternoon we remembered and said goodbye to George Van Arsdale who died on March 13, 2011, after a several year battle with a rare type of cancer. George was a long term member of the BBC. A funeral mass was held at Trinity Episcopal Church, with several BBC members attending. He had lots of connections in the community in addition to biking. The arts community was especially well represented.

I took the photo above out near the Waterworks in the fall of 2006 during the Persimmon Ride led by Joe Anderson.

I think we all recognized George in the description of him in the eulogy. A serious talker with knowledge and opinions on almost everything. He was unique and we’ll miss him.

George served a term as president of our club back in the 1970s. He recorded some of his memories of the early days of the club in a document that used to be on the club web site. I searched for it, but couldn’t find it there. I did eventually locate a copy by going to www.waybackmachine.org and searching there using the presently dead URL http://bloomingtonbicycleclub.org/history.html in the year 2007. You, too, could find it there. Here’s a link for the history that currently works http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20071021074419/http://bloomingtonbicycleclub.org/history.html Maybe it will reappear on our regular web site again sometime. But if you’ve ever lost something on the web, there’s at least a chance you can resurrect it using the Wayback Machine!

The club’s annual meeting was held on Saturday, February 19, 2011. As an experimental change of pace we has a luncheon meeting, again at Chapman’s. There were about 35 members in attendance. We’ve already heard a report of the meeting from President Keith Vogelsang by email on February 20-21. Here we share several images taken by Mike Finger. Click on any photo for a larger version.

Nancy Tibbit of Bicycle Indiana demonstrates the yard stick being used to promote their “Don’t be a Hogassaurus” Share the Road campaign, aimed at educating drivers to give bike riders at least 3 feet of clearance as they pass.

Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan joined the meeting and spoke to the club about what’s going on in the city.

Here we are going through the buffet line.

Chatting before lunch.

 Gathering for the business meeting.

Club VP Mark Villanova talks about plans for this year’s RAIN.

Cub members Clair Murphy, Bob DeGroff, Keith Vogelsang and Bob Austin chat after lunch.

Examining the county map of all our bike routes.

Ron Brown and Jim Schroeder examine an electronic map.

This must be Ron’s winter commuting bike with its studded snow tires.

As we all heard by email the first official Saturday club ride of 2011 was rained out on March 5. But as Tammy Berger reports, Sunday’s Nice and Easy Ride went on as scheduled.

She writes, “With the rain all gone 4 brave souls (Ron B, Clair M, Bill S, and Tammy B) braved the cold but dry conditions today on the Sunday Nice ‘n Easy ride.  We had a nice 21 mile ride in the 35 degree weather on the Nice ‘n Easy Tramway route.  The cold was definitely numbing, but it was nice to get out and ride with friends again.  Looking forward to a great riding season.”

I know others were out riding as well. CE, Gail, Tom, and I went out a little earlier on a route that combined elements of the airport ride and Tramway. We originally planned a 29 mile route, which we shortened a bit at the end, mainly because of cold toes.

Some BBCers might have noticed in the coverage of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords that she is an avid biker. Indeed according to the New York Times she went on a bike ride around Tucson with a friend the evening before the Saturday shooting.

BBC member Jim Schroeder passed along a link to a story about her and bicycling from the Tucson Velo, a local online bicycling newsletter. Check out her custom bike made by a local Tucson builder.