Author: bbcbike

Bridge Out! So What!

We had another large group of OWLS riders Tuesday night. After a couple of weeks or so of grumbling about the bridge (re)construction blocking a favorite route on Mt. Gilead, today Tom R. led us on an out-and-back on Kerr Creek and Getty’s Creek Roads up to the bridge project.

No one tried to get across the wide chasm! Altogether it was a beautiful evening to be out and a fine 18 mile ride, with plenty of light to spare in the end.

Hot Fall Rides

Tom Reynolds continues his extraordinary work developing and mapping new rides for the Tu-Th OWLS group. He was really pushing us with longer rides. But even Tom has accepted that diminishing daylight has cut the time we can be out. The “long” options for this week’s rides have been right at 20 miles. The plan now is to drop scheduled evening rides at the end of September, I think. But check the club ride calendar just in case. And if you are interested, maybe there will still be people for short rides in October.

Tuesday we went out 446 to Pine Grove and down to the lake. Quite possibly this was our last trip down that way to the lake.

After climbing back to 446, most of us headed back into town via Swartz Ridge and climbing Stipp. Almost always we go down Stipp. We should always do it that way once in the season. Some climb!

BikeMI

That’s Bike-MILANO, not Bike-Michigan!

Milan is one of several European cities that have recently instituted a bike sharing program.  One first “joins” at a rate of 2.5 euros a day, 6 euros a week, or 36 euros for a year.  (A euro is approximately $1.30.) One then has a name and PIN to punch into a machine at any of 100 bike stations, mostly around the center of the city.

You can take a bike at no further charge as long as you return it to one of the stations within 30 minutes. These stations are automated with a computerized docking system. You punch in a code and it assigns you a bike and gives you a few moments to remove it from the dock. When you return a bike, it registers that you’ve turned it in. a After another 10 minutes you are then able to take out another bike. If you don’t get to a station within the allotted 30 minutes, then your credit card gets a small charge, which quickly escalates. After several hours it becomes 150 euro fine, and if this happens more than once you can be dropped from the system.

Ordinarily if there are no vacant locking docks available you get directed to the nearest station with open slots and are allotted an extra 15 minutes.
The photo shows the bike stand at the Cardano Metro Station at evening rush hour.  As one can see there, the rule about having to dock your bike is honored in the breach at peak times. (Typical Italian, I suppose. It’s hard to imagine this scene in Germany.) Indeed the van in the background is pulling a trailer to be loaded with the excess bikes to be distributed elsewhere. When I was there early the next morning all the randomly parked bikes were gone and only the nice neat row of docked bikes, plus 3 or 4 empty slots, was in evidence.

As you can also see from the picture, these are heavy duty bikes with little baskets, adjustable seats, and front and rear lights. They are clearly identifiable on the streets.

On my recent trip to Milan I had every intention of purchasing a one-week pass.  In the end I bailed, however. First of all one needed a texting cell phone to receive the log-in name when signing up online. But I wasn’t using a cell phone in Italy. Perhaps I could have gotten around this if I had found a place to register in person. But having a smart phone is somewhat important as it can show you the nearest stations and where bikes are available and where parking slots are available. Also, although I was staying at a hotel in the city center, the conference I was attending was taking place 9 km, about a 45 minute metro/tram commute, into the “suburbs”, well beyond the locations of the bike stations. And with all the commuting, etc., we didn’t really have much free time.

Despite all of this I was still aiming to give it a try. But then I got a first hand look at traffric in Milan and gave up the idea. Cars, mostly small ones, everywhere. Small trucks. Many motorcycles. Lots of bikes. All performing a complicated “dance”, weaving in and out, squeezing through tight spaces, parking on the sidewalk. It all seemed to work. But I just wasn’t up for it. As expected, also, I saw very few (but did see some) helmets.

Ah well. It was fun to consider even if I was too chicken to give it a try.

Flat Tires… eventually you will have one

By CE Taylor  

This isn’t about how to fix them but how to tell if you have one.  This may sound like a no-brainer but the last flat tire I had caught me by surprise and taught me a hard lesson.  

I can’t tell you how many times I have looked down at my rear tire while I was riding and swore it was flat because it felt like I was riding through sticky syrup.  Usually it was just me but a few times I could see my tire bulging out each side of the rim more than usual and I knew it was going flat.  One time I heard the tire making an unusual noise as it wrinkled around the rim it was so flat.  I would guess that most club members could share their flat back tire experiences and they would be something like this.

My last flat tire was different.   It was my front tire.  Maybe I was having a good day since it was only 3 miles into the ride, but I never felt that sticky or soft road feeling that a rear flat tires gives you.  What I did have but didn’t realize why at the time was a slight wobble in the front wheel.  It only happened two or three times in three miles.  It was so slight and only lasted a couple of seconds each time that I ignored it thinking it was a rough spot in the road.  That turned out to be a big mistake.  A short time later, as I turned my bike left, the front tire rolled and/or slid to the right and I went straight down to the pavement.  I later discovered a thorn in my tire which had caused it to go very soft.  It wasn’t flat yet but very soft.  It was soft enough to reduce the tire’s ability to grip the road when cornering.  It was a learning experience I wouldn’t recommend.  

I don’t claim to be an expert on flat tires.  I can only share what I have experienced.  Your experience may be different.  I have learned that rear flats will usually make it harder to pedal.  Front flats are more dangerous because they will cause a loss of steering and handling ability, possibly resulting in an accident.

I am sharing my recent experience with the hope that other riders can learn from my mistake and avoid having an accident.


Daylight gets shorter; OWLS ride longer

This month Tom Reynolds has been organizing the OWLS rides. He’s taken a hint from Jim Schroeder and planned long and short routes, e.g., tonight’s Limestone Tours of lengths 34 and 25 miles respectively. Check out the links in the Ride Calendar to the maps he’s been creating.

Tonight we had our usual 20 or so riders, with half or more doing the long option. Daylight is sufficiently short that the long option requires holding stops to an absolute minimum. Hope they don’t have any flat tires or other delays! Tonight we were also overtaken around the split between the long and short options by the training group coming from Bryan Park.

We also had a special treat as club web master and photographer Klaus Rothe showed up to take pictures before we started.

Gathering at Sherwood Oaks Church Parking Lot

Then he went out on the route by car in order to set up a few more shots.

Click on the title to tonight’s blog to go see another photo on the club web site. (And by the way, do yourself a favor and check out the club web pages every few days to see what new things Klaus has posted. You’ll enjoy it!)

Summer BBQ at the Lion’s Den

by Keith Vogelsang
Nearly 60 hungry members and friends of the Bloomington Bicycle Club gathered at the Lion’s Den shelter of Upper Cascades Park this past Sunday for a cookout. I arrived early to get fires started in the two large grills. But getting hardwood charcoal to heat up took longer than anticipated, and fortunately, Glenn Berger stepped in to assist with his pyrotechnical expertise. After a while, with kids and adults fanning the coals in earnest, we had enough heat to cook the first of many batches of teriyaki chicken kabobs, burgers, and bratwurst. We had three kinds of brats on hand: pork, chicken, and “buffalo” (which was most likely American bison meat, not truly a buffalo). There appear to be few limits on what can be stuffed inside a casing, and even fewer on what I will eat. We also saw great enthusiasm for marinated portobella mushrooms,  garden burgers, and veggie kabobs.
Also on a the menu: a delicious variety of pitch-in items, including lots of fresh fruit, potato salad, bean salad, chips, cookies, and from Jim Schroeder, Amish country pie. The 20 or so miles I rode earlier in the day weren’t nearly enough to offset this feast, but I suppose every little bit helps.
I took a moment after eating to explain some of the changes the BBC can expect with RAIN and what our long-term plans are for the funds raised through RAIN. I had sign-up sheets on hand, and several club members stepped up to serve on some of the different RAIN subcommittees, and we hope more members join us in the months ahead. My thanks to Kim, Klaus, Ron, Glenn, Tammy and everyone who joined us for a relaxing evening off the bike.
(Mood-capturing photo by Klaus Rothe.)

Shelley Says Goodbye

Shelley Bradfield celebrated her last day in Bloomington with a 35 mile OWLS ride on Thursday through Harrodsburg and points south and west.

Shelley at a regrouping stop at the Smithville Post Office

Shelley has been a mainstay of the OWLS the last couple of years.  Now she leaves us, fresh Ph.D. in hand, for a new job in Colorado. We wish her all the best!

Evolution

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