A Bit Brisk This Morning

The question you may be asking is, "Is that ice or frozen snot on that mustache?"

The answer is, "Yes."

Iron Bridge Work

I stopped by to see how the work was coming along. The cement deck is in place. Shouldn't be much longer now.

A Teaser Morning

It's 42 degrees, raining, and I'm going up against a 20 mph head wind. How can I not ride my bike to work today? I have 10 miles of visibility going for me.

Extending The Children Of the Sun Trail

Progress on the North-South Corridor continues and yesterday, while taking my new ride out for a spin, I happened to check out the new section of North-South Corridor roadway that's going to connect Highway 395 with Highway 2 and the existing NSC roadway. In doing so I discovered that the Children of the Sun Trail will continue to run parallel to the NSC all the way to the Village Centre Cinema at Wandermere. I stumbled upon the trail where Pittsburgh ends a block north of Northwood Middle School.

Looking west on the trail from Pittsburgh. There will eventually be a chain link fence separating the trail from the roadway.

A pleasant downhill going towards Wandermere.

From here you can turn down Wandermere Road or continue onwards on the left.

End of the trail. Welcome to the movies. Note that to the right is a controlled intersection so you can get across Highway 395 and head towards the Mead High School area or northwest to Mill Road.

At the other end, there's a trail head on the north side of the NSC connecting to Shady Slope Road. There are two paths to take from here. Going left takes you to an underpass.

The underpass gets you on the south side of the NSC.

Giving kids who live on the north side of the NSC a safe way to get to Farwell Elementary and Northwood Middle Schools. Nice.

Following the right side path from the Shady Slope trail head takes you across Highway 2 and to this bridge crossing Farwell Road and connecting to the existing trail. As you can see, the danger signs probably refer to the fact that the sides of the bridge are not completed.

All of the trail is paved except for a section that runs parallel to the NSC from Farwell school to Pittsburgh. In the meantime you can dump out at Farwell school, follow Center west to Pittsburgh, turn right and get back on at the end of the road. Even though the roadway and trail are not officially open to traffic yet, there was no shortage of runners and dog walkers making use of them yesterday. Hopefully that will increase once it's open.

Houses by Wandermere Golf Course in the shadow of a NSC bridge.

What About Running To Catch The Bus?

A study entitled The Effect of Light Rail Transit on Body Mass Index and Physical Activity was published in the August 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Apparently using light rail transit can help keep a few pounds off.

The implied average loss of 6.45 lbs induced by LRT use may be plausible if a person added walking 1 mile every workday to his or her daily routine. For a person weighing about 150 pounds, walking an extra 1 mile for 250 days/year would burn about 20,000 additional calories, or the equivalent of nearly 6 pounds. The average distance from home to the nearest station stop among LRT users was 1.5 miles, with bus stops located on average within 0.25 miles of their homes. The average estimated distance from a LRT station stop to a work address among LRT users was 0.35 miles. Using LRT could increase walking by approximately 1.2 miles a day, if one assumes that those using LRT to commute to work would walk to a bus stop to take to the local LRT station, and then walk from the destination stop to their work address.

The technical part:

Methods: Data were collected on individuals before (July 2006 –February 2007) and after (March 2008 –July 2008) completion of an LRT system in Charlotte NC. BMI, obesity, and physical activity levels were calculated for a comparison of these factors pre- and post-LRT construction.Apropensity score weighting approach adjusted for differences in baseline characteristics among LRT and non-LRT users. Data were analyzed in 2009.

Results: More-positive perceptions of one’s neighborhood at baseline were associated with a -0.36 (p<0.05) lower BMI; 15% lower odds (95% CI=0.77, 0.94) of obesity; 9% higher odds (95% CI=0.99, 1.20) of meeting weekly RPA through walking; and 11% higher odds (95% CI=1.01, 1.22) of meeting RPA levels of vigorous exercise. The use of LRT to commute to work was associated with an average -1.18 reduction in BMI (p<0.05) and an 81% reduced odds (95% CI=0.04, 0.92) of becoming obese over time.

Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that improving neighborhood environments and increasing the public’s use of LRT systems could provide improvements in health outcomes for millions of individuals.

King Of The Road

Cross-posted from Cycling Spokane.

I enjoy bike commuting, especially the days when something memorable happens. Okay, when something pleasurably memorable happens. This morning's memorable moment involved an @$$hole.

I was stopped at the red light westbound on North Foothills waiting to cross Ruby and Division. I was in the right wheel track since the lanes aren't that wide. I had the lane to myself. A car and a garbage truck were in the left lane. Looking in my mirror I saw a car approaching behind me but didn't give it much thought--until I looked again and saw it wasn't slowing down. I was preparing to bail to the curb when the car swerved and squeezed in between me and the car in the left lane. The driver and passenger looked straight ahead as if I wasn't there.

I decided I would wait for this car once the light turned green because I had no idea if he was going straight ahead or making a right. But I couldn't let it go without saying something so I rapped on the passenger-side window. They both looked at me and the driver hit the button to lower the window.

"What?"

I was more than polite and civil. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't crowd a cyclist like that. It's very dangerous."

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you'd get out of the f*#%in' road."

So much for killing him with kindness.

With the end of his sentence the light turned green and he jumped forward, cut over in front of the car in the left lane and whipped into the left turn lane to go south on Division. First in line!

As I passed by him and crossed Division I could not help but signal that he should make the next cut at 18 inches. (Hmmm...a new Internet meme?) If you're not familiar with what I'm referring to, then click here to see.

So if you see a dark-colored land yacht with Washington license #815ZDY, give him some room because he's not going to give you any.

Bike Lane Blocker

On the way home I caught up with Steve, a fellow bike commuter I've known for almost two years, and we have yet another vehicle in the bike lane. It's been duly reported.

The Ride Home Last Night

I believe I described my ride in to work as pleasant, invigorating and uneventful. The ride home was...more eventful. I had my first bike lane blocker.

Atrocious Blackberry photo
The woman driving the car got irate and drove up next to me a couple of blocks later. "Hey, why'd you take my picture?"

"You were parked in the bike lane."

"I was just picking someone up."

I politely said, "Okay."

"So why'd you take my picture?"

"You were parked in the bike lane." (Do you ever get that feeling of deja vu?)

"But I was just picking someone up."

"Okay," I politely repeated and down the road she went. There was no sense getting into an argument and pointing out the driveway that was right there. Don't worry, lady. As you can see from the photo, it's not like everyone on the Interwebs knows who you are.

Next up was a young man of about 12 years old riding a motorcycle. He had no lights, no helmet, and we were about five minutes from total darkness. He and I were riding in the same direction but he was going slower and he was to the far right side of the road. While he did pay attention to oncoming traffic, he didn't look behind and turned left in front of me. I was expecting him to do something like that and as I easily passed on his right I heard his dad yell, "How many times have I told you...."

I don't think the boy is the only one who could use a good talking to.

Planning Your STA Trip

Did you know there's a very clever web-based tool for planning a trip using STA in combination with walking or riding your bike? It's called Enroute Spokane and it's a no-brainer replacement for the STA's rather poor planner. The cleverness in Enroute Spokane is that it will give you a route no matter what address in Spokane you enter.

Here's an example for going from my house to my work. Notice I can wait a few minutes before walking down to the Park 'n' Ride to catch my bus. Or I could be riding my bike.


Nice, neat instructions and it even tells me how far I traveled on foot. I use Firefox on my iMac and get this message from the STA trip planner.


The really bothersome thing about this is that it doesn't tell you it's only for Internet Explorer until after you enter the addresses. Regardless, when I use Internet Explorer and enter the same from and to addresses, I am told that there is no bus service at the from address and to try a different address.

Enroute Spokane told me how to get to the nearest bus stop. Now how smart is that?

Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of STA. But their trip planner leaves much to be desired, especially if you don't live right on a bus line.

To The Woman I Yelled At This Morning

I was coming out of the left turn lane and you were in the oncoming lane making a right turn onto the same road as I. I was behind a pickup truck but there was enough distance between me and the truck that the truck would not obscure me. The truck and I had a green light. You had a red light. You yielded to the truck and then made your turn.

I realize that screaming "HEY!" at the top of my lungs at close range into your open driver's side window could be startling, disconcerting and even annoying, but I had no idea if you were aware of my presence and I desperately wanted to alert you to that fact. You may think my reaction to the sight of a vehicle entering the space I was occupying on a bicycle was a bit over the top and hardly merits an intense emotional reaction, but there's something about a near life-threatening situation that affects me that way. And while I appreciate that, for whatever reason, you pulled over at the next intersection, I know my curt "Take a look next time," may not have thoroughly conveyed my underlying message of paying attention to more than just vehicles. So next time I'll try to do better and calmly explain my concerns.

Let's hope your next time doesn't involve a cyclist who isn't paying attention.

Two Days In A Row

This person is starting to habituate.

Look At The Bright Side

With the season's oncoming darkness and coldness--no, he was elected eight years ago--I return to riding the STA bus to work. I take the 124 Express from Hastings Park 'n' Ride. When that route started early this year a multitude of parking spaces in the lot were at my disposal and I would luxuriously sprawl across two seats, if luxury exists on a STA bus, quietly sing along with my iPod and disturb not a soul. All that has changed. If I catch the 7:00 am bus, I have to arrive almost 15 minutes beforehand--when the 6:45 bus leaves--in order to park in the lot. Otherwise, I am relegated to the street with the other unlucky patrons. The bus is packed with riders and I must pile my gym bag and backpack on my lap and I sing along with Death Cab For Cutie in my head.

It's great this many people are not driving those extra 9 miles to work.