The Marathon work this weekend really took it out of me. I was tired after several days of working on it BEFORE Sunday, and Sunday i was on my bike for 10 hours in the driving rain and cold. I enjoyed it, i like supporting the marathon and i really enjoy doing HAM radio on my bike. But i was exhausted. That evening i tried to order a salmon burger at the good new place around the corner from me and i couldn't put words together i was so tired. It was funny. I did enjoy the work, but i was REALLY glad it was over.
Actually I had been REALLY hoping to get 27 miles on the 27th (one of the half dozen i'm missing for the year) riding marathon support, and it seemed doable. But when i got to my decision point, the intersection where i could continue on the road, or ride a quarter mile home and just manage everyone else on the radio, i was already at 29 miles, so i decided to be responsible and took it to the end. I wound up with 36 miles for the day.
I was exhausted on Monday. Moving in slow motion. The house was a disaster, but still, it should've only taken 2 or 3 hours to clean up and it took me 12.
Tuesday is our regular riding day. So before even setting out to ride on Tuesday i was really whipped. It was very cold, about 39F but felt colder. Everyone except me & Nadine bailed on the ride. We rode from Redmond (i took the bus to get there) up to Hollywood on the trail, well bundled up and quite tired (she worked the Marathon too) and stopped for lunch (that's only 5 miles). We had a very expensive, but very nice lunch and then rode south to Issaquah into a headwind. The cold really can take it out of you and i had figured on only about 30 miles for the day anyway. (Actually i was really hoping i could engineer it to be 29
on the 29th, so i was pretty happy.) Maybe didn't eat enough too.
We rode 27 miles and it was a really great ride, lots of fun, very relaxing (unlike some recent rides). I enjoyed it quite a bit even though i was so tired. I only needed 2 miles more for 29 so i didn't get off the bus from Issaquah at Rainier where i usually do, because although i really like my regular gentle climbing ride up the ridge through Judkins Park, past Jimi's house and through the ghetto (and past the food co-op where i probably would've stopped), it's about 4.5 miles. So i got off downtown and rode home from there,
going twice around the block (cheating????) to get up to 29.
29 November 2011
14 November 2011
Major Taylor Ride
Tonight was the Major Taylor ride, a fun Bike Works tradition in honor of Marshall Major Taylor and other November birthdays. Major Taylor was an amazing turn of the century bicycle racer and the first American World Champion.
I stopped for a milkshake at Molly Moons for fuel and waited to see if any other Capitol Hill folks might join me for the ride south, but no one did. Typically this is a rainy night ride. It was quite cold on the ride down to Bike Works, but no rain.
We gathered in the classroom at Bike Works and visited. Chris is our regular volunteer who lives the farthest away from Bike Works (she lives in Chicago!). She was well dressed for the occasion (circa 1900).
I greeted people, finished my milkshake, had a nice conversation with Max, and put on several extra layers as i'd been cold on the ride down.
We herded cats enough to get a nice group photo.
And then a few more people showed up. We were glad to see them!
And, what the heck, another group photo out in front of the shop, with our bikes this time. (After we turned off all the lights! We had 15 people total... Max sat out this photo (actually he took the photo) because was planning on going home after we climbed Beacon Hill. We all, of course, wanted him along.
Departing Bike Works, Davey took us south a bit and up Orcas Street S where we picked up the Chief Sealth Trail for the rest of the climb and to get across Beacon Hill.
I try hard to let the camera be secondary to the experience, i hate it when the camera becomes the focus (pun intended) and for a moment tonight i let that happen. On the final climb on the trail near the top of the hill i looked behind me and there were 14 headlights in a close line on the dark winding trail. It looked very very cool and i sprinted ahead away from my friends, to the top of the hill to get a photo. Right then the camera battery died. I quickly changed it, but by then the snaking line of headlights had passed me while i was messing with the camera.
Then we took 15th Ave S up to Holgate and started down the super steep hill to the strange new trail. The first time i rode this trail back in the summer i was pretty shocked at the horrible... well, ridiculous end, intersecting an arterial in the middle of a very long, incredibly steep hill. There's really just nowhere to go. Willie Weir recently wrote a good post on this piece of infrastructure in his neighborhood. We were going to join this trail at this awkward ending point, still a challenging right turn on the big descent.
The trail itself, once we were all safely on it, was extremely nice. Wide, smooth and fun, surprisingly well lit, and great views of downtown at night. From there we cut through the busy International District to the waterfront, where we all cheered the partially torn down Alaska Way Viaduct.
My camera which does well on bumpy roads in the daytime, didn't do great on the bumpy road in the dark, so the photos are more artisitic than informative, but i like them nevertheless.
I had the camera so unfortunately there are no photos of me in my wool cap, wool shirt, wool socks and awesome new ($5 at Goodwill) wool knickers. Despite our fast downhill ride, i felt very overdressed with the leg warmers, socks and turtleneck i added at Bike Works. I got very sweaty.
On Beacon Hill Max couldn't resist our company and decided to continue the ride. Good decision! We continued down the working waterfront to Harbor Island, took the nice bike swing under the bridge and over the lower West Seattle bridge which led us directly to the Pigeon Point trail. This is a very nice trail, it is an important connection -- it opens up South Seattle Community College, and makes possible rides like ours to White Center. The entire trail is probably 200 feet long. It just links the Harbor Island trail with 22nd Ave SW.
We had a short but quite steep three blocks of climbing, and then a long flat ride along the edge of a ridge on 21st Ave SW. This is one of my favorite places in the city to ride. You ride along the knife edge of the ridge for a mile and a half, with middle class and lower middle class houses on either side. It's one of the few places you have a view in both directions (East and West). I don't know why i love this section so much, it's certainly beautiful, it's just one of my favorite rides. Very satisfying.
A final uphill push up to Roxbury and across the city line -- we were out of Seattle and in unincorporated King County. Half a block later we stopped for Pizza!
After Pizza we took the short, route on arterial with a long fast descent to the 1st Ave S bridge and Georgetown where the group split up to go in different directions towards home. It was a great night, great people and a really really fun ride. We rode 16.5 miles together, with almost 700 feet of climbing (which makes it a slightly less hilly than average ride for the Seattle area).
All told, with the ride down, and the return home, i rode 30.2 miles with 1400 feet of climbing.
I stopped for a milkshake at Molly Moons for fuel and waited to see if any other Capitol Hill folks might join me for the ride south, but no one did. Typically this is a rainy night ride. It was quite cold on the ride down to Bike Works, but no rain.
We gathered in the classroom at Bike Works and visited. Chris is our regular volunteer who lives the farthest away from Bike Works (she lives in Chicago!). She was well dressed for the occasion (circa 1900).
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| Chris Z & Donald V |
I greeted people, finished my milkshake, had a nice conversation with Max, and put on several extra layers as i'd been cold on the ride down.
We herded cats enough to get a nice group photo.
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| Steve, Asher, Chris, Linda, Frank, Max, Ken, Joe, Donald, Davey and me |
And then a few more people showed up. We were glad to see them!
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| Andy, Tom, Danny, Catherine |
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| Frank, Chris, Andy, Linda, Asher, Tom, Mark, Ken, Catherine, Donald, Joe, Davey, Danny, Steve |
Departing Bike Works, Davey took us south a bit and up Orcas Street S where we picked up the Chief Sealth Trail for the rest of the climb and to get across Beacon Hill.
I try hard to let the camera be secondary to the experience, i hate it when the camera becomes the focus (pun intended) and for a moment tonight i let that happen. On the final climb on the trail near the top of the hill i looked behind me and there were 14 headlights in a close line on the dark winding trail. It looked very very cool and i sprinted ahead away from my friends, to the top of the hill to get a photo. Right then the camera battery died. I quickly changed it, but by then the snaking line of headlights had passed me while i was messing with the camera.
Then we took 15th Ave S up to Holgate and started down the super steep hill to the strange new trail. The first time i rode this trail back in the summer i was pretty shocked at the horrible... well, ridiculous end, intersecting an arterial in the middle of a very long, incredibly steep hill. There's really just nowhere to go. Willie Weir recently wrote a good post on this piece of infrastructure in his neighborhood. We were going to join this trail at this awkward ending point, still a challenging right turn on the big descent.
The trail itself, once we were all safely on it, was extremely nice. Wide, smooth and fun, surprisingly well lit, and great views of downtown at night. From there we cut through the busy International District to the waterfront, where we all cheered the partially torn down Alaska Way Viaduct.
My camera which does well on bumpy roads in the daytime, didn't do great on the bumpy road in the dark, so the photos are more artisitic than informative, but i like them nevertheless.
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| Asher carrying a baguette - Grant Peterson style. |
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| Max waves at the camera as he speeds by. |
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| Sweep rider Ken enters the trail from Holgate at speed. |
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| Happy cyclists on the new trail. |
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| Max |
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| Chris |
Clearly Asher's reflective jacket works.
I had the camera so unfortunately there are no photos of me in my wool cap, wool shirt, wool socks and awesome new ($5 at Goodwill) wool knickers. Despite our fast downhill ride, i felt very overdressed with the leg warmers, socks and turtleneck i added at Bike Works. I got very sweaty.
On Beacon Hill Max couldn't resist our company and decided to continue the ride. Good decision! We continued down the working waterfront to Harbor Island, took the nice bike swing under the bridge and over the lower West Seattle bridge which led us directly to the Pigeon Point trail. This is a very nice trail, it is an important connection -- it opens up South Seattle Community College, and makes possible rides like ours to White Center. The entire trail is probably 200 feet long. It just links the Harbor Island trail with 22nd Ave SW.
We had a short but quite steep three blocks of climbing, and then a long flat ride along the edge of a ridge on 21st Ave SW. This is one of my favorite places in the city to ride. You ride along the knife edge of the ridge for a mile and a half, with middle class and lower middle class houses on either side. It's one of the few places you have a view in both directions (East and West). I don't know why i love this section so much, it's certainly beautiful, it's just one of my favorite rides. Very satisfying.
A final uphill push up to Roxbury and across the city line -- we were out of Seattle and in unincorporated King County. Half a block later we stopped for Pizza!
After Pizza we took the short, route on arterial with a long fast descent to the 1st Ave S bridge and Georgetown where the group split up to go in different directions towards home. It was a great night, great people and a really really fun ride. We rode 16.5 miles together, with almost 700 feet of climbing (which makes it a slightly less hilly than average ride for the Seattle area).
10 November 2011
Invisible Routes
A friend thanked me today for showing him a new cycling route last week. He said it with a significant amount of surprise. He's a very experienced cyclist. We had ridden a pleasant route on a neighborhood street, bypassing a bad arterial with almost constant conflicts. At the time i had to take some shit for not riding on the really bad street we usually ride on. This is not the first time.
I am truly baffled by this.
There is finally some talk on the internet about driver privilege. It's about time! I feel like i've been a lone voice for a long time, and frankly not a very effective voice. I'm glad the discussion is spreading. It's time cyclists stopped blaming themselves.
It worries me how many cyclists both fall victim to this kind of thinking, and by repeating it, propagate it further. I know many cyclists, car-free, bike transportation people, who insist on riding on the most unpleasant roads... "because we can". I am very capable of riding in heavy car traffic, i've done it successfully for over 30 years. I know the law well and i know we have a right to do it. A legal right and a moral right.
I passionately believe, as i have for 40 years, that bikes are transportation not toys. I believe... i know that we are equal to (and often superior) to cars. These ideas are becoming more widespread, as they should.
But why are so many cyclists afraid to admit that bicycling is fun?!? Why do so many cyclists make such a strong effort to make their own ride unpleasant? It's like they think we have to suffer for it to be acceptable... just because people in cars are suffering. Maybe they think if they admit that riding is fun they will somehow lose the right to be part of the transportation system? That's an understandable unconscious fear i think we all struggle with. (There's a future blog post in that idea.)
But that concern is based in the cultural idea that we, as cyclists, are doing something inherently wrong and it seems many of us feel we have to pay for that by suffering as much as possible. What's so wrong with riding down a pleasant street instead of jumping into the middle of an angry polluted mob of death machines?
I'm not saying we shouldn't be on major streets, and i don't want to be mis-construed in any way that makes it seem like i'm trying to move bikes down the hierarchy below cars. Bicycles should be allowed on any street and streets through shopping districts should be made as (truly) bicycle friendly as possible. But really, as cyclists, we need to be a lot better at route finding. Enjoying the commute makes cycling more legitimate, not less.
I'm not talking about doubling the distance or anything. On occasion the more pleasant routes are a tad longer, usually they are the same distance -- and even when they are longer, a quarter of a mile here and there seems well worth it to me. (I like riding my bike!) There are a few cases where the nasty route is considerably shorter, but that's rare. And in many of those cases, considering all the factors, i would still advocate for the pleasant route.
I don't understand why cyclists absolutely freak out when a pleasant route is suggested over a nasty one. The resistance is huge. And it happens almost every time i suggest one. I automatically brace myself for it now. They often shut me down before i finish the sentence, like i'm being vulgar, or more likely, breaking a taboo.
They never come right out and say it, but it's clear that many cyclists think there is some kind of surrender involved in riding a quiet, pleasant route rather than a miserable route full of cars. As if it were a moral lapse, a spiritual sacrifice, an ideological flaw, a personal weakness or a political capitulation to commute by bike and actually enjoy it.
Perhaps they have a unresolved feeling transplanted from other modes that commuting, getting from one place to another, is supposed to be very unpleasant, so if they actually enjoy it, they are cheating, not doing it right; might as well just forget it and drive a car. And that's the experienced riders, most new or prospective cyclists, after they get over their surprise that there ARE other routes, react with concern to a suggestion of a residential route for fear that it might be longer or more hilly. I understand that fear, although i think it is misplaced in a couple of ways: it's often not longer and so what if it is!
Strangely i find that when pushed into the more pleasant route, most people prefer it, but they feel very guilty! Time and distance aside, there is just so much more benefit from riding the backstreets. It's better exercise, great experiences, educational and just fun. It is living well.
Sometimes in our car-head, motorist privileged culture people just forget that there is any landscape, any city scape, any neighborhood, any real estate that is not on major streets. Everything else becomes invisible. This is a serious mistake.
I'm not saying we should NEVER ride on arterials, and i'm not even saying that pleasant routes are as fast from A to B as the ugly ones (although the in the majority of the cases any time savings is far less than 'optimum' claims). I am not suggesting we should ALWAYS ride pleasant routes but i am surprised at how many cyclists refuse to EVER ride pleasant routes.
So i'm not suffering. I'm not wishing i was in a car and i'm not wishing i was on that highway fighting with cars. I'm enjoying seeing, experiencing, learning about and enjoying my city, the people, the weather, the landscape and my ride through it. I absolutely love experiencing these streets, being a part of these neighborhoods. Being there. It's why i ride.
I am truly baffled by this.
There is finally some talk on the internet about driver privilege. It's about time! I feel like i've been a lone voice for a long time, and frankly not a very effective voice. I'm glad the discussion is spreading. It's time cyclists stopped blaming themselves.
It worries me how many cyclists both fall victim to this kind of thinking, and by repeating it, propagate it further. I know many cyclists, car-free, bike transportation people, who insist on riding on the most unpleasant roads... "because we can". I am very capable of riding in heavy car traffic, i've done it successfully for over 30 years. I know the law well and i know we have a right to do it. A legal right and a moral right.
I passionately believe, as i have for 40 years, that bikes are transportation not toys. I believe... i know that we are equal to (and often superior) to cars. These ideas are becoming more widespread, as they should.
But why are so many cyclists afraid to admit that bicycling is fun?!? Why do so many cyclists make such a strong effort to make their own ride unpleasant? It's like they think we have to suffer for it to be acceptable... just because people in cars are suffering. Maybe they think if they admit that riding is fun they will somehow lose the right to be part of the transportation system? That's an understandable unconscious fear i think we all struggle with. (There's a future blog post in that idea.)
But that concern is based in the cultural idea that we, as cyclists, are doing something inherently wrong and it seems many of us feel we have to pay for that by suffering as much as possible. What's so wrong with riding down a pleasant street instead of jumping into the middle of an angry polluted mob of death machines?
I'm not saying we shouldn't be on major streets, and i don't want to be mis-construed in any way that makes it seem like i'm trying to move bikes down the hierarchy below cars. Bicycles should be allowed on any street and streets through shopping districts should be made as (truly) bicycle friendly as possible. But really, as cyclists, we need to be a lot better at route finding. Enjoying the commute makes cycling more legitimate, not less.
I'm not talking about doubling the distance or anything. On occasion the more pleasant routes are a tad longer, usually they are the same distance -- and even when they are longer, a quarter of a mile here and there seems well worth it to me. (I like riding my bike!) There are a few cases where the nasty route is considerably shorter, but that's rare. And in many of those cases, considering all the factors, i would still advocate for the pleasant route.
I don't understand why cyclists absolutely freak out when a pleasant route is suggested over a nasty one. The resistance is huge. And it happens almost every time i suggest one. I automatically brace myself for it now. They often shut me down before i finish the sentence, like i'm being vulgar, or more likely, breaking a taboo.
They never come right out and say it, but it's clear that many cyclists think there is some kind of surrender involved in riding a quiet, pleasant route rather than a miserable route full of cars. As if it were a moral lapse, a spiritual sacrifice, an ideological flaw, a personal weakness or a political capitulation to commute by bike and actually enjoy it.
Perhaps they have a unresolved feeling transplanted from other modes that commuting, getting from one place to another, is supposed to be very unpleasant, so if they actually enjoy it, they are cheating, not doing it right; might as well just forget it and drive a car. And that's the experienced riders, most new or prospective cyclists, after they get over their surprise that there ARE other routes, react with concern to a suggestion of a residential route for fear that it might be longer or more hilly. I understand that fear, although i think it is misplaced in a couple of ways: it's often not longer and so what if it is!
Strangely i find that when pushed into the more pleasant route, most people prefer it, but they feel very guilty! Time and distance aside, there is just so much more benefit from riding the backstreets. It's better exercise, great experiences, educational and just fun. It is living well.
Sometimes in our car-head, motorist privileged culture people just forget that there is any landscape, any city scape, any neighborhood, any real estate that is not on major streets. Everything else becomes invisible. This is a serious mistake.
I'm not saying we should NEVER ride on arterials, and i'm not even saying that pleasant routes are as fast from A to B as the ugly ones (although the in the majority of the cases any time savings is far less than 'optimum' claims). I am not suggesting we should ALWAYS ride pleasant routes but i am surprised at how many cyclists refuse to EVER ride pleasant routes.
So i'm not suffering. I'm not wishing i was in a car and i'm not wishing i was on that highway fighting with cars. I'm enjoying seeing, experiencing, learning about and enjoying my city, the people, the weather, the landscape and my ride through it. I absolutely love experiencing these streets, being a part of these neighborhoods. Being there. It's why i ride.
08 November 2011
Snoqualmie Valley Trail
For weeks i had been bugging my friends about doing a ride on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. This is a wonderful trail and autumn is the most glorious time to do it. Last year Nadine and Jeanette and i did a ride from Duvall to Tokal Road and back and we all really enjoyed the forest and the Autumn weather.
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| Nadine & Jeanette (Oct 15 2010) | Jeanette & Nadine, Tokal Trestle (Oct 15 2010) |
So every time the topic of the next ride came up i've been suggesting Snoqualmie Valley Trail; people were probably getting sick of hearing it.
And i wanted to make it a long ride, not a quick jaunt on one section, but most or all of the trail, which starts in farmland, climbs gently through transitional forest, and then up steeply through pretty thick temperate rainforest and ends at Rattlesnake Lake in the mountains.
Yesterday we finally did it and it was magnificent!
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| Karen, Nadine, Mark, Emily at Rattlesnake Lake |
We started just outside of Carnation, not quite the start of the trail, but about 5 or 6 miles of farmland from the start. Unfortunately i had to ride in a car to the start, and my headlight broke off in the car, but my mood quickly improved once i was pedaling in the crisp autumn air.
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| Karen heads down the leafy trail |
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| Alan & Emily |
It was a gentle climb (rail grade of course) but we still all got pretty warm and had to stop and shed a layer.
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| Karen, Nadine, Emily, Alan |
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| Emily looks for Bears! |
The hill was still pretty gentle. Karen, who is generally faster than the rest of us, kept riding up next to me and saying she felt slow, that she was struggling. It turned out that she just didn't realize how much we were climbing. She was underestimating how hard we were working!
Near the end of the southern section of the trail is a spectacular trestle bridge. Long and curved, it goes high over the Tokal River and always deserves a stop to enjoy the view of the forest, the valley and the waterfall..
A quarter mile later, at Tokal Road there is a little tunnel under road and then stairs to carry your bike up to the road. This section of trail ends here. Actually it turns into a narrow hiking trail which i've always wanted to explore. The trail would pick up again on the other side of the timber mill across the town of Snoqualmie. However we had intended to leave the trail here anyway because we all wanted to visit Snoqualmie Falls -- and Karen had never been there! It's only about half a mile away, and only about 2 tenths of a mile off of the trail detour route, so it was easy to get there. The falls were astonishing. Majestic, beautiful. Since we've had a little rain lately there was more water than the narrow chute you can find there most of the summer (although not as much water as during Spring runoff!)
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| Alan, Nadine, Karen, Emily at Snoqualmie Falls |
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| Reining Road |
This brought us via the back way into North Bend, right along the abrupt slopes of Mount Si. We were all very hungry and stopped at Scott's Dairy Freeze. This is a stop i frequently make when riding out here, and from the outside i always think, 'Do i really want to eat here?' It doesn't look like some place you could get something good. You can! Everything is great! And we actually sat outside at picnic tables!!
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| Emily celebrating a good lunch! |
From North Bend, the trail crosses under the freeway, and then turns upwards and climbs more significantly. This part of the trail had fewer colored leaves, it's more native northwest temperate rainforest, big cedars covered with ferns and moss. I love it. The riding was a bit harder up hill and there were some voices suggesting we stop and turn around. We did have to stop and get some more food in us (my pockets supplied me!) part of the way up to the lake, but we did make it all the way and everyone was very happy.
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| SUCCESS! Alan, Karen, Nadine & Emily -- Rattlesnake Lake & Rattlesnake ridge. |
I did have a moment of panic at the lake. With my cellphone off, and my cyclometer over by my bike, i checked the time on my camera. It said it was ten after three!!! That's only an hour and half from sunset! I panicked and rushed everyone back on the bikes. It was probably 15 minutes later that i looked at my cyclometer and realized that my camera was an hour fast -- i had neglected to change the time on it last week!
Heading downhill was fast. It was a big change from our pace up the hill!
A few miles down the trail down the trail Alan got a flat tire, and we all stopped while we fixed it. It didn't take too long before we were cruising again. This time we didn't take the loop through North Bend but stayed on the trail, which eventually bisects a golf course. The section after the golf course was one of the nicest sections, straight and leafy with a tunnel of trees down the trail.
Here comes Emily through the tunnel!
And more easy, fun, pretty down hill riding.
We got back to the cars right as the darkness was closing in. In the last mile of this 47 mile ride, i reached 4,000 miles total for 2011, which was a nice milestone.
Here's a map.
02 November 2011
Capitol Hill Streets Missed in 10 Months
I love visiting places: seeing a new place and learning something. It's why i love to travel to far away countries and why i love to bicycle in the city. I get a huge thrill from just being in a place, any place, every place.
I've always loved maps, maps are such an amazing representation of real world data. I love maps so much. i have to admit in addition to the honor of being somewhere and the thrill of learning, there is a bit of an urge for checking off boxes too. I'm a collector.
As a kid, i loved coloring in states, counties and countries i visited -- i still do in fact. And maps to me, are just screaming out YOU COULD BE HERE! A street map is just a graphical set of places to be, to see, to learn about. To color in! Maps are to be drawn on. When i was in high school i bought a map of my city and a felt tip marker and tried to keep track of every street i had bicycled on. And later i got another which i colored in with every street i had been on in a car. I covered quite a lot of the city. I loved being there.
As i moved to Seattle, I started a streets bicycled on map, on paper with felt marker. I kept it up for a long time. I don't know how accurate that was and i eventually stopped coloring it in. And any motivation towards completeism i ever had, any interest in being on EVERY street, was trumped by my belief in the reality, and beauty, of imperfection.
But i still wonder how many streets in Seattle i have bicycled on, how many i have missed. I'm always excited when i ride on a new street or new block.I know there are neighborhoods that i have probably covered almost completely in the last 20 years. When i first got my Washington Topo(tm) map software as a gift, back in about 2002, my first thought was to start coloring streets. But i was too busy and didn't have the patience.
What i did do however, was draw in bike rides. Frequently at the end of a ride i would draw it on the map afterward. I saved those over the years. A couple of years ago my friend Kent gave me an old GPS unit, and since then i often take it on bike rides with me so it will draw my route on the map when i get home. Sometime last fall i unconsciously got in the habit of drawing, either freehand, or with the GPS, my bike ride EVERY DAY. Sometimes i would post them on this blog at the end of a ride.
Then in April i started merging them together into a full month of riding map for each month; this is fun because it shows a big mess of rides and that data shows where i go often, rarely, and not at all. Today i combined all of my rides for October into one file and then merged that into the 2011 year to date file.
It showed me that i've covered a lot of central Seattle. I've covered almost all of downtown. I haven't ridden as much in Wallingford or Ballard as i have in past years, i've covered the bike trails and main routes around town, and ridden many different routes south to Bike Works. This map is cropped so it doesn't show the routes i've taken outside of the city (i tried to post that, but the lines just weren't visible they were so small). But there is something that really jumps out on this map. The large group of neighborhoods that make up Capitol Hill are so thoroughly covered that it's a solid mass. I had to take a closer look at that.
Wow! When i blew it up i immediately could see that from I-5 to 19th Ave E and from Madison Street to Interlaken Park i had only missed a few blocks. So i made a map with only the missed blocks drawn in.
So without trying, with out even a thought, i've cycled almost every block in this 2 square mile neighborhood in just the first 10 months of the year. And that's only counting the rides that i drew in. There are a few, such as the cemetery, that i know i did, but didn't get drawn in.
Since i'm only left with a couple dozen out of the 1,000 or so blocks in the area, i'm left with a quandary: should i just go about my daily business, not thinking about this and see how many of the red blocks i cover normally in the next two months, or should i set out exploring, see places i haven't seen in awhile, or have never seen, bicycle even more in my city. There is certainly a voice inside of me suggesting it is somehow more PURE if i don't go out of my way, but of course i can't resist the opportunity to explore.
Check back at the end of November and again at the end of the year for an update.
UPDATE (end of November):
I covered many of the missed streets this month.
Purple streets are blocks i rode this month, but had not for the first 10 months of 2011. Red blocks are still missing. Yellow blocks are not drawn in but i'm pretty sure i have ridden them. I'll do them again. And the X's are blocks that the map says exist that don't really exist.
A lot of these that i 'filled in' this month, i covered in my daily travels, but quite a few i went out of my way to experience. In at least one case i took some friends along on a ride home from BikeWorks covering a section of 13th Ave E.
I had fun plotting routes and exploring. And it was good motivation to get out and ride. I'm pretty sure that i had been on all of these streets in previous years, all but one or two blocks looked familiar. A few more in December and i can call it a complete coverage year!
UPDATE (December 11):
This afternoon on my way home from running errands near the University i covered the few blocks connecting to 19th Ave that i had missed and then when i looped down the dead end on Pike St off of 18th i completed my fun task of picking up the few missing streets on Capitol Hill, so i covered every block of every street in every neighborhood on Capitol Hill in 2011.
I've always loved maps, maps are such an amazing representation of real world data. I love maps so much. i have to admit in addition to the honor of being somewhere and the thrill of learning, there is a bit of an urge for checking off boxes too. I'm a collector.
As a kid, i loved coloring in states, counties and countries i visited -- i still do in fact. And maps to me, are just screaming out YOU COULD BE HERE! A street map is just a graphical set of places to be, to see, to learn about. To color in! Maps are to be drawn on. When i was in high school i bought a map of my city and a felt tip marker and tried to keep track of every street i had bicycled on. And later i got another which i colored in with every street i had been on in a car. I covered quite a lot of the city. I loved being there.
As i moved to Seattle, I started a streets bicycled on map, on paper with felt marker. I kept it up for a long time. I don't know how accurate that was and i eventually stopped coloring it in. And any motivation towards completeism i ever had, any interest in being on EVERY street, was trumped by my belief in the reality, and beauty, of imperfection.
But i still wonder how many streets in Seattle i have bicycled on, how many i have missed. I'm always excited when i ride on a new street or new block.I know there are neighborhoods that i have probably covered almost completely in the last 20 years. When i first got my Washington Topo(tm) map software as a gift, back in about 2002, my first thought was to start coloring streets. But i was too busy and didn't have the patience.
What i did do however, was draw in bike rides. Frequently at the end of a ride i would draw it on the map afterward. I saved those over the years. A couple of years ago my friend Kent gave me an old GPS unit, and since then i often take it on bike rides with me so it will draw my route on the map when i get home. Sometime last fall i unconsciously got in the habit of drawing, either freehand, or with the GPS, my bike ride EVERY DAY. Sometimes i would post them on this blog at the end of a ride.
Then in April i started merging them together into a full month of riding map for each month; this is fun because it shows a big mess of rides and that data shows where i go often, rarely, and not at all. Today i combined all of my rides for October into one file and then merged that into the 2011 year to date file.
Wow! When i blew it up i immediately could see that from I-5 to 19th Ave E and from Madison Street to Interlaken Park i had only missed a few blocks. So i made a map with only the missed blocks drawn in.
Since i'm only left with a couple dozen out of the 1,000 or so blocks in the area, i'm left with a quandary: should i just go about my daily business, not thinking about this and see how many of the red blocks i cover normally in the next two months, or should i set out exploring, see places i haven't seen in awhile, or have never seen, bicycle even more in my city. There is certainly a voice inside of me suggesting it is somehow more PURE if i don't go out of my way, but of course i can't resist the opportunity to explore.
Check back at the end of November and again at the end of the year for an update.
UPDATE (end of November):
I covered many of the missed streets this month.
Purple streets are blocks i rode this month, but had not for the first 10 months of 2011. Red blocks are still missing. Yellow blocks are not drawn in but i'm pretty sure i have ridden them. I'll do them again. And the X's are blocks that the map says exist that don't really exist.
A lot of these that i 'filled in' this month, i covered in my daily travels, but quite a few i went out of my way to experience. In at least one case i took some friends along on a ride home from BikeWorks covering a section of 13th Ave E.
I had fun plotting routes and exploring. And it was good motivation to get out and ride. I'm pretty sure that i had been on all of these streets in previous years, all but one or two blocks looked familiar. A few more in December and i can call it a complete coverage year!
UPDATE (December 11):
This afternoon on my way home from running errands near the University i covered the few blocks connecting to 19th Ave that i had missed and then when i looped down the dead end on Pike St off of 18th i completed my fun task of picking up the few missing streets on Capitol Hill, so i covered every block of every street in every neighborhood on Capitol Hill in 2011.
01 November 2011
A Good Country
By almost all social indicators, Norway is the most successful country in the world. The best place to live. It is at the head of the class that includes Switzerland, Iceland, Canada, among other wonderful places.
Norway has remained strong and independent of the EU, has the most friendly immigration and refugee acceptance policies in the world, has universal health care, universal free education, rehabilitation instead of prisons. The people are happy healthy and content. It is peaceful and virtually crime free. They live longer than almost anywhere else. They have high taxation, keep corporations in check and the people have an astonishingly high standard of living. Everyone has good food and lots of consumer products. It is the envy of the world.
Even more than Switzerland when i visited i found it to be a place i really wanted to live. I was overwhelmed at comfortable it felt.
How do they do this?
They have proportional representation and have very outspoken, active progressive political parties spawned from the resistance to occupation during WWII. These parties have spoken strongly for progressive social and economic issues in an open and clear way that is different from most other places. They have spun these ideas away from the Commie-Fascist axis and made an almost perfect state.
But like Switzerland (and Canada and Iceland) they've been able to do it because they are outrageously rich from very nasty, dangerous, dare i say 'evil' means. With Norway it is unrestrained resource extraction. Fish, Metals. Oil. Massive extraction at a extinction rate. This is the dark side of such a wonderful place.
Nothing is simple unfortunately. Keep in mind that it is such a 'perfect' place to live (and i think it is!), while you read this short, horrifying interview. Norway's Foreign Minister on arctic drilling, with it's accompanying maps & charts.
October Streets ridden
In September i rode 342 miles, 97 miles less than last year. I volunteer for a bike ride in the San Juan Islands every year and this year i was in a car instead of on the bike, that more than made up for the difference. Here's where i rode in September. (Blue is bus rides and train rides)
Here's a blow up of the central city. (The green is riding the Octobike with 7 other people in the Arts parade.)
I rode 403 miles in October. Fifty miles more than last year. Here's the big map.
and the city map.
I do love Autumn!
Here's a blow up of the central city. (The green is riding the Octobike with 7 other people in the Arts parade.)
I rode 403 miles in October. Fifty miles more than last year. Here's the big map.
I do love Autumn!
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