ride for Val Kleitz

Val Kleitz, bike mechanic, and great guy died of cancer last week.  The last time i saw him he was in good spirits and was on his bike.  He said nothing was working so they were going to try doing nothing.  He was still riding his extracycle 10 miles each way to work.  With cancer.  I don't have to tell anyone in Seattle that we've lost a giant.

We did the only thing we could for him.  We rode bikes.  A HUGE number of people showed up.  I wasn't surprised at all.

I had a special bond with Val. We were good friends.

I wasn't the only one. Hundreds of people had a special bond with Val -- he was that kind of guy. I really don't think it was fake, he really cared about people and he made you feel like you were important to him. Because you were. Everyone was. I don't feel slighted or disappointed that i wasn't the only one. I'm thrilled. Val was truly an amazing guy. He doesn't just leave a hole in this city, or in the bike culture.  He leaves a hole in my life. He will be missed very much.

Bikesmith was only my regular bike shop for about 4 years, (out of 40 years of regular cycling) but to me now, and probably for always, it is THE DEFINITIVE bike shop. It was the pinnacle. It's the bike shop i dream of.  And Val is standing there with a wrench.

Val was bigger than life in many ways, he was fun to talk to, fun to hang out with and HOLY CRAP was he an amazing mechanic.

My mechanics (and friends) Kent & Eric and i celebrate Val.

Val and i share a laugh.

This  map is the route of the Val Kleitz memorial Cargo Bike Ride.  Click to enbiggen.
We rode 8.6 miles, 364 feet of elevation gain, so a bit on the flat side for a ride in Seattle.

me with the Dreadnought.  What an honor.

Ryan and Val eat potato salad with a cone wrench just like Val used to do in the shop all the time... it actually works really well.  Aaron had a case of cone wrenches and we all got one. It was an inspired gesture.  There were lots and lots of people and lots of really wonderful bikes out in the park to celebrate Val.  At the end of the ride i took some photos of the bikes.

Tom

Robert

Aurilee

Eric Berg

Carl

Kent Peterson

Marie

Wayne

Schmidt Edelux

One of the frustrations of cycling is the constant replacing of batteries in the headlight.

There are two kinds of lights: SEE ME lights, and SEE AHEAD lights.

Until recently see me lights were cheap and great for getting the attention of other road users, but did nothing for lighting up the road itself.  See ahead lights that light up the road were very expensive and extremely battery hungry. 

But i've always wanted to see the road, to ride in the dark.  So i usually choose a see ahead light with a dynamo, an electrical generator, that converts some of the energy from the bicycle, from me that is, into power for the light.

I first started riding with a generator light back in the mid 1970s. Generators then were loud, created a great deal of drag, damaged the side of the tire, required a great deal of tweaking and the light went off at stop lights. But there was no battery required, i had nothing to throw in the landfill, there was nothing to replaced weekly (or daily!). My light was always there. And it was the brightest thing around, not only did it make me visible, but i could see where i was going. And i have to say i kind of liked the way it made my bike sound like a jet engine as i accelerated downhill.

In the early 1990s, when almost all of my night riding was in the city, with good street lighting, i gave up on generators and used blinky lights front and back, figuring all i needed was to be seen, not to light my own way. I had a few sets of rechargeable batteries which i changed every couple of weeks.

But then in the late 1990s generator technology made a big leap (thanks to a German law requiring them on all bicycles). I read about the amazing bottom bracket generators that contacted the bottom of the tire, not the side, were quiet and were much much, more efficient. And the lights store 5 minutes of power so they stay on at traffic lights! After a long conversation about lights and generators, Val Kleitz at Bikesmith managed to find an imported bottom bracket generator for me, with front and back lights. I was thrilled.  I rode with that generator set for years. It served me very well. I loved it.

Although it was pretty quiet there was a bit of hum . When someone would ride right next to me they would sometimes ask about the sound. I was sorry it wasn't louder, i loved to talk about the generator, although, sadly, i don't think i ever converted anyone. I never had to think about batteries, i always had my light and it was always ready to go.  I used no power from the wall, or from a factory, i never threw any chemicals into the landfill, and every time i rode with anyone else, i had the brightest light on the road! That halogen headlight really lit things up.

Last year, for my birthday, my parents got me a hub generator! This is a huge advance. It's completely silent and very powerful. It's extremely efficient, there is no noticeable drag at all -- it uses magnets passing each other rather than contact with the tire. And it looks really cool too.

I love it. It's got more than enough power for my halogen headlight, however headlight technology has advanced considerably. My headlight is not really that bright. It hasn't changed, but all the other lights have. Even many of the small, cheap see me lights are now brighter than my halogen. Lights have begun using super bright LEDs which use considerably less current than a halogen.

So at the top of my wish list is now the Schmidt Edelux.

(I'd probably get black, the red is a slightly different color than my burgundy bike, and sliver might stand out too much... but any of the three would work.)

This light is amazingly bright.

But more importantly, it is focused, wide and low, so not to blind other cyclists.

So i'm going to ask for a Schmidt Edelux from Peter White Cycles this year.

Jump the Paint!

Yesterday i rode through the intersection of Eastlake and Fuhrman. They've recently painted a green bike lane there to make this very dangerous intersection a little safer. (I witnessed a car hit a bike there once.)  I looked down at the road paint and was reminded of a particularly notable crossing of this intersection back several years ago.

I was heading to a late morning appointment near the University. I'd taken mostly back roads and trails down the hill, but now i was on the major artery.

I was focused; riding with motor traffic northbound on Eastlake Avenue, i knew i had to scramble.  I was very alert -- the south end of the University Bridge, just ahead, is a notoriously dangerous intersection. I looked down the block and saw that the light at Fuhrman Ave had just turned green; if i hurried i could cross the angled intersection with Harvard Ave, make the full block and pass through the traffic light safely right before it changed, leaving me with a car-free gap at the beginning of the bridge; which is exactly the timing you need to safely negotiate the worst sections of the bridge.

There is a bike lane along this block, it's a dangerous one and i frequently avoid it, nevertheless i was aiming for it. As i crossed the first intersection i saw three orange traffic cones placed close together entirely across the bike lane -- there were three more cones, widely spaced, blocking the right car lane. There was no indication of why this was.
I didn't have time to think about it; there was a car revving it's engine right over my left shoulder preventing me from swerving into the left traffic lane.

So i split the cones and went into the blocked off right travel lane. I had accelerated for that move and was moving pretty quickly, but i could see that there were no obstructions. There was no construction work or material in the lane.  I was familiar with this.  Frequently construction zones can offer cyclists a bit of protection from aggressive motorists, so i was pleased and a bit more comfortable alone in that empty lane. 

I glanced, as i often do, at the DON'T WALK signs ahead -- these signs are kind of a pre-yellow light, they help let you know when a light is getting ready to change. It's a very useful little trick when cycling in the city. By the time i was in the middle of the block, the DON'T WALK signs were flashing, time was getting short, but i felt i could still make it, so i sped up a little. There was still no evidence of why the lane was coned.

As i approached the green light at the end of the block, a worker jumped out into my lane and started waving his arms and yelling.  Only then did i notice that they had just painted the 18 inch wide stop line moments before and, understandably, he didn't want me running through the wet paint.  Road paint.  I didn't want me to run through it either.

Once on a ride to Port Townsend, along a bumpy chip seal road, i moved over to ride on the white fogline, a common trick to find a smoother ride. About 250 meters later i came around a corner and saw the paint truck ahead of me painting the fresh white line. My bike, and legs were covered with white road paint.  Road paint is permanent.  It didn't come off my bike until i had it sandblasted for painting, over a year later.

Now i had a problem. I was going to make the green light, and i was protected in that coned off lane.  There was a worker in front of me, and wet paint across the road.  I was going pretty fast, probably too fast to stop.  There are several things i could have done at that point. It's even remotely possible that grabbing a big handful of brake could have skidded me up to the line safely. 

I only had a tiny fraction of a second to make a decision and i made one. Generally my traffic instincts are good, but i'm not going to defend my decision this time. I went for it. I shifted and accelerated hard.  I needed speed for what i was going to do.  The worker yelled at me again, not nicely at all.

I got to the freshly painted line at speed and did a bunny hop, just picked the bike up with my feet and sailed through the air. I can't always pull that off, but with the advantage of speed, i flew though the air quite a long way.  I landed it beautifully, softly on both tires at the same time. It felt like a long leap, but i wasn't sure i had pulled it off.

As i sped across the intersection towards the bridge i heard the same worker shout, "Hey guy, that was really good!", and laugh.

There was no wet paint on my tires. I cleared the line!

Three Feet

Yesterday, i'm riding south on 20th Ave S, my normal bike route to the south. I cross Yesler on a green light and it's 3 blocks of residential street, next to Pratt Park, to the light at Jackson. This is NOT an arterial, that's why i'm riding it. Maximum allowable speed is 25 mph. With a park along the west side and another playground one block to the east, kids running in the street is a common occurrence.

I see ahead of me a large white American car has stopped in the street, appears to be letting out or picking up a passenger connected with the park. The proper and legal thing for me to do is to move left:  i look behind me and start to signal but the blue SUV is coming way too fast, 35+ mph, so even though it's my right of way, i cower right for a moment while it passes me and then passes the white car.

Once it has passed me, i shoulder check, signal, shoulder check and move left. A small red car comes out of nowhere, scares the crap out of me because it is aiming right at me as i move left. It's moving very fast, certainly above the speed limit. It actually looks like it is going to try to pass me despite the fact that i am already in the left lane in the process of passing the stopped car. But that would be crazy.  (and illegal) I stick out my arm and make a 'stop' sign.

The car keeps coming. It actually squeezes past me while i'm passing, a staggeringly dangerous maneuver, not to mention extremely rude. Oh and it's illegal, but i know motorists rarely pay the slightest attention to such things. It turns out the little red car is electric, and silent. With environmental bumper stickers on it no less. As this nutcase hurriedly squeezes passed me i just hold on with both hands. I try to slow down enough to get out of the way of this extremely aggressive driver. 

Once she is past me she has to slow almost to a stop, of course, because of the blue SUV in front of her. If she had been paying any attention at all to driving, she would have known that.  But it was much more important to illegally squeeze past me.  I have to grab the brakes to keep from impact. I look at her in the rear view mirror and get a quizzical look on my face and stick both arms out, palms flat, as if to say: 'What was that?' I was pleased that i have gotten over the standard tendency to use a nasty gesture at that point. I didn't say a word.

She leaned out of the window and started yelling hysterically: "I gave you three feet! I gave you three feet!" She drove the entire next block to the next light, leaning out the window screaming "I gave you three feet!". Of course at the next block there was a red light and i stood behind her for the entire light while she screamed. I didn't say a word. I hoped that just the fact that i was behind her would demonstrate that her aggression, speed, illegality, and rage didn't even save her 1 second. But i doubt she noticed.

She just kept shrieking, "I gave you three feet!" Apparently this very sick person thinks that a sketchy bike club's silly bumper sticker is more important than... i don't know. The LAW. Or common sense. Or even just friendliness.

August ride map

I rode 407.5 miles in August down from the 450 in July but up 2.9 from last year.
I rode on 22 days.

Issaquah to Carnation on trails

I've been wanting to get out on the Snoquamlie Valley trail all year so when Nadine asked where we would ride, that was my suggestion.

I set out from home as usual to catch the 554 bus to Issaquah. A block from home i decided i should have some tights, and zipped back and grabbed them. It took maybe 2 minutes. I followed my normal route, i bombed down the big hill on Denny Way, made the first few lights, unusually, but then caught every light in Belltown. I was 2 blocks away when i realized i might not make it. While i was waiting for the red light at 5th Ave, just 80 feet from the bus, it pulled out.

When the light changed i sprinted the full block. I caught the bus middle of the next block, and i pulled up far enough to see that the bike rack still had an open spot. As we both turned onto 2nd Ave, i thought briefly of speeding down hill across town to the International District to catch the bus there. I could surely beat the bus down there, but i couldn't be sure the bike rack would be open. So i matched speed with the bus and three blocks later caught it at a stop. I was out of breath when i got on board.

At the Park & Ride in Issaquah i met up with Dennis (Linda had to work), Emily, Karen and Nadine. We rode along Gillman to the Preston-Issaquah trail. I really like this trail. Once out of town there is a short section of big gravel, but then it's smooth dirt through the forest. Karen, with her very narrow tires, was a bit worried at first, but it worked fine. Emily was on her mountain bike.

We got to ride the new trail extension at High Point which was really exciting. That trail section is less than a mile long, but it cuts off 2 miles of extremely hilly, frustrating roadway. It was looseish gravel and Karen wasn't thrilled, but we did fine. That puts you on the wide, flat frontage road to Preston, which has absolutely no traffic.

In Preston we got on the Preston-Fall City trail. This is paved, quiet, through the forest and just wonderful. Oh yeah, and a lot of downhill!

We had mentioned eating lunch in Carnation (we wanted to meet up with our friend Tom) but we were all too hungry and as we got on Fall City road at the end of the Preston trail everyone was suggesting a snack. I knew we would pass a burger joint so i suggested that. We really rode fast the two miles into town!

I got a small fries, thinking this was just a snack. It was HUGE. We all wound up eating lunch, accidentally!

We crossed the river and through the big roundabout to Rutherford Slough road. This is a trail access point that a private property owner had fenced off in a dispute a couple of years ago. Kent and i got trapped twice, once back behind the fence. I wanted to see if the fence was gone. It was. So we climbed the gravel road through the forest up to the Snoqualmie Valley trail.

Once we reached the trail we had a decision to make. We could go right, up hill, through the forest to the end of the trail, or we could go left, downhill to the flats and in to Carnation. Since we thought we still might get to see Tom we went left. It's a lovely pastoral trail. I can't get enough of it.

We stopped at Starbucks in Carnation. We weren't able to meet Tom. We rode the highway back to Fall City instead of the gravel climb. I was a little disappointed but it was a nice ride and i had a good conversation with Emily. Then it was just a rewind. Up hill on the paved Preston trail through the forest was fun and fast, downhill on the gravel trail to Issaquah was as well.

We tried to stop and see Kent at work in Issaquah but he was on a late lunch break. I hopped on the bus at the Park & Ride.

At 38 miles, and 1200 feet of gain, this was a relatively flat ride for western Washington at 35 feet (elevation gain) per mile ridden. I tend to think of over 50 as hilly, under 50 as fairly flat (for the area). The gentlest route for me to ride from my house, to Pioneer Square and back home (about 5 miles) is about 70 feet per mile.

I got off the bus on Merer Island and rode across the bridge and up the ridge to Volunteer park, because i wanted to ride a bit more. I stopped at The Black Sun in the park near sunset. I have photos of my bike in all weather there, figured it was time for another one. I wound up with time in the forest and 49.2 miles for the day. It was good for the soul.

Slow Earthquake Starts!

The Earthquake expected in late October started early!

I wrote a post about Slow Earthquakes back in June, (wonderfully strange 28 day long 7.0 earthquakes on the Cascadia Fault every 14 months).  I noted that it was predicted to start at the end of October -- but it's going on right now [dead link fixed 2013]. It started on Aug 10th. I don't understand a lot of the graphs and charts and science they're talking about, but they say that it might have been triggered early by a slow earthquake in Oregon. (I didn't know there was one down there!)

The daily blog for the 2011 Slow Earthquake at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network is a good way to keep up with this event. It's called the Episodic Tremor and Slip Summer 2011 Deep Tremor [dead link fixed 2013] page.  I wonder if the Earthquake will last 28 days from August 10th or if it will last until my birthday in mid November (when the predicted quake was expected to end).

Here are some other links:

• strainmeters (what a great name for an instrument)
  
• Borehole Strainmeters Record for the 2011 ETS Cascadia Episodic from the Geodesy Consortium
  
• Spectrogram images
  
• Candian Tremor Activity Monitoring System (Lower BC)
  
• Oregon 2011 ETS
  

The Cyclo- Jalopy (again)

This weekend, i was lucky enough to get to ride the Haulin' Colin built People Powered Parade Float again. And, if this is possible, it was even more fun this time!

We collected the wonderful machine from up on Beacon Hill at Walker's house where we left it last time. This machine has 7 pedaling stations installed upon an old Toyota Pickup chassis. The drivers' seat, transmission, clutch driveshaft, differential, brakes, wheels, tires, steering wheel, suspension and even the speedometer from the Toyota are still intact and are in use in this vehicle..

We pedaled across Beacon Hill. The ride up the slight rise at the top of the ridge of was hard work,

Juliett, Matt, me, Kye, Emily, Dylan, Tom, Davey & Adonia

Davey, me, Tom, Emily, Dylan, Danny, Matt & Adonia

Kye and his dad

Daviy Oil & me & Tom Furtulo pedaling hard uphill

but then we got to Colombian Way which would take us way down hill and all the way to Columbia City. We went very fast!

Near the bottom of the hill, the duct taped tire came apart, slapping the body and making a hell of a racket.

It wasn't serious but it did give us a bit of a scare. We limped the rest of the way to Bike Works. We parked the Octobike by the warehouse and went into the Thursday night work party at Bike Works for refreshments and circle time..

First thing on Saturday, before the parade, Ryan, the amazing lead mechanic at Bike Works went and got us a new tire. And he got it using a bike trailer; i love it!

The purpose of this trip was to move the vehicle down to Bike Works so it could be in the Rainier Heritage Parade on Saturday. We made costumes, decorated the machine and tried to name it. Megan and i tried to come up with a name based on cycle jalopy, but it didn't sound great. I think Chris hit on it a few days later it with Octobike.

Johnathon brought his banjo and Davey his Uke, so we had music on board too! It was a very hot day, and i'm not good in the heat. We tried to stay in the shade while we were waiting.

Davey asked who was going to 'drive', that is, steer and shift. The previous times i had 'ridden' the Octobike i had been pedaling. Since i can drive a standard transmission i volunteered, i figured i'd let everyone else have a turn at pedaling. I actually had fun shifting!! It was just like my old Toyota back in the 1980s.

So i drove in the parade. We had more people pedaling than needed so Juliett decided to show off her AMAZING hula hoop skills. She walked next to the Octobike part of the time, but she got up on the platform and performed while we moved along. It was great -- the crowd LOVED it.

Malia, Emily, Danny, Adonia, Juliett, Matt, Dylan, me, Davey, Johnathon, Meghan, Zack

Perhaps the highlight started off as a danger, loomed towards possible disaster and then turned out spectacular, when a little kid started to run in front of us to grab the candy we were throwing. I jammed on the brakes, forgetting that there was person standing hula-hooping on board. She was knocked off, but she managed to gracefully leap over Emily pedaling in one of the front recumbent positions and she, Juliett, landed on her feet while still hula hooping!!! The crowd went wild! They thought it was part of the act. I apologized to her after the parade.

When the parade was over the people walking were directed to the left into the parking lot next to Bike Works. That would've been ideal for us. But instead, the cops directed us down the steep hill on Alaska St and then even further, and tried go get us to go down Genesee.

So now we had to get up the hill again, and somehow avoid the Parade route. We moved past the football fields on Oregon St and waited for an 18 wheeler to turn around. Then we went up the hill on Rainier Blvd and on Alaska, with traffic. The cop at the intersection we wanted to turn left on was pretty snarky but we were polite to him. We were all pretty happy to pull up in front of Bike Works and find some shade.

We enjoyed the Summer Streets Ciclovita closure of Rainier and talked up Bike Works at the Bike Works booth. Here i am explaining the Octobike to Elizabeth and her family.

Summer streets was over at three and we were going to have to move the Octobike back UP Beacon Hill. Just before 3 good friend Joe showed up. We had been kind of expecting him earlier, he's a strong cyclist and we needed him. He showed up with his friend Chris which was good, but also with a cane and a slipped disc, which was bad. He could barely move.

Once he sat in the Octobike it was clear that he wished he could ride. I convinced him to be our driver while we all did the hard work. He came along!

In this photo you can see that the Octobike still has the brakes, transmission and everything from the truck!

Davey was quite worried that we would not have enough people to power the vehicle up the big hill, but when it came time to leave we had about 22 people volunteering. About 12 of us went. We pedaled out to MLK Blvd and then down the busy street. Davey yelled to people at bus stops that due to budget cuts, we were the bus. I thought it was funny.

We waited a while in the shade at the bottom of the hill while Davey & Danny & Adonia scored us some much needed food.

The we started to crank up the hill. It was very hot, and we were were all suffering but we decided to go up the gorgeous Olmsted parkway Cheasty Blvd which is heavily shaded.

Ryan, Johnathon, me & Joe in the shade
photo by Chris Zömbory

We had enough people that a couple could push and one or two could rest while the rest pedaled. We switched out frequently.

Davey, Danny, Chris, Johnathon, Joe, Emily, Matt & Adonia crank it up Cheasty Blvd in the heat

Johnathon, Joe & me

I took a turn in one of the front, recumbent spots. It's HARD work. I used muscles i don't normally use. I didn't last long.

Chris sweats it out pedaling up Cheasty;
She didn't know her visit to Seattle would be this much fun!

We celebrated once we got to the top and coasted down to Walker's house again. We were all happy to get some food and cold drinks -- it was hard work and took a couple of hours, but it was great fun. I'd do it again.

Here's our route.

Seattle Attacked from The Air

Central Seattle was the victim today of a series of sorties by the most expensive and deadly military hardware in the world.

The extremely low combat maneuvers are designed to frighten and pacify enemy nations. They are performed over residential areas only one time per year, with Seattle being the lucky exception to the strict aviation regulations. No bombs were dropped by the deadly warplanes this time.

While many people interpreted the fear generated by the terror machines as life threatening, it turns out this was just a Soviet style propaganda exercise reminiscent of columns of tanks passing the Kremlin in parade.

The ostentatious display of expensive military hardware was specifically designed to give Americans, especially liberals in Seattle, a warm and fuzzy feeling about war and imperialism and to make them feel happy about spending 70% of their tax dollars killing and subjugating people around the world.

July ride map

In July i rode 450 miles, only 9 miles off of a record for July.

I rode 19 days, 61%, down considerably from previous months,
partially because i was out of town several times for work, or
HAM radio volunteering but also because i lost a little interest
early in the month.