Saturday, January 31, 2009

I went to The Eugene Bike/Ped Summit today with Qehndrah. It was awesometastic. We biked there of course, in our sexy sunny 45 deg weather. Take that Midwesterners!

Pictures and description after the jump!

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Posted by Dreqan @ 07:02 PM PST Link | 615 People give a shit!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

One of the nice things about bike commuting is your connection with your environment. Today on my ride I found this obviously stolen purse strewn about the trail. Using a dentist appointment card (the only identifying component) I was able to call their dentist and eventually track the owner down. No valuables were left, but the purse itself was good and the book is a good one, definitely on my reading list. Unfortunately everything got rained on, but the book dried out OK. It's by the same guy who wrote The Alchemist, which is a phenomenal book.

The crooks smashed her car windows and stole it last night. They tried to use her ATM card at 4am-ish and were caught on camera. Hopefully they'll get caught.

Posted by Dreqan @ 05:45 PM PST Link | 1692 People give a shit!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

House minority leader John Boehner is a prick. He's very anti-bike, as BikePortland.org reports here. The direct quote is this:

"I think there's a place for infrastructure, but what kind of infrastructure? Infrastructure to widen highways, to ease congestion for American families? Is it to build some buildings that are necessary? But if we're talking about beautification projects, or we're talking about bike paths, Americans are not going to look very kindly on this."

Here is the video:

Right... Cheap bike lanes that make cycling safer, easier, and more attractive - and thus get many cars off the road and out of congestion, is a horrible idea. What a prick. That fact that I only put gas in my truck once every couple of months, as opposed to once a week, does nothing to help our energy crisis. Making it safer for kids to bike to school so they can stay in shape and their parents can save gas and time dropping them off is just bullshit. Bleh. Sarcasm on the internet is stupid.

He also said some worse things about the bike tax credit (that is turning out to be very hard to implement, but is fixable.) You can listen to his comments in the first BikePortland link or watch the video here - except in the video link you have to deal with an annoying commentator.

Of course The League of American Bicyclists responded in a well thought out way. Hardly sensational, but when you have all the facts on your side sensationalism isn't needed, or is it?)

In good news, The Mayor of Baltimore rules!

Like many cities, Baltimore's bike-friendliness begins at the top. Bikes are buoyed by the city's Bicycle Master Plan (that was adopted in 2006) that is wholly supported by their mayor Sheila Dixon. Dixon was elected in 2007 and she's an avid cyclist. Dixon leads weekly morning rides (which are open to anyone) and last year she put the city's dollars behind biking with the hire of bike and pedestrian planner Nate Evans.

(from bikeportland.org)

Posted by Dreqan @ 09:40 PM PST Link | 709 People give a shit!

Monday, January 26, 2009

I stayed up until 2am last night discovering patterns in exponents - comparing how many steps it takes the differences to get to zero in different powers and other rules and patterns related to that. I'm sure it's nothing math people don't already know, but it fascinated me for some reason. SO MANY PATTERNS! SO MUCH PREDICTABILITY!

Posted by Dreqan @ 07:11 AM PST Link | 52 People give a shit!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

I was asked a question today which I would like to answer publicly. It's one that I hear a lot, and is discussed often among bikers. The question goes:

We have a lot of bikers in the summer here, and I know that I shouldn't pass them unless I have a clear lane to get by them. I don't want to crowd them into the curb or sideswipe them or something. But I often wonder if I am making them nervous by following them so slowly. Are they worried that I will get too close behind them? Do they want me to just get past?

In the interest of not having another long winded post, the answer is after the jump.

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Posted by Dreqan @ 01:06 AM PST Link | 37 People give a shit!