Hitting the Wall

Spokane Cyclist's know that the word "palouse" is an old French word that roughly translates in Spokanese to "endless hills and constant wind". I had the pleasure of previewing the Ronde van Palouse course today with Tony and Mark.






Every cyclist also is familiar with the term, or at least the phenomena of, "Hitting the Wall". At about mile 80 for me, Tony asked me if I had bonked or if I was just tired. "I don't know", I said.

But it was clear that my legs just were not working anymore. At every undulation on the road, my legs and the bicycle would cease to continue. If there were no hills, I am confident that I would have had no problem hanging with these fine racers. Thanks for waiting for me and dragging me home guys. It was a great day in the saddle!

Cluttered bench, cluttered mind

My work shop is never too orderly. But lately it's really degenerated. I think it mirrors my overall mental state of late. I've got a bit too much going on at the moment. I need to wind back a hair and focus on the important stuff. Like riding.

What Does The Jobs Bill Mean For Local Bicyclists?

Staci Lehman, Spokane Regional Transportation Council

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the proposed jobs bill so thought I’d post what I know. Which, unfortunately, is very little as it has passed the House but not the Senate yet so it’s hard to say how it will shake out. The Senate is reportedly not going to pass the bill as it currently reads, but is on the verge of proposing a much smaller bill than the $154 billion one that the House approved.

With the unemployment rate hitting 10%, the purpose of the bill is to stimulate job creation. So why would the average person reading a blog about bicycling care about the jobs bill? Because it includes a transportation element that could translate into the construction of a local ‘enhancement’ project.

Enhancement projects are federally funded projects that expand travel choices and enhance the transportation ‘experience’ by improving the cultural, historic, aesthetic and environmental aspects of local infrastructure. Projects can include bicycle and pedestrian facilities, streetscape improvements, and other investments that enhance communities and access.

The House version of the jobs bill was passed with $800 million dedicated to Transportation Enhancements programs nationwide. Early speculation is that will translate into one enhancement project constructed per region. By ‘region,’ we mean Spokane and Kootenai Counties in our area. The bill is expected to work like last year’s stimulus funding- projects to be considered would have to be ‘shovel ready’ within 90 days. And while we have a lot of local bike and pedestrian projects that need to be built, it’s not clear yet if any of them could be ready that soon. It’s also not clear what other stipulations would be put on projects to be considered.

At Spokane Regional Transportation Council and Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization (SRTC’s sister agency), we are working with area jurisdictions(Spokane, Spokane Valley, Spokane County, Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai County, area small towns, etc.) to sift through their ‘to do’ lists to determine which projects may qualify.

So now the waiting game starts- waiting for the Senate to either approve the current jobs bill or propose their own; waiting while the two branches of government come to a compromise on how to combine their two versions of the bill; and waiting to see if local jurisdictions have projects that are eligible. I’ll keep you posted.

Three road rides I want to take this year

View Sherman-Boulder Loop in a larger map

This would be a spectacular summer day ride. I've ridden Boulder Pass before and it's one of the nicest, low-traffic stretches of road around.


View Tiger Loop in a larger map

A 200 mile loop. Includes the Tiger Highway, which I've never ridden. I wonder if I could do this in under 15 hours?


View Columbia overnighter in a larger map

A good overnighter with two hardy days of riding.

Bucket panniers

On the surface, bucket panniers are easy to laugh at. They look low-brow. They're very non-aero.

But there's greatness to bucket panniers that are obvious after you use them. They are waterproof. Submersible? Maybe not, but they float, so you've got a chance to save them if they find their way into water.

They're cheap. Especially if you make them. But they're not as cheap as they look. To make them well costs more than you probably would guess.

They're just a bucket. I'm not a pocket person. I like Ortlieb bags because they're just a big sack. I prefer to organize with stuff sacks/bags.

They are a platform. When built correctly, they provide a huge platform to load stuff onto.

Alex Wetmore photo. More pics and tour report here.
But here's the big one. To anyone who does a lot of bike camping or touring, some times you just want a place to sit. And often there isn't a bench or a log or anything but the dirt. These buckets make great camp stools. And tables.


The bucket on the left is an old one that I made back when Arkel sold their hook kit for $16. Can you imagine a day when that fine piece of machined goodness only cost $16? It's $48 now. But that's still a bargain if you make the buckets yourself.

The bucket on the right is a v1 try from Ryan and John at Pedals2People. They're trying to figure out a way to build a bucket for under $10 and have it work well. If they can do it with easy-to-buy hardware store parts then P2P will sell the buckets and will do bucket-building classes. I'm trying out the bucket for a few days. There are a couple changes we need to make, but it's getting close.

Btw: when we talk about bucket panniers we must always remember to give credit where it's due. The best of the best and the original bucket panniers are the brainchild of Mike Cobb. I'm not sure if he's still selling these, but he's got a page.

Bike hang tomorrow (Weds) night at Huckleberries. 5:30 PM

Space.

Hi, I'm Glen, but you can call me Mr. Lucky, thanks.

Picture this shiny new bike, only picture it with a bike shipping box in front of it, and with a nice red glow coming from the gas heater down there. 'Cause thats how it was most of Saturday... Until I left for 14 minutes to get something from my toolbox down at work. Sometime in the intervening 14 minutes something bad happened. Really bad. Did I mention that was a new bike...Somebody else's new bike? Here's how I think it played out; I closed the door to the inner shop as I was leaving(you know...to keep it warm in there) slight stirring of air causes box to tip over, just barely landing on the back of the heater. Box ignites, burning evenly from top to bottom. When flames get to the end of the box, they melt the hydraulic brake lines, spraying the tires, which apparently ignite and burn reaallly hot, hot enough to melt alloy rims and spoke nipples, and then...nothing. Fire's out. No flames, no residual heat. Just really thick smoke. Or maybe the tires ignited, and the brake fuid extinguished the fire when it sprayed out. (Ethicalpyro, please weigh in)If you look at the background, there was no shortage of tinder...

Maybe there were mysterious forces at work?

Pat, you might want to stick with the electric heat . I'm going to save the propane for extreme conditions, I think.

Oh, if anybody sees me in the return line at REI sunday, mum's the word, o.k.?

Numbers game

Good times.

9 bike nerds, 60 degrees warm, 20 sausages, 24 bottles of beer, 1 lb. of sauerkraut...and Stephs giant cookies.Well done, everybody, well done. "Everybody look thoughtful and engaged"