More Bike Blvd News

I learned a bit more about the Bike Boulevards proof-of-concept at the BAB meeting last night:

1. Bike Blvd criteria/best practice -- see the doc that the city planning intern put together: http://bikespokane.net/docs/Bicycle_boulevard_summary.pdf. This doc explains what they are. Has some good pictures and also explains how to figure out if a street is suitable for a bike blvd.
2. Basic design: street painting (giant letters that are made of dura stripe "BIKE BLVD"); unique street sign toppers (think of the brown toppers in Browns Addition); some signage along the blvd, though it's not clear what; and a tubular marker (the kind you can drive/plow over) in the center of each intersection.
3. Arterial crossing comes in many flavors, but the idea at the moment for the Post/Wellseley crossing is to have giant yellow signs alerting drivers of crossing and a semi-protected median (about 10' x 4') in the middle of Wellseley for doing two-part crossings. There were a lot of questions around this design. Hopefully we'll have a bit of time to work some of these design questions.
4. Cost is about $2k/block with about $30k as the minimum for arterial crossing.

As discussed in the last post, the city engineers are spec'ing out two "proofs of concept:" one on Post from Francis to Wellseley and another on Hatch St from 17th to 29th. And the timeline is still enforced; we're now down to one week. It's not clear to me if this is actually going to hit the street in a week or if it's going in front of the council for emergency funding in a week.

I do know that the idea is being pushed by Brad Stark. So that makes some sense given the overall campaign politics. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go down that road here, but I will say this: Mr Stark is appearing a bit vulnerable, and this appears to be a Hail Mary during the last few seconds of the game. We'll take it.

The general BAB consensus at the meeting last night was two fold:

1. We love the city pushing hard and aggressively to get some bike blvds laid down as a proof of concept. We believe bike blvds may be just the ticket for much of the upcoming Spokane bike master plan.
2. We cannot afford to rush the process. The proof of concept streets must be done right -- rushing through to meet a campaign deadline is not a wise move; let's make sure the design and street choices are right. There are a number of design/implementation questions that the BAB would like to spend a bit of time resolving. There is general agreement on Post as a route. Hatch does not seem like a good route for a proof of concept. This letter from BAB'er Bradley makes a great case for Arthur Street instead.

Lastly: there is an official opening for the SE Blvd road work and bike lane today. The official opening is where the Mayor comes and cuts a ribbon and such. There will also be donuts and coffee (see you there!). There were some press releases that went out and said it was at 10:30 today. That's wrong. It's at 2pm at 4th and Sherman at the Cancer Center parking lot there.

The SE Blvd bike ride celebration/opening is still happening this Sunday. No coffee and donuts provided by the city, but at least we'll be taking a ride.

If only every year could be an election year...

It's been a banner year for the city of Spokane with regard to cycling. SE Blvd got striped. The Bicycle Advisory Board finally got the City to give us some city time/heads to help develop a Master Bike Plan. BAW is now beginning to pay a lot more attention to local politics and is even talking about putting a PT head in Spokane to help us push bicycle-friendly policy through the local government.

I'd like to think this is the result of the work we've been doing on the newly-refreshed Bicycle Advisory Board over the last year. The entire board has been updated and there's a bunch of passionate and hard-working folks doing a lot of extra-curricular work to make things happen. No doubt that has had something to do with these changes.

But there's also a subtle shift going on in Spokane. Spokane is growing up as a city. It's finally beginning to see itself as a city that is cool by its own rights. That it's not simply, the "second biggest city in Washington," or the "biggest city between Seattle and Chicago." Folks seem to be realizing that being a big city is not that great and that is what's so attractive about Spokane. We're seeing a huge increase in folks from bigger cities moving to Spokane for the quality of life and because it's not a big city and as cheesy as it sounds, we really are near nature. Now we just need to work on the "near perfect" part. I think most of these newcomers and the folks that have grown up here are seeing a very real potential to shape Spokane into a great city. Dare I say "world class?"

I think that's the reason we're seeing seeing all of this stuff happen in an election year. There's a general awakening and realization that quality of life matters a lot. That investing in stuff like public pools, parks, bike and pedestrian facilities actually may pay off economically by attracting smart people and companies to relocate here.

Oh yeah. And we're likely to see $4+/gallon by this time next year. It's no secret. Smart folks are looking ahead to a time when driving a mile to the store is even more of a silly financial decision than it is now. Walking and riding a bike will begin to make more and more sense financially in the years that come, regardless of what the big pols would like us to think.

Anyway.

The latest BIG NEWS: it looks like the city is going to push through bike blvd "proofs of concept" BEFORE the election. That's two weeks away by the way. We're talking about getting the signs and stripes laid down in the next two weeks. Yow.

The word on the street is that North Post from Francis to Garland will become a Bike Blvd and Hatch on the South Hill from 17th to 29th. I think Post is a great candidate. This will nearly make a continuous route from downtown that is pretty ridable for most. The Hatch decision -- I could think of a couple other candidates if you wanted to test effectiveness that would be much better (especially E-W route across 33rd-34th: from High Drive, passing by Comstock, Sac, Library, All Saints, and into SE) -- but that's just my opinion.

The bottom line: it would be so flippin cool if we got some Bike Blvds out of the election year. The Post route will be used heavily by many folks for sure. Let's hope the design is solid; it doesn't sound like there will be much in the way of input solicitation.

Mark Your Calendar - BAB Ride

Please join the Bicycle Advisory Board to celebrate SE Boulevard Bike Lane opening!

When: Sunday, October 21 at 10:00 AM

Where: Start at Fourth and Sherman; Stop at 30th and SE Boulevard/Great Harvest Bread Company

Why: To Celebrate the completion of the SE Boulevard bike lanes

Join Spokane's Bicycle Advisory Board and cyclists from around the region for a bike ride to celebrate the opening of the SE Boulevard bike lanes. Riders will depart from 4th and Sherman at 10:15 AM to ride the new and previously existing portions of the bike lane to 30th and SE Boulevard. We will then meet at Great Harvest Bread Company for a no-host celebration of camaraderie, coffee, hot chocolate and fresh baked goods. This just completed project is the first of what the BAB plans to be a cohesive network of bicycle lanes, routes, paths and boulevards that will connect neighborhoods to the city's core, providing safer and more enjoyable alternatives to driving in and around Spokane.

Bull, McMansions, Palouse, and a Screwed Wheel

We saw this crazy dude up in McMasionLand on a Friday ride on the dirt roads of the Palouse. This guy lives at one of the few remaining normal homes that once dotted the Palouse before the "look how rich I am" crowd moved in and built enormous and silly "ranches" and "Tuscan-inspired villas."

I forget that Liza has not ridden most of these roads. Now that she has a bike that is comfortable for long rides on interesting roads, we've been hitting some of the old chestnuts: Ben Burr, Windmill, Jamison, Hilby, etc. It's a lot of fun to ride these with her. It feels like rediscovering these rides.

These are fun roads to tool around on when it's a cool, clear fall day: super low traffic, lots of gravel roads, scenic. Soon I'll be bringing the Jetboil for longer rides on cold days. I love finding a good scenic rest stop (think Kiesling Rd off of Big Rock -- looking south west) and making a hot pot of soup and some tea to enjoy the view with.

Finally, in the "I forget how much I don't know about anything" department. I built up a great wheel this afternoon. It was on the money: I took my time, reading the tension frequently, stress relieving as I went. It was a dialed in, tight-ass wheel. Best ever.

Until today, I've stress relieved with a crank-arm, per Sheldon's method. Today, I tried doing what I've seen Liza do: grab the rim at 9 and 3 o'clock and apply pressure by pressing the down on the rim, with the hub into the ground. After I finished the wheel, I gave it a final stress reliever, and relieved it too much. I had the rim seam right at 12 o'clock and rim just buckled. Shit. I didn't like the Mavic MA4 rim anyway, but crap. I'm going back to Sheldon's method of stress-relieving from now on.

The Sunrace Sturmy Archer ASC -- Maybe it's not vaporware?

(This image sniped from Sheldon's ASC technical page)

I just got this email from the folks at Sunrace:

Hello Everyone,

I would first like to thank everyone for their interest in our upcoming remake of the ASC. As we grow closer to production I will be posing questions on our blog www.sunrace-sturmeyarcher.blogspot.com regarding what you would like to see in the final production model.

The first question is regarding the acceptable amount of backlash in the hub. Meaning the amount of slack there is before engagement. The original was quite sloppy in this regard but we are interested in your opinion. The question is up now in the form of a poll and if you have a minute and could head over to the blog and add your 2 cents I would greatly appreciate it!

David Prosser
Sunrace Sturmey Archer
3212 Jefferson Street #409
Napa, CA 94558

The ASC was Sturmy-Archer's 3-spd fixed gear internal hub. Oh. The holy grail.

He says, "As we grow closer to production..." so it's still on the drawing board. Hopefully next spring or so? Or is it a year away, to ship on '09 bikes?

So there's that. I wonder how much it will cost? Will they ship with multiple OLD's? Hopefully they'll have a 120mm, a 128mm, and a 132.5mm version. Assuming it's not crazy expensive, I'll buy one and make it work on my Trek 720.

Transformation

I love meeting commuters for the BAB commuter project.

I just got this email from a guy who I'll be following soon:

I am basically a new bicycle commuter. When the gas prices went up in the early summer, my wife an I decided that my Dodge 4x4 should be replaced with a bicycle. I was sceptical at first, but I am saving over $400 a month and I feel great every day I ride, not to mention that I have lost at least 15 lbs. I haven't had a bicycle since I was 15, I am now 34, but as they say, you never forget.

He goes on to explain his route, etc.

These are my favorite kinds of stories: "I sold my car and started biking..." I guess I like it so much because it's very similar to the transformation I've gone through in the last few years. I've also watched my wife become a daily cyclist and my friend Ben too. A new friend, Jason, has also is taking up every-day cycling over the last few months.

It's a transformation I'll never tire of watching and one that I hope to see many more times.

It's Fall

Seems like just a couple weeks ago we were dying of heat and I was tooling around in short-sleeve shirts at all hours of the day. Now it's consistently chilly and wet and the trees are turning. It's great.

Since Liza built up her RB-1, she's not ridden her favorite bike much. She rode it this morning. After riding a couple blocks and banging down the notoriously roughed up 26th Ave, she remarked, "this bike would be so great with 650B's..." It's a drug. Take a well-made, smart bike and put poofy tires on it, and riding is so much more enjoyable.

Last week on the way to school, we noticed that this tree had suddenly changed colors. Liza is really into fall leaves. (And quails.) She wanted a picture. Maddie jumped off the tandem and there we have it: The Fall 07 Portrait.