Bike Geek

The Valencia picked up a bunch of mud and gunk today on the commute home. A thunderstorm about an hour earlier had left all the roads on my journey home wet and ornery.

So, it got a quick rinse to knock off the worst dirt and grime was in order…

A bike can be a real alternative to driving

I knew Earth Day was coming up but didn’t realize today was the day until after I’d arrived home and settled down for the evening (actually my wife mentioned Earth Day when I went on a short errand with my daughter – we took the Ford Escape hybrid – it seemed appropriate!).

Realizing that today is Earth Day caused me to pause and reflect on what my family is doing to try and be more responsible with this great planet of ours.

While I recognize we can do so much more, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished so far…

• Including today, I’ve spent 56 hours and logged 625.11 miles commuting to/from work on my bicycle. This has resulted in preventing over a half ton of CO2 emissions.

• My wife owns a Ford Escape Hybrid and we use this vehicle for most of our car trips when possible. This vehicle consistently provides 30+mpg tanks and is a low emission vehicle that doesn’t burn gasoline when you’re stuck in the many traffic jams that litter our immediate area.

• Despite living in a gated community that does not offer curbside recycling, we recycle hefty volumes of paper, plastic, aluminum and more in a pair of recycle bins we keep in our pantry and periodically empty at our parent’s house (where curbside recycling DOES take place!).

• We use reusable (and cool) grocery store bags virtually eliminating the need for using plastic bags (not to mention that the rebusable grocery bags hold more and equal far fewer trips between car and kitchen when unloading).

What are YOU doing to reduce your impact on the environment? Give it some thought!

…well, it involves a street named Dreamland.

Does that count?

A huge thanks to fellow bicycle commuter Phil Yantis for suggesting a great new route home that allows me to spend more time on residential streets and bicycle lanes.

It’s yet another sign that just when you think you’ve got that perfect route home, you find something new and potentially much better.

An analysis of this route versus a couple of other routes I was using suggests that this route adds a bit more elevation gain and a little less than a 1/2 mile of additional length.

The reward? A brief interaction with traffic near my employer followed by miles and miles of light traffic residential streets (Dreamland has a shoulder as big as the lane of traffic!) and bicycle lanes (Wurzbach Parkway and Blanco Road).

Dreamland Road is a cyclist’s dream

So, for the moment, this is my new, favorite route home.

…until I find something better, of course.

Own a bicycle?

Need to grab a few groceries? Have a prescription you need to pick up? Interested in grabbing some breakfast to go for the family?

There’s a good chance that your local grocery store, pharmacy or restaurant is within three miles of your home. If you’re not sure, use an online tool like Google Maps to find out.

If so, I’d like to invite you to try doing that trip by bicycle sometime.

Traffic a concern? It’s always a concern for me. As a result, I simply leave early in the morning when the traffic is light. Saturday and Sunday mornings before 10am are surprisingly light on traffic and that’s saying something considering I live off one of the busiest and most traffic congested roads in San Antonio.

Oh, you don’t have a commuter bike with a rack, bags, etc.?

No problem.

There are many backpacks on the market – some that are cycling specific – that can hold a ton of stuff. That means your road bike or your mountain bike can handle that local errand just fine!

With a few exceptions, I’ve ridden my bicycle on every Sunday morning since September 2008. I bike to my father’s house about 3 miles away and then we bike to a local restaurant for breakfast. It’s great quality time with my Dad and a fun way to get some exercise and experience our local community in a way that’s just not possible in a car.

On my way home I’ll take care of errands like stopping at the grocery store for some “must have” items between big grocery store runs.

Why not give this a shot? You’ll get in some exercise while taking care of an errand or two. You’ll also replace a very short trip in your car – and short trips are the most polluting – with a “breeze in your face” experience on two wheels that you might just find a bit addicting.

And who said anything about doing this solo? Bring your wife, husband and children. Make it a family affair. You’ll arrive home just as the traffic reaches a point that might make you feel uncomfortable.

Your bike’s ready to do this. Are you?

Loadin‘ groceries on the bike

It takes me longer to get home from work when I bicycle commute since I have to take a different route that keeps me out of most of the rush hour traffic.

I have about 3-4 spots on my 10-13 mile commute home that involve me having to directly interact with traffic (e.g. taking a lane due to no shoulder or bicycle lane).

One of these spots is a northbound leg on a NW Military Highway. This road has two lanes going in each direction (good!) but no shoulder or sidewalk of any kind (not so good!). The speed on the road is 45mph.

Most of my experience on this road has been good but I’ve had a few times where folks have driven uncomfortably close to me since it was just killing them to wait a 3-4 seconds to hop into the left lane and pass me. Go figure.

One day I decided that instead of making a left turn onto this road, I’d go straight into a large neighborhood and program my Garmin Edge 705 to route me home. I knew it’d figure out the potential maze of streets I was entering and would direct me on an appropriate course of action to get home.

The Garmin did its job and in no time I was back on NW Military highway.

The time I spent in the neighborhood – Shavano Park – was rejuvenating. Low to no traffic, well paved country roads. A quiet escape from engine noises, honking cars, etc. A perfect opportunity to take a breath, grab the water bottle to hydrate and spin easily to recover before tackling the last few hills of my route.

When I got home I used Google Earth to evaluate my GPS track and found a perfect segment in Shavano Park that doesn’t involve a lot of back tracking but gives me an opportunity to rest a little and escape some of the fast moving traffic.

Moral of the story? Always look for opportunities to optimize your bicycle routes. Just when you think you have the perfect route, keep your eyes open for new possibilities!

Calm, new section of my bike ride home