Bike Blog

It’s an empty office. Mid-level guys like me can’t use it. There aren’t any managers who want it. Its windows are dirty and it’s filled with old filing drawers, a bent shelf and a dead mini-fridge. Paperclips and push-pins litter the floor. Now, I used to keep my bike in my pod area, back in the early days when I was alone here. Just leaned it nearby while I worked. Then civilization came. The pods filled. It became noisy, crowded. Crime increased. My bike parking spot went to a contractor. So I rolled the bike into the office and leaned it against […]

People talk about Black Friday in terms of shopping. But I love it in terms of commuting (by bike!). Nobody is going to work at 7am on the Friday after Thanksgiving – nobody. The road is empty. I actually saw a piece of paper blow across an empty 1792 and thought that this was what cycling after the apocalypse would be like. It was great. The best moment was when I got to 1792 and Lake, where I hang that left turn to run to Eatonville. Usually at this time all six lanes are filled by streams of motorists with a […]

I’m sitting at the traffic light in the evening gloom, perched in the mix of cool night air and warm exhaust, bathed in the glare of the impatiently waiting cars. Its going December in Florida and the chill is hinted. My vest sleeves are attached. A half bottle of tap water suffices where once a fully chilled container was needed. It’s nice in a hard cyclical way. You see less and less of the summer flamingos, the Sunday riders who brag about their millage – all those pointless circuits (the Hobbit’s “There and back again”). Lean your spindly, impractical bikes […]

I’ve always been insulted by modern ads which show white, middle-aged men as man-children, always seeking base pleasures, slow to react, stupid to the point of retardation. As advertisements cannot go after women, minorities, or anything else, they focus on guys. Men will grunt with pleasure before a beer,  a chicken-wing, a big-screen TV. Nobody can be that stupid. Now I’m not so sure. Since I haven’t been able to ride recently, I went out on my old ten-mile loop tonight, up and around to Rollins, then down Cady way to the house. It’s a nice ride. How much stupidity […]

Popular western (i.e. American) culture holds that the English are a fragile, cultured (even socialist) lot while we’re a brawny, can-do bunch. But nothing could be further from the truth. In my recent trip to London, I observed countless English cycle commuters making their way to work, in absolutely frigid temperatures with light rain forecast. Yes, driving in the city is a pain and you pay a congestion fee (something like ten bucks a day) so maybe they are forced to ride. Whatever. But I saw men and women riding in, doing what it took to get them where they […]

Strange thing today. Rolling up the Lake Destiny frontage road (a two-lane road with nice clean bike lanes on either side). Saw I was overtaking a rider with a yellow reflective jacket – one like I’d like to get (mine’s orange, too small and not very reflective). But strange, I noticed that the cars were all slowing down, touching their brakes as they passed him. Eventually I drew up behind him and then I saw a couple of things. One: He had “Share the Road” across the back of his vest. Okay, that’s groovy. Two: He was turning up his […]

Friday we got out of work early as a reward. Cool by me, since it means traffic would be easier getting home. I’m on the bike with saddle bags. Got an orange safety jacket, flashing rear light, helmet, all that commuter stuff. I’m on the right side of the road – it’s a little moist so I’m doing my curb hugging one-foot off the stripe. Location: Orlando Florida, southbound on 1792, 250 feet short of Lee Road. Anyway, I’m riding along and two cars squeeeeeze past me on the left, really, really close. Like what the hell? So I’m thinking, […]

Today I was sitting on the bike lane on southbound 17-92, watching four cars make a left across my bow. Once the green arrow dropped, the thru-lanes would roll. Facing me were two lines of northbound cars, idling. And as the fourth left turner cleared the intersection and the arrow grew stale, way, way down there, I saw an FUV racing down the center turn lane, trying to get to the intersection and dive into his left (likely on a red, likely on my green). I didn’t think he could make it, but I idly watched him. And then from […]

I was coming up 1792 in the pre-dawn gloom, well over to the right on a dark three-lane street with posted 35 mph yet 50 actuals. The road is old, concrete with short spans between the expansion joints, so the ride is hard – both hands on the bar, please! Was nearing my left onto Lake; time for a quick look over my shoulder. Headlights gleaming 200 yards back, plenty of time to cross the three lanes. I’m just across when a car hurtles past in the darkness, a second behind me and out of goddamn nowhere, bombing along at […]

“The courage of a soldier is heightened by his knowledge of his profession.” -Vegetius, Roman writer I’d agree with that, given that I bicycle to work two to three times a week. Knowing what you are facing, taking the precautions, learning from your mistakes, all this breeds courage (otherwise, I’d piss in my bike shorts – you guys drive so… very… badly). Anyway, was counting the number of cyclists I spotted on my ride today. Lets see, three, eight, twelve, twenty… so, that totals to zero! For most of my ride, I didn’t see a single bike. Couple of hummers, […]