81 days and counting

My Pugsley sporting a borrowed 29er wheel on the front for a test fitting.

I haven't had much time for the old blog as of recent, but that doesn't mean that I haven't had time to ride. In fact, I've now ridden a bike every day consecutively for the past 81 days. I don't have an established record of consecutive days of riding, as I've never previously kept track. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who have by far surpassed this number, like this guy, but keeping up the streak has become enough of a game that I'm now angling to hit 100+ days in a row. This all started with the TSBC challenge toward the end of last year, which has, at least for me, been ongoing and wildly successful. Thanks again, Tarik!

As for the photo above, I have not yet jumped to acquisition of a set of 29er wheels for my Pugsley, but continue to weigh the possibilities as I gather funds. As the photo shows, I test fitted a symmetrical rear 29er wheel on the Moonlander fork of my Pugsley, and am happy to report that it all fit perfectly. By extension, I can also report that there is a new-to-us bike in the family. Nope, it's not mine. Julie enjoyed riding on dirt and gravel last year enough that she asked me to help her find a more suitable off-road machine than her venerable, but pavement-centric Breezer mommy bike. As you may have guessed, the new bike is a 29er, details of which are to follow in a subsequent post. As you may have also guessed, I'm probably even more excited than she is about the prospect of a future filled with dirt biking family rides.

Until next time, enjoy a few random images of things that I've seen or encountered since I last posted here.

I made a trip to Boulder, where their B-cycle system remains open year-around. It was nice to be back on the red bikes. 

Bike gawking opportunities abound in Boulder, where I spotted this ship-shape Kona Ute at a grocery store.

I was a fan of Peugeot mountain bikes in the old days, so I enjoyed seeing this one in Boulder, which is a cobbled together survivor with a 700c front wheel.

This is a bike blog, but there are a few motorized rigs I enjoy enough to include. I spotted this circa-mid '70s era International Scout during a ride.

I've long admired the simple utility of International four-wheel drives. I've written before about the lost prowess of quality American manufacturing of days gone by, of which vehicles like this are an enduring monument.  

Yesterday, I took part in a Denver B-cycle event to celebrate the opening of two new stations at the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Here, Mayor Hancock speaks just before the ride.

My inaugural Denver B-cycle ride of the season was on Number 045. The system officially opens for the year next Monday.

Here are some of the VIPs riding B-cycles to the event. Believe it or not, I'm one of them. Not shown: me in a suit. You'll have to take my word for it.

Briefly in Boulder

I'm going to take a small detour from Big Dummy related activities to write about a short tour of bicycle supportive infrastructures found in Boulder, Colorado. I happened to be in Boulder for a meeting today and took a few shots of random bike facilities while I was there. A lot of things in that town are going very right for bike infrastructure.

First, I happened to ride past Casey Middle School and was impressed by the following scene:

Yessir, that's a large solar array acting as a shade for about 100 or so bikes. Every spot was filled, and then some.

Wouldn't it be amazing to see bike racks like this at every school, place of employment and center of commerce? However, someone in authority having decided to have a large number of racks installed is only part of what is impressive about this scene. Those bike racks didn't fill themselves; it requires a community commitment of broad social, cultural, policy and infrastructural support to encourage riding to school. Extra kudos to the school administration and engineers for the large solar array.

Continuing to my destination I noticed the intuitive and simple to follow directional signage for bikes at many intersections. These appear to be more easily identifiable and understandable than the D route signs presently used in Denver.

Clear signs eliminate some of the guesswork

Next was the innovative contraflow bike lane on 13th Street protected by a physical barrier from car traffic. The setup featured diagonal car parking and one lane of Northbound car traffic, along with one lane of Southbound bike traffic, all sharing the same street. Everything was neatly marked so that cars, bikes and pedestrians kept to the correct place and/or direction of travel.

From left: sidewalk, diagonal car parking, Northbound car lane, protective barrier, Southbound bike lane, sidewalk

Contraflow lane at an intersection

In an arched section of the contraflow lane, skirting a pedestrian courtyard

The off-street facilities are just as impressive. I took note of even more examples of clear and instructive directional signage on the trail system. 

Sign post at a major trail intersection in Central Park

Amsterdam and Copenhagen are great, but there's a lot to be learned in our own back yard. Variations on each of these items could easily be applied in Denver, and have already been tested and proven by our neighbors to the north. This brief recounting features just a few of the great bicycle-supportive elements observable in Boulder. I encourage anyone who hasn't done so to visit Boulder on a bike to get a firsthand glimpse of these and other bicycle facilities in action.