Bike to Work Week--Nothing Like a Challenge

This was the weather radar two hours after I arrived at work. The yellows and reds were directly overhead when I was cruising through Greensboro this morning. Nothing like waterproof panniers to keep your work clothes dry in a heavy rain.

On Yer Bike!

Next Week: Bike to Work Week

From Commuting Scenes

Next week is Bike to Work Week across much of the nation as well as here in Greensboro. The dates and locations for the GSO refueling stations are listed at the Bicycling in Greensboro website. I will be helping out at the Total Wine-Battleground location on Tuesday.

On Yer Bike!

NC DOT Doesn't Seem to Get It

According to this article in the News and Record, NC DOT is planning on surveying motorists on how they use Triad area roads. The problem is, motorists aren't the only road users. What about transit users? Pedestrians? Bicyclists? Their road use is just as valid as the motorists. Where is their survey?

General Greensboro seems to have information not in the news article, in a statement on Twitter he said "GenlGreensboro @mplakus Don't know about alt trans. Seems like they are looking for how many people cross county boundaries. " That still has no bearings on transit, ped or bike, they can all cross county lines.

On Yer Bike!

Put the Onus on the Risk Bringers

Mikael from The Copenhagen Bicycle Culture Blog has got it right. So many times road DOTs design roads with only motorists in mind. They treat pedestrians and bicyclists as invaders who are left to fend for themselves if they dare to travel on right of ways designed for motor vehicles. The purpose of roads is to move people, goods and raw materials, that they are built out to support motor vehicles does not make their operators the sole "owners" of those spaces.

On Your Bike!

Share the Road

Here's an editorial from the Baltimore Sun about sharing the road. Maryland just passed a three foot passing statute and some are up in arms about how it will delay them. This piece, while occasionally sarcastic, takes pretty good aim at the issues.

On Yer Bike!

It's Bike Month!

So to start off the month, an article from the NY Times about stopping at red lights.

On Yer Bike!

Jury Duty

I had it. As a citizen of this democracy it's my duty to participate in it. That said, I have a few complaints on how it's handled here in Guilford County. The Courthouse in Greensboro is just a little uptight about security. Have you ever seen an adjustment wrench for a Brooks saddle? It's a piece of stamped steel about 3 1/2 inches long. That was deemed a large wrench. And a Topeak Turbomorph is considered a weapon. Just to compound this problem, the Courthouse website does not list what is not allowed beyond fire arms and knives. The security chief also copped an attitude about me being dressed in lycra at the security point. Apparently he didn't consider the fact I couldn't change into more acceptable clothing until I got past the checkpoint and into a restroom. When challenged as to what they expected me to do about my "weapons" they did back down a bit and secured them for me at the kiosk. Apparently they didn't want to contact the jury clerk as I was pressing them to do.

Now into the waiting room. Thumbs up for the free WiFi. Thumbs down for blocking Wordpress and Blogger. I'm sitting there cooling my heels and I can't surf the blogs, only the RSS feeds, not a problem if the feed is fat but there are a lot of good thin feeds you need to click through to get to the meat of the article. Also a huge thumbs down for blocking Yehuda Moon just as Rick is starting to publish the strip again. That strip if far more than entertainment, a huge amount of advocacy discussion transpires in the comments section. Finally, IMAP and POP3 mail clients do not work on the free WiFi. If you need your mail, you have to use some lame web client, and believe me, web clients running in Safari on an iPod Touch are truly lame.

Anyway, it turned into a day of nothing. Two groups of jurors were taken from the pool and I wasn't in either. We were released for the day at 4:00pm so I was able to get clear of the downtown area before the evening rush got rolling.

Final warning, eat breakfast before you get there...first break isn't until 11:00am with lunch at 12:30. The vending machines though well stocked are well stocked with junk albeit the prices are lower by a large margin than the vending machines on campus at NC A&T.

On Yer Bike!