How Slow Can You Go?

In cycling, some associate skill and experience with being able to go fast. But going slow - and I mean really slow, like walking pace - can be even more difficult. When I first began riding as an adult, I could not keep my bike upright at super-slow speeds. I remember that the steering was hard to control; I'd end up losing my balance and having to stop. Even a couple of years down the road, it was easier to ride at 20mph than at 2mph. But finally I got the hang of it, and today I am able to ride at walking speed with no trouble at all.




Looking back on this, I would say that slow cycling is one of the most useful bicycling skills I have picked up so far. Here are just some of the practical applications I've noticed over the years:




Wobble-free starting

When I talk to novices about cycling for transportation, a common theme that comes up is the fear of swerving into traffic when starting from a stop at a light. You can see it in the city: When some riders push off from a stop, the front end of their bike will wobble before they gain sufficient momentum to proceed in a straight line. Now, some bikes are easier to balance at slow speeds than others, but with sufficient skill even a twitchy bike can be ridden at walking speed wobble-free, eliminating this anxiety.




Navigating traffic

Riding in the city can be all about stop and go traffic. Being able to cycle slowly while maintaining full control of the bike makes this easier to handle, allowing the cyclist to maintain momentum and to travel more efficiently. Particularly useful is what I think of as "hovering." This is a practice that is somewhere between trackstanding and riding at walking pace. It comes in handy when inching your way forward in a line of stopped cars, changing lanes in dense traffic, waiting to turn left at an intersection, or proceeding in ambiguous right of way situations. It is much easier to both show your intent and accelerate from a position of hovering than it is from a stopped position.




Safe MUP sharing

It used to drive me nuts to ride on crowded mixed use paths. Finding it stressful to navigate around hordes of unpredictable pedestrians, I would simply avoid MUPs during peak hours. But the greenways around here are quite scenic and can be relaxing if riding slowly is not an issue. The same "hovering" skill I find useful in road traffic works just as well for meandering amidst joggers and dog walkers.




Riding on dirt and uneven surfaces

Cycling through muddy, rocky and otherwise challenging terrain can reduce a bike's speed considerably. Yet keeping your balance and being able to steer the bike precisely is more important than ever in those conditions. My new-found enjoyment of unpaved riding has much to do with improved slow cycling skills.




Thinking back to how I finally learned all of this, two distinct experiences come to mind. First, riding fixed gear. I remember vividly how the fixed drivetrain made me feel dramatically more in control of the bike at slow speeds. No one was there to instruct me; it was as if the bike itself was teaching me. And after getting my body used to balancing on the fixed bike that way, some of that eventually transferred over to freewheel bikes.




But the real change was a result ofinstructional paceline rides. These rides taught me a number of useful techniques, including how to maintain continuous pedaling and consistent cadence regardless of speed. To ride slowly, we were instructed to switch into a low gear while pedaling and feathering the brakes, instead of coasting. This taught me to maneuver the bike smoothly, to control my speed with precision, and to stay stable even when moving at a crawl. Somehow pedaling made all of this easier and reprogrammed my body to balance with the bike. Almost immediately, I saw major improvements in my everyday bike handling skills.




If fixed gear bikes and paceline rides are not for you, one thing you could try is this: When out riding, pay attention to your pedaling. To slow down, try switching into a low gear while pedaling continuously, instead of coasting while pedaling in a high gear occasionally. To slow down even more, feather the brakes while continuing to pedal. Try to go slower and slower using this technique.Gradually your body will learn to maneuver the bike at slow speeds, whether pedaling or coasting.Learning to ride slowly transformed me as a cyclist; it is a skill I highly recommend picking up.

Assateague Island :: More Wild Ponies

Stopped traffic was a common sight whenever ponies were spotted along the roadside. I wasn't immune to their allure either, almost always stopping when I saw a group. This day I was riding my bicycle out to the bridge, which was a little over 3 miles from my campsite. This is at the intersection to the main road out to the Island.

Wiley Wild Cat

I am trying so hard to good!

Allensworth State Historical Park

After leaving Death Valley on March 27th I had decided to continue west to the coast of California, still seeking warmer weather. Along the way, I saw a sign for the Colonel Allensworth State Historical Park, which is located off of Interstate 5 northwest of Bakersfield, California. I went there not knowing what it was, only hoping that it had a campground.

The entrance welcomed me and I knew that I was in a very special place. Thankfully, it also had a campground!

According to a brochure that I picked up, the town of Allensworth was established in August 1908 by Colonel Allen Allensworth and four other settlers. It was the first settlement in California founded, financed and governed by African Americans. Their dream was to develop a thriving community based on the belief in programs that allowed blacks to help themselves create better lives. By 1910 Allensworth’s success was the focus of many national newspaper articles praising the town and its inhabitants.

Born into slavery and educated illegally, Allensworth ran off and joined the Army during the Civil War. He became one of the Army's first Black chaplains and at his retirement in 1906, he was the highest ranking African American commissioned officer in the United States military.

The townsite was purchased in 1974 by the California State Parks. Some of the homes and buildings have been restored while others are reconstructions.

The Stockett House and outbuildings.

The First Baptist Church.

Each building has a sign which provides a brief history.

The prefabricated house of Colonel Allensworth, delivered by railroad and assembled in 1911.

Additional photographs can be found on this page of the Allensworth Historical Park website. A biography of Colonel Allensworth can be found on Wikipedia.

Pictures from the Visit at Mom's

Van Sweringen Photography: Yehuda approves!

How cool! I went to read the Yehuda Moon comic strip last night, and something on the website looked very familiar.



It took a while for it to hit me, but those are my photos used as examples of the Van Sweringen Flickr group. Thanks, Yehuda! So nice of you to pick my photos. From left to right, they are: Somervillain's Raleigh DL1, the Co-Habitant's Raleigh DL-1, and the Co-Habitant's Pashley.



The Co-Habitant's "track bike". I guess the Pashley does look very much Van Sweringen-ish, especially with those bags attached.



If you have no idea what I am talking about here, then clearly you are not yet addicted to the microcosm of Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery. Do yourself a favour and pay them a visit; best comic strip ever!

The Wheat Fields of South-Eastern Washington

The rolling hills of south-eastern Washington, between Waitsburg and Colfax (on highways 12, 127 and 26) were fascinating. For mile after mile there is almost nothing except the wheat fields. The pictures simply don't convey the true height of those hills! The wheat had been harvested, the bales of straw had been hauled away, and the fields were being prepped for the next years crop.





As I drove further west, the weather got better!

Little Tahoma

While one Foursquare group was down climbing St. Helens, another group finally got a chance to climb Little T.



The guys climbing up the final 300' of soft snow.



Doug, Ron, Kevin and Mark on top of Little T.



The Fryingpan Glacier was covered with millions of Ice Worms. They burrow through the ice and come out at night to eat Watermelon Algae.



Fryingpan Creek on the hike out.

Mark skied down ahead of us, fired up the BBQ and made hamburgers for the rest of us hungry climbers!

INSIDE: Three Movies, 27 Links

Once in a while I like to write about movies - not as a critic - just as a person who dearly loves them. Somehow we've managed to see three current movies so I'll ignore the borders until Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th, and take you where the lights are dim and the scents aren't of gingers and amarcrinums, but of popcorn and fake butter.As members of the Austin Film Society Philo & I occasionally get to see movies before they're released. A couple of weeks ago we saw Stardust, which opened on Friday. The trailers made me think of old favorites like Time Bandits , Willow, and The Princess Bride, where the tongue is held firmly in cheek as the hero wields his weapon. Stardust did resemble those movies, but with modern computer effects and sensibilities reflecting changing social attitudes. I liked how the movie looked on the screen, large and romantic with some lovely sweeping views. Claire Danes and Charlie Cox play the hero and heroine, but with Robert De Niro out-Depping Johnny, and Michelle Pfeffer shedding her leading-lady skin to emerge as a wickedly funny villainess, the young actors have to fight for leading status. This is not a great movie, but I think it's a good one - and it was lots of fun to see it with a summertime audience in an airconditioned theater - I even got the souvenir poster above to bring home.
When the Austin Film Society sent a notice for a screening of Werner Hertzog's new movie, Rescue Dawn, I told Philo about it so he could act fast and snag a pair of tickets. Philo really liked the 1997 documentary Little Deiter Wants To Fly, about Dieter Dengler's experience as a prisoner and eventual escapee in Laos during the Vietnam War. My husband wanted to see the new fictionalized version but was surprised to hear that I did. It kind of surprised me, too - but I'd heard about the documentary from Philo, heard interviews about both movies with Terry Gross on NPR and most compelling of all - it starred Christian Bale and Steve Zahn. That's one reason I can't be a movie critic - I like actors way too much to be impartial.
Philo noticed big differences between Little Dieter Wants to Fly and Rescue Dawn. In the documentary, Dieter goes back to Laos, speaking of his adventures in a very matter-of-fact way while meeting many people who helped him. Christian Bale is more of a superhero in the film, which was very intense and dramatic and gripping. I liked it a lot, was completely blown away by Steve Zahn's performance and was surprised at how much dry humor threaded through the story. There are reports that relatives of other men who were in that camp are angry that Hertzog used the prisoners' real names while fictionalizing their personalities and changing events. That part does bother me - why didn't he just give them different names? It also surprised me when some glossy scenes that seemed unreal turned out to be factual, while other, quite believable scenes were fabricated.
Is there any way to watch a movie set in a tropical jungle without past images coming to mind? I guess after decades of watching actors push through greenery in the rainy season, those visions are embedded on my cortex - I saw flashes of The Deer Hunter, The Emerald Forest, The African Queen, Anaconda, Hertzog's own Fitzcarraldo, the documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo called Burden of Dreams and The Vertical Ray of the Sun. I couldn't forget other prisoner of war movies like Stalag 17 , The Great Escape, and Bridge On The River Kwai. A few scenes echoed such unlikely movies as South Pacific, The Sound of Music and Camille!
I don't, however, think this means Hertzog was derivitave - I think it means that I've been watching movies for a long, long time!

My fast work in getting tickets for Rescue Dawn gave me trading points when choosing the next movie to see - I'll bet this kind of bargaining is common! We'd watched The Good Shepherd on DVD a few days after the Hertzog movie. While I liked The Good Shepherd, it was yet another story that involved interrogation and torture. I demanded a movie with some fluff, some songs, some Johnny Travolta in a dress!

Some people who loved the original Hairspray are ready to hate this new musical version - but by thinking of it as a completely separate movie I thought it was lots of fun. All the versions use music to celebrate individuality, acceptance of body size, interracial romance and the vanquishing of snobs, but things have changed in the nearly twenty years since Edna was played by the outrageous transvestite Divine followed by Broadway's Harvey Fierstein. With so many actors gay & straight vying to don that outsize bra, playing Edna in Hairspray may become the pop equivalent of the celebrity guest role of Mother Ginger in the Nutcracker. Here's a link to a site that compares the three versions.

While watching John Travolta in the new Hairspray, I was struck by how natural it seemed to have him play the mother, and realized that I've been watching him for over 30 years - not just in movies or TV but in interviews and on talk shows where he frequently shows the nurturing side of his personality. His Edna seems genuinely maternal and what fun it is to watch Travolta make Edna dance - both on her own, and with Christopher Walken as Edna's husband Wilbur.

I liked the energetic young Nikki Blonsky as Tracy, and was glad to see Queen Latifa get some time to shine as Motormouth Maybelle. Jerry Stiller played Wilbur in 1988, but shows up here as the proprietor of a plus-sized clothing store. Maybe you know the other young stars like Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, and Amanda Bynes - they were new to me although I'd seen Brittany Snow before.

The actor playing TV show host Corny Collins is James Marsden - known for the X-men movies. I'm keeping my eye on him in future. Allison Janney, Paul Dooley and Ricki Lake, the original Tracy Turnblad, show up in small rolls. And circling back to Stardust - Michelle Pfeiffer has a lot of fun playing another villainess - and gets to sing and dance this time.

Next time I promise to show up with flowers.

Big Bend Revisited :: Boquillas Overlook

Thursday, February 28th - - It was late afternoon when I drove out to Boquillas Overlook on the east side of Big Bend National Park. The road to Boguillas Canyon is a mile or so from Rio Grande Village. It is a short but somewhat "challenging" drive with lots of twists and turns along the way.



Signs are posted in certain areas of the park regarding Mexicans coming across the river to sell trinkets and craft items "for the support of the Boquillas school." The signs warn you that purchasing these items is illegal. However, there is apparently enough income gained that they continue to present their wares for sale.





At Boquillas Overlook there were several boulders used for displaying the goods for sale. The sign reads "Art, Craft, for Sale please purchase to Help Boquillas Mexico school kids Donations are aseptable. Walking Sticks - 6, Scokoypions - 6, Road runner - , Ocotillos - 5..."





All of the displays were selling similar items... walking sticks, and scorpions and road runners made from wire and beads.





When I arrived at the overlook, there was a Mexican walking away from the area. He waved, said hello and something else that I didn't understand, then walked down the hill and away toward the river.






I nonchalantly started taking pictures... Looking to the East...





Looking to the West...




And the view to the south... Oh, my - Across the river a boat sits on the shore and to the right, under a clump of trees was a group of men...





A close-up of the men lounging in the shade of the trees. I didn't mention earlier, that another sign at the turn-off to Boquillas Canyon warned of numerous recent vehicle break-ins. We were told to make sure our vehicles were locked and that valuable items were hidden away. I wondered if these were simply men lounging about or were they bandidos? Ah, the mind can take you off into some strange places...

Front Racks and Elegant Light Placement: Mission Impossible?

In preparation for the eventual acquisition of a handlebar bag, Graham has now been fitted with a front rack (Nitto M-18 from Renaissance Bicycles). I have been planning to purchase a front rack for a while, yet had no idea that there were so many choices and that the whole thing is so complicated.



To determine which front rack your bicycle needs, several things must be taken into consideration:



First off, do you want the rack to mount onto the fork, onto the brakes, or onto the front axle? Okay, easy enough. The fork on my Sam Hillborne has braze-ons for a rack, so I wanted the type of rack that attaches to them.



But the decisions do not stop there: If your bicycle's fork has braze-ons, is their placement compatible with the length and angles of the rack's stays? Some front racks have fixed stays and the placement of the braze-ons on your fork has to match them exactly. Usually this only works when a rack was specifically designed for a particular bicycle, or if a bicycle was custom-built with a specific rack in mind. After browsing rack models until my eyes got blurry and speaking to several bike shops, I was still unable to determine for sure whether any of the racks with fixed stays would fit the Hillborne and did not want to risk ordering them. Thankfully, there are also racks with adjustable stays (like the Nitto M-18 I got) that expand to accommodate the placement of the braze-ons on your fork.



But wait, that is not all: You must also consider your brakes. Even if the rack you choose does not mount onto the brakes themselves, it can be incompatible with a given type of brakes (in particular, cantilevers) due to clearance issues. Don't forget to check up on this!



Exhausted yet? I feel spent just writing about this! And I haven't even raised the question of aesthetics yet. If you look at the front racks closely, you will notice that some are square (like the Nitto M-18 in my pictures), while others are round. If you have a rear rack installed on the bike, it may be important to you that the two match - in other words, that both are square or both are round. So that is yet another design element to watch for.



Last but not least, there is the question of light placement. Some racks are made with little braze-ons for mounting lights. The Nitto M-18 is not. So we bought a VO light mount - which is basically a small metal bracket with two holes. The size of the holes was not compatible with either the rack's or the headlight's bolts, so we had to drill them out.



With the light now successfully mounted, we are still not sure of this set-up.The bracket is made of relatively thick steel, but nonethelessvibrates slightly side to side (but not up and down) when the bicycle goes over bumps. The Co-Habitant does not think this is anything to worry about, but I am not sure that I agree.



I am also not sure how I feel about the garlands of wiring that now seem to cover the bicycle's front end like ivy. Once the handlebar bag is installed the wires on the rack will not be visible, but what about the section that curls around the shifter cable? All in all, I cannot say that this set-up can be called "elegant" and we are still considering alternatives. One thing I do like, is how far forward the light extends - this placement seems ideal for road illumination. Is it a matter of compromise, or is there a magical solution out there that I am overlooking?



...



Update: There, we fixed it!



We have successfully re-routed the wiring, so that it now runs straight underneath the rack instead of coiling around it.



We have also titled the bracket down, placing the headlight a little further back, which should reduce the vibrations. I will remove theNittosticker when I get around to it.

"Aerial" view.

The wires are considerably less noticeable this way, and I think the results are good. Thanks for everybody's comments and suggestions.