biking
Last night I biked from work over to the lions side of the Vancouver Art Gallery and participated in my first Critical Mass. Billed as a decentralized large group bike ride with no pre-determined route featuring anybody with self-propelled commuting, Critical Mass enjoys a 15 year existence, starting in the streets of San Francisco. My bike, a few months old and newly tuned up, performed brilliantly, but I can't say the same for my girlfriend's. She lost a part somewhere along the way, and was unable to shift, making her fearless gearless, though thankfully with brakes. We biked down Robson, turning left on Jervis, making our way down Davie (I think), then crossing the Burrard Street Bridge, riding down much of Broadway, and finally turning onto Yukon where we got off at 11th, where we were jokingly called "splitters".
You know how people exaggerate the olden days by saying they had to walk to school uphill both ways? Well my biking commute is almost like that: on the way to work it's downhill most of the way save for an uphill climb at Lakewood Drive, where on the way back it's uphill approaching Commercial, then downhill after Renfrew and then back uphill, then, saving the worst for last, a steep uphill climb at Boundary and Union in Burnaby. Like Roland, I drew my bike route on Google Maps, but I drew both my to and from work routes. (To work is in red, from work is in blue.) According to Google Calculator, my commute to work is 10.8 KM, and 8.5 KM back home. (I typed in "6.71 miles in kilometers" and "5.31 miles in kilometers" and rounded off the answers.) Because there are more hills on the shorter route, both directions take about the same time, from 45 minutes to an hour each. Two Google maps after the break.
Roland has an awesome wrap-up of the Vancity Bike Share, complete with commute video he made from photos he took while riding his Vancity bike set to Creative Commons-licensed music. The photos pass by pretty quickly, possibly too quickly for the music he chose. He credits me with getting him back biking again, indirectly, but Vancity and Change Everything deserve the credit, as they got me biking again. I considered making a similar video but I don't feel confident (crazy?) enough yet to hold a camera and keep my balance at the same time. Vancity bikes are due back to Vancity on Friday September 7th, but I'm advised there's no celebration for those who participated. A hot-dog lunch thanking people who at one time or another had got a bike would have nicely complimented the pancake breakfast launch.
Vancouver's commute went smoothly, according to TransLink. At around 7:30 AM, CBC Radio had a journalist at Broadway Station breathlessly reporting on the lineups, and another recommended going to the back of the SkyTrain, which is apparently less crowded. (Really?) CBC TV last night didn't make any mention of biking as an alternative to driving or transit. If the media won't pat me on the back for biking in the rain this morning to avoid the crush, then I will.
Patrick O'Neill reports on increased clashes between bikers and non-bikers on Portland's light rail system, the MAX. This hasn't been a problem yet for SkyTrain, which bans bikes in certain directions during rush hour periods (towards downtown in the morning, away from downtown in the evening). It might increase, however, as there's nowhere to hang bikes like there is on the MAX: instead, most people (including myself) have kept them near the doors for quicker entry and exit.