Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Maps

In our continuing series of guest blogs for the front page here is another good one from Doored from a couple days ago.

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My only preparation for this morning’s ride involved googling “How to bike in the rain.” No maps, no intense study of the route. I didn’t even have my GPS. True, I’d never ridden in from Brighton (I rode from the city outwards on my last commute).  I’d already decided not to bike in on Commonwealth Avenue. Although there is a bike lane, I still felt like I was taking my life into my hands last time on my ride home. I was plotting a new route as I went, exploring parts of the city I’d only ever ridden below, without any guidance above my sense of direction and the ever present Hancock building.

I coasted along comfortably in the warm humid weather, following the spacious bike path down tree-lined Beacon Street, following the C-line. My pleasant cruise ended, however, when the bike lane did. Now I was in traffic, dodging between the parked cars and the driving ones, at points in the travel lane. Luckily, the many bike commuters gave me some guidance about how to behave. I was following hard-core bike commuter, and as we came across several garbage trucks blocking the road, I planned to follow his lead. He swerved around the first truck, I swerved around the first truck (throwing a “please don’t kill me!” grin to the car behind me). To get around the second truck, though, he somehow slipped through a 6” gap between the truck and a car’s rear-view mirror. I stopped short, then walked my bike across the side-walk in defeat.

My map-less navigation served me well until I hit the Citgo sign. A few months ago on foot, I’d spent a freezing hour lost around Fenway at night and that familiar panic was setting in. However, I knew the bike afforded me the ability to get slightly lost and recover more quickly. I followed the majority of the cars and, as I crested the bridge over the Pike, the Kenmore canopy came into view and I felt at least mostly orientated.

Peddling hard in the direction of the Commons, I found myself at a strange intersection where the bike path, with no warning or signage, move from the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side. I crossed carefully, and continued riding on the left-hand side until I came to the Public Gardens. My relief was followed by confusion: There is no good way to ride one’s bike around the Commons and Public Gardens. The one-way streets, lack of bike lanes, and temporary insanity that hits all drivers in the area again led me to walk the bike the last several blocks to school.

Were I walking, or even riding the T, I would be loathe to attempt a commute without knowing the route turn for turn. I’m the person who usually maps the route, checks for landmarks at every turn, and has a print-out of directions if there’s the slightest chance that I’ll get lost (and I still get lost). However, on the bike, that level of preparation seems less important. If I turn down a wrong street, it’s easy enough to turn around when I realize it and retrace my route. I’ve got a great general sense of direction (Am I heading North or South? Towards the water or away?) So far, that’s all that I’ve needed to get me where I’m going.

Although walking started the process, biking has gone a long way towards connecting the T-stops in my mind. Sure, I know what stuff is directly around Aquarium, but before I started biking and actively exploring the streets, I didn’t really know what was between the Government Center and the Aquarium stops. You don’t really get a sense of where Kendall is in relation to Davis until you actually go from Kendall to Davis above ground. Now, instead of isolated islands or land in my mind, the T stops are navigational points that I can use to orient myself in the city. I’m discovering a side of the city I’ve never seen before, and I look forward to seeing more of it as Spring progresses.

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Its Cold, Its Raining, And The Wind Is Blowing

Photo from: Annemiek van der Kuil | http://www.photoa.nl

I might also add that I have a horrible head cold…

But you know what I saw today on my ride in? About a million cyclists! We have hit some sort of critical point in Boston, a point at which people are riding year round even in the crappiest of days. Good job Boston, and good job cyclists.

I am not saying that everyone has to ride every day in every kind of weather, but when I see other people pushing through the wind and the rain it tells me that we have reached a certain point in our transition towards a bike friendly Boston.

People who will ride in weather like this are a small percentage of the larger “cyclist pool”. So if you see a lot of people riding in the rain and you know they are a pretty small percentage of the entire group, you know that group has gotten pretty big.

We are becoming a real honest to goodness movement. Both in the literal sense (bikes are all about movement), and also in the sense that we are becoming a statistically significant percentage of the people using the streets.

So when you see your fellow cyclist pushing through the rain, give them a nod of the helmet, and a smile. From the looks of things you might have a fair number of people to smile at. Stay dry folks, and have fun in the rain. Make sure to have some nice hot chocolate ready when you get home, and be extra careful (people seem to drive even worse in the rain).

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Rain Poetry

From a couple months back on the BostonFixed.us forum…relevant for today.

surprisefries
too lazy to switch to my full-fendered whip.

too forgetful to put my mudguard/fender on.

here i sit with a bunch of paper towels down the back of my pants.

joeyfresh
That didn’t rhyme AT ALL.t-honks is not impressed.

dora
too lazy to grab fender
now at work i sit
with paper towels on butt

mauspad
^it’s 5-7-5, not 7-5-7 😛 i demand a second draft!

mauspad
fenders? too lazy
now at work they’re calling me
paper towel butt.

dora
oh wow.
i’m dumb.
how embarrassing.
thank you for pointing that out!

OK ROUND TWO

rain plus no fender
on the way to work today
equals brown wet butt

surprisefries
yo yo, yo yo,
this mornin i walked on out the do’ in a daze
peepin’ the raindrops fallin’ through the misty haze
wuz late for the jizob so i had to fly
and i fo’got the mudflap to keep mah gangsta ass dry

now i’m on the job tryin’ ta make some chedda
my ass all wet from the wet ass weatha
what else could i do to try an’ get dry
but jam paper towels ‘tween mah gangsta ass thighs

peace the fuck out, beyotch.

ben
Best.rap.ever.

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Recap: Getting Schooled AlleyCat

What do you do if you go through all the trouble of planning a race, getting prizes, getting cp workers, and all the rest and mother nature delivers a crap ton of rain…you race anyway! As the immortal Danny Rocks said “good luck y’all! Race it damnit, even if it is damp. wet racing builds character!” Boy was he right, a lot of character was built last Sunday.

A group of 20 or so damp (it hadn’t started pouring yet) riders assembled at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, ready to get racing. As soon as the manifests were handed out, the sky opened up in a show of anger. About an hour later and 25 miles later my manifest was a sloppy damp rag, with vague ink spots on it that were once signatures. But boy was it fun.

Drafting behind anyone without full fenders meant you got a face full of road water (with bonus road grit!), I nearly ate shit on several utility hole covers, and there was more than one frantic skid as the brakes failed to stop in the rain….but boy was it fun. I don’t think I have ever had so much fun riding around in the rain, and the fact that everyone was suffering together meant that everyone was having a good time.

After the race we went back to someones house, and a mass striping down to skivys followed by a mad dash for whatever dry cloths we could find. All of our shoes went into the dryer, along with all of our wet cloths (which by the way means that nothing got dry). When the dryer was turned on it sounded like a rock tumbler. As we sat drying off the room soon filled with a jungle like atmosphere as a bunch of very warm and very wet rider started to create a lot of water vapor.

The awards party was at The Otherside Cafe on the patio (in the rain) and a good time was had by all. You can find pictures of the after after after party here.

Overall this was a great event, no one got hurt, everyone got drenched, and it all ended in smiles! A+ would do again.

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