Project Rwanda

When I got to work on Monday, this fancy gorgeous cargo bike was leaning against the wall. One of my coworkers, the director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project in Rwanda, had bought it. She spotted the bike in Rwanda when she was there in August, it rider hauling huge loads of coffee beans. It turns out to be the Project Rwanda Coffee Bike

She plans to do most of her grocery shopping on this bike once she rigs it up with adequate paniers. I love the colors, I love the concept. I love the project. It costs $300 to get a bike like this into the hands of someone for whom it will make an incredible difference. Check out the link, and consider buying a transport bike for your own grocery shopping!

Riders in the Heat

Today we did radio support for the 40th running of the Davis Double Century, which always makes for a long day, both for us and for the riders. And it got hot: the temperature hit 99 degrees here in Davis. This year we split up assignments — Pica drove the course as a sag vehicle, and I spent all day at start/finish working as radio net control. There are always crises when one sets out to work such events; our started last night when Pica discovered the car wouldn’t start since the battery had been drained after the interior lights had been knocked on. We hooked the battery charger I usually use to charge my 12-volt SLA batteries for the radios and let the car battery charge overnight. Happily, the car started in the morning, and the battery got plenty of charging over the day. And then there was the issue with our mobile radio whose mike now wants to stick open. This is still unresolved, but didn’t end up being much of an issue on the course.

Pica drew the luck of arriving on the scene at the first and I think most serious accident of the day — a tandem in a descent hit a pothole and both riders got thrown. The stoker was unconscious for a little bit, and both riders ended up being transported to a hospital in Napa by air ambulance. Fortunately, the riders weren’t that seriously injured, and they were discharged later in the afternoon. I meanwhile at net control had to deal with lots of reports coming in all at once — such pileups occur in dribs and drabs. I’m glad the radio ops out on the the course are patient and don’t mind repeating things.

It’s a lot of fun working these events, but we’re going to have a mellow day tomorrow.

Trip on Transit

I went to Pleasanton yesterday — about 90 miles away — on my bike, bike on train, bike on BART. I haven’t put my bike on a train before and it was surprisingly easy. My bike trip at either end was only about three miles.

Jarrett Walker of Creature of the Shade has started a new blog, Human Transit. I feel lucky to be in a place where this kind of trip was not only possible but very easy. Of course we had to wait for the bridge to go down outside Martinez — they were letting a ship through — but I’d have had to have done that in the car anyway.

On the way to the station yesterday, I ran into a) a criterium, which made me alter my route through b) the antique Volvos show, on the way to get c) asparagus, which I threw into a tub of pre-prepared lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and a little tarragon to throw on the grill at the Lazy, Stupid and Godless knitting/dyeing/spinning party. I learned to spin. I hung out with some awesome people. And then I turned around and did the whole thing backwards, running into the fixed gear event in Pleasanton — at first I thought it was part of the city code, that you couldn’t ride bikes with gears. But no. Just some tired guys at the end of the day, looking at the overpass with fear and loathing. I turned right to the subway station.

Oh, and on the way down on the train I conducted a birdathon in support of Yolo Audubon. 48 species, including Western gull, Clark’s grebe, and chestnut-backed chickadee, all of which are hard to find in Yolo County. You can’t do this kind of thing from a car…

Davis Joins Cooperstown

The city of Davis has just been selected to be the new home of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame. This hall had been located in Somerville, New Jersey but was forced to relocate due to a redevelopment project. More than 25 communities submitted proposals to be the new home, and the choice eventually came down to between Greensboro, North Carolina and Davis. According to the chair of the selection committee, Bill Brunner, “The distinguishing difference between Greensboro and Davis was that Davis was so bicycling friendly…all those bike lanes and the sheer number of people who use the bicycle as a method of transportation or recreation or sport.” Nobody knows where in town the hall will be permanently located but the city would like to see the hall and museum open in a temporary location in the next six months.

Rainy Departure

We got up very early, before 5, for our assignment to provide radio support to help out the City of Davis in hosting the start of the Tour of California, the race starting at noon. It’s quite windy when we head out, a strong breeze from the southeast in advance of the coming rain. I put on my full raingear garb — tights, jeans, rain pants (by now quite ripped and in need of replacement), my heavy weather boots, synthetic fleece sweater, mittens, neck warmer, hat, and rain jacket over which I put the orange volunteer t-shirt, all of which is needed because we end up spending the next six hours standing outside in the rain. (At least we got a nicer looking t-shirt than most of the volunteers, due to the technicality of supporting the City of Davis rather than the Amgen Tour itself.)

Our post was the City Hall parking lot, about 5 blocks from the starting line by Central Park. This was set aside for VIP and overflow media and race staff parking. I was over on A Street, one block further away from the race start than the B Street entrance to the parking lot where Pica was stationed, and it turned out to be a pretty lonely outpost. Only one or two cars ever parked on my side of the lot. (As the coordinator of our radio ops put it later on, I guess VIPs melt in the rain). Pica at one point wanders to my side to share the rumor, later verified, that Lance Armstrong’s time trial bike had been stolen. The weather throughout the morning is a mix of wind and light and medium rain.

At 11:30 we’re given the clearance to go off-duty and I start heading towards the race starting point to meet up with Pica. My route takes me through where all the team buses are parked: a chaotic melange of cycling fans, race team staff, and cyclists making the final adjustments to their garb and setting off on their bikes to the starting point. We take up position somewhat behind the actual starting line, and don’t see that much, a brief look at a big pack of cyclists moving on out. It was however quite cool to be standing right opposite the Astana team car and looking into it, rather like finding oneself six feet from a major league dugout and seeing the manager ponder the handwritten roster. We start wandering back towards our car, and hear over the radio that the riders have made it west past the point where they can actually start racing.

After dithering about what to do for lunch, we end back home and get online to check on the live action at cyclingnews.com. The Spanish rider Francisco Mancebo has gone off on an early attack and has taken a substantial lead (at one point over 10 minutes) on the rest of the peloton. We settle in for a nap. Charlie is very confused by our behavior today, tries to rouse us a couple times, gives up, but on waking I find him dozing cuddled up next to me.

I get up at 4:30 and check the race play-by-play. Much excitement! Mancebo is still leading, but only by a minute or so, and the race is into the final circuits around the city of Santa Rosa. The major contenders for the race, led by Astana (Armstrong and Leipheimer’s team) have been in hot pursuit of Mancebo and their elite group of about 17 riders are about a couple minutes behind Mancebo. They don’t bridge the gap though; Mancebo wins the stage and takes the overall tour lead.

It’s a fantastic start to the race. Had the weather been good, what probably would have happened is that the peloton would have arrived in Santa Rosa together and there would have been a bunch sprint at the end, to be won by the likes of Tom Boonen. The lousy weather however favored a breakaway and the peloton was loath to ride it down, having their hands full with maneuvering in the rain and lots of mechanical difficulties. In the end, the heavy hitters in the peloton had to take action, blowing the field apart: the main peloton finished over 5 minutes behind Mancebo.

Tomorrow the riders leave Sausalito toward a finish in Santa Cruz, heading first of all over the Golden Gate Bridge. And more rain is coming.

Amgen Tour of California: Prologue

We took the train over to Sacramento this morning along with hundreds of other people to see the start of the Tour of California, which turned out to be the most efficient way to do it… The course circled the State Capitol, a tight, under-three-mile sprint that was longer than sprinters like but not long enough for the long-haulers.

The riders came by every minute or so, preceded by a motorcycle proclaiming their name and chased by a team car (almost always a Subaru Outback), another motorcycle, and the applause and cheers of the crowd. I think this was a very sophisticated crowd, one that gave reigning Tour de France champ Carlos Sastre a special ovation (he has the flu, though, and will be content to finish the race apparently). Obviously many people were out to see Lance Armstrong in his big comeback (local shops have flyers in them proclaiming “Armstrong Rides Again”), but that wasn’t all.

It was a great day, and the rain just about held off. Tomorrow we are working rather than being mere spectators and it is expected to be pouring rain and howling wind. Getting dressed for an assignment that starts at six am and will go on until at least 1:30 will be challenging, but I think layers are the order of the day. We will be City Hall Alpha and City Hall Bravo, respectively.

Höllentour

Yesterday we saw the documentary Höllentour [English title Hell on Wheels] to get us psyched up for the upcoming Tour of California. This is a German film that follows one team (Telekom/T-Mobile) during the 2003 Tour de France. The team had a good though not outstanding Tour and the film focuses on the sufferings of the riders on the team. Andreas Klöden breaks his tailbone in a fall early in the race and withdraws halfway through; the sprinter Erik Zabel who was previously indomitable, winning six consecutive green jerseys from 1996 to 2001, finds himself coming up third or fourth in all the big sprints; Rolf Aldag wears the polka dot jersey for a day and comes down with a cold in the mountains; and Alexander Vinoukorov, though he wins a stage in the mountains, cannot best Jan Ullrich and Lance Armstrong and finishes third overall. As a cycling-mad priest says in the film: there are two sorts of suffering, negative suffering and suffering which occurs through great efforts. The latter is positive, ennobling suffering.

Grinding through the Mud: Christmas Bird Count

It didn’t rain the whole time. But the rain there was was cold. We rode and walked our bikes up the 4.5 mile road to the top of the ridge (it was very slick and the mud made it hard to get a purchase on the surface). At the top we were inside the clouds.

We saw very few birds as predicted with this cold front coming in, but it was a good experiment. I’d do a count by bike again, particularly on a stretch where you have to walk in a ways and retrace your steps. It made the return trip much, much faster…

The bikes are caked in mud and it’s raining now, and dark. We’ll deal with it in the morning. The compilation dinner was enlivened by Joe and Ron’s shoe-fly pie and by the thought that there’s a chance, a small chance, that we will lead the nation in northern pygmy-owl…

What's New Is Old

Davis is home to a homeless bicycle museum. The California Bicycle Museum was formed recently after the university in 2001 bought a collection of bicycles dating back to 1823 that was owned by a rancher near Modesto. The museum is seeking a permanent place to display these bicycles, but in the meantime they are on temporary display in the community center adjoining Central Park, open during the times of the Farmers’ Market.

We finally made it to the exhibit today and were quite impressed by the collection, which ranges from the 1823 draisienne with no pedals (you sat over the frame and pushed it along) to the latest design in streamlined human-powered vehicles with a full fairing. What struck me was how little bicycle design has changed in the past century. Once the safety bicycle came along in the 1880s and pneumatic tires were added shortly after that, the bicycle looks quite modern. One of the bikes in the collection was a track bike used by the great American racer of a century ago Major Taylor, illustrated above. The lines of the bike resemble any track bike of today, though the wheelset was made of wood and he trained on a particularly massive set of wooden rollers (as seen below the bike in the illustration).

Of the evolution of bikes in the twentieth century Frank Berto in The Dancing Chain writes:

…around 1908 there was a fork in the road: English cyclists took the right fork and would pedal their three-speed epicyclic hub for the next 40 years. French cyclists took the left fork and rode their derailleur gears right up to the present. American cyclists fell down a hole in the road and continued to pedal single-speed coaster brake bicycles for the next 60 years.

Different Strokes for Folks

Here are two noteworthy bikes for this week. The first bike is a prototype that would be good for our emergency preparedness efforts. The second bike we saw Sunday when we worked the Princess Promenade event. This quintuplet (scroll to the bottom of the page of photos) was not officially part of the event but it caused me to do a double-take when I saw it go past one of the rest stops.