UPDATE: ATT cleared by 2:45pm
The ATT has been cleared and is open for travel again; it looked great on my way home from work.
Thanks to Ellen Beckmann and Chuck Harris of the CIty for working so quickly to remove the tree. Thanks to Councilman Woodward who kept in good communication with the cycling community, and thanks most of all to the men and women of Urban Forestry whose labor actually cleared the trail.
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| From ATT debris |
The rest of the debris will be cleared away early next week.
ATT detour
There’s a giant tree down on the Tobacco Trail, just south of Otis St. It probably blew down last night during that fierce wind.
It completely blocks the path, so you’ll have to go around using neighborhood streets. Here’s how I got around it. DETOUR
Hopefully it won’t take long to clean it off the trail.
free hugs
This is not bike related. It’s not very philosophical. It’s not about athletes using drugs or music or traveling or coffee, and it’s not even about photographs I took. But it still belongs on this site. The world needs more people like this guy.
A little more of the story here.
sign the petition
If you haven’t done so yet, please add your name to the petition to finish the American Tobacco Trail. Bill Bussey of the Triangle Rails-to-Trails Conservancy says that his organization is making one last push to get more than 2,000 signatures before taking the petition to Durham’s City Council on October 5th.
(Bill Russ, photographer for the NC Division of Tourism, took this photo on the ATT)
So… sign the petition. What are you waiting for?
“can the bicycle save civilization?”
Ryan McGeal asks whether the bicycle can save civilization over at Raise the Hammer.
I didn’t know we (cyclists) might be saddled with such a responsibility.
and we want our sports to be run like businesses?
Survey: M.B.A. students more likely to cheat
Preparing for the world of business
By Stacey Burling
Philadelphia Inquirer
When it comes to cheating in graduate school, a new study finds that M.B.A. students are the champs.
A survey of 5,331 students at 32 graduate schools in the United States and Canada found an “alarming” amount of cheating across disciplines, but more among the nation’s future business leaders. Fifty-six percent of graduate business students admitted they had cheated at least once in the last year, compared with 47 percent of non-business students.
The students, who were surveyed between 2002 and 2004, told researchers from Pennsylvania State, Rutgers and Washington State Universities that the most important reason for cheating was that they thought that other students were doing it.
continue reading the article on the Philadelphia Inquirer’s website
With “the business model” becoming the paradigm for running anything these days, from non-profit organizations to sports teams, is it any wonder that we’re seeing a culture of questionable ethics infecting decision-making positions.
If profit becomes the bottom line, then you’re asking for a race to the bottom.
new battery design
Finally, someone is making progress thinking outside the 19th-century box.
The folks at Angstrom, a Vancouver-based alternative energy company, have developed and are testing hydrogen fuel cells for portable lighting devices like flashlights. One of their first models is a bicycle light.
You can contact them via their website if you want to learn more about their products including when they may be available.
Car Free Day is this Friday / Dia Mundial Sin Auto sera este viernes
In observance of International Car Free Day, all the bus services in the Triangle will be FREE this Friday, September 22nd. All of ‘em. This is the day to try Capital Area Transit, Chapel Hill Transit, Durham Area Transit, Cary Transit, the NCSU Wolf Line, or TTA.
Of course, your bike is free every day.
Visit www.gocarfree.com or www.goTriangle.org for more information.
Esta Viernes, todo los autobuses en el Triangle estarà gratis. Viernes, Septiembre 22, es Dìa Mundial Sin Auto, y CAT, CHT (en Chapel Hill), DATA, Cary Transit, y TTA estarà gratis. Si usted no ha intentado montar el autobús, entonces Viernes esta una dia buena a montar para el tiempo primero.
Por supuesto, su bicicleta está gratis montar cada día.
Por que yo quiero para mejorar mi español, escribiré de vez en cuando en la lengua de los países a el cual deseo estar más cercano. Si algunos nativos del español leen este web site, por favor siéntase libre corregir mi español.
Ben Harper at Koka Booth
I’ll post a few pictures from last night’s Ben Harper concert in Cary. My brother and I got there so early we were the 5th and 6th people in line. While waiting, we drank mate drawing suspicious stares from fellow fans and psuedo-authorities, neither of whom seemed to know what mate is. Gates opened late because of electrical problems having to do with the incessant rain. We ended up with front row spots.
Whether it was because we were so close or due to some energy from the crowd, I forgot about the rain (sometimes). I was wet through and through by the end. But, I didn’t feel it during the show. Ben was on; the stage came alive with the first strike on the Weissenborn and it stayed that way through the two-and-a-half hours that followed. The highlight, the climax, the pièce de résistance was “Black Rain”.
Damian Marley, complete with Rastafarian-flag-waving-guy, was the opening act.
Set I:
• Steal My Kisses
• Burn To Shine
• Faded
• Homeless Child
• When It’s Good
• Gold To Me
• Ground On Down
• Waiting For You
• Morning Yearning
• Diamonds On The Inside
• Forgiven
• Please Don’t Talk About Murder While I’m Eating
• Black Rain
• Get Up, Stand Up
Encore I:
• Another Lonely Day
• With My Own Two Hands
• 11th Commandment
• Well Well Well
• Amen Omen
Encore II:
• Get It Like You Like It
• Glory & Consequence
• Suzie Blue
• Sexual Healing (with lyrics from “If I Was Your Girlfriend” by Prince interspersed)
• Heart Of Gold
• Better Way
–setlist compiled with assistance from BenHarper.net
About a week after the show, Julian, of Melody Makers, contacted me for more photos of Damian Marley. They’re here.
who needs a car?
Not me. I’ve got a truck. A two-wheeled pick-up truck.
I sold my car this spring after realizing that I’d put gas in the tank a handful of times within the previous year. Then a friend reminded me of the Xtracycle — a bolt-on rear triangle that moves your rear-wheel back about 15 inches and supports their proprietary huge panniers. I remembered seeing one in action in Massachusetts and that I had wanted to try it out just to see how it handles.
In June, I added the free radical to my 1980’s (very first) mountain bike, and its carrying capacity has convinced me that I really don’t need a car.
Three months into riding it, here are some thoughts —
First, since I mounted the free radical to a chromoly frame, I expected a lot of frame flex. While it does flex, it’s not as much as I had anticipated. In fact, it’s hard to tell precisely whether some of the fluidity of movement is frame-flex or the front suspension. Either way, it makes for a comfortable ride.
Second, the bike “tracks” like nothing I’ve ridden before. Maybe it’s due to the length of the wheel-base or maybe there’s some frame flex/sag in the middle that causes it. Whatever the cause, the bike likes to ride in a straight line. Turning requires a little more effort than the bike did before the extension. The “tracking” is great for commuting — I hop on the rail-trail I take to work and cruise.
I’ve even ridden it off-road and, as long as you get lined up right, riding over skinnies and teeter-totters is pretty easy. You have to be conscious of the new front-to-back center or gravity for teeters, but other than that, the bike handles singletrack real well. Over all, it’s a lot easier to control than I originally thought it would be.
Third, (and probably most obvious) the turning radius is increased. This makes it difficult to turn around in driveways without putting a foot down. It also requires you to be a little more conscious of the rear when taking corners. I’ve clipped the panniers more than once on rocks and curbs by leaning too soon into curves.
Fourth, since the seat and cranks are closer to the middle of the wheel-base than a regular upright bike (on which the seat and cranks are closer to the rear wheel), the rider’s weight is more evenly distributed throughout the frame. For a bike with a suspension fork, this means that the fork carries more of the rider’s weight at all times than would a “normal” bike. If you have a sophisticated fork, just crank down the pre-load and it all evens out. If you have a crappy one like me, then just learn to accept more squish in the fork. So far, the additional squish hasn’t affected handling. It’s just something to be aware of.
Even when I’m not carrying a giant package or cases of bulk-ordered groceries, the bike attracts attention. Patrons of bars, seated outdoors, have called out how much they like the look of the bike as I ride past. While walking through the local farmers’ market, more than a few people have stopped me to ask about it. I feel like it attracts even drivers’ attention while I’m on the road, though I still ride assuming that drivers are blind and I’m invisible — aggressively defensive.
There’s no denying that the Xtracycle is well thought-out. It performs as well loaded down as when the panniers are empty, the free radical is strong and lightweight, and it’s even elegantly designed.
I’ll say one more thing about the Xtracycle. The founders recognize that privileged, pro-bike activists like myself are not the only market of need for their creations.
On the Xtracycle website, the owners state that profits from sales of Xtracycle products “support Worldbike Foundation (formerly X-Access Foundation), a non-profit organization that seeks to make our technology available to all who need it. We are committed to creating a new model of business that adds to the natural wealth of humanity and the planet.” Rock on; that’s the kind of business I want to support.
About
nicomachus.net is the virtual representation of Phillip Barron, who is responsible for all of the writing and photography, unless otherwise credited. Want to know more?
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