anyway the big reason i went to woodinville today was to take the northshore map to woodinville bike
and they were the first people to have more data for me, though they mostly told me how to find it rather than giving it to me. it's all up in Hollywood Hills and a lot of it is off-road, so not really destination focused. But some of it, apparently, is paved and connected to other stuff, so of some interest.
i really should replace the white material with something thinner but this is the idea - when I need the wheel (for the heaviest cargo) then I disassemble this, pop it onto the cargo trailer, and now it's ready for whatever the heaviest load is it'll ever handle.
I had a thought of making a second one of these things - I have another training wheel. I could make two.
Remarkable how out-of-the-mainstream utilitarian cycling seems to be in my neighborhood. Strong car-centric culture in Southern California, for sure. (yes, I was, until recently, part of that). 🤔
Places which could have a lot more people bicycling or walking:
Local grocery stores. People drive to the grocery store even if it would be the same amount of time to walk or drive, because it's just what people do. (and there's a giant parking lot there).
Schools. Lots of parents queue up in line to pick up their kids from school, even though it would be FASTER to bicycle there with the kids and back home--this is because of the "walking/bicycling to school is scary/not safe" culture which has arose in the last 30 years.
The kid ate shit twice on a bike ride of less than 2 km because this city gives zero shits about wildly large curb cuts (and everything else). The fact that Britannia intersection by Beachconers is as horrid as it is being, I’d argue one of the most busy intersection for folks not in a car is proof enough. And the entrance to the kids school is soooooo bad and busted up that its almost impossible to enter on a bike and the kid ate it right in front of his own school #ottawa#ottbike#biketooter
It took many years and many professional bike fits for their extremely valuable #bikeFit tips to finally sink in. :blobfox0_0:
It took me following a hunch over several months to get to the general area where my saddle and handlebars should be for their tips to finally make sense and complete the picture in my mind. (My saddle was way too low for a long time because my first bike fitter was trying to work with my horrible technique early on, which caused me to tear a quad in one leg. :blobfoxscared: )
I put 95lbs / 43kg or so on the back of the cargo trailer pushing down on it (using a scale for value) and there really wasn’t much if any torsion on the hitch after that - obviously the actual stress there is much less because of leverage, but I was putting the weight where the cargo goes and that’s what you want
this combined with a complete dampening block on top between the securement plate and the cargo bin floor resulted in much less noise! it’s still loud but no longer comedically so
First lesson: the farmer's market here has no bicycle racks, and the folks in charge have ZERO idea what to do with them, despite the "NO BIKES" sign. They clarified and said bikes are fine, as long as you walk them. "NO ONE HAS ASKED US THAT BEFORE" is what they told me. They ended up letting me stash my bike next to their info booth while I walked around. #BikeTooter#Transportation
Second #BikeTooter badge checked off, also took a bicycle on a city bus. The bus driver was less than amused at my attempts to cram two folded and worn dollar bills into the fare collector and said "gimme those, I'll do it!" LOL He also seemed to be trying to whip around corners and hit pot holes, LOL (the bike did not go anywhere it shouldn't have, the racks work). #bus#transportation
Bonus another car in our demonstration bicycle lane. A car had eirher nudged a post out of place, or a driver moved one, or something here... #BikeTooter#ThousandOaks
Other lessons: I combined bus + bike to get there, and because it would be another 30 min for the return bus, decided to cycle back.
Don't cycle back LOL.
Google says it's 15 min of cycling, it was, in fact, 45 min.
One of the sections of bicycle lane (did not stop to take a picture, as I was hoping not to get squished like a bug) had been taken over by semis parked overlapping the bicycle lane on the right, and on the left there was fast traffic. I aborted that route and cut into a neighborhood. Not a good route at ALL.
7-8 miles with hills and vegetables plus a backpack with fruit in it... was pushing it. Next time (if I do this again) it will be bus->bike only. #BikeTooter
Boston Python is apparently well represented on this train to #PyConUS, I just ran into one member while stretching my legs, and they let me know of a third!
One of the perks of taking the train to PyCon US is that I got to stop over in NYC to see a dear friend who lives there (and who I see shamefully infrequently considering how close we are on the rail!)
He was kind enough to put together a short "doing the city" itinerary yesterday that included a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Got to see the fantastic new(ish) bike lane. An entire lane of what used to be inbound car traffic serving (LOTS OF) bicycles in both directions.