State of the Societal Laziness Address

I don't get it.  I just don't get it.  I really mean it this time.  I.  Don't.  Get.  It.  At.  All.

I understand that I'm more of the exception than the rule.  I have to put thought into driving versus bicycling.  When given a reasonable option of biking/walking over driving, I'll choose biking/walking.  At work, when I don't have to take the elevator, I don't.

With that in awesome lead in, I give you the reason for this post.  You see, even though I often shake my head at people who literally drive three blocks (and sometime less) to work or to the classes at the University, I've learned to get over it.  People are inherently getting lazier.  I get that.  Don't understand it, but I'm learning to accept it.  People think about driving first and alternate transportation second.  It's sad, and while I do my best to encourage others to bike or walk, I understand that in the end it's their decision.  Today however pushed my "rant on my blog" button over the top.

I received a call that a printer for one of my departments was over at Slagle Hall, a couple buildings (1.5 or so blocks) away.  I emailed to see what model it was so I knew if I needed my hand cart or not.  It was a fairly good sized printer, so I grabbed the cart, threw on my coat, and wandered over to pick it up.  Instead of going through the entrance with the elevator, I went through the side door, grabbed the hand cart low on the base a just took it up the two flights of stairs I had to go.  I picked up the printer and had to head to the elevator for my trip down.  That's where it all went wrong.

You see, there are two things at play here:  First, the elevator in Slagle Hall, for some reason, is incredibly slow.  Second, there are classes on the third floor of the building.  I, trying to get on the elevator on the second floor, waited for an eternity for the elevator to come down to the floor.  It arrived, doors opened, and there stood four very healthy looking college students (you see where this is going, don't you).  A couple look slightly annoyed as I make them squish together a little so I can get on with my cart and printer.  Just wait, it's about to get better.

As soon as the elevator starts to descend, one student looks at his watch and states, "With the speed of this elevator, I'm going to be late for my next class".  I wanted to laugh so bad.  He's right, the elevator is slow and he could have been out the door on his way to the next class by the time had he chosen the stairs.  I refrained.

The elevator reached the entry level and the door opens on the opposite side that I got in.  For those unfamiliar, due to the age and structure of the building, there are left and right openings depending on your entry and exit. I allowed the students to exit as I was in the back and it just made sense.  Then, to send me to my current rant level, as I start to exit, pushing a printer an all, able bodied students start to get on.  I kept pushing forward as I found it: a) practical for me to get off first and b) rude that they felt they HAD to get on before I got off.

One person (I'll leave the sex out) basically stood their ground pretty much blocking my exit.  I looked up, making eye contact and politely said "Excuse me" and they moved a little and I walked by.  After I was clear I hear "That was kinda rude, huh?"  I turn around and as gave the 'did you really just say that' look as the door was closing and the person averted their eyes.  An elevator full of quite able bodied young adults went up on their merry, lazy way.

Young, able bodied adults, hear me.  I'm nearly 45 years old and there is a really good chance that I'm in better overall health than most of you.  I do the little things to stay healthy:  I walk or bike when I can instead of driving.  I take the stairs over the elevator whenever possible.  The obesity epidemic is getting worse.  Keep driving and taking the elevator and being lazy.  Seriously.  Feel free.

Okay, I don't mean that.  Not even as rude as that student was can change the fact that I want you to be healthy.  I want you to be active.  I want you to walk and bike and take the stairs.  If for some reason it feels like I'm talking right at you or if any of this resonates with you, maybe it's time to change your life.   Do it for a lot of reasons, but mainly do it for you.

Thus ends the rant of Biking Brady for this day, Thursday, January 28, 2012.

MS 150 - Riding for MS - Not Ourselves

This last weekend I had a great time on my 14th Multiple Sclerosis 150 Bike Tour. On a fundraising ploy, I made the challenge that if I raised $2500, I would dye my hair orange and if I raised $3000, I would dye my hair and wear a skirt on the ride. Care to guess how that turned out?





As of this posting, I have in the neighborhood of $3400 raised. I'm quite happy to do silly things to raise a little money for the MS Society. For those of you who gave me the wonderful whistles and the one marriage proposal, sorry, I'm taken.

It seemed that the banquet is where things went wrong for some. You see, the MS Society did a couple different things after the ride this time. Upon completion, you received (a very useful) head/sweat band from the MS Society. It was a trade off for patches for riding the century loop on the ride. Seriously, you would have thought that you was physically taking money away from people from some reactions.

The uproar from not getting a "patch" for the century ride -- of which I have a stack of -- somewhere -- actually caused at least one person to tell one of the MS ladies that he wouldn't return next year. *pause for effect* Yep. That's right. Somebody actually said they wouldn't come back because of the century patch. Seriously. Oh yes, it was an adult, just in case you were wondering.

I do admit, there were some 'traditional' things at the banquet that didn't happen this year that I missed: Recognition of top teams, top fundraisers (although they were on the video), rookie riders, and riders who have participated in multiple years. Missed, but nothing that would cause me major panic.

Maybe I'm 90% optimistic and only 10% pessimistic, but something really has to set me off to get THAT excited over anything. We need to remember why we are there. It isn't about us. It's about the MS Society. We are raising money for the MS Society. It isn't about a self gratification. We should be thankful for all they do for us on this ride. The support, the cheering, all the things that happen behind the scenes: It's simply incredible!

My rant is coming to a close but this has been eating at me all week so it had to come out. If the person who actually told the MS Society they wasn't going to ride over a patch is reading this -- and I hope they are -- sit back, relax, and think about it. Why are you riding this ride? For yourself or for the MS Society? Is a patch worth upsetting the wonderful ladies of the MS Society? What do you do with the patches anyway? I will gladly give you my stack of patches that are somewhere in my garage. Also, if you are reading this, I hope you are person enough to send an apology to the MS Society and plan on riding next year. It isn't about the patch, it's about people living with MS.

A New Joy and an Old Rant Revisited

Oh Barnes and Noble Color Nook, how I love thee. You have made reading enjoyable for me once again. You see, I've always loved to read. However, I have a visual tracking issue that makes reading print that is close in proximity difficult. I can still do it, but I often have to reread things as words try to change positions or I track to the wrong line. It makes reading for enjoyment, well, not enjoyable.

Enter: the Nook. I can change line spacing, text size, brightness of the screen and life is once again good. Since the Nook has entered our household, I have enjoyed reading a great deal once again. I know there are many people who still need to "hold the book in their hand", but in my case the Nook was something I wish I had checked into long ago.

One great thing about the color Nook is the ability to read magazines that are published in electronic format. I decided to see what was available out there and much to my surprise, I couldn't find any bicycling publications available.

Back in November of 2007 I had a bit of a rant against Bicycling Magazine that you can read about HERE. Here we are, over three years later, and it's still hard to find a bicycling magazine in electronic format.

Many of us in the bicycling world tout ourselves as living a pretty "green" life, but still our industry is failing to offer an electronic option with most of its magazines. Even the magazines that have print only options tout our green ways. I find this disconcerting and a little more than hypocritical. I know it's a small thing, but for some reason it really doesn't sit well with me. How about you? Want to change our little corner of the world? Let your favorite bicycling magazines know that you would like to see them offer a digital option.

Mean People Suck

It's too cold to leave for lunch today so I thought that I'd eat at my desk and share a little rant/pet peeve. My rant/pet peeve for the day: People who continuously try to cut you down to build themselves up. Before I continue, I can be a smart ass with the best of them. After all, my wife made sure that I obtained professional status in that area last year. That being said, I try to the utmost of my ability to be obviously funny and not hurtful or crass.

This last weekend my pet-peeve-o-meter was set off on a couple of occasions by different people. One by somebody who seems to have a personal cob up their butt for me as of late. Of course, this same person will talk about anybody at any time so it shouldn't be totally shocking to me or anyone. It is kind of funny because now that I have started taking this person to task more, the attacks seem to have become more relentless. I'm trying my best to not communicate except when necessary with that person, which is probably playing into exactly what they want.

The other person doesn't necessarily say as much to me as my wife, and my wife used to just deal with it and be hurt by the comments. Now she's getting stronger and letting the person know that it was uncalled for. When she did that this weekend, the person backed off saying "geez, don't you know humor. You take me too serious!". Unfortunately, this person is unlikely to change either.

In both cases, it seems to be the best way they know how to make themselves feel better. In both cases, it's really sad. There is much about each person to be liked. It's too bad that too often gets overshadowed by their nasty, hurtful sides. In other words, mean people suck.

I'm Here to Pump You Up

No...not these guys.



I'm talking about THIS guy:



As I traverse town on bike and campus by foot and sometimes just sitting on a lawn chair outside my house, I see the strangest thing: People that ride with tires under inflated so bad that it's VERY obvious to the naked eye. In my more caring (it does happen once in awhile) moments, I will tell people that their tire is extremely low and they should get air. Some will say thanks and others will look at me like a psycho killer. To those I say: Keep it quiet and don't blow my cover.

How can you NOT realize when you are running 15-20psi on tires that hold 60psi plus? Doesn't the thought ever cross your mind that it shouldn't be this hard to pedal? It's not rocket science people. If you need lessons in pumping up your tires, I'd be glad to show you.

Next up in the shame-on-you bicycle maintenance class: The Rusty Chain....

On my Taxpayer Soapbox

I don't get on my soapbox very often for non-biking issues and I'll keep this short. The whole bail out upset me. I'm not sure if it was the bail out or the fact that magically nobody seen it coming (cough *bullcrap* cough).

Now immediately after the bailout happens, AIG executives go to a resort that will cost taxpayers to the tune of nearly a half million dollars. Something has to be done to stop this crap. How are we ever going to trust business or government when things like this come to light?



I'm done with my rant but I'm not done being upset. For more info on the AIG Resort getaway, go HERE.

I don't know much about representative Cummings, but I love the way he speaks on behalf of the people. He's pissed and he should be.

The Head-Phone-Wearing Biking Generation

Although I don't remember using my MP3 player while biking this year, I have in the past. Do I have an issue with listening to music while riding: Depends. Other than commuting around town, I wear a mirror off my sunglasses and I constantly check my mirror. If you are a mirror user and are faithful about checking it, you have my blessing. If you don't, put the head phones away. Period.

Living in a college town, obviously many people riding around town are younger. I've noticed many headphones on. I have not been forthcoming with my angst about non-mirror-using-headphone-wearers up to this point (except maybe internal) because I've had no issues. That ended today.

On my way home I was busting right along as I was going to go for a short bike ride with CDV so he could test ride his potential new steed (I'll let him post about that). During my slightly quicker than normal pace, I happened upon a young lass that was on her cruiser with her iPod firmly implanted in her ear. I politely dinged my bell twice as I went to pass. When I passed, one of two things became apparent:

1. She had her music up too loud and I scared the crap out of her.
2. She suddenly felt the need to express quite loudly her reaffirmation to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The sad part is that I really didn't feel that bad about it. I mean, I didn't even say "amen" to her praising of the Lord. I've scared a few walking across campus, and to them I used to feel a little bad, until I got the bell. If the music is too loud to hear the bell, tough, turn it down.

Have any of you seen an increasing trend of "distracted" bicycling with music player/iPods as of late? Anybody else get annoyed with it?

A Couple Days in My Commuting Life

This post is a continuation of THIS post. You may want to read that first as I have no idea where this post/rant may end up.

I was surprised by my two day commuting total in keeping track of the last couple days of "inconvenience" of commuting by bike versus a car. I logged 20.67 miles of commuting, which honestly might be a little more than normal, but not by much. Without further ado, the breakdown:

Wednesday:

* Commute to work
* Home for lunch (picked up the trail a bike too)
* Back to work
* Picked up Carson from school, took him home, dropped off trail a bike, back to work
* Went to Fire/EMS open house to meet up with the family
* From there to church for a bible study
* To home from church
* Hooked up "grocery getter" and went to the grocery store and loaded up to the tune of $70+

Thursday:

* Took Carson to school and back to work
* To the dome to teach spinning class and back to work
* To Carson's class to read a story for his VIP day.
* Picked up Carson from school, took him home, dropped off trail a bike
* Home from work, slipped in a quick 22 mile road bike ride.
* To/From Marissa's soccer game.

Does this really seem like a lot to do on bike? I don't think so. Lots of short trips are a simple thing to do. My bike is parked right outside my building at work or in my garage in my house. Many people who drive park 2-3 blocks away from their building. Tell me who gets places in this small town faster?

I'm not trying to get uppity with my response, but I guess recent comments from well meaning people (at least I think they were) kind of struck a nerve. Because it's the "norm", it's okay for you to commute and run around town doing EVERYTHING in your car, but it's not alright as a "normal" (VERY subjective term) person to do almost everything on their bike. I guess we agree to disagree as the politicians say.

Is our family "car free"? No. Are we "car light"? Absolutely. Mrs. Biking Brady does her share of not taking unnecessary trips with the Van (aka O Great and Powerful Steve!). Austin and Marissa both bike to school except in the most extreme conditions. I'm proud of our family choices. They are proud of our family choices. Do what you want with your choices, but don't question ours. It's still a semi free country -- election pending. /end rant

Ride Scheduling Etiquette

WARNING: RANT AHEAD!!

We live in a rural area. Regardless of how big Sioux Falls is getting, we are a rural area. Many of us in the bicycling community are constantly traveling in the summer time on what seems like a weekly basis to each others rides. This makes for a great time, seeing fellow bicyclists often during the summer and fall.

For the most part, there seems to be an unwritten rule that if you are planning on starting a new ride that you not compete against an existing ride, especially an established ride. Last year we had an issue (and a bit of bickering) with a club close to us who discussed doing a ride on the same day. We came to an agreement and they willingly chose a different date. No blood was shed and everybody is happy because there is yet another ride to go to!

Then it happened...even against the wishes of a person I know on the ride planning committee, a new ride chose the same date in Sioux Falls. Initially I was a little upset because, as we go into our 7th year of the Margarita Ride, we have blossomed our ride into 180+ riders. All this done strictly by word of mouth as we have done no advertising for the ride at all (except an email last year that Bicycling.com sent out). The LBS's in the area all post it on their website which is a great boost for us.

The sad part is that we are both doing a ride for a great cause. The other sad part is that we are stealing riders from each others ride. Again, instead of two great rides raising money for two great causes, we are probably ending up with two 'decent' rides. I think if it was a bike club organizing the ride we could have hashed it out. But this ride is by a "big business" and seemed to not care that we have an established ride. With a friend/employee of said business on their committee and friends in the bike club that is helping them out, hopefully we can "help" them move it next year.

Disappointed...yeah you could say that. I've had time to calm down about it and we will just move on. Has anybody else ran into rides on the same day extremely close in proximity or do you feel as I do that most people will stay away from competing rides on the same date?

All that being said, sign up HERE for the most fun you can have with your clothes on!

LATE EDIT: I was asked if you HAD to keep your clothes on for the ride. There is nothing in the registration waiver relating to clothing. There ARE potential South Dakota Laws that MAY come into play however. Clothe as much or as little as you wish and enjoy!

Icy Windshields

Imagine this coming at you while on a bike:


Yesterday I had to work in Sioux Falls again so I biked out to fleet to get a car to drive up there. It was a balmy 0 (ZERO) degrees when I left my house so I was pretty bundled up. The number of car windshields that looked similar to the above photo were shocking.

I may not be the greatest morning person in the world, but I don't have to get up and make sure my car is scraped off and warmed up. My "car" has a great unobstructed view. So many cars had one little square (sort of) cleared off so they could (kind of) see. Others had their heads tilted so that they could see through a small open patch. I just wanted to scream "Get off yer lazy butts and scrape your window!!".

"But Bikingbrady, it's cold out!". I understand that as I'm on my BIKE. Lazy, overweight, in a rush, have to get the kids to school, I don't care WHAT your excuse is: MAKE TIME TO CLEAN YOUR WINDSHIELD!!!

Bicycling Magazine in Digital Format

*WARNING - The following message is a personal advocacy rant - Reading this rant may infuriate you, make you impale yourself with sharp objects, or just make you think I'm crazy. Well, crazier than normal...

I have attempted to contact Rodale Press, the publishing company of Bicycling Magazine, Runners World, Men's Health, etc., on five different occasions both by phone and by email to get a straight answer as to a time line as to when they might go digital with their magazines. After all, I figured that a company that is into health and the great outdoors would be quick to adopt a way to reduce waste by not having to print all those magazines.

Sure, you can recycle a magazine, but what percentage of all their magazines actually make it to a recycling center? I would hope a great percentage, but the reality probably isn't as rosy as I'd like it to be.

So many of my tech (IT) magazines are in digital format and I absolutely love it. Not to mention that you can save them and refer back to them without having to have a special room in your house devoted to them!

My initial phone call to Bicycling Magazine was less than impressive. When I asked if they were going to put their magazine in Digital Format, I received a bland "no" answer. When I asked if they were planning on it in the future, I receive a bland "not to my knowledge". I pried a little further: "So, you're telling me that a magazine that promotes cycling and a natural way of life, isn't planning on a digital format to your magazine to try to reduce recycling and use of natural resources"? It was a bit longer pause, possibly due to the fact that he was contemplating if I was psychotic or not, I received a bit firmer; "Sir, as far as I know there are no intentions in the future to release Bicycling Magazine in a digital format". I thanked him for his answers but also told him that I was disappointed, so I tried the second angle: Email!

At this point, I've sent four emails that have gone unanswered in the last month or so. I'm VERY disappointed in the lack of answers. Since I can't seem to get an answer from them, I'm going to my personal sounding board in hopes of garnering support. I figured if I have enough people who like Digital Magazines and Bicycling Magazine to help make a push for this, maybe there will be enough strength in numbers to change their mind.

For those of you who think I'm crazy, well, I'm used to that too. You have to be a little crazy to stand up for what you believe in sometimes. Oh yeah, for those who are seriously interested in rattling some cages:

Bicycling Magazine Customer Service: BKEcustserv@rodale.com 800-666-2806
Bicycling Magazine Editor: bicycling@rodale.com
All Customer Service for Rodale: http://www.rodale.com/1,6597,8-116,00.html
All Editor Contacts: http://www.rodale.com/1,6597,8-115,00.html