Respect the Blinky

As many of you already know, my bike IS my transportation 95% of the time. This means often riding at night. That's pretty much all the setup you need for this post.

After the USD/SDSU Volleyball game (shameful plug - USD wins 3-1 !!), I was on my way home, riding safely with my reflectors off my Timbuk 2 Messenger Bag -- aka "the man purse" or murse if you will -- and my front and rear blinky lights. It was a beautiful night and I was just enjoying the ride.

I admit I was cruising right along, but wasn't focused too heavily on anything when a car turned in front of me from a stop sign. It was no major thing, they had plenty of space and I was never in danger so I didn't think about it. Within a half block, I see them tap the brakes once, then again, and then pull over to the side of the road. As already stated, I wasn't too focused so I didn't think too much of it until I passed them and then they started to pull out behind me again. It was then the I realized that the car must have mistaken my blinky light for the police. It was the only explanation that I could come up with. Due to my lack of overall focus I don't know if they may have not completely stopped at the stop sign and thought they were busted or what, but I enjoyed a good laugh about it.

They didn't pass me for the two blocks until I turned towards my house and then drove merrily on their way. After posting a shorter version of this on Facebook, somebody stated that a "Respect the Blinky" t shirt campaign is in order. It could happen. Lord knows we need more people to use them in Vermillion. With the beauty of having many people on bicycles in this town, comes the issue of no lights with those riding at night. A campaign may just have to happen. All you designer types mock something up and send it to me.

Input Needed

With the recent 3 foot law (SB70) considered by the South Dakota Senate Transportation Committee and then the Senate itself and the South Dakota Bicycle Coalition (SDBC) being a driving force behind the push to attempt to get the law passed, there is little doubt that bicycle safety took a positive step forward, even with the bill failing. The SDBC plans to move forward with a "Share the Road" campaign, which will continue to better educate motorists and bicyclists alike on the laws and the general safety of all concerned when it comes to their interaction on the roadways. All things cycling seem to be taking a positive path in the great State of South Dakota.

With these new found advocacy efforts, I need some outside input as to the name of our local bicycle club, the Lane Hogs. Please ponder the following questions and comment.

1. What is your knee jerk reaction to the name Lane Hogs?


2. Does the name Lane Hogs have no effect, positive effect, or negative effect when it comes to assisting our club assisting with bicycle advocacy in the State of South Dakota?

3. If you held the ultimate decision, would you keep your longstanding (12 year) club name or would you look to move forward with a new name?

I appreciate any and all thoughts.

Vote for Change: Bicycling

Lesson Lost

My oldest had a program called "Heroes" after school that he attended so I decided to go meet him and ride home together. While waiting for him a couple girls came over together and the one girl, who goes to our church, said "That's Austin's Dad". I think the first girl was a little intimidated as I was standing close to her bike.

I broke the ice with her and we had the following short discussion:

Biking Brady: "Do you ride your bike to school everyday?"

Girl: "Yeah, because my parents are too lazy to take me to school."

Biking Brady: "Maybe your parents are trying to teach you a great life lesson that cars are not needed for every little task. In a town like Vermillion, you can often get places faster by bicycle than you can by car."

Girl: "No, they're just lazy."

....and she got on her bike and rode away....

Bicycle Friendly States - South Dakota 41 of 50

I don't know how much to read into South Dakota being ranked 41st of 50 states in the "Bicycle Friendly States" on the League of American Bicyclists website. After all, being such a sparsely populated state where over 1/8 of all the population is in one city (Sioux Falls), how much needs to be done in cities like Vermillion where I live. After all, a city of 10,000 people isn't that hard to navigate on bike.

Sioux Falls is making great strides with bike lanes and bike paths. All the Sioux Falls bloggers need to get on board and try to garner a "bicycle friendly city" status. I will have to read into this more and see what things I can do down here to help South Dakota's overall status as well.

Below is the information that can be found HERE:

South Dakota

State Rank: 41 out of 50.

Reasons for Ranking: South Dakota has state funds for bicycle education programming but also has discriminatory mandatory bike lane law and no accommodation or complete streets policy.
South Dakota's Bicycle Friendly Communities

Currently there are no cities in South Dakota that have been designated as bicycle friendly communities. Your city can be the first. To apply for BFC designation, you'll need to review the materials at www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org/apply.cfm.


What do some of you South Dakota bloggers think? What can we do to make South Dakota more bike friendly? Sioux Falls has a good start. What can smaller to mid-size cities like Vermillion do to be considered bike friendly? Looking at the application I don't see very many cities in South Dakota being able to get past Part I of the application. Not many places in South Dakota have a "Bicycle/Pedestrian coordinator". Of course, maybe this application is a way of saying, get off your butts and push local government to think about it. Sounds like a job for Biking Brady! Did I really just say that? It's Friday and I'm delirious. I need to sleep on this. Comments/thoughts are always welcome.

Helmet Advocacy is NOT Fear Mongering

Sometimes the things you like the most can also upset you the fastest. There is a blog that I truly enjoy reading from Copenhagen called Copenhagenize The Planet. I absolutely love most of their messages because it usually has to do with their outstanding bike culture (that makes me drool in jealousy) and a message of how bikes can co-exist very peacefully with cars.

How can this possibly upset me? There seems to be an increasing trend where they state that wearing a helmet doesn't do any good at all in an accident (especially with a car). I understand that most people ride casually over there, but accidents still happen. I only need to look back to last week when I was probably doing all of 10mph when I fell over solo and smacked my head off the pavement. I shudder to think what would have happened had I not had my helmet on.

Do I think you should wear a helmet? If you are my friend, then yes I do. I'd like to keep you around a few extra years and I like your chances of NOT having a head injury in case of a crash a whole lot better than if you don't. From the statistics on Bike Helmet Safety Institute site, between 1994-2006 individuals wearing helmets made up 6% of all fatalities on bicycles. Now, I'm not naive enough to say that some of those who were killed NOT wearing helmets wouldn't have been killed WHILE wearing a helmet, but to me they are some pretty telling numbers.

Just a year or two ago in Sioux Falls I remember a Sioux Falls O'Gorman track runner who came off a sidewalk and hit a car at a stop sign, rolled off, hit his head and never came out of his coma. I think back to that one particularly as I really feel that had he had a helmet, this wouldn't have been very severe at all, and I'm more than certain that it wouldn't have been fatal.

Anybody who knows me and has been following my blog knows that I will go on occasional rants about helmet use. I BELIEVE IN HELMETS! As for the Copenhagenize writers, don't wear your helmet. See if I care. But don't sit there and tell me they don't make a difference and that we are "fear mongering" by being advocates. Don't tell me that people will ride bike less if we tell people they should wear a helmet. Most people will do what they damn well please anyway.

I'll leave you with some serious FEAR MONGERING that I found on THIS site:

Wear a Helmet!

10 Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Excuses for Not Wearing a Helmet!

1. They're too heavy!
Not anymore. Today's bicycle helmets only weigh about a half a pound.

2. I don't need one if I don't ride fast.
Get this... Even if you were just sitting on your bike talking to friends and you fell and hit your head, your brain could be seriously damaged--- Ouch!

3. They're too expensive.
Some helmets cost as little as $20, which is a lot less than the thousands of dollars you'd pay for a visit to the emergency room!

4. A helmet will mess up my hair.
Okay, true. But a crash without a helmet can really mess up your head. Your choice: a bad hair day or a bad head life?

5. I'll look like a geek.
Wrong. You'll look like a real bicylists, and car drivers will probably respect you more and give you more room on the road because of it.

6. They're too hot.
Because they're so light and have lots of openings for air to pass through, helmets aren't any hotter than having your head exposed to the sun while riding.

7. I don't need one if I don't ride on busy roads.
Not true. Cars are involved in only 10% of bike-related injuries. Falls are a much bigger problem, and they can happen on any road or path.

8. I never fall off my bike.
Maybe not yet, but everybody falls sometime, and it only takes once to do permanent danage.

9. They're funny looking.
Helmets today come in lots of cool colors and designs. Find one you like so you'll wear it.

10. None of my friends wear one.
Maybe they don't yet know the reasons why a helmet is important. Show them this page and then purchase your helmets together as a group.

Take Your Four Dollar Gas...

...and make a bicycle. BRILLIANT!

South Dakota Bicycle Coalition Website Is Up!

Big thanks to Happy Rider for getting the South Dakota Bicycle Coalition website off to a good start. He has been busy with a newborn and a potential upcoming move, so the fact that it's this far along is impressive!

We own two domains that go to the same place, but we prefer you remember http://www.southdakotabicyclecoalition.org (although sdbicyclecoalition.org will work as well).

Make sure you email Happy Rider or leave a comment on his blog if you have newsworthy happenings or upcoming rides.

Score Another Win for the Cycling Community: State Farm Ad Being Pulled

I mentioned the State Farm ad in an earlier post that I found to be in poor taste. Streetsblog, a blog with a great deal of readership, had the following response from Tim VanHoof, Director of Marketing Communications for State Farm:

As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I am sorry the advertisement offended anyone. Our intention with this particular ad was to recognize and empathize with the everyday challenge of high gas prices, and suggest that State Farm could help by providing lower auto insurance rates than a person may be receiving from their current provider.

But clearly we have heard your concerns. In fact, we take very seriously each letter, email and blog comment we receive.

During the past few days, I discussed the perception of this advertisement with others at State Farm, and we decided the right thing to do would be to discontinue it. We will remove this ad as quickly as possible from the current rotation schedule.

Please know that State Farm is very concerned about doing what we can to improve the health, safety and environment in our communities.

For example, in numerous states, employees can earn up to $1.50 a day by ridesharing, walking, or riding a bike to work. We also have more than 1,200 employees participating in van pooling throughout the country.

State Farm has also been a supporter of bicycle safety through the thousands of bicycle rodeos we’ve held for children throughout the US and Canada. We remain open to discussion about how State Farm might partner with the bicycling community in the future.

We value direct consumer input as we make decisions about our advertising messages and safety programs. As a mutual company with no stockholders, we work hard to be good stewards of our policyholders’ money.

For more information about State Farm, go to statefarm.com http://www.statefarm.com/about/csr/csr.asp or talk to a local State Farm agent.

Thank you,
Tim Van Hoof
Director of Marketing Communications
State Farm

The whole post and thread of comments can be found HERE. So for those of you who LIKE the commercial, you will soon be relegated to YouTube to watch it.

Does State Farm Hate Cyclists?

Last night I watched a commercial by State Farm Insurance that I really took offense to from the beginning. I almost blogged about right away, but I know how my emotional side can take over for my rational side so I calmed down (somewhat) and let it go.

Then, while cruising the cycling blogs today I see that others were up in arms about it as well. It even set my friend Barry off...well...okay...Barry likes to go on an occasional rant anyway, but that's part of his charm. So I had to go through all the emotional checks again. Should I be upset? Should I not be upset? Do cyclists like to get worked up over nothing?

My rational side set in: It's a insurance company trying to sell car insurance. However, my rational side also said it was in poor taste. Put the guy in a nice suit coat and tie and put on some dorky shorts to over-emphasize your point. My rational-advocacy side then set in and spoke even louder: How DARE you make fun of bicycle commuters to try to sell insurance. We are already treated as second class citizens by many motorists and making us out as geeks in a suit and shorts sure doesn't help. Tell me the last time you ever seen anybody dressed like the guy in this commercial?

Kudos for the bike community for sending emails to State Farm telling them their commercial was in poor taste. Kudos to YouTube viewers for giving it (at press time) a ONE star rating. Kudos to State Farm (damage control) for actually responding on the Streetsblog article (comment #27).

Does State Farm hate cyclists? I don't think so. Actually from what I read they do a great deal for the cycling community with various events and sponsorships and cases of above-average coverage for bicyclists who have been in accidents. I think that the commercial was not thought out well before being put on TV. If they did, and thought it was a great commercial, the cycling community gave them their side of the issue quickly. I'm sure they meant no harm, but harm has been done. Damage control takes over.

Awareness Tests

How aware are you?

SD Bicycle Summit

At first I wasn't sure if I was at a Bike Summit or a bloggers convention. After all, there was thE kErnEL, Hooterville Mayor, Cycle SD, MinusCar, Cycling Cathy, and Ride Vermillion. After pleasantries were exchanged with fellow bloggers/cyclists, we started to realize the higher purpose of why we were in attendance.

Sometimes it takes an incident to get people to join together for a cause. Although biking has always needed a unified voice in South Dakota, it took the state legislature trying to remove bicycles from the definition of a vehicle to make us realize just how much we needed to band together. When Greg Boris got a few of us on board with his dream of a bike summit, yesterday was a wonderful climax of all that planning.

Everything about yesterday's summit was awesome. From hearing Gary Sjoquist, a national bicycle advocate, to hearing the magic words, "Congratulations, you have just witnessed the birth of the South Dakota Bicycle Coalition" I couldn't have been more proud to be there. I truly believe the future of cycling will be greatly enhanced by what we witnessed yesterday.

Although it has just begun, it is going to take the work of many people to keep the Coalition going strong and getting our message out to others. As we continue to grow and need assistance in various areas, I call on all bicyclists reading this to consider helping. More information to come on what will be needed.

I was also proud that we took our first action as a coalition to draft a letter in support of not demolishing a train bridge on the Cheyenne River between Rapid City and the Badlands. It would cost $250,000 to demolish and $300,000 to restore to usability. If it is demolished, the dream of a 98 mile trail from Rapid City to the Badlands would never again be realized. I thought it was pretty awesome that we not only formed the South Dakota Bicycle Coalition, but also was able to hit the ground running with an advocacy issue.

Thanks go out to my share-the-ride mates Craig, Cathy, and Jack for taking a day out of their lives and sharing the dream and showing the support of our local group of riders as well. My biggest thanks go to Greg Boris. Once he got fired up to get this thing going, there was no stopping him. He did an outstanding job of getting the right people involved to make this happen. Long live the South Dakota Bicycle Coalition!

Bike Path Committee Meeting

I'm going to remain fairly nondescript in this post just in case there are people out there googling away looking for info. However, I need to vent.

In this sometimes backwards town, I do my part to promote cycling, healthy lifestyles, and alternative transportation. For the past fourteen (14) months I've been on a bike path committee. We have a decent path that we are looking at expanding along the river. Where we are expanding is coming under MUCH scrutiny from a couple of land owners. Understand that this bike path is a CONSIDERABLE distance from their houses. Could the homeowners SEE people on the bike path? Most of them could, although a couple might only see heads.

The good news is that their are only seven land owners to deal with that far back to the river. Five of the seven have signed on to allowing the path to go through. One ALMOST signed but then lost a bid to have his land rezoned to allow a horse on it if he wanted and then he got mad and won't sign. The other person, well, let's just say he's difficult.

The alternative plan would be to NOT go along the river for that stretch and use a city right of way and put an eight foot sidewalk/bike path in front of all these houses. While an option, it's not the option that the committee desires, but if all else fails, it is there. We would lose a scenic view of the river for a not so scenic stretch by the fertilizer plant and grain elevator.

Last night a decision was made to have the architects of the path use their arbitrator for the final two land owners. If that doesn't work, we are looking at condemnation proceedings. That would be when it would get ugly.

I don't want to get into too many details as of yet. I probably have let too much out already just in case there are locals who do read my blog. Not that it's a major secret, but I should let things get rolling before divulging so much. Just in case the Google spiders are in high gear, we are talking about the PORTLAND Bike Trail system. There, that should throw off searches for a bit.

My main reason for the rant is that this "game" has been played out for 14 months. I don't blame anybody on the committee/city of PORTLAND at this point. They/we are just trying to do what's right. What's right for the city is this bike path. This path should already be built or in the process of being built. This is just the next section of a grander plan and it needs to get going NOW.

Once this section is over, we should have much easier sledding as most of the land in the next stretch is owned by the county and they are already on board. More rants to come I'm sure. Hopefully next time it will be good news about the PORTLAND bike trail.

It's Me, Causing Trouble Again

This will fall into another Pet Peeve category, but I'm now officially trying to stir the pot a little at work. It's been wearing on me for awhile, but I finally got up the cajones to call somebody about it. Well, I left a message on their audix and I'm patiently waiting a reply.

This issue? Well, like a few hearty souls here at work, I bike to work regardless of the weather. That includes snow, something we have had a decent amount of as of late. This issue has been worse in the past, but it was JUST bad enough today that I decided to tactfully bring it to somebody's attention.

I still digress. The issue: Snow, Bike Racks, and the supreme ability to plow snow up to them but not clean them out. You know, sort of like when you shovel out the driveway and that damn snowplow comes by and puts that hard stuff right where you just shoveled? Well, maybe that's worse. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures I took today. One at the dome and one outside my office building.

The Dakota Dome bike rack:	Outside My Office

My dream (Oh yes, I have a dream baby!): To have at least a couple stalls (if not the whole bike rack) shoveled out. It's MY parking spot. Would car drivers bitch if their parking spot had six inches of snow and they had to step in it? Darn straight they would. Then why should I have to step in it to park my bike? So help me God, if one of you "cagers" (that's a vehicle driver for those uninformed with cyclist lingo) tell me that I should be driving because of the conditions, I shall be most inclined to go postal upside your head.

I shall be updating you on this issue as I foresee a battle about to commence. Now that the ball is rolling, I don't intend to let it rest. Snow removal or bust!

Even More Minutes of Fame

Snakebite is solidifying his legend in Sioux Falls. He is working on borrowed time with his 15 minutes of fame, but it is all for the good of bicycling. Keep riding dude!

http://www.kdlt.com/sysk.htm
Weather is sometimes a big factor when deciding entertainment.
There's picnicking in the spring, swimming in the summer, and hiking in the fall.
But winter weather offers fewer options, unless you're Chris Pierson.

By Erica Johnson

Winter is not usually the most enjoyable season to be outside for some people, but for one Sioux Falls man, it provides a challenge.
Chris Pierson says, "I like to be pushed.”
So Pierson dedicates 2 hours a day to his passion, but not from the comfort of a heated gym.
Pierson says, "I bike 6 miles to work and 6 miles home and it's the best part of my day.”
That's 240 miles a month, and even on days like today, he bikes.
Pierson says, "You ride a little slower, start a little sooner.”
And he bikes because that's the only way he has to get around.
Pierson says, "I wonder people's perception of me. Oh there's a DWI guy, he doesn't have his license, hahahaha.”
Pierson wanted to try something new, so in September he sold his car.
Chad Pickard says, "Chris is one of those guys who likes to do a lot of stuff himself.”
Chad Pickard is a friend of Pierson and says not only does Chris own six bikes, he builds them himself from the wheels up.
Pickard says, "It's always good to see Chris because he's a real nice guy, real happy guy, really excited about biking so he gets people involved.”
And Pierson says the Sioux Falls drivers don't seem to mind his presence on the road, even in a snow storm.
Pierson says, "I can maybe count on one hand the number of times people have honked or yelled at me.”
One challenge a bike carries is grocery shopping, but Pierson's got it covered. He just packs up his goods in a big bag and peddles home.”
Pierson says the future may hold a new bike made just for hauling groceries so he doesn't have to make so many trips, but for now he doesn't mind.
And he'll likely stick to his bike for a while.
Pierson says, "Oh yeah, forever, yeah, keeps me healthy. There's really no reason not to.”
What started out as a challenge for one man has now evolved into a lifestyle.
Pierson says it's not the snow that's the toughest weather to ride in, but the fog.
He's had to catch a ride twice because he was worried cars wouldn't see him.

South Dakota Bicycle Coalition - The Beginning

This morning I had the privilege of participating in a call about gathering information and to gauge interest in starting a South Dakota Bicycle Coalition. The response from all on the call was an overwhelming positive experience. The call lasted about 1:15 and had individuals from Sioux Falls, Brookings, Vermillion (guess who that was), Mitchell, Rapid City (including Hot Springs), Spearfish, and a representative from the Thunderhead Alliance.

For an initial call I was very impressed, although not shocked, with the support from all over the state in starting a bicycle coalition. The current plan is to host a South Dakota Bicycle Summit to discuss the formation and plans for such an alliance to get off the ground and running.

The interesting incident to precipitate this initial call for an alliance was when the South Dakota legislators tried to remove cyclists from being considered as vehicles. The reasoning initially was, and eventually ended up being, to allow bicycles (and horses) to be exempt from being considered vehicles for Driving Under the Influence charges. Due to the bill being poorly written initially, cyclists came together from across the state to pressure legislators about the ludicrous nature of the bill.

One of the legislators actually said that in a year that South Dakota was looking at an abortion ban, education funding, and other big issues, the one that caused more emails and communications than any other was when this bill was brought forward. I think there within lies the problem: cyclists tend to be "reactive" versus "proactive". I hope that this is the beginning of a "proactive" group.

Discussions With Nebraska Dept of Roads

On my rainy day list of things to do was to email the Nebraska Dept of Roads and ask them how they determine which roads receive shoulders and which do not. So, early this week I did just that. I was impressed with not only receiving a response, but the number of people that got involved in the email process. On top of that, one of the regional engineers actually asked me MY opinion on the rumble strips on Hwy 20 and Hwy 81. More on that later.

The initial complaint with my inquiry was the fact that Hwy 12 has heavy semi truck, boat-pulling, and farm equipment traffic and has NO shoulder on it. The white line on the side of the road is literally the shoulder. Needless to say it can be very unnerving to be riding on the road and have traffic coming at you in both directions when there is no shoulder. While I didn't receive the answer I was hoping for, at least I started a dialog and got an honest answer.

In one of the last emails in our correspondence, I asked the engineer if she minded that I blogged about my experienced and was given permission. I'll leave the name out, but here is the email with great detailed explanation:

Kevin:

I can answer directly your question about which roads get shoulders in
Nebraska. We've recently retooled our standards to match more closely
national standards and our funding situation.

A standard lane width is 12', so most of our traveled way is 24' wide on
two-lane highways. When average daily traffic (ADT) projections for 20
years into the future show 2,000 vehicles/day the road qualifies for a 28'
top. This is essentially a 2' paved shoulder. We agree this makes a big
difference for agricultural traffic and wide loads. It is also more
comfortable for other drivers and does provide some benefit for bicyclists.

Even wider shoulders are considered when future ADT reaches 4,000
vehicles/day. When this threshold is reached, the new standard calls for
6' of paved shoulder if funds are available.

The section of Highway 12 between Obert and Ponca shows only a little over
1600 vehicles/day for 2026 on the busiest segment. We will not be
considering adding width to this part of Highway 12.

I do not want to give you false hope, but there is another possibility.
Sometimes when we resurface a road, we do add the additional 2' on each
side if the resurfacing method accommodates it at little extra expense. We
anticipate that the pavement will need resurfacing in about 8-10 years.
Perhaps there will be an opportunity for better accommodation of bicycles
by then.

In any case, we have taken note of your concern and will keep it on file
for project planning. Thank you for taking the time to let us know your
needs.

On another related subject, I would like to hear your opinion from a
cyclist's viewpoint on shoulder rumble strips. Perhaps you've seen them on
US-81 south of Highway 20 or on other highways?

My response back:

Thanks for your very detailed explanation on the shoulder situation. While disappointing for planning rides into Nebraska with our club and will probably limit any organized rides for us to the more experienced rider, it's still nice to know the situation. As you probably figured, I'm a strong voice for cycling advocacy. I'm not a hard to deal with person though, looking more for explanations like you gave versus being a thorn in anyone's side.

Rumble Strips: I avoid Hwy 81 like the plague. Far too much Semi traffic for my liking. I have ridden on Hwy 20 on the Bike Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN) and a couple of solo trips. As stated, I wear a mirror off my glasses so I tend to ride on the road hugging the white line where rumble strips are present. If there are cars coming both ways or the car behind me appears to not be moving over, I will go over the rumble strips although I prefer not to on a road bike. I understand the purpose of rumble strips on major highways so I don't have a beef with them. As a cyclist, I don't like the rumbles before stop signs that don't split into two sections so I can split them however.

All that being said, Hwy 50 between Vermillion and Yankton or Vermillion and Interstate 29 does not have rumble strips on the wide shoulder which is obviously nicer for us to stay considerably off the roadway and out of any (reasonable) harms way. It's been a long time since I've been on Hwy 50 West of Yankton so I can't remember if there are rumbles that way or not. Hwy 19 North out of Vermillion to Centerville (21 miles) has recently been redone with a wide shoulder and no rumbles as well.

I guess that I hadn't given much thought to the rumbles on Hwy 20 as I know they are there. Would it be better for me without them? Of course. I'm sure there are traffic studies that suggest they are a good thing for safety of motorists however. I know they are not a cyclists friend, but I have never heard considerable griping about them either.

Thanks again for all your time. If you need anything further from my side of the conversation, feel free to contact me anytime.

Wouldn't you know it, there was a response back once again!

Thank you for letting me know your opinion about these safety features.
Yes, they are proven to reduce crashes and fatalities on our roads so we
are expanding our use of them throughout the state. Interesting to hear
your perspective.

In Nebraska we install the rumbles in a continuous strip just off of the
driving lane (outside of the white line) leaving approximately 5.5' of
clear surface for bicycles away from traffic. This is on our 8' surfaced
shoulders. The new standard of 6' surfacing would provide 3.5' of clear
space. The continuous strip is broken at intersections, residential and
commercial driveways and it is not installed through towns. As a cyclist
myself, I consider it a benefit to have rumble bars between vehicles and
me. I would like to hear what you think of the Nebraska placement strategy
if you happen upon them in your travels. We will be installing them on
US-20 west of Osmond in the near future.

Good point on the intersection rumble bars. I suppose motorcyclists may
have the same complaint. I will relay the concern to our Traffic
Engineering Division so they are aware. Maybe we can eliminate or reduce
the number of locations where full-width strips are used.

Not only that, the engineer is a cyclist! I responded with the opportunity to join us whenever in the area which was graciously accepted. Even more amazing to me in all this was that not only was my questions answered, but I was asked for MY opinion on an issue. I do love living in the Midwest. People who listen: BRILLIANT!

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