Fix a flat: leave the wheel on!

It never occurred to me that you might leave the wheel on while changing a flat. Game changer! I may never take off a wheel again!

(via clevercycles)

Wash Park

I get to ride through Washington Park during my commute if I want to. After work on a recent Tuesday, I wanted to, so I did. And as I approached the park, my progress was obstructed by a hundred or so joggers jogging around the perimeter.

Turns out the Wash Park Running Club meets every Tuesday at 6:00 PM to pound pavement.

Their facebook page looks marginally active, and their website sucks, so I guess that's all I have to say about that. They look comparatively inferior, based solely on web presence, to the Snug Runners, who operate out of an Irish bar and claim the turf around Cheesman Park.

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This morning's ride through Wash Park revealed a few gems, including the Wash Park Gondolier.



Dude was in hiking boots and a helmet, paddling his skateboard through the park. The paddle had what looked like two large rubber balls attached to the end.

It felt significant to have happened upon this gentleman shortly after having first stumbled upon pavedwave.org and "long distance pumping." This guy was not pumping, but he was making good, creative use of his longboard, and I salute him for that.

At the southern end of the park, I came across a closed and boarded up public restroom. It's apparently being renovated as part of the Better Denver Bond Project.



One social critic voiced his displeasure about suddenly being denied access to the restroom.

Alleyway

Upon a closer look, and actually riding the route, The Google did in fact suggest that I ride through the alley for four blocks.



The street view of the alley shows what I saw first-hand this morning: it's a wide, clean alley. Nice enough as alleys go.

But bikes don't go in alleys. They go on roads.

I submitted a problem report under the "Directions suggest a route that is difficult or restricted" category, because there wasn't an explicit "Directions suggest a route that is unsafe" category.

Bicycles should not be directed through alleys. It is safer for the cyclist, fir [sic] pedestrians on the sidewalks, and for motorists on the streets if the cyclist behaves as much like a car as possible. They should stay on the streets, proper.

You wouldn't randomly or spontaneously drive your car through the alley for several blocks. It wouldn't be safe!

And if you wouldn't drive that way in your car, you shouldn't drive that way on your bike.

Bike directions on Google maps

With the advent of the iPhone, it is possible to wake up only to find oneself adrift in the tubes before getting out of bed. And so I woke up this morning to find one email from the bike league, and a plethora of twooshes, all excitedly and twitchily informing me that Google Maps has added a bicycling option to its directions-finder.

I shuffled from the bed to the office, fired up the laptop, and had a gander for myself. I asked for The Google to plot my commute and to optimize the route for a bicyclist, and it proceeded to do its damnedest.

Critique of its optimized route

+1 for existing. For showing up. For bike directions even being an option. Thank you The Google for offering this service so that the people doing their living might realize the possibility of doing it by bike, alleviating wear on the roads and instead putting a healthy amount of it on their bodies.

+1 right off the bat for designated bike routes and trails being visible (highlighted in green) and for using them where possible.

-1 for making heavy use of traffic-heavy Downing Street! Granted, there are a number of blocks on which I'll ride Downing, but it's primarily not very ... Whoa, hold on a tic. What's this? The route here suddenly jumps between northbound Downing and southbound Corona. As though indicating there's a bike path in the median?

No, as though directing bike traffic through the alley! What kind of shenanigans is this? This shall not go uninvestigated!

+1 for inciting investigatory adventurism, with the possibility of later docking points for directing bike traffic off of roads and into alleys.

-1 for utilizing a bike route two blocks west of beautiful Cheesman Park instead of routing through the park. Optimizing directions for a cyclist should account for scenery-beauty. When will the Google learn to appreciate beauty?

-1 for routing the ride down 1st Ave, in front of the Denver Country Club, which is a dangerous sidewalk in winter because they don't shovel their walk. On the other hand, this option is fine in warmer weather, and whether or not to take it is a personal preference, but this is my list, so I'm docking a point.

+1 for making good use of the Cherry Creek Trail. The Google has accounted well for scenery-beauty!

Tallying up the score, it appears we are left with a total of one Arbitrary Unit of Judginess.

I am happy to have the "bike it" option on Google maps. It pleases me. Using it will be quicker than looking at driving directions and then overlaying my own map of bike routes. But it's definitely in Beta, and I'll be handling its suggestions in the meanwhile as though they are likely to be buggy. Because they are.

Bikes and beer