Lubbock on a Bike: 40 Percent Shows Up Again

Yesterday after work I swung by Hodges Community Center to vote. I was on the bike. When I walked up to the table, a friendly volunteer (who had a Mary Steenburgen vibe) asked, "So, are you the local-crossing-guard guy?"

I had a moment of confusion and then realized she was referring to my lovely reflective vest. "Nope, I'm the local-crossing-town-on-a-bike-at-5-o'clock guy." She and her volunteer compatriot laughed and told me that I was very brave and that there was absolutely no way they would ride a bicycle in Lubbock. Then the first lady said, "But I wish more people would ride a bike. I think we'd all be a lot better off."

Amen!

This morning my blog feed had a new post from Bike 5 - Trip Reduction Therapy. I love it when I run across someone else's writing that expresses something I have been thinking or wish I had been thinking. I started commuting on a bike because it was the cheapest, most convenient form of green transportation I could find. I was trying to find a way to burn less gas. Along the way, I found a lot of other benefits too, not the least of which is that I enjoy living more.

That particular post is based on Bob tracking how many car trips he has replaced with bike or walking trips. Coincidentally, he finds that he has replaced 40% of his car trips. Hmm...maybe it's a thing.

In case you are not a link clicker, I am sharing the penultimate paragraph (busting out the big words today!) from today's Bike 5 post. Maybe it'll ring a bell or two with you too!

May we all be crazy stupid brave enough to make a lot of differences daily.

Real Reasons to Ride a Bike; The Challenge Begins

When I started this blog, I had no idea how big a bike would be for Mesquite Hugger. The more I write, learn, and ride, the more I see the life-saving, earth-saving beauty of a simple bicycle.

This post has three places to look and learn:

• a great video talk
• a great blog post (someone else's blog)
• the beginning of the National Bike Challenge (just five days away)

The great video talk

Last week I ran across a TedX Talk by Zach Krapfl on Electric Bike Insider. For a seemingly low-key guy, Zach is a very engaging speaker, and I have no plans of taking a road trip with him. (Watch the video if you want to know why.)

In the video, he talks about one image that has become a screensaver in my head:

Scott at Small Potatoes Farm

 

Please watch the Change in your Transportation Future to see why. (It's 16 minutes, but it flies by on slender tires.)

 

The great blog post

 

[Feel free to skip this part, it is a blogger self-motivation sidebar: I am a semi-reformed gasoholic. While there may have been other seeds germinating, there were two events that defined my conversion: the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Both of those tragic events were direct results of our people lustfully pursuing oil in places we should not have been. That realization led me to a lot of questions that keep leading me to the need to stop seeking fossil fuels.]

 

 

One of my favorite bloggers these days is Bob Sharpe over at Bike 5. Bob is not a problem guy. Bob is a solution guy. His blog title comes from his belief that trips under 5 miles are better served by a bicycle. His most recent post asks a fuel question - What Do You Run On? It's obvious that Bob and Zach have come to a lot of the same conclusions from different directions.

 

If you pay much attention to either or both of them, you might be looking for motivation within yourself to hop on a bike more. Well, here is one that got me rolling a few years back.

 

The Challenge

 

More about the bike challenge in tomorrow's post

 

May we pedal our butts off and make the world safer, healthier, and better for all!

A Little Green List for St. Pat's 2016

Nothing native here grows without thorns

 

You have to know that the Mesquite Hugger staff loves any day where going green is a requirement (if you want to avoid the dreaded pinch.)

 

St. Patrick wants you - to go green!

 

In honour of the patron saint of Ireland, why not pick one green step to make before the wekend ends?

 

• Replace one car trip with a walk, a bike ride, or (at the very least) a car pool.
• Recycle or upcycle something headed for the trash.
• Plant something.
• Replace an incandescent bulb with an LED.
• Take a reusable cup when you go to a place that serves in disposable cups.
• Build a rain barrel
• Build a composter
• Hang a load of clothes up to dry
• Join the CCL.
• Plan for Earth Day
• Test drive an electric car
• Tune up your bike.
• Avoid meat for a day or (at least) a meal
• Go a day without buying anything
• Turn off the TV/computer/cell phone and do one productive thing in that time
• Pick your own green thing to do! 

 

Everyone can use a little St. Patty humour!

 

May the luck of the Irish be yours when it comes to healthier choices!

 

PS - Let us know what you picked!

 

 



Protected Bike Lane Infographic - Ah, Lubbock Bike Geek Happiness

If you show up around here very often, you know there are three things that make me very happy - bicycles, infographics, and Vanguard Citicars. Lucky for me, people like to make infographics about bicycles. (I just did an image search for a Citicar infographic and found no such creature, but I did find a bunch of Mesquite Hugger images. The Mesquite Hugger staff is feeling somewhat internet famous.)

(Back to our story) Green Living Ideas inadvertantly sent me a little love today when they posted an infographic about protected bike lanes. I get pretty excited about those too.

See the whole thing here

Protected bike lanes are a dream for me. Generally speaking, "protected" and "bicycle" are two words that don't fit together in Lubbock, but we do have a protected bike lane in Lubbock on Flint Avenue near Texas Tech. (There may be others somewhere, but this bike commuter has not encountered them.)

Here is half of it. (Thank you, Google Maps!)

Here is the other half of it.

Here is an aerial view of the entire "protected" portion of the Flint bike lane.

(BTW, I am so snagging excited to see those solar panels on that roof! You have to jump through some serious City of Lubbock zoning hoops and spend some serious money to have a solar system inside the Lubbock city limits. Bravo, you eco-rebel!)

 

[Sidebar note to Lubbock mayoral candidates - more protected bike lanes and allowing grid-tied solar in town would have this blogger voting and spreading the word for your campaign. Dan, Victor, Todd, how about it?]

 

I shared the Radwagon $500 drawing with a co-worker this week. He got quite excited about the Radwagon (cargo bike) and went home to share the good news with his wife and to start the campaign to invest that amount of money on a bike. Her response was quick, loud, and emotional. "Are you crazy? You can't ride a bike in Lubbock! You would die!" It's a prevalent attitude here. We have car-centric road system. Our population is terrified to ride. It's so strange to live in fear in middle-class suburbia, but we do and should.

 

Yep, that infographic makes me happy!

 

Want to learn more about protected bike lanes?

 

Check out the  Bike5 blog or check out People for Bikes' Green Lane Project.

 

Want to learn more about Lubbock bike lanes - check out this Mesquite Hugger post: Lubbock on a Bike No Love from the Mayor

 

May we find ways to make the world safer and healthier for all (and may we not be impacted by the price of oil).

Gratuitous Citicar pic!