Lubbock on a Bike: Summer Healing

Monday morning

This time of year, things are smoother for this Lubbock cyclist. The rides to work the last two days have been more pleasure cruise than commute. A lot of people are sleeping in. I don't feel the need to avoid school zones. In a weird way, I feel fortunate (in the moment) not to live in a town with great biking infrastructure. Within the confines of Point A and Point B, I am free to take a slightly different route every day. It's less about speed and ease during the summer. It's about enjoying the ride and choosing to see little snippets as the scenic route.

Ducklings from this morning's ride

This morning's ride offered up a mallard hen with her ducklings, a Mississippi kite easing into a tree, a snowy egret in flight, and a silent and deserted paved alley where I stood up on the pedals and coasted like that egret in flight - so much nicer than racing red lights, biting fingernails, and dreading the day.

my favorite Lubbock birdwatching location

This week I had to look through my most recently finished journal to get details for some paperwork. Looking through the book, I realized that this has been one of the hardest of my fifty years, maybe the hardest. There's been little time for blogging, for serving others (outside of our family), for dreaming about (and working on) projects, and for focusing on the people I love. Also, I've taken little time to focus on what I am thankful for.

Today, I am thankful for pedals, feathers, and a twenty minute (very quiet) adventure that brought me to work.

May you find your own tiny adventures throughout your day, and may you know some peace.

Thanks for reading, friends!

Procrastinating a Starter

This morning, I rode the old Huffy cruiser to a coffee house where I am writing this post to procrastinate what I dread - putting a new starter in my wife's car.

What fun!

I need to go spend $150 on a starter, jack the thing up in the air, lie on my back on the ground, and change the part. Then I need to put the thing back on the ground, make sure the problem is fixed, and take the old starter back for a refund on the core. It really shouldn't be that bad. 

But I have a bad attitude. I've come to hate working on things that run on gasoline. And I'm not a big fan of doing so while lying on the ground.

I'd so much rather be working on a bicycle or the electric Pigeon. Shoot, I'd much rather be riding a bike (or an electric Pigeon).

May we reach a day where we're not paying for gasoline things to make our world a dirtier, less healthy, less friendly place.

For now, it's time to pedal to the parts store, and get to work, snagit! (At least I'll get to ride the bike there.)

More New Mexico and One Less Car

Another Trip to New Mexico, and we became a single-car family this week.

This trip was Ruidoso and Roswell for work and a tiny vacation.

Upcycled Alien Art in Roswell

Some little something was happening in Roswell this weekend.

Mule deer behind the hotel

Mountain clouds over the hotel

It doesn't run on electrons, but it was nice to look at!

One of the nicer rooms we've stayed in lately 

Lots of butterflies and moths

Where's the log lady when you need her?

Lots of butterflies

So good to be near running water

What a Lark Roswell can be!

Find it here

I'd love to tell you that our decision to sell our old truck (bought it new in 2003!) was an altruistic eco-statement designed to show the world and all the petroleum producers that we don't need them, but the truth is that it needed a costly repair and we needed to pay down a little debt. Even so, I am glad that we have one less gas burner in the stable, that we won't have to pay for insurance and registration, and we can hug the local mesquites a little tighter. I'll try to keep you posted on how it goes to be car-less in the Lubbock heat.

May you find joy and wonder in all your travels, and may you strive to create a healthier world for all.

The Happy Hiker

PS. If you find yourself in Ruidoso, be sure to stop by the Happy Hiker and say hello to Rich and Anna. It's a cool shop with some great upcycled and sustainable products, and they are just plain fun to talk to!

E-Bikes Under $1000: Add Populo to the List

This is the Populo Sport.

I love me some free e-bike shipping!

Let's just get all of the stats out of the way first:

8 levels of pedal assist -  no throttle

free shipping (for the U.S)

20 miles per hour

30ish mile range

36 volts, 8.7 Ah

3 frame sizes

37 pounds

single gear

250 watts

3 colors

$999

This one popped up on Electric Bike Review this week and it's worth checking out if:

you are on a budget

 you keep it on the street

you like to keep things simple

you have to haul your bike upstairs

you dream of having two USB ports 

you are looking for a way to drive less

you like the Propella or the Sondors Thin

Digging the polished frame!

Stealthy!

Nice dash!

Are you intrigued? Tempted? Insanely in love?

Find out more at the Populo website.

May you be tempted away from the gas station!

Fossil free Friday the 13th: A $1300 E-Bike Cruiser (Juiced)

Juiced Bikes is one of those companies I've enjoyed watching lately. For quite a while, they seemed a one-trick pony. They offered a single bike in a few variations - a very sturdy and accessible cargo bike with some really impressive range options (up to 100 miles!) Then they offered up something completely different - the CrossCurrent, a fast and sexy beast for a very low sum of money - when compared with similarly equipped e-bikes. Then they surprised me by offering the CrossCurrent Air - a slightly stripped-down version of the CrossCurrent with a noticeably lower price.

 

Yesterday, I had a moment of boredom and decided to pop over to the Juiced website, and (Holy moly!) they surprised me again. Yep, there it was: a new bike model, a cruiser they call the OceanCurrent.

 

Striking in red

 

Like their other offerings, it looks like a lot of bike for the money. Like the CC Air, you can get a better deal if you pre-order. So, I thought I'd give you a little glimpse. The OceanCurrent has lots of quality components, a torque sensor(!), a 24 mph top speed, a 48 volt battery pack, and a great warranty. If you order soon, it also comes with free shipping. That's a lot to love in this price range!

It comes as a step-through too! (Go to the site and check it out in Sea Foam!)

The Juiced Line-Up is growing!

I have been wanting this one since it was announced!

Where did that page come from?

 

For you cheap curmudgeons like me, Juiced also added a Refurb Shop page. Besides some great deals, it's the first place I've seen a pic of a step-thru CrossCurrent. Very cool.

So many choices! So, now I'm leaning toward the Refurb CrossCurrent in Red with free shipping and those oh-so-appealing hydraulic disc brakes. If you're giving up the gas, shouldn't you do it on a speedy roadster like this? Really, though, I'd happily ride any of their bikes.

May we all find a low-carbon ride, and may our surprises be good ones!

Fossil Free Friday Videos: Monday Motorbikes and a DIY Electric Motorcycle

Okay, this is a very lazy FFF post, but there's some very good stuff here!

Just a preview of the last video (and a run-on sentence)

 

I stumbled across a couple of Monday Motorbikes videos which answered a few questions for I've had on battery removal and such. (However, I am still unsure about the voltage - two 33 volt packs?) They are definitely worth watching and helped me to appreciate this thing even more. If you are confused about the name, these are from way back in the past when they still called it the Bolt Motorbike.

TechCrunch: Bolt's High-Tech Motorbike (4 minutes)

Monday (Bolt) on Twit Bits (13 minutes)

 

And finally, here's a video from a crazy German guy who builds an electric motorcycle on almost no budget whatsoever. I won't give too much away, but I love his very simple approach to mounting the electric motor on the old bike. (For those of you with sensitive eyes and ears, there's one cuss word on the video, and I completely agree with the sentiment surrounding it!) Enjoy!

DIY E-Bike/Motorcycle (How to build) (8 minutes)

(Please wear a helmet when you ride.)

 

(This post is dedicated to all of those lovely folks at Exxon who bring us destruction, denial, and Rex Tillerson.)

 

May we continually choose better and maybe have a little fun along the way.

Lubbock on a Bike, a double re-think and a blog recommendation

I am taking a little bit of a break in my bike commute. It's a seasonal thing - but not a weather thing. While I love the reason for the season, I fear the reality of the season. (It's also a location thing.)

You see, I work across the street from the local mall. Ours is a "town" of a quarter-million people and the mall serves a population of more than a half-million when you look at the overall region. The mall is a magnet. As Christmas gets closer, the magnet gets more powerful and the drivers become more erratic, distracted, and dangerous. Consumerism at its most glorious! The anger, the light running, the honking, the middle-finger salutes, the wrecks, the sirens - all the signs are there. And there is no realistic way to avoid the mall in my commute. Our town is a less-than-bicycle-friendly place in the best of times, so I am laying off the ride to work for the duration of December. I still plan to ride to run errands and such, but the work commute (past the mall) is off the table.

I do, however, plan to come back with a vengeance in January. Details to follow in another post.

So, let's talk about the double re-think.

It's been coming for a little while and it's coming from many directions.

Cars
The money we are saving by driving old cars is wearing on me. I have recently had to put a throw-out bearing in my wife's truck. I had to fix the plastic underskirts of my wife's grandmother's hybrid. The daughter's headlights have quit working because the ballast went out. (Headlight ballasts? WTH!) And I need to replace the engine in my poor Lucy. My body is sore and my spirit is oh so weary. I am a desk jockey and that kind a mechanicking is a stretch.

And I have come to loathe things that burn gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products. And my spirit is oh so weary of it.

Bicycles
While Lubbock may not like cyclists, this cyclist really enjoys his time riding in Lubbock. Every trip is an accomplishment. I am healthier. The world is healthier. And my spirit is slightly less weary.

Buses
My recent bus rides have actually been pretty pleasant and stress free - not bad for a handful of quarters.

My brain has begun to look like a much more jumbled version of this:

 

While all of this has been rattling around in my brain, I have found another Yes Man to influence my thinking. (A Yes Man for me is someone whose crazy thoughts are very like my own and will therefore encourage me to pursue a path I already wanted to pursue.)

 

Yes Man

Bob Sharpe is a blogger. (I like him already.) Bob Sharpe is a bicycle commuter. He is also not a young studly spandex model (at least that's my impression from reading Bike 5, Bob's blog). Bob's blog's subtitle is For trips of five miles or less, bikes are best! By the way, it is 4.9 miles from my house to my office. Can you see why I've adopted Bob as a Yes Man?

 

 

So here's my hypocritical double re-think. I am giving up my bike commute for the month. And I am committing to more commitment to riding. I am also jumping on Bob's Multimodal train (figuratively speaking - we don't have any passenger trains around here).

 

In case you too are looking for a Yes Man because you like bikes or you're cheap or you just want to humor the ol' Mesquite Hugger, here are a few Bike 5 posts I recommend.

 

What's the Real Deal, Bob?

 

If You're Not Cycling, You're Cheating Yourself

 

How to Pay Next to Nothing for Your Next Home

 

Bike 5's Position Statement on eBikes

 

Transportation and Health Tool Tags Cycling's Most Dangerous Places (included because the town where I grew up is mentioned)



 

So, get out there and ride something healthier than a car. And go find someone with healthy ideas that inspire you. And pay attention to what's happening in Paris this week. May you be healthy, joyful, and safe. 

That tailpipe question

From Friends of the Earth and the GCR article below

The phenomenal young woman was home from college recently. The three of us were headed home from dinner and decided we needed something from the drug store. There's a Walgreen's less than half a mile from our house and there's a CVS about a mile away. I suggested Walgreen's, but she quickly spoke up, telling us that she exclusively supports CVS now that they have taken the moral high ground and have stopped selling tobacco products. One of those prideful grins crept onto my face. It's the first time I have seen her vote with her money. I remember all the times that she rolled her eyes at my wife and me for doing the same thing. It's an amazing thing to watch her grow up.

But it makes perfect sense, someone very near to the three of us, a non-smoker who spent his whole life surrounded by smokers, died of lung cancer five years ago. Watching anyone die of lung cancer should have us all shopping at CVS for the same reason. She very clearly sees smoking as morally wrong and chooses to support a business that takes a brave (and unprofitable) stance.

I thought a little further, started to make a Mesquite Hugger point, but bit my tongue. It was not yet time, but the time seems to be very near. Each time I slide my debit card into a gas pump, I feel terrible. I very clearly see burning gasoline as morally wrong. But unlike her, I hypocritically support the thing I know to be wrong.

The NRDC explains it better than I could in these two snippets:

The article (as do many other very credible sources) clearly shows that gasoline-powered devices very clearly cause and aggravate lung disease and cancer, and the risk is most significant for children. You can read the entire article here: Our Children at Risk: The Five Worst Environmental Threats to Their Health (Chapter 4 Air Pollution)

When you read that article, do you
(1) shrug your shoulders and move on?
(2) feel monumentally guilty?
(3) think the NRDC is part of a big hippie conspiracy?
(4) laugh at the thought of reading an NRDC article?
(5) giggle self-righteously as you ride away on your bicycle?

For me, it's mostly choice #2 with a little #5 thrown in for good measure.

Can you read the NRDC article and think that Marlboro is any more evil than Exxon? That Camel is any worse than Shell? That Phillip Morris is more damaging than Phillips 66?

Where smoking was, petroleum is.

History is very close to repeating itself. Big tobacco took a big fall when the news broke that they had known and hidden how harmful their products were for a very long time. The scandal is just now breaking with the #Exxonknew movement. It looks as though Exxon has known how harmful their products are for a very long time, and it looks as though have worked very hard to conceal that knowledge.

I ran across a John Voelcker Article on Green Car Reports today that asks the question that I did not: When Will We Start To See 'Tailpipes' As Morally Wrong? I hope it is soon.

(From Envisioning the American Dream)

May we soon live in a time when petroleum fuels seem as silly as these cigarette ads.

Go read somebody else's blog about Parking Day today, please!

Do you ever feel that you're on the cusp of something but you are not sure what? Yeah, me too.

This photo was also ripped off lovingly borrowed from DIYbiking.com

This may seem redundant, but I really appreciate a good blog. I have been reading DIY Biking for a few years now. It's been a sporadic but well-written and thought-provoking blog out of Stamford, CT. Recently, the blog's writer, a guy named Mike who likes to create bike-traffic di-o-ramas, pulled up his kickstand(s) and moved to the other side of the country. He blogged the journey and he's started blogging about his new home. (See yesterday's MH post - there's a reference to Good Karma Bikes that came from a DIY Biking post.)

But the 8-31 DIYB post is a throwback to Stamford, isn't (much) about biking, and is very much about shifting our culture. And it's the type of post that makes me say that I really appreciate a good blog. It's also one of those posts that makes me want to crawl out of my cubicle and do something. The post is about Parking Day. It even made me want to write a post about Parking Day, but there's no reason - Mike did it already and you should read it. Period.

Why You Should Take Part in Park(ing) Day

May you be blessed with a good blog and may your spaces - parking and otherwise- be better used.

Personal Carbon Reduction: Transportation Intro



From this great infographic

 

Step 1 (Pun intended.)
Let's start simple on the transportation. In most cases, the simpler the machine, the lower its carbon cost. If you want to go ultra-low carbon, start with a good pair of shoes. Range and speed may be low, but you can't beat your literal footprint for lowering your carbon footprint. I do more and more walking these days and find it to be therapeutic as well carbon neutral. And it helps me to stay more connected to what is happening in my neighborhood. [If my destination is within a mile, I try to walk.]

 

European Cyclist Federation (Carbon)

 

Pedal-Power
The next step for me is a plain, old bicycle. Super-low carbon footprint, improved health, improved budget, and a wider physical range (than walking) combine to make a bike a great way to get around. You can easily buy a quality used bike for less than it costs to buy one tire for most cars. [If my destination is within three and half miles (and I am traveling alone) I try to take the bike. In truth, I love to bike.]

 

Next, I'll throw a curve with a gas-powered motorcycle, scooter, or moped. While most of them burn considerably less fuel than your average car, many of them also emit a lot more harmful gases than your average car. So, yes, you will burn less fuel, but you can do a lot more environmental damage by riding one. We'll talk more about gas-powered two wheelers in the near future. [I am not ready to discuss my scooter addiction, but I ride a lot less these days.]

 

Bike vs. Car ($$$)

 

So let's talk about petroleum-powered cars.
Cars (and light trucks) are often the most convenient, luxurious, and destructive way to get around, especially in a suburban setting like Lubbock. They are also very expensive - taking up at least 30% of the budget in many American homes. If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint, dependence on the car is going to be one of your biggest obstacles, and cars are deeply ingrained in our national culture. Take some time and think about it. How prominent is the car in your life, your budget, and even your self image? Is it worth it? (Ouch!) [I drive my little worn-out truck a lot, and I cringe each time.]

 



The Space They Take - Car, Bus, and Bike (Space)

 

Petroleum-Powered Buses

Buses are funny things in the eco world. As a single vehicle, a bus has a pretty ugly carbon footprint until you hit the "divide" button on the calculator. If there are 30 people riding the bus (instead of driving 30 cars) the carbon footprint looks pretty awesome. With a bus, it's all about numbers, and when you have enough riders, a bus is a pretty green machine. [I need to ride the bus a lot more. Since Lubbock buses have bike racks on the front, riding the bus is a great way to ride a bike during extreme temperature days. I can bike to work in the morning on 100 degree days and ride the bus home in the afternoon heat. The opposite works well on really cold days.]

Mother Jones Carbon Cost Graphic

 

Jet Travel

Ouch! It's truly astounding how terrible jet travel is for the well-being of the planet and the organisms that hope to continue breathing. We have to find a better way. [It's really rare for me to fly, and I am okay with that.]

Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles
If you've read this far, you are probably wondering about the electric vehicles that show up so often on the Mesquite Hugger posts. Well, you're going to have to wait - I am saving those for another PCR installment.

 

 May we find our way with as little carbon spent as possible.

 

 

 

 

Aubade, Lubbock (Get out and ride!)

My favorite book to read over and over is Cannery Row. There are a hundred reasons why it is my favorite, and high on that list is that Steinbeck begins each chapter with an aubade. (An aubade, pronounced "Oh Bod!" is a song or poem that greets the dawn.) Imagine your favorite TV show, but some truly wonderful person at the TV station replaced the commercials with very cool, powerful, and relevant short films and you will have an idea of what he accomplished in adding those. Each chapter is a new day, and he starts it out right.

[Literary sidebar - feel free to skip this part like a bad commercial. Sweet Thursday is the sequel to Cannery Row. It has no aubades to speak of. It is best to read Sweet Thursday a few years after Cannery Row at a time in your life where you are very distracted and possibly drinking a little too much.]

[Cubicle worker sidebar - ditto. My office mate is in Seattle right now and keeps sending me photos from whale watching boats and mountaintops and such. Here is the window view from my cubicle:

(Look closely to find the Cannery Row cup and the money our family has set aside to see places like Seattle.)

Today, I needed an aubade.]

(Here comes the part where I turn this into a bicycle post. You knew it was coming.)
This morning I was headed to work on the bicycle and I had one of those great moments. I went west on 55th Street from Quaker Avenue. The road runs downhill (from the perspective of an overweight middle-aged guy on a bicycle.) In a few blocks I found myself coasting near one of our playa-lake parks. With our recent rains, everything is green. There were lots of standard birds and waterfowl, even a snowy egret. I pulled over and soaked it all in for a very short time, and I remembered what those aubades do for Cannery Row. And I was very thankful to be there on a bicycle, and I was very thankful not to be road raging it out with other traffic while driving a car to work.

May you experience your own aubade this week. Joy comes in the morning.

Cargobikes in Lubbock?

Alright, I hate to jinx it, but I am working on a perfect commute week. (Insert knocking on wood sound here.) A perfect commute week for me is one where I burn no gasoline getting to and from work. I know I am only halfway there, but it's looking good so far.

What could mess it up? Two things: needing to haul stuff/people, or weather. (I'd be ecstatic if the perfect week was interrupted by rain.) As for needing to haul stuff or people, I keep wanting a cargo bike.

Snagit, that's cool!

Do we have any cargobikers here in the Hub City? I have not seen any, but I keep watching. Since I have not seen any, let me encourage you, check them out. My favorites are the longtail cargo bikes and cycle trucks. They tend to be narrower than other styles, and I like the added mobility of having a skinny profile. I really like the Yuba Mundo and the Socrates Cargo Bike, but I also think the Xtracycle FreeRadical is cool - I like the idea of adapting the bike you already have. We have featured the NTS Suncycle on MH before - one of the coolest green vehicles on the planet!

If you want to learn more about cargo bikes and the people who ride them, check out the promo video for this Kickstarter  Cargobike Documentary.

If you want to build your own, check out Instructables for ideas or follow the Dorky Thorpy blog to watch a very cool build in progress.

May you have a perfect commute week!

WOOHOO!!! It's real! (Electric Bike News)

In contrast to yesterday's rambling philosophic introversion post, this is something real, mechanical, tangible, and American designed and built.

They emailed me today! The Copenhagen wheel is available for pre-order. It is no longer on the list of vaporware that may never appear for us mere mortals. And I hope this turns into a VW beetle for the modern age.

You may be asking yourself, "What's so special about this thing?"

Let's start by recapping the virtues of an electric bicycle:
No gas.
No registration fee.
No insurance requirement.
Each (electric) fill-up will cost you less than a nickel - often less than a penny.
Stealthy.
You can still exercise.
Free parking (and always a good parking space).
Very low maintenance.
You might actually enjoy your commute.
Phenomenally less environmental destruction.
(Keep in mind that most car driving Americans spend more than 30% of their income on owning, maintaining, and operating a car.

So, what's so cool about THIS electric bike?

Let's just check out two photos:

This is a fairly typical DIY ebike - it actually looks tidier than a few I have built. The cost for this particular setup was around $600.

This is the Copenhagen wheel DIY bike. The cost for the Copenhagen wheel is $699.

 

Need I say more? Well, I will let their very slick website do the talking!

The Copenhagen Wheel

 

And, just in case you want to check out the typical ebike and many more like it, head over to EVAlblum.

http://www.evalbum.com/4268

 

May you have a big red wheel on your bike soon and may you joyfully and healthfully ride on past the gas station!

 

 

 

upCYCLE- Please take this idea and run, I mean, well, um, PEDAL with it!

reduce, reuse, upCYCLE

 

 

 

Lubbock needs a bicycle exchange.

 

 



A short time after the spring semester ends, if you watch closely, you can see the trailers at Texas Tech that gather up all of the abandoned bicycles that students leave behind. Then you can see the mountain of them parked outside the police station waiting for the annual fall auction.

 

Many of the large bike retailers in town receive a fair number of bicycle returns after each holiday season. These bikes tend to have very small issues, but most are scrapped.

 

The simple advantages of using bicycles for daily transportation are huge: better health, extremely low cost, less traffic, easier parking, phenomenally better for the planet that we would like to pass on to future generations, etc.

 

So here it is - open a bike exchange. Run it as a private business. Run it as a non-profit. Run it as a social club. Run it as a school that teaches repair, restoration, or simple maintenance. Run it as a way to offer a leg up for those who are in rough financial straits. Run it as an outreach to provide bikes and safety training for children. Run it as a place to give retired mechanics a sense of purpose.

 

Feel free to use the name, the logo, the idea, the enthusiasm.

 

Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

May you experience the joy of a fall breeze rustling through your hair, no matter how much you have.