Monday, October 20, 2008

Road Swag

I'm doing my part to clean up the bike lanes on my inconsistent rides to and from work. For my initial voluntary attempts, I used inner tubes and "puncture resistant" tires to aid my efforts.

Two weeks ago I removed a bent nail from the road using the sidewall of my rear tire. Three weeks prior, a wood screw perpendicular to the rim. This technique is becoming a bit expensive and time-consuming; though I do have my tube changes down to about 5 minutes given all the recent practice.

I'm becoming more proactive. I've called the city and asked for regular clean up along a notorious 2-mile stretch. The week before last, I backtracked to remove what can only be described as a hatchet from the bike lane. Tonight, a metal pipe and bent wheel decoration came home with me in my panniers.

More so than traffic, this shoulder detritus is really the one thing that deters me from commuting more often. My fair city has more bike lanes than most (about 300 miles of on road lanes and 45 miles dedicated bike only trails) but needs to provide more bike only lanes from my residential neighborhood into the core business areas of the city.

Despite my bike's attraction to sharp objects, I've made a pledge (@ team wonderbike) to bike to work between 20-80 miles a month and restocked my supply of inner tubes.

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