I have been partly ashamed to post here and partly have no material to write about bicycling or conservation. I am ashamed because I have bought a motorcycle. Though the justifications are solid, it has taken me away from bicycles. I have barely ridden a bicycle three times since I bought the Kawasaki. This is in stark contrast with my car free life since November 2008.

I am very close to moving to a part of town with a walk score of over 80. That will allow me to have a high quality bicycle usage than my current suburban hell hole. Moreover, that part of town recycles.

Since September, I have not ridden the motorcycle to any place other than work, errands between commutes to work and a friend’s dinner party so he could see it. I did ride to Downtown once to see how the longer commute would feel. I am not comfortable cycing in this zip code yet.

As time passes, I get closer to my move and a new life, namely a new life surrounded by beautiful historic houses with tons of character and the friendly people who live and walk in those neighborhoods. I will be closer to my friends and Laya will have access to several parks and barky friends.

Getting over 65 miles per gallon on the motorcycle is not bad either. As the engine breaks in more and the carburetors get smoother, I hope to reach the 80 miles per gallon mark.

Having left work at 5 PM, I rode over to the ATM to pick up some cash. The rain was a little more than a drizzle but my rain gear was adequate. Cash in hand, I made it to the farmers market. After a quick browse, I started pickng up the vegetables. I think they were quite reasonably priced. It wasn’t organic but it was local. This means my vegetables did not travel a couple thousand miles to my kitchen.

Shopping at your Local Farmers Market is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint. The best part about shopping there is one gets to come home and make a delicious Tomato Sandwich. Toast a couple of slices of bread apply mayo while the bread is hot so the mayo can melt a little. Lay a variety of tomato slices on top. I like how the crunchiness of the green tomatoes compliment the taste of the red. Top with salt and pepper. Eat open faced.

Posted via email from shek’s posterous

Posted via email from shek’s posterous

Suburbia Bar Hopping:
Bar hopping in suburbia usually spans over 5 to 10 miles and ends in a friend’s apartment or house far away from bar infested neighborhoods. With the folding bike, I can meet my friends at a bar and car pool with them to the next.

Multi-modal transportation:
If I ever muster up the patience and an unreasonable desire to plan a trip via the infrequent and insufficient JTA bus service, I can fold up the bike and take it with me. I am no longer limited to two bike racks on a bus. Moreover, planning a route on the JTA website is best done leaving the ‘Bicycle’ button under ‘Special Accomodations’ unselected. JTA does claim that all their buses are equipped with bike racks.

Most multi modal trips in Jacksonville FL are efficient when accomplished completely on a single mode: motor vehicles or bicycle.

Multi Modal – Dinner Plans:
To meet a friend for dinner at 8 PM at a favorite Thai restaurant on University Blvd, the bike ride is 6.5 miles away which takes 30 to 45 mins. To accomplish a multi-modal transit, JTA suggests I board S1 at 6:53 PM (next bus at 8:03 PM!!!), get off FCCJ station at 7:40 PM, Board P4 at 7:46 PM (next bus at 8:20 PM!!!), arrive at my destination 63 minutes after starting my trip at 7:56 PM. JTA denys me any transportation back once I have finished off the Penang curry followed by homemade coconut ice-cream by 9 PM and am ready to head to my comfy bed to peacefully digest the delicious meal.

Multi Modal – Visiting the Art Walk:
Lets look at longer trips. Tomorrow, the first Wednesday of the month is the Downtown art walk. I like visiting the art walk to see the vibrant local art scene and plan my next purchase. I also like meeting my friends and making new acquaintances as the art walk nurtures an atmosphere unlike any suburban bar and club. It usually starts at 6 pm and ends by 10 pm.

I want to leave work at 5 pm, ride my bike home, walk my dog and feed her, then take the bus to downtown by 6 pm and want to make the last JTA bus back home. The JTA trip planner suggests I ride my bike to the corner of Baymeadows and Southside, board B7 at 6:23 pm and arrive in Downtown by 7:18 pm. Having spent a couple of hours, when I try to leave at 9 pm, JTA denys any service at that late hour.

The bike ride to Downtown is 12 miles long and easily accomplished in an hour. Longer rides like this can be gradually worked up to. The return journey can be made on the bicycle I brought along. Such inconvineances however strip off enthusiasm from beginners wanting to reduce their dependency on cars.

On a personal note, the only bike I own worthy of a 12 mile trip is an xtracycle and wont fit on a bus rack!

I took it for a short test ride to the old Baymeadows Golf Club a few days back. The bike came with a three speed internal hub gear with coaster brake. For the most part, I rode the bike in the tallest gear. The short crank length combined with the short seat height at full seat post extension made it a little cumbersome to pedal at slight inclines. My legs were not fully extended at the bottom position of the crank. I may need to find a taller seat post. The 20 inch wheels pleasantly cushioned on most cracks and portholes on the dilapidated golf cart pathway.

The goose-neck handlebar is supposed to flip down. The previous owner has it screwed on too tight for me to loosen it by hand. The grips are made of cheap foam and are coming apart. I have considered changing the handlebar but it will be a future project. As is, the bicycle fits nicely inside the trunk of a taxi cab.

This brings me to the topic of intended usage of the folding bicycle which will be the next post.

The first is a traffic light improvement. I wait on an average of two cycles at the eastbound intersection of A. C. Skinner Pkwy and Southside Blvd for the light to change to green. Unless a motor vehicle, usually a car or truck, pulls up in the lane next to me, the light refuses to cycle. This involves waiting under the blistering noon heat for over 7 minutes for the light to change.

I called The City of Jacksonville with this maintenance issue Monday before 11 am. The number is 904 255 8970. It has been two days and I have not noticed any changes. I will wait till next Monday to follow up on the maintenance issue.

The second thing that I have mostly delegated away is to get a sign that says ‘Bicycles Take Full Lane’ (see image below courtesy Cyclelicious).

I want to see these installed on narrow (less than 14 feet wide) two lane roads like the service road that I live on and Touchton Rd which seems to harbour even more insolent motorists than I imagined. Per section 316.2065(5) exception 3, bicycles are not required to be ‘as close to the right as practicable’. In such narrow roads, it is unsafe to continue along the right hand edge.

Thirdly, I have acquired a riding buddy for 80% of my ride home from work. Jose works in the office building next to mine and commutes around 7 miles one way. We ride two abreast on the and make a strong statement of bicyclists position and status on the road.

http://twitter.com/abhishek_m

I have put it up on Craigslist with a link to my sale site. Next in line is to put it up for sale on Autotrader, Cars.com and Cars4Jax. I will wait for a few days to see if I get any response from Craigslist though. Some color printouts of the sale site will go up on the apartment complex notice board and the break room at work too.

Update:

Cars.com ad: link

Cars4Jax ad: link

Happy reading.

Strip-malls are probably the most iconic sights of North America after SUV’s and McDonalds! Jacksonville FL probably is the Mecca of such iconic sights. The vastness of the city area has given the developers and planners untrammeled opportunities to build flat out inclusive of massive parking lots to park those gas guzzlers.

Even the more recent up-scale construction projects like the prestigious Town Center Mall is nothing but a glorified strip mall. You don’t create quality by replacing a Chinese Takie-Outie with a P.F. Changs and the mom-and-pop-Italian-restaurant by a Maggiano’s. In their defense, there is a prestigious condo complex attached to the mall that even in today’s market is selling at $300,000 plus prices. There is this one lane inside this strip mall that is brick paved with no cars and a little pond with colorful fish in it. Makes it look all cool and European. You almost want to wander into those streets and shop at the designer stores and be sure that they are paying for common area maintenance for these stylish streets and are charging you for it!

The town center mall is paradise for shoppers that think more is not enough but it is a crazy place for a cyclist that is trying to shed less carbon and lose some calories by cycling to his friend’s house. Well you see that they got rid of all those trees to put some walls up and stick expensive brand names outside them. The little gusts of winds pick up speed while those trees have ended up in some print out that will be glanced at once and then thrown away for the noble cause of maintaining a paper-less society. Uninterrupted, these gusts of winds rampage through the drab mall buildings and extra wide SUV spec lanes and create unnecessary head wind for the poor cyclist who was not enjoying the view and is now not enjoying the ride.

Battling the strong head winds, the cyclist turns into St. John’s Bluff, taking shelter among a few tall trees till a gas station approaches. $4.09 9/10. That head wind feels every bit worth battling against!