Motivation to stay alive for *years*!!! (Not that there wasn’t anyway.)
The Master Bike Plan for Urbana has a timeline of 11 months and we saw the plans for the next few years’ of pavement slapping. Ah, the hard-core vehicular “don’t mark the roads for me!” folks will not be happy but Goodwin Ave. will have a Bike LANE… not a bike path. As in *marked* as such – not an anonymous stripe three feet out, a five foot marked lane. Out of the closet and all that! and the next year there will be one on Illinois, and then on Oregon.
Champaign… are you listening???
Got to ride in snow tonight, but (whew!) the roads stayed WET. Now let’s hope they … well, if the temp’s 22 like it says it will be, not muich chance of that tomorrow unless htey’re a-salted. They’re calling for an inch but radar says it’s leaving now.

http://inhabitat.com/2007/01/11/reverse-graffiti/#more-2426

Creative Protest that’s easy to love

He *cleans* the silly tunnels in images… in this case skulls, with the cursive message “Go gently.” A poignant message to drivers, indeed.

Tired of dodging major ice floes?
> B. Illegally Discharging Sump Pumps
> QUESTION
> Where can I report an illegally discharging sump pump?
>
> ANSWER
> Call the Engineering Division of Champaign Public Works to report sump
> pumps discharging onto an illegal location (such as a street), or that is
> causing a nuisance (ice build-up) on a street or sidewalk. Sump pumps
> connected to the sanitary sewer are illegal and should also be reported to
> the Engineering Division.
>
> CONTACT
> Champaign Public Works
> Engineering Division
> Phone: 217/403-4710

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/TheRealReasonYoureBroke.aspx?page=1

The REal Reason You’re Broke – might be in your driveway.

Read it and click on the ratings and they’ll think people care about such things!

Amazingly doing with one fewer car *is* mentioned as an option.

One Fewer Excuse: “AAA” for bicycles. (I send back their solicitations to me noting that when they will service my primary vehicle, a Giant Nutra, I will consider their services.)

http://www.betterworldclub.com/bicycles/bike_assistance.htm

Interesting idea – would like to know somebody who’s used it.

http://www.veloroutes.org/bikemaps/

Google Maps for bikes… mostly in certain local areas but I’ll be exploring it…

and then there’s
http://www.cfcapartments.com/apt_apartment_full.php?community_cd=5&company_cd=1

in not-so-far Bloomington Indiana: “Bicycle apartments” designed for people without cars.

Patched tube (again). Had to put it in tire twice ’cause i forgot to take that screwy thing off first so it would go through the hole in the wheel. Left the Ductape *somewhere.* Had to make a lot of trips out to the garage barefoot at 1 a.m. so it was good it was SO WARM. No Ductape. No tape. Anywhere.
Band-aid boot! MacGyver loves me.
Put wheel back on. Get th;ings in right order. WHeel is not really even, though. On the old Schwinn you’d just wrench that fender over a bit … ain’t no grabbing and bicepping this bad boy. It’s 11:20 and raining hard… if it will deign to dry up a bit I”ll ride down to shoppe. It spun nicely enough though something was gently hissing against something… but not really slowing anything down. SOmething else rattles when I’m riding. Gazelles should not rattle. Old Schwinns are allowed to. xtras wtih four strings of Christmas lights and tinsely stuff and batteries held on with big magnets can rattle (tho’ I still haven’t diagnosed that sound). Gazelles should be stealthy.
Pink to the west of us on the radar. C’mon, gulf, keep sending us the warm stuff.

Gazelle Update:

Developed another slow leak. Ride, pump, repeat.

Took off nuts and washers. Laid them on bookcase in order. OF course I could have done that the first time, but don’t count on the memory to call up the process next time, either!

Made note of relationship between valve and writing on tire. Two o’clock. Took tube out. Found little bitty bubbles in the bathroom sink. Glad I didn’t have to spend all that time figuring out to put the screw thingy on first.

Can’t find trauma in tire. Rememebr that I always get things backwards and look at 10:00 too. Aha! Remember that gravel ding! It’s right there… Get the BIG light.

LIttle teeny slit in tire. I heard about this – it pinches the tube and makes little teeny leaks. What to do? TIme to buy studded tires???

Decided to go to bed. Perhaps tonight I”ll make a ductape boot (see? Sioux knows those cool biking words. Boot, indeed. It’s not a tall shoe! It’s not the trunk of a car! Why isn’t it a patch?), patch that little teeny hole, and get her out there on the destined-for-sogginess morrow.

Welp, tonight I got one of the better comments of commuting… I’m cruising down the road, grocery store on one side, apartments on the other, with my Xtra and its two taillights, two strings of Christmas lights, headlight, headband-lamp and hokey spokes and — he must have been a Daddy, ’cause I hear this voice say in exactly the sing-song you’d say to the baby behind the blanket… “I can’t see you!”

Interesting combination … “I tried so hard, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter” is the theme song… with lots of hard riding in the video. I s’pose it’s one of those “it’s not the lyrics, it’s the beat” things, except that I know a coupla folks who could identify right now with the sentiment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLraI8w4_Xs

My kind of riders : Slug Velo