fat cyclist

the fat cyclist is moving to fat cyclist.com
auto complete is not going to help him unless he gets that old address to auto forward
wow!
looks like
a real page

got home from work today...
did not get home early

actually got home late

had to work late but still wanted to get on the bike

the streets were oddly vacant
guess everyone got off early from work than me
so I spun the old pink fixie around town
went through downtown up towards capital hill
an all street route meandering where the lights allowed for flow

avoided stopping
saught out fast flowing paths that did not demand a short distance panic stop that I am not capable of performing
the mountain bike is where my balance for such moves is dialed

the fixie is clearly not my default setting
my brain brakes with hands not legs
panic stops on the mountain bike throw the weight back

panic stops on the fixie send you forward
really forward if you try to use a front brake
front brakes are good for slowing down.... but not a good idea for stopping

rolled home after 45-50 minutes on the bike
before I could step into the basement I heard the sound of my two boys
"daddy's home"
it has an amazing charm that little short chorus
it felt good... it always feels good... but it felt amazing after getting in a short but good workout

I smiled
I stopped
I entered the back instead of heading to the basement
there were questions, there was excitement, there was the request to play chase
after a few minutes of chatter lisa distracted the boys with some classic pro wrestling moves

down to the basement
put away the bike and step out of the sweat soaked garb

not summer soak
but wet enough that it is clear that these items need to be washed
essence from previous rides was at the surface of the dank long sleeve jersey

upstairs the boys shifted their attacks from mom to me
this is not a good time to let down your guard
a monkey could swing down from a tree at any minute
it is tough to be fun and not get hurt at the same time
the boys were clearly wild

the antics continued far longer than I had wished
the antics went on far longer than I had allowed
but there was no way to get them to mellow
so I got them to go upstairs
knowing there is more room for them to run upstairs as their bedroom is joined to the office making a loop good for running along with the hall

the boys did laps
there was more jumping
but primarily laps
this was good, as I was not sure my neck could endure any more attacks

the pjs and the brushing of the teeth aided in getting them to settle down
mom was clearly more effective in guiding behavior then dad
as things were starting to mellow I asked them to pick out some books
they did not buy it
they went to run more laps

one one of grant's laps he found the book 10 Minutes to Bedtime
to which he yelled THREE MINUTES TO BEDTIME as he handed me his selection
with the boys running laps I climbed into grant's bed

without any need for bargains or manipulation grant followed
we started to settle in
in an effort to get dean in on the action I pretended as if I were starting the book
there was dramatic clearing of the throat
there was the reading of the title and a little description of the images on the cover

dean came running
demanding that he gets to choose
apparently my selection of Little Bear and grant's selection of 10 Minutes to Bedtime were not acceptable
so dean made a selection... I vetoed his selection.... then vetoed his next selection
he is always grabbing a book that is closer to an encyclopedia then a bedtime book
it takes more effort to pick the information from the page and make it interesting
I did not have the energy for that
we settled on a very informative book for kids about the animals of the world

dean told me the book order
first little bear, then 10 minutes to bed time, then the animals of the world
I had been tricked
no worries... I wanted to spend some more time with the boys
but my body clearly could not take any more bodies flying at it

Little Bear was changed to Little Grantman
which dean soon had me calling the Owl... Dean-Bird

the boys enjoyed the books
all three of them
the animal book getting a long succession of just one more

when I was done lisa subbed in for the final good night
before stepping away lisa asked if I had seen the bike lanes
I lit up saying I had not
she moved a curtain and told me that they could be seen from up here
but before I looked she warned me that it was just the markings for the lanes
still.... I was excited
that was more than I thought would be done on this cold rainy day

as I looked out the window I joked about the "narrowing of the visual corrodor"
then I looked at the measure of the unpainted but marked lines
I imagined the new crisp lines
then I imagined the door zone
being the somewhat crazed person that I am... I then imagined the arguements that would still occur
I stopped thinking that far ahead and enjoyed what I saw in front of me

lisa remarked on my talking outloud...
she said something to the effect that the bike lanes alone would not make that big of a difference
being defensive having already had this arguement with so many people
or at least already having this arguement with so many people in my heads
almost curt I asked if she thought I was an idiot
then started in on a diatribe
then stopped my diatribe
she did not want to hear my rant
she wanted to finish putting the kids to bed

so, I stopped
I gave the kids a kiss and a hug
then went and put a jacked on and went to take a look at the lines that will be bike lanes on my street

as I looked at the lines
I walked up to see where they started
then went down to see where they ended
as cars went down the road I looked to see if there seemed to be any sort of response to the markings on the road
at the hydrant I was pleased to see the dash of white lines
although I think that the people park in front of the hydrants more because they are assholes than that they are idiots
athough they are idiots as well
the site of it all made me almost giddy

getting cold in my knickers and thin jacket I walked towards home

my wife is right
the bike lanes alone are not going to slow traffic
but in addition with a few other efforts things can be changed

much like weight loss
the action needs to be from more than one angle
people may have their recommendations
one person may say that it takes exercies
another person may say that you need to monitor the quantity of food
while someone else may say that it is important to be concious of what you eat
and well...
they are all right
not alone
but together
it takes actions from all three approaches to make weight loss happen

the slowing of traffic on the road in front of my house is not going to happen through the institution of bike lanes
but... hopefully that is a start
petitions have been drawn up by a neighbor
he has a number of signatures
now he has passed off the clip board for me to gather some remaining signatures
the signatures are part of the process for applying for a traffic calming study
part of the reason for having the bike lanes in now
is not only to make the roads safer for bicycle and pedestrian traffic
but also in an effort to aid the people taking the traffic survey to take into account the bicycle presence

it sounds absurd
but the city is changing and developing
with the development there are these planners
the planners have their studies and their think tanks
from what I have seen... these geniuses are not so good at factoring in the bicycle

sure it is a bicycle field of dreams
but that is the best arguement that we have

simple...
if they build it they will come

I need to sit back
maybe a glass of wine
maybe some images
got a few shots on my morning commute that I have been looking forward to checking out