Jason Clock's Blog

2012-03-182021-01-26

4 Years of Bike Commuting

April 2012 will mark the 4th year I have been commuting to work. Here are just a few facts about by bike riding.

~ 8000 Miles

6331 Miles on my Road Bike
1518 Miles on my Cyclocross Bike
???? Miles using CaBi (Capital Bikeshare)

1 Crash

Well, I would not really call it a crash. I was side swiped by a car changing lanes from a stopped position. Being observant of your surroundings at making sure you have an escape route along with learning basic avoidance maneuvers can really help keep you safe.

2 Falls

One was because I decided to drive over a bridge joint in a parallel direction, and the other was because of black ice. The first could have been avoided, but the second, was totally unforeseen and unavoidable.

363 Days a Year

That is an estimate, but I ride my bike practically every day to work and to the National Zoo on Saturday and Air and Space Museum on Sunday. The only days I don’t ride my bike are when it is either raining very hard when I head out in the morning, or if it is very cold with a chance of freezing rain.

Fun Rides

While my main use of a bike have been transportation, I have had a chance to go on some fun / fundraising rides recently.

2011 Air Force Classic Crystal Ride ~63 Miles
2012 WABA VASA Ride ~69 Miles

I am looking at doing the Air Force Classic again this year and have been anticipating open registration for months. While I don’t plan to travel for a Gran Fondo, I am hoping the one that was scheduled for DC in 2011, will actually happen in 2012. I would like to get out in the scenic countryside and enjoy the ride as opposed to staring at a cue sheet dodging cars which tends to happen on rides based in the DC Metro Area like the VASA Ride. The Air Force Classic was on a closed course, but was an 8 lap route which became a little mundane.

Bike Education

Since Dec 2010, I have been teaching adults and children how to ride bikes safely in conjunction with WABA and Georgetown University as a hobby. I need to thank the cranky residents of Georgetown for routing the GU Dupont Circle shuttle buses off local streets onto major roads. The extra time it took to get to work sparked my switch to the bike for commuting and I have never gone back 🙂

2012-03-172021-02-05

Bike Stickers Arrived!!

YEAH!

After daily tracking on Fedex…my stickers finally arrived from California via an online print site.

Design

So I have been telling people for a while now that my bike is a true “natural gas vehicle.” I am more so when consuming products containing lactose. LOL. Okay, that was too much information. Fifty miles per burrito seemed about right.

I went searching for a sticker to that affect that I could put on my bike. I came across one that was pretty plain, but got the point across. They were $2 each with a high shipping charge. While there was a decent discount when I added 50 to my cart, it did not seem worth it since my goal was to hand them out to friends, colleagues, and random bike commuters that I joined waiting for the light to change.

Vehicle Fuel Economy

I modeled my sticker after the one you see on new vehicles at the car dealership to give a little more realism to my idea. I was torn between an Eco-friendly theme and a food inspired one. I was looking to make a small label, about the size of a return address label, which could be easily affixed to a bikes top tube.

More uses

So I was doing some thinking and realized that they can be affixed to skate boards, wheel chairs, those 2 wheeled, now clearance priced Razor Scooters, runners, walkers, and electric vehicles.

Want one?

The bargain shopper I am said, why order 100 when you can order 2500! So I have about 2499 extra ones to give away. Well actually I have about 10,000 total since my sticker is meant to be cut up into quarters to be the right size for a bike top tube which is where I envisioned them going. Kind of like how a new car has a fuel economy sticker on the window at the dealership.

So, if you want one, let me know and I will send you one or two if you have a friend. It would really be cool to see these all over the country / world as I have no monetary motive, just a good sense of humor / environmental vein 🙂

The sticker

Here it is….

2012-03-172021-01-26

Multi Use Path Courtesy

Since today was beautiful, took a rather scenic walk with the dog through Rock Creek Park by the Smithsonian National Zoo. Of course, you simply needed to walk outside of you did not check the weather forecast to know that it is shorts and t-shirt weather 🙂

“Passing on your left”

Proper trail etiquette dictates that when you are passing someone, usually from behind, you always pass on the left side and provide an audible signal to that effect. Since bells are required in the District of Columbia and many other states, a simple “ping” is all that is needed. Of course, saying “Passing on your left” will help those unaccustomed to the bell signal.

Tally

Here goes. The list of those who signaled they were passing when approaching from behind.

Cyclists

Yes 7 33%

No 14 67%

Runners

Yes 0

No 11 100%

One runner had to stop because my dog was in the way and shook his head in disgust as he continued running. Hmm…had you let me know you were coming and passed on the left and not the right, you might not have been inconvenienced by my dog.

Moral of the story

When you are passing someone in a car, on a bike, in a stroller, or jogging, kindly signal that you are passing and always pass on the left side. 🙂 Not only will it make your trip more enjoyable, you will avoid 99.9% of crashes t00!

2012-03-142021-01-26

Did you or someone you know…

I am a non attorney spokesperson…

Okay, unless you don’t watch TV at all or listen to the radio, you probably have seen those commercials talking about law suits for bad drugs, exposure to chemicals, or weird shoes which have been shown to cause health issues. While the issues are very serious and I do feel very bad for those affected and hope these lawyers can help those affected in some way, I do think there is a ridiculous number of them.

I imagine the day when there will be something similar to the following…

Attention Air Breathing Residents of Planet Earth

If you or someone you know was alive and took a breath of air on 11.11.2124, you may have been exposed to cosmic radiation caused by depletion of ozone linked to combustion vehicles.

Call now to see if you were in a portion of the earth affected by Ozone depletion on that date.

Join the class action lawsuit if you did not own a car. If you did own a car from 1990 – 2125 with a hybrid or combustion engine, you are automatically entered as a defendant as you are responsible for the generation of green house gasses, depletion of the Ozone layer, and therefore the health of the oxygen breathing inhabitants of the planet.

Far fetched?

Okay, so that probably won’t happen, or if it does, unless we have quantum leaps in medicine, we won’t be alive.