NO RAINPANTS or SNOWBOARD MITTENS this afternoon! 34 degrees!

Business First called me for an interview today. It was an interesting experience. I wrote down some notes to self of things worth mentioning: since I work with so many people each year (teachers and students) and they know I ride a bike to work, when they see a cyclist they think, "Hey, I wonder if that is Ms. xxxxx, maybe I should be careful". This is probably the greatest advocacy cyclists can be involved in. For every one person on a bike, they have scores of fans; family, friends and neighbors. All these people are more careful of cyclists than they might be otherwise.
As for the cycling scene in Buffalo? It is improving. Hardly anyone ever honks at me, even though I continue to travel at least 2 feet out from parked cars (probably jinxing myself, but I have never been hit or doored). Hundreds more bike racks (thanks Green Options) and a school district which has never hindered my ability to commute.
Cheers to living in Buffalo!

Long winter

So. Seemingly long winter. On an unseasonably warm Saturday, my husband bet me the snow was done. 4 days later and 8 inches deeper I laughed at him. It was one of the few days I have driven this winter. Nasty 2 inch ice and 5 destinations detered me.
This morning I took this picture of my lonely bike in the Co-op bike rack, gloating because I was the only stalwart one out in 18 degrees, when someone else rode up.





I am reading "Bicycle Diaries" by David Byrne. In the preface he remarks that the state of cities is improving as people begin to realize there is more to life than sprawling lawns and parking lots. This seemed too much to hope for, but maybe not.
Walking through a business section near my home, there was a man looking for boot laces, which couldn't be found in the nearby stores. Employees recommended he go to a chain store in the burbs, but I jumped in and recommended a chain store in the city (better of two evils). The man commented that that would entail getting in a car (+1 point). I told him it would not and he agreed he could use the bus (+1 point for thinking on it rather than knocking the idea down).
A second note: a friend told me her son refuses to allow her to drive 3 hours to retrieve him from college, because it is a foolish use of gas. He wishes gas was $7.00 a gallon. He won't eat meat because of the resources it sucks.
So much hope and optimism.












To top it all off: blinding sunshine in large quantities. Had to remind myself why I don't move to Portland.

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