Banff Airporter

The Airporter is a shuttle service which travels between Banff and the Calgary airport.  The questions I asked them on the phone today:

Q- How many boxed bikes can one shuttle accommodate?
A- As many as there are passengers with boxed bikes. If there is not enough room in the shuttle, they send the bikes on the next shuttle to your doorstep. Shuttles run between 1-2 hours apart.

Q- How far in advance should we book a shuttle for a July 2nd airport arrival?
A- Mid-June should be fine

More GDMBR planning- 3 months left

 The companions wanted ads finally did work.  Two gentlemen who need to start separately connected with me.  One wants to do the Canadian portion, but won't travel alone, a wise decision. To my great joy, a friend of mine has decided to jump into the fray.  My plane ticket has been bought.

Some thoughts on the McCoy book: I am not sure it is as important along the ride as the maps, but the truth will tell after I start. He offers great advice on first aid equipment and some details about other equipment. Maybe I will pull out the pages I want.
The Surly Troll now has racks front and back.  The Ortlieb panniers needed to have larger spacers exchanged (larger spacers came with them).  The diameter of the rear and front racks are different; no spacers are needed on the back. Both racks are Old Man Mountain Pioneers, I believe.
Here is a photo of the Surly almost fully loaded. Missing are the Teva sandals I just ordered and some small toiletries. The bags weigh 34lbs 10oz.

There is a shuttle from the Calgary airport to Banff and Canmore, so you can stay either place. As of this writing, the shuttle has extensive hours and takes 2.5 hours. We will probably stay at the YWCA hostel for 2 nights, which appears to cost $300 for 2 double beds w/out a private bath.  This would allow us to assemble and load our bikes under a roof, something which is not available if you use the campground in Banff.
To add to my equipment, I purchased a used Pategonia Down Sweater, which compresses very small and a pair of Teva Churn watershoes.  The watershoes are an attempt to replace my Keen sandals, which function really well, but take forever to dry and are heavy.  I will add an equipment review of them after they arrive and get a workout.
The fender problem still exists, but hopefully the local bike shop has some thoughts on this.  They are a pretty creative group.

The Snowstorm Challenge

Buffalo had quite a little snowstorm recently.  Four people were astonished I rode the whole 3 miles to work regardless of the forecast and two more offered me a ride home, but slow and steady makes the grade.  For those out there contemplating riding in moderate snow, there are a few things to consider.
Studded tires are a waste in anything but ice and even then they are not 100% helpful.  You still go down on the ice, but since you slide, there is no road rash and fewer bruises.  You can't go nearly so fast, so even if you strike something, it is not a big deal.  The most important things are to not take chances turning in front of cars or being on streets where if you go down you might be hit by a passing car. The cars take a long to stop and on ice, they don't swerve very well.

That is a 15lb bag of cat food on the back rack for traction.  Just kidding about the traction.

GDMBR planning

I posted an ad for companions in both Adventure Cycling and CrazyGuyonaBike websites.  The responses have been far fewer than when I posted for the TransAm, but maybe that should not be surprising considering the two are vastly different.

Here are the steps so far:

• buy the McCoy guide book
• buy a mountain bike
• buy the maps from AC
• post the companions wanted ads on Crazyguyonabike and Adventurecycling
• look in the forums for guidance on getting myself and my bike to Banff
• look for a 800 fill used down jacket
• look into how I will cover my shoes if it is cold or cool and raining
• figure out how to attach a fender to my front fork (it has suspension and a rack attached)

The trail begins right in Banff, behind a hotel that has changed its name.  Currently it seems to be called The Fairmont Banff Springs. There is Canada Parks campground called Tunnel Mountain at the edge of Banff. They have two areas, one which seems to be full hookups and one with no hookups. In addition, many sites are first come, first serve and there are also a few walk in sites (probably last to fill).  For cyclists, the parks department notes that except for three day holidays, it should not be a problem arriving without a reservation (for those of us who have no idea when we will be arriving). I thought all Canadian campgrounds had a policy of "no refusal" for people arriving without a vehicle, but now am not so sure. BTW July 1 is Canada's Independence Day holiday.
As for getting from the Calgary airport, racers suggest that you take your bike with you on the plane and use Banff Airporter shuttle service to get to Canmore or Banff. Racers seem to glow with enthusiasm about this service.
The links I have collected about the GDMBR and related stuff is located here.

Cranksgiving in Buffalo

New Event Alert!


Hopefully this will occur annually, but GO Bike Buffalo helped Buffalo join other cities in the nation to collect food for food pantries, community outreach centers and such.  This year the collected items went to Food Not Bombs, an organization that prepares a meal and distributes it en masse from a central location.

Some participants took the event with a grain of salt (ha, ha, ha, ooh, ok, stop) and cruised around at a leisurely pace, while there was also a group which came in unibody team spandex and were obviously out to win.  Our little group of three took the middle ground. If you look in the above photo, you will see our bikes lying on the ground (note the red panniers), so that all those people running had to leap over our bikes and then carry theirs out of the middle of the pile, effectively slowing them down. This is what our little group called "strategy".  Poor Jason, one of our group members.  I think he has a competitive streak in him, which we frustrated.

The objective of the event was to go to three checkpoints and five grocery stores and buy at least one item on a list from each store.  Keep in mind that you had to carry it all using your bike/body and that the items included canned goods and 5lb bags of flour.

The middle checkpoint required arrivals to use their hand to make a crayon turkey drawing, do a shot of Wild Turkey (actually optional) and write about what you were thankful for.  The end point was the GO Bike workshop, complete with beer and really nice volunteer made food.  Shout Out to GO Bike Buffalo for making this happen and showing us how to have a good time.  BUFFALO, BUFFALO, BUFFALO! (Portland, OR did not participate- hear the taunt)

The Small City Advantage

Buffalo is a small city.  There is almost nothing that is not highly accessible to cyclists.  It is with great joy that I am and more frequently surrounded by people who are not afraid to hop on a bicycle to meet up.  On this occasion, 3 separate small groups all showed up for breakfast on bicycles.  While two of them are without cars, the other three all chose to go by bike anyways.  And I was out on the commercial strip (don't read that as stip mall or chain store alley, but a strip of bona fide independently owned small businesses) IN MY CAR, on the way back from a "carry something huge" errand and found myself in a gridlock of car traffic. It struck me suddenly that I rarely experience this frustration anymore. On a bike, I would have passed all of the cars (carefully) or not been on that street riding at all.  There is such joy to be found in life.

Surley Troll

Thinking, planning, scheming.  The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) is on my horizon and as such a new bike was in the equation.  My LBS, Campus Wheel Works, kept me in their sights for almost a year, looking out for a bike that would perform well in a wide variety of settings.  The GDMBR is comprised of single track (one lane dirt trail), double track (old roads), dirt roads and pavement.  Trying to find a bike to cover all aspects of this trail and carry panniers or tow a trailer is a challenge.

In late August, Ethan pointed me towards the Surley Troll, a hybrid/road/mountain bike which is able to morph into many different things, due to the multitude (ooooh- I've used that word twice today) of dropouts and braze-ons.  This configuration allows Rohloff hubs, which contain internal gearing to take the place of a derailleur, disk brakes, cantilever brakes, fenders and racks. Ethan poked around until he found a front suspension fork which could accomodate a rack (something mountain bikers would generally frown upon). I will miss using the really cool OEM fork, which has braze-ons for water bottle cages on the outer edges, along with braze-ons for anything else you can think of. The price tag comes to under $2,000, which is still a whole heck of a lot of money to me.
There is now a Thudbuster seat post on it and pedals which will accomodate Power Straps.  It seems like the Power Straps will outperform cages and give some of the advantages of clipless pedals without the special shoes. Addtionaly, it has a King water bottle cage and a new fangled Camelback bottle, which doesn't leak when turned on its side.
Now the bike just needs a rear rack and better reflectors and/or lights.  Here is a wonderful resource on tail-lights.  So sweet when someone does my homework for me and does it well.
 Oh, and when I asked about the dreaded "chain slap" which occurs when the derailleur can't absorb the slack caused by going over big bumbs, Ethan suggested a Cycle Stuff Chain Stay Wrap, which will probably be more durable than a cut up tube. I think the handlebars are Multibar Butterfly bars.  They should offer up a nice variety of hand positions for all the washboard road along the GDMBR.
I will be aiming for the summer of 2013, unless Adventure Cycling calls me to lead a tour, in which case I will gladly shift gears.

Review:
This is the first mountain bike type bike I have ever owned that was sized properly.  It rides smoothly, with the Thudbuster taking some of the jarring out of the rear without the weight of a full suspension. The fork (Rockshox) seems to offer a nice balance of absorption and has the ability to lock the suspension.
The rack is an Old Man Mountain and came with several options for mounting, but is designed for a suspension fork.  The disk brakes on this bike will help with the brutal braking conditions the bike will be subjected to, carrying a full load of panniers, water and me. Mud and water have affected every touring bike I have used, but this bike will see more mud than on a road tour, though not necessarily the downhill speeds seen on a road tour. I thought the tires would be too much for roads and not enough for of road- wrong: pretty good all around.

Two irritating things- the front derailleur cable comes out diagonally, impeding my ability to grab the bike and carry it by the seat tube up/down stairs and that same derailleur's clamp is placed between the two water bottle mounting points on the seat tube, necessitating the use of spacers (which it didn't come with) to attach a cage.

Progress runs in jagged lines

So in September there was a big hoopla because the city planned something wonderful and forward-thinking, but totally failed to ask anyone for input, basically guaranteeing that an entire neighborhood would revolt. Two way bike lanes on a one way street- Linwood Avenue

Sharrows on Elmwood Avenue

First came the repaving of the street.  Then came the lights facing the wrong way down a one-way street.  Then came the uproar as the neighbors tried to discern what was going on. THEN came the city discussion with the neighbors.  A very jagged line indeed.  In defense of the city, the DPW did actually ask someone about bikes and bike lanes who had some education on the topic.  And that person DID send them to a very good source for information and they DID follow a best practice model.
Outcome?  A set of bike lanes supplanted one of the north bound car lanes on this one-way street. It's also had the effect of slowing traffic that was out of control. And this seems to have set off a plethora of bike related efforts.  It does seem that at least some has been in the works for a while.
And for that fool who asked, "Why a bike lane to nowhere?"; build it and they will come.  The day the city striped it, there were already cyclists riding it who would never have ridden the wrong way before.

Oooooh. Shhhh. You might scare it away before I can get a picture

Okay!  This one was on a Buffalo bus.  You have no idea how excited I get when I see the rare and exotic bike on a Buffalo bus bike rack.  I think the NFTA should put bikes on the racks, just to assure people that the bikes will be safe.
*note- on a revisit to this post, I realized that I made it seem as though cyclists are afraid to put their bikes on bus racks, when in fact the problem is that the NFTA fails to put a rack on every bus (only 50% have racks).  They are unresponsive to requests for action and can't even seem to promise to have all buses on a particular route have a rack.  As a result, you have a 50% chance of not having a rack on the bus which stops.  Most people find the odds too low, and thus the racks are rarely used.  I ride all over and the one time I actually needed a bus w/rack, the bus that showed up had no rack.  Good thing I have a folder.  Oh wait.  I tried to take my folder on a bus with a rack (folded) and the driver refused to let me on. Sorry.  Sarcasm is not usually my style.  BTW, the folder wouldn't have fit in the rack that day because I had a front rack on it. Call me furious.

Tour de Farms!

Organized by Massachusetts Avenue Project, which has an urban farm on Buffalo's West Side, this Tour de Farms event was run in conjunction with GO Bike Buffalo (formerly in part Buffalo Blue Bikes).  I know this is the fourth or so, but did not have the imagination to believe anyone else would be interested in riding 35 miles to visit urban and rural farms.  How wrong I was. About 200 people showed up to visit and learn about the trials and tribulations of farming, both medium and small scale. 

MAP and the 2 other urban farms are utilizing totally different methods of working the soil from their rural counterpart, but both the medium and small are working towards what would be called sustainable farming- companion crops and rotation to reduce or negate pesticide use and the disregard for the "organic" certification for which I hold such disdain after my travels through California.

We probably were a very odd sight moving through Buffalo's rough and tumble East and West sides on our bikes.  Not really a spandex crowd, it was a pleasant trip, which ended with a party.  My kind of a ride.

How other people do it.

NYC- in Buffalo, we are just starting to see bikes on the 50% of buses with racks. I really did try to be open minded about the potential of cycling in NYC, but the vast advantage Buffalo has over NYC is that you can afford an apartment large enough to bring in your bike.

Silo City

Always have to give praise when possible. Buffalo is inching its way up through the pack. In 2006, I was one of only a tiny handful of people doing a winter cycling commute and the vast majority of my compatriots only did so because they couldn't afford a car.
Now we have GO Green Buffalo, who help to carry out cool escapades which attempt to coordinate cycling and other events. One such event was Silo City, a fabulous art event celebrating Buffalo's grain elevators.  Indoor bike parking was a huge hit, and the event brought cyclists (and drivers as well) down into a slow section of the city and into businesses which might not otherwise see traffic on an weekday night. My partner and I watched cycling traffic heading back and forth through this area long after dark.

And now it's normal...

...to use a drive up ATM. I saw this ad in a bank window. It was not directed at cyclists, which makes it all the more interesting.