Today in "a cyclist's advice to drivers"

Dear area car driver: In the event that you, area car driver, happen to be dropping off a passenger, please execute the following maneuvers: 1: signal and get to the side of the road; 2: leave the turn signal on while you’re stopped. As you can see, these are two steps.  Two very easy steps.…

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The Urban Biker's Checklist

You know you’ve been bicycling in the city for a while if… …you know not to take a sharp turn across a manhole cover in the rain …you can’t name most of the streets you travel on but you can describe the light cycle patterns of every intersection in great detail …you’d consider a horror…

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Red Light District

The city of Boston officially doesn’t mind The intersection of Franklin Street and North Harvard Ave in Allston is busy.  Franklin is a little side street that happens to lead to a ramped footbridge that goes over the Mass Turnpike, which makes it an incredibly useful road for bikes, because on the other side of…

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Bikes and red lights

Counting red lights If you ask a biker– any city biker– about bicycle safety and traffic laws, they will all start with the same line: “of course I stop for red lights, but…”  What will usually follow is a complaint about the many cyclists they’ve seen that were acting stupid, or reckless.  And if you…

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All bike clothing is gay

I’m already dressed for the Pride march I have a mental list of things I will never wear when biking, but that list is getting smaller each week.  The problem is that on a long bike ride there are certain things one might not otherwise ever consider.  Like that loose shorts chafe after a while.…

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How to fix squeaky brakes

A new wheel I rode to work yesterday on a new rear wheel.  The old wheel had a problem whereby the tire attached to the wheel kept exploding at inopportune moments, like when I needed it to not explode.  The first time this happened was because the wheel’s rim had worn out.  The second time…

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Various observations regarding biking

Committing to foolishness In my continuing effort to see the weight reading on the scale descend consistently, I have committed to a fairly stupid commute by bicycle, a journey of 17.5 miles.  Each way.  Five days a week. I have not yet done five days, but I have done four in a row, and am…

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Open letter to a moron

To the gentleman crossing the street in Jamaica Plain yesterday during a DON’T WALK signal, who nearly got creamed by an SUV legally traversing the intersection, and who then turned to the cyclist that STOPPED two inches into the crosswalk SIX FEET AWAY FROM YOU and declared, “better stop for the red light, buddy,” and then,…

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The more things change

Never assume the French make sense In World War II, prior to the Normandy invasion, the Allies sent planes with cameras over France to take photos of the countryside.  This was important and dangerous intelligence-gathering which provided invaluable information to the Generals planning the attack, but it had a few drawbacks. The Normandy countryside is…

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The Better to See You With

The eyes having it I spend five days a week looking at a large computer screen, and when I’m not looking at that large computer screen I’m looking at a smaller laptop screen, and when I’m not looking at that I’m looking at an iPhone screen.  Or reading, which is thankfully still a low-tech book…

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