Friday, March 12, 2010

Riding to The Great Bike Chase

The Great Bike Chase

I was wondering what it would be like to ride to this event from the North Valley. It looks like it could be a cool route. Starting from the Park and Ride in Anthem, head down Gavilan Peak Parkway to Tramonto and then take the North Valley/Norterra Parkway all the way to Pinnacle Peak. Some zigging and zagging around Rose Garden and 15th Ave gets you down to Union Hills. So far, the route has been almost entirely on bike lanes. Just east of 7th Avenue, it is possible to pickup the Multi-use path along the Cave Creek Wash. There are two awkward bits on this trail, but they only amount to 3/10 of a mile out of the 8 miles of paved trails to the Arizona Canal near Dunlap Avenue. Another bit of neighborhood wiggling puts you on 23rd Avenue for a few more miles of bike lane before cutting over to the light-rail station on 19th Avenue just south of Bethany Home. Out of the 29 miles of cycling, around 28 of them have been on a designated bike lane or paved multi-use trail.

Buy an all-day rail pass and board the light-rail with your bike for the last 6 miles to Hance Park at Central Avenue and I-10. You can participate in the event or re-board the light rail and continue on to destinations such as Pueblo Grande at 44th Street and Washington, Papago Park, or cross the river to Tempe and check out the Bike Cellar. Your return trip can be as simple as riding the light-rail back to the north end of the line and retracing the route, or can include a ride along the Grand Canal Path.

Would you think you could go from Anthem to Tempe and back with your bike and it would only cost you 58 miles of riding and $2.50 light-rail fare?

My most minimalist toolbag

These are my current choices
Crank Brothers Speed Lever
Innovation Ultraflate Plus
Swiss Tech Micro-Plus
Ascente Bare Bones Mini-Tool
Performance tube repair kit
Spare Tube powdered and bagged






Tuesday, March 2, 2010

What is the definition of a bicycle?

I read
with interest, particularly, the section which proposes refinement of the definition of a bicycle:

6. "Bicycle" means a device, including a racing wheelchair,
that is propelled by human power and on which a person may ride and that has
either:
(a) Two tandem wheels, either of which is more than sixteen inches
in diameter,
except that the wheels
may be smaller if the bicycle is foldable.
(b) Three wheels in
contact with the ground, any of which is more than sixteen inches in diameter.
I found the proposed revision troubling. While in the past, I have accepted the 16-inch wheel rule as central to the definition of a bicycle, the proposed change now has me even questioning that. Since parts A and B are the definition of a bicycle, using "bicycle" as part of the proposed revision to part B is semantically problematic. By my read of the revised definition, since the handlebar folds down,the device below could count as a bicycle.

Bike Friday and other similar travel bicycles typically have a 20" wheel, so I'm not sure exactly what the concern is.

Personally, I think that a rotary, human powered, propulsion mechanism is central to the definition of a bicycle. Pushing off with a foot, like with a skateboard, scooter or rollerblades doen't fit this definition but a racing wheelchair and a handcycle would. And if we are going to include trikes as part of bikes, why not quad-wheeled devices?


Based on the revised definition, I can fairly easily imagine contrivances which would technically fit the definition of a bicycle, but which I would think had no business being in traffic.