It is amazing how perceptions of distance can differ between modes of transportation. One of the reasons I mostly stopped mountain biking years ago was the unfavorable comparison of total time dedicated to a ride and the actual ride time spent riding. The closest off road spot is a frustrating 25 minute or so drive [...]
I first read Proficient Motorcycling by David L Hough back in college when a motorcycle-owning friend recommended reading it before buying a motorcycle. Proficient Motorcycling immediately made it on my short list of recommended books. When I first posted my list of Books Everyone Should Read I wrote: This is the book on safe motorcycle [...]
Since the weather has been so warm and dry this year, the fair-weather bicyclists and motorcyclists are already out. That means it’s a good time to post a link to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s For Car Drivers website, and my own page on Safe driving around bicycles. It is also a good time to recommend [...]
Changing cogs on a bicycle can be a chore if you don’t have the proper tools, so when I read that Pedro’s was introducing the Vise Whip, I knew this tool would be worth trying. The normal way to remove the cogs is to use a chain whip. You wrap the chain part of the [...]
One of the local cycling club’s fun annual events is the Chilly Challenge New Year’s Day ride and Chilli Dinner. I usually ride the four miles to the start, ride the 25 mile route with the club, eat some chili, then ride home. In 2010, I learned to unicycle, so three of us unicycled an [...]
For some reason Indiana doesn’t have an explicit law defining a minimum safe passing separation for cars and bikes passing each other. One law was almost passed a couple years ago, but ended up not being enacted. This needs to be addressed. Why is this important? The current law uses a subjective definition of safe [...]
I’ve been over a year since I learned to unicycle and nearly a year since I started municycling. Since you probably haven’t heard the term, muni—short for mountain unicycle—means riding a unicycle off-road. I typically ride at one of the local mountain bike trails with my brother and maybe a friend. I’ve progressed from a [...]
I got to ride a unicycle with a 36 inch diameter wheel: It’s amazing how smoothly the large tire rolls over bumps. Once you get it spinning, it wants to keep going. It will take a while to get used to sitting so high off the ground though.
Learning is strange. Sometimes you get something, and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you pound your head for hours trying to solve a problem, then later go back to it and solve it in minutes. I have two good examples: This spring, I decided to learn to unicycle. And not just riding on smooth streets to [...]
Bicycling around Indiana’s country roads, I’ve noticed that many drivers make unnecessarily dangerous passes. The road is wide open, but they still come uncomfortably close to hitting me. But unlike the typical close pass, the driver continues to move to the left after passing me, often driving in the opposite lane for up to a [...]