Clearly I've been drinking the special kool-aid for too long.

Instead of biking to work for Bike to Work Week I've spent the last few days at a university transportation conference. I've been surprised to see how other schools in the country deal with transportation issues, and how very much it is different from the way that things are done at the University of Wisconsin and the City of Madison.

For about the last 10 years I've been straddling the line between government staff and community advocate. It can be a tricky line to walk. On the government side, things often are done according to the status quo, and change seems to move at a glacier place sometimes. On the advocacy side, it is all about change. Change now (or as quickly as we can get it). Don't get me wrong, in Madison there's a fair mix of community-minded folks in government, but they often have to work within the constraints of the systems that they inhabit.

Today marks the start of Bike to Work Week, and I decided to use that as motivation to start doing so myself.

As a bus commuter, I haven't been feeling the pain of rising gas prices, but especially after the long snowy winter, I relish the opportunity to spend more time outside. I only live seven miles from work, and with over 40 miles of paved bike trails in Madison, I was able to find an easy route to take. To find your own route, you can download a map from Madison's Transportation Planning Board; they've even got Google Earth plugins of bike trails and bike routes (click here for a sample).

Recently, during discussion of the adoption of the Madison Platinum Bicycle Committee’s Report recommendations (full disclosure, I wrote this report), Alder Thuy Pham-Remmele (District 20) asked, amongst other skeptical comments regarding adoption of the report, "How is a 300-pound person going to ride a bike?" Story on the meeting here.

Thankfully, Thuy Pham-Remmele was the only member of the Council to vote “no” on the adopting the report, and the measure easily passed, clearing the way for many improvements to bicycling in Madison in the coming years.

I hate to jinx us all by saying this, but I think that the weather has broken towards spring. Hopefully this means that the number of bicyclists on the roads is going to steadily increase from now until it hits a peak right before the UW lets out for summer.

More bicyclists on the roads means more on-road interactions between bikes, peds, and cars. Unfortunately, I’d guess that a majority of folks in each of those categories has very little idea what the law says with regards being on the road. Even MORE unfortunately, they all THINK that they DO know.

Public service announcement…rules of the road 101:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Margret Mead said that. The quote always makes me think of my friend Robbie, who has used the quote in the past in her email signature, and who I’m pretty sure lives by its meaning.

I had an article all prepared to post this morning about Lance Armstrong, Brett Favre, and how I have trouble connecting with superstar heroes. But then something happened to trump that article.

I got back on my bike.

I’ve long prided myself as a year round bike commuter, but this “worst winter in history” conspired with the free UW bus pass in my pocket to put my butt on the bus far more days over the last three months than in the saddle. On Sunday, I got back on the bike for the first time in as long as I can remember in order to run errands. And this morning, I took my first commute to work.

In my former life, I was a paid lobbyist for bicycling interests. Once you get into the business of trying to affect policy, legislation, and funding in a political system that is hopelessly two sided, the inevitable question arises: whose side are you on?

I've always felt that bicycling was a nonpartisan issue, and it's both frustrating and humorous that I catch hell from both sides of the aisle on a regular basis. I'm always being accused of being too liberal or not liberal enough.

According to the National Bicycle Retailers Association, somewhere around 20 million bicycles are sold in America each year, resulting in about $6 billion passing hands. The current US population is just about 300 million. So even if everyone in the country only owned one bicycle at a time, the entire stock would turn over every 15 years.

This is great news for folks who sell bicycles, at least for SOME folks who sell bicycles. About 75% of bicycles are sold through mass market merchants like Walmart. The rest of the sales are split up amongst sporting goods stores and specialty bicycle retailers (i.e. your friendly neighborhood bike shop). The bikes sold in bike shops tend to be of better quality, and thus, sell for more money. However, any “mom-and-pop” bike shop owner will tell you that the markup on a bicycle is low, and thus, even though they sell bikes for more money than the super-stores, they aren’t necessarily making more money.

Word came today that Sheldon Brown died on Sunday of a heart attack. I wasn’t a devoted follower of Brown’s, but many of my friends were, and I certainly was aware of his contribution to bicycling.

Brown’s death is a reminder of so many bicycle heroes who have gone before him and died too young. The first name that came to mind this morning was Ken Kifer. Kifer’s webpage, like Brown’s, was (and is) an invaluable resource for the bicycling world. Kifer was killed by a drunk driver in 2003.

I’ve lived in Madison off and on since August of 1993 and, with the exception of that first winter (I moved here from Texas via New Mexico); I have biked through the winters here. When I arrived, I was completely ignorant of all things winter and of all things bicycle commuting. I started from scratch and made my way completely on my own. It wasn’t until many years later that I ever took a class on bicycle commuting or talked to another bicyclist about winter tips and tricks. As such, I feel like I’m something of a self-taught expert on winter biking.

Here’s a quick course on making it through winter on your bike:

Tonight the Madison City Council will have the Mayor’s Platinum Bicycling Committee Report introduced.

Full disclosure, I wrote the report…but I was just the scribe. I think this committee was unique in that there was a great deal of interaction between the bicycle enthusiast citizen committee members, city staff, and the public. As a result, the ideas initiated from a broad group of individuals and a fair amount of discussion happened about the challenges of implementation.

I owned a car from the time I was 15, in 1985, until December 2, 2006. On that day an SUV driver over-estimated the abilities of his vehicle on a downhill slope during the first snowfall of the year. He ran a stop sign and was headed right for me. I swerved to avoid being t-boned and possibly killed, and ran into a tree instead. The car was totaled. Had I not been on the way to an important doctor’s appointment, I would not have even been on the road. I’m glad to be alive and without serious injury. But so it came to be that I have been “car-free” for just about one year now.

We interrupt musings about bike advice and bike culture in Dane County for this emergency message:

WHEELS FOR WINNERS SHOP TO CLOSE

Madison, WI (January 3, 2008) –Wheels for Winners, a non-profit organization that repairs bicycles for children that complete community service projects, is forced to close it’s doors due to structural damage.

Recent water damage due to a leaking roof has caused a temporary shut down of the Wheels for Winners shop. “The place is in terrible condition. The water damage has left an unbearable odor,” said Kim Slava, President of the Board of Directors.

I don’t like to judge the actions of others if I can help it, so I try not to say “this or that is crazy.” There was a big hoo-ha last month over a certain former mayor of Madison saying that winter bicyclists were crazy and ought to be shot. I wouldn’t want to be lumped in with that former mayor for any statement made in this venue.

Probably most of us can agree, though, that riding your bicycle into Lake Michigan on New Year’s Day is crazy, if arguably a good kind of crazy.

All bicyclists are not created equal. Some prefer to strictly stick to separated paths. Some only ride with their kids. Some put on special biking clothes and train on the rolling the hills of western Dane County in large packs. Some get muddy racing through parks that they pay in dollars and sweat to help restore. Some search in vain for nearby mountain bike trails (while the Wisconsin Off-Road Bicycling Association works to build more). Some ride in road races or track races or time trials. Some tour the country self-contained, or with help from sag wagons and luggage transporters. Some use the bicycle as part of their daily work. Some ride because they don’t have cars (and some of those people because they don’t have homes either). Some build tall bikes from frames they find in the garbage. Some ride in Critical Mass.

The ACT Ride, an annual bike tour through central Wisconsin, strives to raise money for AIDS Network and awareness about HIV/AIDS in general. The routes go through small towns and countryside, both to provide riders with a scenic four days but more importantly to bring visibility to the cause in places where it might otherwise not get talked about.

This was my first year doing the ride. I'd heard about it through friends and posters around town and decided to get off my butt and go on this, its fifth year. I couldn't be happier with how it all went—the people I met were fabulous, the challenge a good one, the cause amazing. The following is my personal account of those four days. Just like any one-sided tale, it should by no means be taken as absolute gospel, but it's what I experienced and remember. My hope is that some of you who read this get inspired to either ride, crew or donate next year, when ACT VI gets rolling.