Well, this is the last bike experiment post.  The experiment has been pretty well deal since the giant snowstorm but I didn’t wrap it up.  My experience during the experiment leads me to the following conclusions:

1.  Suburbs are not designed for bikes or pedestrians.  They are designed for cars.  Even where there are crosswalks, they hit the sidewalks at a 90-degree angle which can be difficult to negotiate on a bike.  There is only one (1) crosswalk in the city that doesn’t do this.  It’s at 28 and Wellington and will be ripped out when we do the overpass…:)

2.  Sidewalks, which riders are not supposed to use, are often the only safe choice for cyclists.  The problem is that sidewalks are also covered with the detritus of our society.  Walk down the sidewalk near Micron.

3.  Some large percentage of people who operate cars don’t know how to operate their cars when bikes are present on the roadway.  If there is a turn-off coming up and the driver wants to use it, they don’t know whether to speed up and swerve around or wait.  On divided 4 lane roads (with a 25 mph limit) they want to sneak by on your left even when there is a car there.  My advice?  take it easy.  You have thousands of pounds of steel around you.  I don’t.  Also remember that just because someone is on a bike doesn’t mean that they are a 100 lb. weakling.  If you’re abusive towards them, they might catch you at the next light and bust up you or your car.  Not everyone is even tempered.

4.  Bicyclists need to make sure that we hold up our end of the bargain.  It’s one thing for a bicyclist to break the speed limit: we don’t usually have speedometers!  However, traffic lights and signs need to be obeyed.  I understand drivers who are fed up with riders who are reckless.

5.  Equipment matters.  The best money I spent was on a lock that was easy to use, even with gloves on, and a windproof fleece.  I do somewhat resemble a sheep when I wear it but I’m toasty.  The other part of the equipment debate is the bike.  I think a mountain bike is too much and a road bike too petite for the challenge.  A hybrid bike that has shocks on the front fork is what I would pick.  The purists out there will hate this but I’d pick a bike with a choice of gears.

In conclusion, I’m glad I did the experiment and I’ll probably ride a fair amount this spring but it’ll be a mix.  I don’t know how much my experience will impact public policy – we’re not building much new stuff but I’ll use it if the opportunity arises!

The war of words that Obama has launched against the banks and Wall St. is just plain stupid.  It is a populist stunt designed to boost his poll numbers and create some room for him to manuever: to restore some of that mandate he had.  Really though, this is an overreaction to losing 1(!) senate seat.  Mr. Obama should know better and if he doesn’t, Axelrod should.

I understand that the seat represented filibuster insurance but the change in strategy to get healthcare passed should be to move the debate to where it belonged in the first place: the middle aisle.  Instead the President has crashed into a scorched-earth assault on big banks and Wall st. in what appears to be an attempt to distract everyone from the health care fiasco.  This stunt resurrects the earlier tripe about the war between Wall St. and Main St. but I assure you that people who believe such a war exists are not thinking carefully.  To be sure, there were (and are) problems but the fix is not to burn it all down.

A healthy economy makes all things possible and the central pillar of our economy is the consumer.  This mighty pillar is underpinned by a fragile foundation: confidence.  Your average man on the street utilizes the Dow Industrials as a rough barometer for the health of the larger economy.  When it crashes 500 points in 2 days due to an injudicious threat to use the suffocating hand of government to crush these institutions, it just isn’t helpful.

Of course, the other obstacle in the health care debate is that most people who have insurance like it.  The problem is the cost is too high but many people don’t pay the full load of the cost:  their employers do.  I can tell you that, as an employer, I have no other cost that expands at 20% per year.  I’d love to be able to increase my rates that fast.  I could work a couple of hours a day and then check out.  If costs continue to snowball, more employers will either stop offering insurance or shift the bulk of the cost to their employees.  At that point, the pressure on our electeds will be enormous and reasonable reform will not be possible.

Mr. Obama: Get away from this goat rope of buying individual votes and do some actual reform that will help control costs!  Do your job and do what is best for the entire country, not Nebraska.  Do what you promised and work with the Republicans to get something done.