CyclingSavvy
For my St. Louis area readers, it’s not too late to sign up for Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling on August 22nd at 6:3opm, details and registration here.
If you’re into planning ahead, check out the fall schedule, with full workshops, including the on-bike sessions, offered in both September and October.
Be Informed
Check out the plans to make a simple, straightforward road (Manchester Rd. in StL City) that currently works for all users into something messy and complicated for all: “A Tragedy of Good Intentions.”
While the plans mentioned above are not for separated cycle paths, this post, from Off The Beaten Path, addresses what I felt when I read about the proposed plans: “Did you guys ask any people who regularly cycle on that stretch of road for their opinion when considering changes?”
Not-so-hot biking
The weather we’ve had for the last month or so tempts me to forgive St. Louis for the brutal summers of the past two years.
Sure, some days, the temperatures still climb into the mid- to upper-80s, which count as hot in my book, but we’ve had a number of days with highs in the low-80s and even some with upper-70s.
Today’s high is a glorious 76°F, which is lower than the usual overnight lows at this time of year. Amazing!
The hot weather plants in the garden may not be thrilled with this cooler weather, but I’ll take it over the heat any day, though it’s probably not helping drive traffic to my “biking in the heat” post.
While I am NOT complaining, the cooler temps have actually made for a couple of chilly rides, including the World Naked Bike Ride (turns out that temps in the mid- to low-70s are not ideal for biking while wearing [almost] no clothes) and a ride home from the Muny last week.
Even with the cooler temps, I complete my bike errands in the morning to avoid peak sun times. This morning found me riding to complete paperwork for my new [very] part-time job, which will officially start in a couple of weeks.
Resuming longtail conversations
Our longtail discussion/decision was relegated to the back burner due to summer travel, health issues, and general life uncertainty and craziness. Not sure where it will end, but we’re revisiting the topic, and not a moment too soon given Sir’s height, which threatens to overwhelm the IBert any day now.
Her Green Life 
Hi Melissa! I am curious about your experiencing riding home from the Muny. I mapped the ride home for me, and it’s over 9 miles, which I’m apprehensive about taking on just shy of midnight; also, because the county doesn’t have a great grid system, it would be difficult to avoid high-speed roads for the whole of the journey. How as your experience?
I’m guessing our ride is more like 5 miles, which I still hesitate to do at that time of night, mostly because it means I arrive home [way past my bedtime anyway] keyed up from the exercise, so I usually can’t fall asleep right away (I’m one of those people who generally avoids exercising in the evening, but this doesn’t affect everyone the same way). I might draw the line (for me personally) at much more than 5 or 6 miles, depending on the time, but if exercise doesn’t affect you as much and/or if you have the luxury of sleeping in the next morning, longer might not be a big deal.
We avoid post-Muny traffic by using some of the paths in the park, which makes the time difference between biking and driving not all that different. Once out of the park, our usual route home is on smaller streets. As long as you have good front and rear lights and reflective gear, and utilize proper lane position (i.e., “claim the lane”), night riding is quite pleasant and safe. We pretty much had the roads to ourselves.
Oh, and on this particular night, we actually left at intermission (I just wasn’t getting into West Side Story), so, while it was definitely dark, it wasn’t nearly as late as it might have been!
Any time I’m out at night (and especially on weekends), whether I’m driving my car or my bike, I try to be extra aware of what motorists are doing, in case of drunk drivers.