Biking – Page 19 – Her Green Life

Friendly Friday: Construction worker aids tired cyclist

As cyclists, it can be all too easy to focus on that one negative encounter on the roads. Friendly Friday is a place to focus on a positive cycling story from the week. Feel free to share your story directly in the comments or via link.

Relative to my norm lately, it was a pretty heavy cycling week (and light car week!), starting with the Bike Expo on Sunday, followed by cycling with Sir to a play date on Monday, and then cycling to meetings/appointments Tuesday through Thursday.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were lovely, but then temperatures and humidity levels began to rise. By Wednesday evening, I was seriously questioning biking to my Thursday morning meeting, especially given my pseudo-excuse of needing to take the car that direction to pick up some bags of sand (something I could, possibly, accomplish with the bike trailer, but would be more easily accomplished with the car, given that eventually we’ll be driving the car by a suitable store anyway).

Thursday morning arrived, and I overcame the voices in my head that were complaining about the heat and sun and hopped on the bike. The ride to the meeting wasn’t bad: pre-nine o’clock, decent little breeze, plenty of shady spots.

Heading home shortly after eleven was a different story. Still not too bad, all things considered, but I was ready to be at home: out of the heat, humidity, and sun and enjoying some water, food, and non-sweaty clothing.

I was nearing what I consider the home stretch when I’m coming from the north, an intersection after which I’m just under a mile from home, with the remaining blocks a straight shot and literally [almost] all downhill.

It is a signalized intersection between the smaller street that I usually use and a four-lane arterial. The signal for the smaller street can take quite awhile to change.

As I approached, I saw some construction workers and vehicles on the corners nearest me, putting finishing touches on some sidewalk improvements. Unfortunately, this work involved using some kind of big circular saw on the corner nearest me, which was kicking up a ton of concrete dust (not really something I wanted to inhale) and making a lot of noise (and I, unlike the worker, did not have hearing protection).

To make matters worse, I had just missed my green light, meaning I would be stuck there for awhile — noise, dust, and no shade in sight — with home so close, yet so far away.

As I came to a stop, I further realized that the position of their trucks made it dangerous for me to be on the portion of the road where I would be able to trip the signal detectors.

With a very sad face, I hunkered down with a my fingers in my ears, preparing to be there for awhile. Knowing that I would not be able to trip the signal, I considered taking advantage of Missouri’s “dead red” law, but parked cars made visibility too poor to tell if the road was clear to my left, although I could see that there was nothing but wide open road to my right.

Then I noticed one of the construction workers walking around his truck and into the street to my left. He had noticed my sad plight and was motioning that the road to the left was clear and I could cross against the light.

After confirming that I was still clear to the right, I did just that, waving and mouthing “thank you” to my new friend.

His action was a small thing, but he definitely went out of his way to help me out of an unpleasant situation, and that brought a big smile to my face.

Happy Friday!

Bike expo and pawpaws

We spent Sunday morning on top of a parking garage at the Mississippi Valley Bicycle Expo and Swap Meet helping at the CyclingSavvy info table.

What’s the best way to get to a bicycle expo? By bike, of course!

Our route took us past the theoretical pawpaw spot. We rode slowly, with our eyes peeled, until Matthew said, “That’s a pawpaw tree.”

I never would have found this on my own, as I don’t think the tree is particularly “tropical looking,” and it wasn’t in the spot marked on either of the foraging maps.

Whether it was birds, humans, or just a low-fruit year, there were not many pawpaws to be found. A few ripe dropped fruits on the ground, and a couple more unripe that Matthew grabbed from a tree — not sure if they’ll ripen or not.

Despite the low harvest, it was a successful mission in my book. We now know the exact location for future years AND there were some fully-loaded persimmon trees with fruit that should be ready before too long!

After our little detour, we proceeded to the expo.

CyclingSavvy’s littlest fan needs a t-shirt of his own!

We bungeed Sir’s BalanceBike to Matthew’s rear rack, and Gabriel enjoyed riding it around the expo. Sir needs an advertising contract with the bike company.

We also added one more [small] bike to our fleet, picking up a used tricycle for Sir. Our cargo capacity was already maxed out, so the trike is awaiting pick-up at a friend’s house.

Want to find out what it’s all about? There are still a few spots open in this week’s CyclingSavvy workshop: course details and registration.

*Bike expo photos courtesy of our friend and fellow CyclingSavvy instructor, Karen.

Biking to work again, sort-of

Shortly after I wrote this employment status update, I learned that, after making it to the final interview (round of six) for a very competitive position, I was not their top choice. With that option off the table, I accepted a part-time, work-from-home position.

Given the “work-from-home” status, the only commuting (other than walking across our front room to the desk) involves biking to and from a weekly meeting with my supervisor who lives about four miles away.

After this morning’s blistering hot commute, I am two for three on biking to the meetings. I wimped out two weeks ago, given the smack-in-the-middle of the day start time. I would have traveled there during peak sun and returned home during peak heat. Blech!

My current situation is a bit different than my previous bicycle commutes.

Previously — Biking to an office where I worked all day:

I traveled to and from work at off-peak sun times, so I didn’t really worry too much about sun protection.
It made sense to bike in one set of clothes (especially during sweaty summer weather) and clean up and change when I arrived at work, then change back into the “bike clothes” (nothing fancy, just gym shorts and a t-shirt) for the evening commute.

Current — Working from home and biking to/from meetings:

I’m trying to encourage early morning meetings to minimize heat and sun, but I don’t get to dictate when we meet.
It doesn’t really make sense to bike for thirty minutes, spend time getting cleaned up and changed, meet for an hour or two, and then change again to bike home . . . .
So instead, I have to pick outfits that work both for the bike and for the meetings.
These are one-on-one meetings with my boss who also works from home, so I don’t need anything too fancy in terms of attire, but I also don’t want to arrive wearing gym shorts and an old t-shirt.

I’m not a heavy sweater by any means, but 90°F, with 50% humidity and a heat index of 94°F (the temps I faced when returning home this morning), will make most anyone perspire. It was a bit cooler on the way there, but also higher humidity. I arrived, hydrated, wiped the sweat off my face the best I could, and spent the ninety-minute meeting in sweaty clothing. Not the end of the world, but I was very ready to get home and lose those clothes!

Changing seasons — both the cooler temps and less intense sun — will mitigate some of the above factors, and come winter, I might be angling for middle of the day meetings.

Though there are a few kinks to work out, I’m happy to have a job and to face the challenge of incorporating [work-related] bike commuting into my life again.

Hunting for pawpaws

Several months ago, a friend shared a link to a website that maps fruit (and nut) trees in urban public spaces, i.e., an urban foraging map. The concept kind-of boggled my mind.

If you knew the location of a great patch of raspberries, or a fabulous peach tree, why would you share that information with thousands of people on the internet? I’m not sure about you, but the food hoarder in me says, “Sshhhh, don’t tell!”

I mean, even if the tree/bush/vines produced more than you could consume and preserve, why not share the information with a small, select group of people, ensuring that your source wouldn’t be overwhelmed?

Apparently some people don’t share my reservations, as they are sharing their spots for edible treasure at FallingFruit.org.

Anyhow, when I checked the map for nearby options, I discovered a marker for pawpaw trees, saying that the fruit ripened in early September. We have a pair of pawpaw trees out at the garden, but they’re babies and won’t bear fruit for a few years. Pawpaws are unreliably available at the farmers’ market, and you pay a premium. Time to forage!

After double checking the map, and the description of the tree as “tropical looking” I headed out on my bicycle early Saturday morning. I arrived in the indicated area, and spotted a tree that looked promising . . .

. . . or not. Despite leaves that could possibly be described as “tropical looking,” I quickly determined that cone/fruit thing was not a pawpaw. And yes, if I had a bit more tree identifying experience, I would have known right away that the tree in question was a magnolia.

I did a bit of off-roading, circling the indicated area on my bike, looking for other likely subjects. Finding none, I did a quick check of another section of the park, thinking perhaps the marker on the map was placed incorrectly.

That effort yielded this fruit, perhaps a walnut? Or some other kind of nut?

But still no pawpaws. Were they just not there? Had the trees not set fruit this year? Had someone misidentified it?

I headed home at that point, wanting to beat the heat and more intense sun rays. I would have been quite annoyed had I used the car and struck out, but, as it was, I got a nice bike ride out of the deal.

I reviewed the maps and website again for this post and realized that my exact foraging location was based on some kind of Google maps foraging tool, and not the map at Falling Fruit. The FF map shows a slightly different location for the pawpaw trees — kind-of the same area, but different enough to be outside the area I searched, so now I’m debating a return trip.

Your Turn: What would you do with fruit foraging locations, share or keep it quiet?

Festival of Nations by bike

We spent Sunday morning in Tower Grove Park at the Festival of Nations. Gabriel is three for three in attending the festival, having made it every summer since he was born (recap of last year’s event here).

We chose Sunday morning to avoid cutting into garden time on Saturday. Matthew and I debated car vs. bikes for the trip — either way, we planned an early departure, to either get a good [car] parking spot or to have at least one leg of the bicycle trip be in somewhat cooler temps.

We were still debating on Sunday morning, when Gabriel’s new-found obsession with the car decided things for us.

Up until Saturday night, Gabriel’s experience with “driving” a car (i.e., sitting in the driver’s seat of a non-running motor vehicle and turning the steering wheel) had been limited to Baba’s vehicle. After witnessing a couple of breakdowns when it was time for said activity to end, or when denied the privilege, I decided I would avoid the issue altogether by saying that only Mama and Dada could drive “Mama Dada ca” and limiting access to the front seat of our car.

Sir took this in stride. Sure, he attempted to circumvent the rule now and then, but a reminder that it was “Mama Dada car” headed off any major issues. Unfortunately, Dada didn’t know about this precedent.

Saturday night, after a long day at the garden, Matthew arrived home with Gabriel, and, after some tears, agreed to let Sir “drive” the car for five minutes while he unloaded the harvest.

Of course, Sir didn’t want to relinquish the driver’s seat after those five minutes, but he finally relented with out too much fuss. However, he spent the rest of the evening looking out the window and asking for “ca,” while Mama shot dirty looks at Dada.

Sunday morning dawned, and someone had not forgotten about the “ca.” Since Sir obviously needed a reminder about the other, more exciting transportation option, our decision was made — go by bike!

We pedaled to the park in pleasant mid-70 temperatures, though the day promised to be hot. Arriving well ahead of the ten o’clock start time, we visited the playground to kill some time.

I should note that biking in the park ended up being tricky. The northern road through the park, which is usually closed to motor vehicle traffic, and thus has plenty of room to accommodate two-way bicyclist and pedestrian traffic, was open to festival vendors. We realized too late that we were in a suboptimal position, traveling the wrong way against the one-way, west bound flow of motor vehicle traffic, on a road made narrow with cars parked on both sides — accidental salmon!

Shortly after ten, we headed over to the Festival area, where we enjoyed almost having the place to ourselves for an hour. Gabriel made a hat at the kids’ craft station, and we scoped out the food booths.

Before we settled on any food purchases, the sound of Irish dancing drew me to the main stage area. We staked a quieter, shady spot with a decent view, and Matthew headed back to get some food.

We tried a couple of new items this year, including a flavorful Jamaican rice and vegetable combo and Burmese savory rice and spicy green beans. The Jamaican won, although the green beans were also quite tasty.

We rounded things out with a veggie combo plate from the Eritrian booth, a favorite in past years that was disappointing this year, plus a couple of desserts, including a nice baklava (though our favorite from past years, the Iranian baklava, seems to be gone for good).

By that point, I was hot and tired, so we beat a rather hasty retreat, aided by our über-convenient bicycle parking. We sailed down Arsenal and Kingshighway and were home quite quickly.

I’m glad we went, but I’m feeling a little burnt out on this event. If my count is correct, I’ve been to the Festival seven of the past eight years. Most of the food vendors offer similar items year-to-year, so between running out of new things to try, and old favorites disappearing or disappointing, the food is less of an attraction. Add to that the end of August, almost-always really hot weather, and I have some serious temptation to sit this event out next year, or at least not prioritize attendance.

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