The Outspokin’ Cyclist: Extension of greenway hours a win for commuters

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
December 22nd, 2005

DURHAM — One reason Lars Trost took his current job is that he knew he could bike to work from home. His office is about six miles south Forest Hills West, and it was important to him to find a route he could ride safely at night, since he often leaves work in the dark. After months of riding, he feels that the American Tobacco Trail is the safest and most direct route.

Ever since Daylight Savings Time ended in October, Trost, like most bike commuters in Durham, finds himself riding home in the dark most of the time. Trost says that after dark he’s not comfortable riding in the traffic of Fayetteville or Roxboro streets, his only alternatives to the ATT. So, he chooses to ride Durham’s most popular greenway instead.

One evening a little more than a month ago, he left work around 6pm. The sun had set, but his path was lit by a headlight mounted to his handlebars. Near the ATT’s intersection with Cornwallis Rd, a Durham Police Officer patrolling the trail pulled him over and issued a warning for trespassing.

The officer pointed to a sign near the intersection and noted that the American Tobacco Trail, like all parks in Durham, closes at dusk. The officer advised Trost that the next time he is caught on the trail after dark, he could be issued a $135 fine.

This incident brought to light a problem for Durham’s greenways. If users rely on greenways to get to and from different sides of town, then why should the trails close at sunset? Doesn’t closing greenways at sunset limit their utility, especially in the winter months when the sun sets as early as 5pm?

While greenways are parks, they are parks of a different sort. Linear parks double as transportation corridors, and transportation is more than a daytime activity. Whereas recreational cyclists have more flexibility to arrange rides at convenient times, commuters are at the mercy of their work schedules and mother nature.

Trost isn’t alone. “I see the same people every morning on my way to work”, he says. “If I had to guess based on my experience, I’d say close to a hundred people a day use the trail.”

Through email, Trost initiated a conversation with the Durham Police Department, City Council, and the City’s Transportation and Parks and Recreation departments. A meeting was arranged, at which the City acknowledged that it would be squandering a resource if a transportation corridor is unavailable to those who need to use it.

Bike commuters in other cities also face the problem of dusk trail closures, so Durham was able to look to other places for solution models. While some municipalities, such as Baltimore, Maryland, address the problem simply by exempting commuters from the trail closure, how to enforce this exemption creates a new problem for law enforcement. The idea of establishing a permit system was also looked at. But requiring cyclists to register with the city in order to lawfully use a greenway after hours would prevent folks from spontaneously using Durham’s greenways to bicycle to and from a Durham Bulls game.

After hearing from Trost as well as many other commuters who use Durham’s greenways as transportation routes, Darrell Crittendon, Director of Parks and Recreation, decided that extending the hours that the trails are open is both the simplest and most democratic solution.

As of Monday, December 5th, the Parks and Recreation department extended the hours of the American Tobacco Trail from dawn until dusk to 5AM until 10PM.

Crittendon also notes that The Durham Police Department (DPD) will continue to monitor the ATT for safety throughout the extended usage hours. He encourages any commuters who use the trail at night to consider using a buddy system. The more traffic there is in any area, the safer it tends to be from a public safety perspective.

None of Durham’s greenways are lit and the City does not plan to install lighting along the trails. So, if you’re going to ride the trail at night, be aware that it will be dark. From sunset until 10pm and 5am until sunrise, Durham police will be enforcing the state laws concerning nighttime cycling.

All cyclists riding at night must be equipped with a headlight visible from at least 300 ft. and a red tail light visible from at least 200 ft. All local bike shops carry these lights, which can be attached to either your bike or your clothing.

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NC General Statutes
20-129. Required Lighting Equipment of Vehicles.
(e) Lamps on Bicycles. Every bicycle shall be equipped with a lighted lamp visible up to three hundred feet in front when used at night and must also be equipped with a taillight or rear reflector that is red and visible for up to two hundred feet from therear when used at night.

The Outspokin’ Cyclist: Cross-country bike trail teaches much about time

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
December 8th, 2005

She turns around, sees reminders of how far she’s ridden, and thinks about how different the world seems when you’re on a bike. The hills she’s finished climbing look so innocent from a car and feel so challenging on a bike.

She looks ahead and sees how far she has yet to go. The road is arrow straight and flat. Lined with corn and soybean fields on either side, her path stretches to the horizon.

Judy Martell, 55, of Durham is a little less than halfway through riding the American Discovery Trail, a 6,800 mile patchwork of paved greenways, state parks, and roadways connecting Delaware with San Francisco. In 2001, she woke from a dream with a goal to use her own two legs to get her from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

A month ago, she reached St. Louis, Missouri.

If she were to ride the entire Discovery Trail in one effort, she estimates it would take her anywhere from a month to a month and a half. Whether to raise money for a charitable cause, bring attention to an injustice, or just to experience the changing landscape of our vast country on a more human scale, Martell says “there are a lot of people who are doing it straight through on the Discovery Trail, biking or walking.”

“I do it in chunks… in sections, because I can’t do the logistics of being away from home long enough to do it all in one shot,” says Martell. When she knows she’s got five free days coming up, she starts to plan the next trip.

For most of the route, she’s been riding alone. But friend Alison Carpenter also of Durham recently kept her company from Cincinnati to St. Louis.

Traveling at the speed of a bike allows a different perspective, says Carpenter. “Life’s just fleeting from an automobile on a day to day basis. Then you get on a bike… and time just sort of disappears, everything changes, and your perspective becomes ‘eat, drink, bike, sleep, bike.’ It was definitely a meditative experience.”

Carpenter had never done any long-distance bike touring before. “The first day was mentally challenging. We did fifty-five miles in the first day, and I’d never ridden fifty-five miles at once,” she says. “[The] second and third were more physically challenging. But, after the third day I felt like, ‘alright, I can do this’.” By the end of the fifth day she had a hard time letting the trip come to an end.

Her pluck speaks to the c’est la vie attitude that got them through parts of their ride; it was not without challenge. Martell lost her GPS device early in the trip. At one point they ended up riding on a limited access freeway with tractor trailers passing a little too close and too fast for comfort. And on their last day, they found themselves riding through the headwinds of a tornado system that hit Illinois later that day.

Nor do they forget the killer leg cramps, a semi-paralyzed left hand, and the ka-chunk of an adjusting chiropractor’s table that still rings in their ears.

But, then there was the time they stopped at a restaurant and a pickup truck driver who had passed them thirty miles back welcomed them with a “you made it! Alright, way to go!”

Or the time they rolled up to an auto-auction with a vending machine tucked behind a fence decorated with a “dealers only” sign. After sneaking in to get water from the vending machine one of the dealers struck up a conversation with the two weathered and worn-out cyclists.

And they’ll never forget that warm, inviting cafe — with fresh baked bread — in, “where was that cafe again?” Carpenter asks.

Riding through the country side and small towns endeared them to the folks they passed. Martell and Carpenter feel like the people they met along the way would not have been as open or willing to strike up conversations if they’d been just another driver passing through.

Planning for a trip like this is not as difficult as you might think, says Martell. That is, if you plan the way Martell does, it’s not that taxing. She likes to leave a lot of the details to just work themselves out. But, not without reason.

“I think we get into this box of ‘it’s a scary world and let’s stay in our safe route’. But when you put yourself out there, then you’re reminded that the world’s not that scary. Life is going on in these little towns just like it is here. It’s just a different pace in a different place,” she says.

“A yearning for pure spontaneity is human nature,” says Carpenter, “but at the same time that time runs together on [a trip like this], it also becomes more precious.”

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For their ride, Carpenter rode her 1980s Motobecane with downtube shifters and Martell rode her custom recumbent, made here in Durham by Wayne Schnackel.

Information on the American Discovery Trail can be found at http://www.discoverytrail.org/

The Outspokin’ Cyclist: In their own words… new bike commuters speak out

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
November 22nd, 2005

DURHAM — I asked new bicycle commuters in the Triangle area whether they had any thoughts to share on their decision to ride. Boy, did they.

This week, I’m letting some folks who started bicycle commuting within the last year step up to the microphone. Morning motorists, city council, and even you, sitting on fence about whether you can rely on your bike to get you to work — take note; these folks are talking to you.

Mostly for the exercise, Joseph Maxwell started bike commuting about seven months ago. Three days a week, he rides from Durham to Sports Endeavors (SEI) in Hillsborough.

“I am one of two bike commuters in a company of about 450 employees. There are many physically active employees at SEI, but I assume most people don’t feel confident or safe riding into Hillsborough. But he says Highway 751 and Old NC 10 make for a a nice ride. A wider shoulder or bike lane on 751 (going out towards Highway 70) would be a great improvement. I see a lot of cyclists using this road. Obviously, bike lanes along my route to Hillsborough would make my commute easier. More than anything, I would just like for drivers to show more consideration towards cyclists.”

Rhonda Kaye, a teacher at Lowe’s Grove Middle School, started bike commuting when the new school year began in August.

Before then, she says, “I would drive to work by myself. I started riding for two main reasons: first, the cost of gas started to creep up and I thought riding would help my family save money. Then, after Hurricane Katrina, there was talk of a gas shortage, and I thought I would be a good citizen, and set an example for my students. So I started doing it 2-3 times a week.”

“Cycling on a teacher’s schedule can be a challenge. My work days starts at 7:15, so I don’t have a big cushion of time to get to work and be ready to teach,” says Kaye. “The one thing [sic] the city can do to make my ride easier is to add bike lanes on Sedwick Rd and Alston Ave.”

Dave Sokal would also like to see bike lanes or extra lane width on Sedwick and Alston. Sokal lives in Parkwood and bikes to work in Research Triangle Park, but he does not consider busy, narrow two-lane roads with no shoulders to be acceptable for safe commuting. His route to work is currently a mix of on-road riding with a shortcut on an unofficial trail he uses to avoid narrow, high volume roads.

Since she started riding in July, Kim Gray says that her biggest challenge has been negotiating with cars. “I think that the city could do more to educate its drivers through some sort of campaign.” Gray says that she was able to get cyclists’ rights pamphlets from Alison Carpenter, the City of Durham’s Bicycle and Pedestrian transportation planner, and get her employer to distribute them through monthly paychecks. “If more places did that I think that would help,” says Gray.

Tanya Jisa echoes Gray’s wish for more public education about cyclists’ rights. “There are lots of people who still don’t ‘get it’ that bikes have just as much right and reason to be on the road as cars,” she says.

Determined to commute by bike once she moved to Durham, Jisa sold her car before she ever left Decatur, Georgia. “Luckily I found a job with Duke just over 5 miles from my new home, so I made a few trial runs before my job officially began,” she says.

“I started riding for fitness and health benefits - working my exercise time into my commute to and from work is a big bonus. I also like the opportunities to transition to and from work on a bike. Rather than getting in a car and ‘fighting traffic’, I getto have an enjoyable bike ride at my own pace and take short cuts through neighborhoods that I probably would never notice otherwise. The physical effects of exercising right after work really help me to leave my work behind, and give me a burst of energyfor the rest of my day.”

“Commuting by bike does take a little extra time and effort, but,” says Jisa, “it’s worth it not only for the benefits to your own physical and mental health, but the health of the planet. It’s something you can be proud of every day.”

The Outspokin’ Cyclist: To pave or gravel part of biking trail under debate

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
November 10th, 2005

DURHAM — Chris Sevick would love to be able to ride the entire 23 miles of the American Tobacco Trail. Three things stand in his way right now, but he hopes that riding it will be a real possibility one day soon.

The first obstacle is a 1,000-foot gap between where the trail currently ends at N.C. 54 and where it will pick up at The Streets at Southpoint. A pedestrian and cyclist bridge over Interstate 40 is in the works and funding has been set aside by the federal government (and was fodder for John Stewart’s political humor a few months back — “$2.8 million for something called the American Tobacco Trail in North Carolina,” he joked on the Daily Show). In a few years Durham will provide safe passage for cyclists, joggers, and walkers from one side of the expansive freeway to the other.

The second is that there’s still is no trail south of N.C. 54 through Southpoint. The railroad corridor has been purchased from Norfolk Southern through the N.C. Department of Transportation’s rail program and construction could begin as soon as a year from now.

The third obstacle is that, even when finished, riders have long expected the southern sections of the ATT to remain unpaved and instead be graded and topped with a packed gravel screening. Gravel makes it hard for Sevick to ride, since the Durham resident rides a traditional road bike with tires less than an inch wide.

“Given the long distances that the trail connects, it would be more efficient to use a road bike on a paved trail,” he said in a recent e-mail to the N.C. DOT. And this, whether to pave the southern sections of the American Tobacco Trail, is the issue at hand.

Bob Morris, vice president of the mountain bike club NC Fats, says that if the existing Wake County section of the ATT is an example of how the rest of the trail might be finished, he wouldn’t want to ride it either. The loose, softer trail surface attracts equestrians, but the impact of the horses’ hooves contributes to the fairly steady erosion of the trail. The ATT is pocked with rough sections that, even on a “cushy” full-suspension mountain bike, leave the trail difficult to ride, Morris says.

Morris is not worried that paving the American Tobacco Trail means losing it as a mountain biking opportunity. The ATT follows a former railroad corridor originally built by the New Hope Valley Railroad. Its long, straight stretches and minimal elevation changes lack the technical challenge of singeltrack that typically draws mountain bikers out into the woods.

Rails-to-trails projects across the country are most successful when they serve as both transportation corridors and recreational outlets. “Multi-use trails should serve the greatest number of users and paving is the way to do that,” Morris says.

Tom Norman is listening. Norman works with the division of the DOT charged with completing the American Tobacco Trail. As director of the division of bicycle and pedestrian transportation, he wants to hear from cyclists how they might use the trail and what kind of trail surface they prefer.

To clear up some confusion, Norman says there really has never been a plan for what to do with the southern portions of the ATT — at least not an authoritative one. DOT, which is responsible for the final design of the ATT, is currently in the information gathering stage of the design process.

So, why is everyone thinking that the southern half of the ATT wouldn’t look like the signature paved section between Southpoint and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park?

In 1992, the Triangle Rails-to-Trails Conservancy commissioned Greenways Inc. to develop a Master Plan recommending designs for completing the American Tobacco Trail. This independent study suggested, based on then-current levels of residential development and population south of I-40, that the sections south of Southpoint could be left with just a gravel topping.

But, a lot has changed in southern Durham, Wake, and Chatham counties since then. Residential development and population in 1992 was “substantially less dense than it is today and what projections showed that it would be,” says Norman. “Current residential density levels need to be taken into consideration.”

Norman adds that funds for this project have come from federal and state resources slated for development of alternative transportation, so there is pressure to think of the ATT as a transportation corridor first, with resulting recreational opportunities as a bonus.

So, if like Sevick, you’ve ever wished that you could continue riding your bike the entire length of the planned 23 miles of greenway, now is your chance to be heard. Norman is currently accepting input on whether the southern portions of the American Tobacco Trail should be paved.

You can reach him at tnorman@dot.state.nc.us or by writing to him at this address: Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation, 1552 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1552.

The Outspokin’ Cyclist: Basketball teams ride bikes for worthy cause

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
October 27th, 2005

DURHAM — On Saturday, November 5th, you’re invited to come out and support the Hillside High School men’s varsity and junior varsity basketball teams.

Basketball? Wait, this is the cycling column.

Well, the basketball teams are going for a bike ride. The second annual Ride with the Hornets, which begins at 8:30AM in the rear parking lot at Hillside High School, is a fund raiser for the varsity and JV mens teams.

It’s not unusual for organizations to use cycling events as fund raisers. This Saturday, Durham’s Habitat for Humanity is hosting the “Halloween Hundred” — a fully supported metric century (100km ride) where proceeds will sponsor construction of a homein Habitats East Ellerbee St. neighborhood.

The Triangle Cyclopaths are donating a portion of the proceeds from their November 5 “Dance with the Devil,” an endurance mountain bike race, to the Caring Community Foundation.

And every year, regional chapters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society host an “MS150″ ride. All over the country, cyclists raise entry fees and additional funds to search for the cure for multiple sclerosis by riding in these 150km events.

This year, Coach Wayne Howell is doing something similar for his basketball teams at Hillside. He hopes that by inviting the community to sponsor members of the basketball teams, the Hornets can raise at least $1,300 for a “shoot-away” — a device that sets up under a basketball goal, rebounds shots, throws the ball out to the next person, and keeps statistics on players’ shooting percentage.

Howell, who played basketball professionally for more than nine years in Australia and Singapore, says that a device like the shoot-away would make a big difference to his teams. “It can take a team from making 300 or 400 jumpshots per hour to 2,000 or 3,000,” he says.

The Ride with the Hornets will be one of the first experiences the students will have together as a team. Tryouts for the basketball teams will be completed in the week leading up to that Saturday, and Howell wants to do something to help the team bond in their first few days.

“I found last year, we did a lot of team-building things, and that really helped us,” Howell says. “It always helped me, too, when I played overseas.”

Remembering the joy of cycling as a kid is what led Howell to start the Ride with the Hornets. “Growing up, we used to ride bikes a lot. I don’t think kids now ride bikes like we did,” he said, and he thinks a combination of video games and parents not pushing kidsout of the house are to blame.

“And with the [American Tobacco] Trail, you don’t have to worry about riding on the street,” he added.

In a school that already boasts increasing enrollment in academically rigorous programs like International Baccalaureate and AVID, four-time state champions in women’s track, and a world-traveled theatre department, Coach Howell sometimes feels the pressure to offer Hillside students something unique.

Bob Hill, the athletic director at Hillside, says “Howell is one of those people who likes to bring young people together and show them a lot of different life skills. The bike ride is a tool to be able to communicate with the students, have them share their thoughts and feelings about anything. I think it’s an excellent way to teach young kids outside the classroom.”

Howell has reason to think he’s offering something the students like. “All this year, I’ve had students ask, ‘Coach, are we gonna do the bike ride again?’,” he says.

Howell says donations can be made in two ways either directly to the team as a whole or by sponsoring an individual player. Sponsorship simply involves pledging to donate a certain amount of money per mile that the student rides.

This year, the community is also invited to join in the fun and ride with the Hornets. If you’d like to ride, be ready to roll by 8:30AM. Their route will follow the American Tobacco Trail, first north to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, then south to Highway 54, and then finishing back at the Hillside parking lot.

The Outspokin’ Cyclist: Bike commuting on the rise

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
October 13th, 2005

DURHAM — In April 2004, I took a road trip to the Grand Canyon. Just inside the Arizona state line, I stopped for gas. I’d always heard that gas is more expensive on the west coast, and here was proof. The price of “premium” gas began with a “2″ — I cleverly took a picture of the sign so that my friends back home could have a good laugh at gas prices in excess of $2 per gallon.

Now, the joke’s on us.

Gas prices are hovering around $3 per gallon, and that’s reason enough for me (and my wallet) to think twice about driving my car to Raleigh to go mountain biking. An October 6th Washington Post commodities article reports that while “SUV sales plunged in September more than 50 percent, U.S. bicycle sales have outnumbered car sales.” Sounds like mine is not the only wallet taking a hit.

On my route to work, I’ve met more first-time bicycle commuters in the last two months than in the last two years. Heck, probably more than I’ve met in the last 5 years. But at most, my experience merely anecdotally suggests that ridership numbers may be up.

Is the national bicycle-sales trend holding true for Durham as well?

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in sales this year” says REI-Durham’s store manager Jim Bennett. “And we certainly have seen a bigger increase in the last three months. The [Durham] store showed a 39% increase for the year through June, and since June we’re up 59% over last year’s sales.”

Durham’s other full service bicycle retailer, The Bicycle Chain has evidence to support the same trend. Chris Hull, the new general manager of the The Bicycle Chain’s Durham store, says the store has definitely seen one of its best fall seasons in a long time. “Sales are up, business is up,” he said.

But just as the New York Times bestseller list for books tells you nothing about whether people actually read the books they buy, new bicycle sales don’t necessarily indicate new ridership.

An increase in business for bicycle repair shops, however, would suggest that people are riding the bikes they have.

“When people ride their bikes, they need to be repaired,” says REI’s Bennett. “Revenue we’ve taken in from the bike shop shows that people are riding their bikes as well.”

Hull says The Bicycle Chain has also seen a significant increase in business for the service department. “People are dusting off their old bikes that have been sitting in the garage and bringing them in to get them in shape to ride,” he said.

Whereas service customers are famous for making requests along the lines of, “just do the minimum to get the bike running again,” Bennett says that customers are now taking bike maintenance more seriously.

“When people are willing to spend more money on their bikes, it’s often because they are riding more regularly,” Bennett says. “They’re riding to work or school and need their bikes to be reliable.”

Separating the effect of gas prices on bike sales from the effect of Lance Armstrong winning a 7th Tour de France may be difficult.

But Bennett says that REI has also seen an increase in the sale of commuter-specific accessories like fenders and racks. Although manufacturers are producing newer bike models with frame geometries designed specifically for commuting, you can also retro-fit just about any bike with the components that turn your sleek road bike or heavy duty mountain bike into a more utilitarian commuter - semi-slick tires for mountain bikes, locks, racks, panniers (saddlebags that hang over the racks), baskets, lights, and even reflective vests.

Components like fenders and tires with low rolling resistance make your everyday ride more comfortable. Cargo racks, panniers, and baskets make your bike more useful.

So, whether or not there are more folks riding to work due to higher prices at the gas pumps, there are more folks investing in bicycles and in the kind of equipment you’d use to ride to work.

Are there more new riders in Durham? I don’t know. You tell me. And come tell me at the next Bicyclist Breakfast.

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The Durham Bicyclist Breakfast happens on the last Friday of every month. Drop by Mad Hatters (1802 W. Main Street) between 7:30 and 9AM.

Column: Outings introduce kids to dirty fun

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
September 22, 2005

DURHAM — This July, my nephew visited from Canada. Matt, 15, is a skilled athlete – a hockey star, a track phenom, a confident snowboarder – and like most teenagers, difficult to impress. As often as he’s heard me talk about mountain biking, though, I realized this summer that he’d never ridden singletrack.

I took him for a spin around the trails at Lake Crabtree County Park, and by the fifth mile he was hooked. I could see it in his face. He confessed later on that he’d never experienced anything like it before. I was excited to introduce something meaningful to his life.

Mountain biking can teach riders young and old an appreciation of the natural environment, responsibility for the trails, and a lifetime of active, healthy habits.

These are just a few of the reasons why Congress, for the second year in a row, has designated the first Saturday in October “Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.”

North Carolina and Colorado senators and representatives co-sponsored a joint resolution (SR 195) to support the International Mountain Bike Association’s youth-oriented outreach effort.

At 10AM, Saturday October 1st, the Triangle Off-Road Cyclists (TORC) are sponsoring events at three local favorite trail systems.

Volunteers will be on-site at Lake Crabtree County Park in Raleigh, Legend Park in Clayton, and Little River Regional Park in Durham.

Get there early for a skills-building session, where experienced mountain bikers reveal the secret techniques of log-crossing, bunny-hopping, and hill-climbing. Once you’ve got your skill-set built up, ride leaders will be available to show you the way through the woods.

In their petition to Congress, IMBA cites heightened levels of childhood obesity as one of its reasons for reaching out to kids. In a July press-release, IMBA states its belief that mountain biking builds self-confidence and offers kids and adults “an adrenaline-packed adventure while giving them an effective workout.”

IMBA reports that in 2004, thousands of kids participated in more than 100 events nationwide and in several other countries. The international organization expects even greater numbers of participants this year.

At the TORC events, kids age 14 and under need to be accompanied by an adult, and the parks require all riders to wear helmets.

If you need to come up with a set of wheels for the weekend, the Bicycle Chain’s Durham and Chapel Hill stores rent mountain bikes for $25-35 a day. The stores also allow you to use up to $50 of rentals as credit toward the purchase of a bike.

Aside from a bike and helmet, bring lots of water and an adventurous spirit.

So c’mon out and bring a kid with you for some good, clean fun in the dirt. Whether you’re in elementary school or just a kid at heart, “Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day” will be a fun, active outdoor event.

Column: Bike Against Bad Air to back tougher clean air rule

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
September 8th, 2005

DURHAM — As if North Carolina didn’t already have a hard enough time combating air pollution, a new federal ruling may allow neighboring, upwind states to off-load soot and other particulate pollutants on the Tar Heel State.

In July, Attorney General Roy Cooper filed a lawsuit in federal court and a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider portions of the agency’s Clean Air Interstate Rule. “While we generally support EPA’s new standards to clean our air,” Cooper explained, “we fear that loopholes in this Rule will give power plants in other states the ability to send additional pollution our way.”

According to the Sierra Club of North Carolina, the petition specifically asks the EPA ?to require emission reductions from power plants in thirteen upwind states in order to reduce their contribution to North Carolina’s fine particle pollution,? a contributor to asthma and other respiratory ailments.

On September 14th at 9 a.m., the EPA is holding a public comment hearing on the CAIR ruling and Cooper’s petition for reconsideration. The hearing will be held at the EPA facility in Research Triangle Park.

The Sierra Club hopes to gather the support of local cyclists who want to say something about it. In order to show support for Cooper’s petition and cleaner air standards, the environmental group is organizing a bike ride from downtown Durham to the EPA hearing, says Beau Memory, NC Sierra Club’s Conservation Campaign Coordinator.

The ?Bike Against Bad Air? begins at 8am at the American Tobacco Trail’s northern trailhead, just across Willard and Blackwell streets from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The planned route to the EPA is less than ten miles ? approximately a third of which follows the greenway, a third follows the new bike lanes on Cornwallis Rd, and the remainder follows Alexander Dr. through RTP.

The plan is for cyclists to ride together and enter the EPA’s campus as a group. A photo ID will be required to enter EPA facilities. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Sierra Club invites the cyclists to return to downtown Durham for lunch at the Mellow Mushroom.

?Getting riders out in the middle of the week will demonstrate North Carolinians’ commitment to clean air,? says Memory. ?We’re lucky to have a great trail system here, and we also want to show people there are cleaner ways to get to work each morning.?

In a July press release, Roy Cooper says that ?out-of-state polluters are interfering with North Carolina’s ability to meet national air quality standards despite the state’s success at cleaning up in-state pollution under it’s Clean Smokestacks law.?

Memory acknowledges that ?North Carolina’s taken a huge leap forward with smokestack legislation.? The point of the ?Bike Against Bad Air? and the public hearing, Memory says, is to convince the EPA that ?unfortunately, air pollution doesn?t stop at state lines. Every day that goes by that our neighbors don’t clean up their pollution means more soot, more smog, and more asthma for North Carolinians.?

RIDE DETAILS
If you’re interested in riding or testifying, you can register with the Sierra Club by emailing bikeagainstbadair@yahoo.com or calling Christa Wagner at (704) 374-1125.

Cyclists should arrive downtown at 8am and be ready to roll by 8:30.

All riders are required to wear a helmet and sign a waiver of liability.
Bring plenty of water, a photo ID, and a bike lock.

Column: Funky formal cruiser ride first of many fun outings

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
September 1st, 2005

CARRBORO — Apart from the iPod powered boombox blasting acid jazz from the back of Matthew Lee’s bike, last Tuesday night’s cruiser ride around Carrboro and Chapel Hill was a display of retro-technology over high-technology. It was not your typical group bike ride.

Lee, of Carrboro, who organized the ride says, “cruiser rides are something that have been going on [for a while now ] in cities around the country that have a strong bike culture.” He had a hunch that the time may be right for the Triangle.

I’d say that the turnout for the “funky formal” themed ride confirms his hunch.

Cruiser Tuesday by Jack Edinger
(photo by Jack Edinger)

Fifty people strong, the riders’ outfits were as eclectic as their aging bikes. There were more fenders, chain guards, and kick stands than I’ve seen at other group rides. And I’ve never before seen cyclists wearing feather boas, sport coats, and prom dresses. There was even a gaucho on a unicycle.

Any other time cyclists get together, we ogle the well-machined parts or the lightweight feel of each others’ bikes. Desirable bikes on a cruiser ride are heavy and have a lot of rust or chrome.

When it comes to how much money folks are willing to spend on cruisers, it’s an amusing race to the bottom. Emily Buehler of Carrboro says she “found [her bike] in a dumpster, and the guys at the Clean Machine fixed it up for $20.” She’s got a basket full of flowers hanging from the handlebars, and the bike has an old internally geared three speed hub… but only one gear works right now.

Seth Elliott’s riding his wife’s bike. “I put these tall handlebars on it so that she’d be more comfortable,” he says. “I thought I’d do something just a little different. For tonight, I put one of my daughter’s stroller wheels on the front.” The stroller wheel is so small the brake pads don’t even make contact with the rim.

I made a note to myself to stay out of his way.

“This is a dress I wore in high school, I haven’t had an opportunity to wear it since, but tonight seemed like the appropriate night,” Melissa Kenney of Durham says with a sarcastic smile. “There are so few occasions that you get to do a formal dress bike ride, I had to bring out the very best for it.”

While Kenney stopped to get her dress un-stuck from her brakes, I talked with Natalie Nagalingen, also of Durham. “It’s a friend’s,” Nagalingen says about the feather boa she’s wearing. “We swapped because my feather boa actually coordinates with her outfit.”

Charlie Hileman, a member of the Transportation Advisory Board of Carrboro, joined the ride towing in a trailer his daughter Stella. The flames painted on the frame of his bike made it look like we were moving faster than the 5 mph pace we were keeping.

I asked Carl Salk, a Duke student, why he’s wearing a hot suit on an August night. It “looks better than his swim shorts,” shouted Arielle Cooley. Cooley and Michelle Hersh, fellow Duke students, fashionably sported more feather boas loaned to them by a friend.

Hersh said she didn’t think she’d “leave a trail of feathers down Franklin Street” when she got up Tuesday morning.

Lee and others want to “try to make [a cruiser ride] a monthly occurrence.” Although the date is not yet set, next month’s theme is “Space Wrangler.”

“Funky formal” I understood. I can’t help you interpret this new one.

The success of the cruiser ride just goes to show that not all cycling has to be about fitness. What was the point of this ride, you might ask. The flier encouraged folks to leave politics, spandex, and any competitiveness behind. “The idea is to pedal in good fun,” it reads.

Rob Noti, a mechanic at the Clean Machine, says the ride’s purpose is to be “laid back; to have a fun group ride.” The only thing he had to say about his bike is that “it was free.”

–See more images from the inaugural Cruiser Tuesday over here.–

Column: Why should drivers, bicyclists share the road?

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
August 25th, 2005

DURHAM — If you haven’t heard, the state of North Carolina just issued new ?Share the Road? license plates. For $30 annually, cyclists who drive can show their fondness of two wheels even while in their car.

And if talk in the local cycling community is right, these new license tags couldn’t have come at a better time.

In June, the Herald Sun reported that Durham cyclist Drew Cummings was hit and seriously injured while riding to Pittsboro. Whether it was an accidental or intentional hit and run, the driver fled the scene and has yet to be identified.

Greg Sousa reports on a local cycling listserv that he was run off the road on his way to work one morning in July. And Douglas Woolcock says that someone in a passing car threw a fast-food cup at him while he was cycling down Ninth Street.

Both are skeptical that these encounters were accidents since both incidents involved a passenger in the car raising a middle finger out the window.

What’s going on here? Are the rising temperatures interfering with our sense of compassion? Do rising gas prices make it more difficult for motorists to show patience on the road? Do the summer swarms of cyclists upset all drivers?

A reader of this column, who wishes to remain anonymous, opines that some motorists are reluctant to share the road with cyclists who defiantly disregard traffic laws. Cyclists running red lights and stop signs are just a few of the anarchic affairs he’s irritated by. And, he thinks, these small acts of rebellion may be igniting a territorial instinct in other drivers.

He may be right. I’ve listened to radicals on both sides of this issue.

To hear some motorists talk about the perceived arrogance of cyclists, you’d think that sharing lane space with a bicycle offends them deeply. To hear some cyclists talk about the perceived arrogance of drivers, you’d think every car with which they share the road puts their life as well as national security in danger.

But vigilante justice, whether it’s a motorist chasing down an errant cyclist or a cyclist brandishing a U-lock as a weapon, is also against the law. More than illegal, it’s shameful behavior.

Thinking in extremes, leaves us prone to confrontation. It locks motorists and cyclists in a turf battle over space on the road, and no one wins a battle like this.

Roadways are dangerous places simply by virtue of the fact that they are filled with independently moving machines ? each traveling with enough speed to harm the delicate human body. Cars and bikes can mingle together safely, but only if we leave our attitudes out of the mix.

Let’s not let our tempers rise as high as the temperature. Rather than polarize the road, let’s share it calmly and safely.

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