Even The Dutch Take A Wrong Turn Sometimes

Which of these statements is true?

A. The Netherlands gets it right when it comes to cycling infrastructure.

B.  Justine Valinotti is a direct descendent of Christopher Columbus and inherited his sense of direction.

Actually, neither is completely true--or false.  I can't claim lineage (as far as I know, anyway) to the guy who didn't "discover" America, but my navigational skills are on par with his.  It's a good thing I have a sense of adventure!

As for the Netherlands:  Much of the world sees it as a cycling paradise.  Indeed, there are more bikes than people, and its system of bike lanes and other structures are, well, a system, more or less:  They actually make cycling a real transportation alternative, at least in the cities.

That said, even Dutch planners get it wrong sometimes.  Mark Wagenbuur reminds us of this in a recent post on his blog, Bicycle Dutch.

Once or twice a year, he rents a bike at the Venlo train station and rides to his in-laws in Grubbenvorst.  In times past, his route was perhaps not the most scenic, but was pretty direct--and, from his direction, relatively safe for cycling.  Four years ago, however, the local government built a viaduct for cyclists that was ostensibly safe and convenient for cyclists.

The problem, from Mr. Wagenbuur's point of view, was that one of the roads he took on earlier trips was closed to cyclists--and the viaduct was designed, in part, to bypass that road. It forces cyclists to take a slightly longer--but considerably more complicated--route.

The blue line is Mark Wagenbuur's current route.  The horizontal blue segment is the viaduct.  His old route is in green.  In red are possible connections that could make his route more straighforward. From Bicycle Dutch.

He admits that the additional distance isn't much--it adds only 36 seconds to his trip--but the detours and other turns are exasperating.  I guess he's a bit like me in that way:  I don't mind taking a longer route, whether it's for a commute or a fun ride.  If I'm trying to get to a particular place (e.g., work or a doctor's appointment) at a particular time, though, I prefer to minimize my chances of taking a wrong turn.

As I've said in other posts, merely building bike lanes isn't going to convert people from four wheels to two.  Those lanes have to be planned in order to provide safe, convenient and practical routes for cyclists.  That happens more often in European countries, like the Netherlands, than in the United States.  But, since Dutch planners are people (and may not realize that folks like me are navigationally-challenged), every once in a while they make missteps--like the viaduct Mark Wagenbuur described.

Infinite Monkeys And Bicycles

Folks in midlife--like yours truly (!)--understand that computers and the Internet can't cause anything that hasn't happened before.  All they can do is to make something happen faster and spread wider.

That means all manner of crackpot notions from the tinfoil hat crowd were circulating well before the Altair came along.  One I recall from my tender young years goes something like this:  Give an infinite number of monkeys and infinite number of typewriters and, eventually, Hamlet or Macbeth or the complete works of Shakespeare (depending on who was telling the story) would emerge.

Hmm...If we put an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of bicycles....

From Trademark Art

He Scored And Made It To 100...Almost

As you've heard by now, the Duke of Edinburgh, a.k.a. Prince Philip, died yesterday.  He was two months and a day shy of 100 years old.

The world knows him mainly because he was the queen's husband.  Also remembered are his often-unfiltered comments, which rubbed more than a few people the wrong way.  I had to chuckle, however, about his retort to a man whose wife had a PhD.  "She's much more important than I am," the man said.  To which Philip replied, "We have the same problem in my family."

He also earned a reputation a sportsman.  He raced boats, yachts, horses and race cars; piloted planes and played games I probably never will be able to afford.  I give him "props," though, for participating in one of the few forms of cycling I've never tried:

Prince Philip at Windsor, 1967.  UPI Photo

I'm told he was a pretty good bicycle polo player.  The polo field was, if nothing else, one place where he didn't have to walk two paces behind Elizabeth. I wonder whether that was part of the sport's appeal to him.

(It occurs to me now that I've mentioned bicycles and royals in the same post twice this week.  That could make for an interesting, but strange, genre, couln't it?)  

Why Don't They Protect Us?

 Helmets are for sissies.

I actually said that once.  Of course, that meant I would soon don the best head protection available at the time:  the Bell "turtleshell."  At that time, I told myself that a real man can indeed wear something more substantial than a Team Peugeot cap on his head.  But, of course, that wasn't the real reason why I--a manque transgender woman--wore a cranial shield.

In time, most cyclists I'd ride with in clubs, training or races would wear them, too.  Women, it seemed, were more willing, even if they were worried about messing up their hair.

Well, I just learned something I never expected:  Women may have less reason to wear helmets.  Now, I'd like to think because we're tougher and more resilient, or because we have so much more brain matter that we can afford to lose a little.  

From Femmecyclist

The real reason, though, is that helmets may do less for us than they do for men.  According to a recent study, although we're more likely than men to wear helmets, we have higher rates of serious head injury (in spite of less head injury overall).

What accounts for this difference? The study posits that it can be one of two things:  sex disparity in helmet-testing standards or "intrinsic incompatiblity between available helmets and female anatomy."  

This reminds me of the "female problem" in medicine:  Most of what doctors and other medical professionals learn is based on studies done on males.  So the data is biased; so is the perspective of doctors. Most standards for everything from blood pressure readings to medication dosages are thus based on data gleaned from studies done on men.

I know that many women have difficulty finding helmets (and other apparel and equipment) that fit them.  I wonder whether the helmet issue has to do, not only with the differences in size and shape between women's and men's craniums, but also in the ways our heads move and balance on our bodies.

To Promote Cycling For Health

Various healthcare and health insurance plans are realizing that encouraging healthy practices and lifestyles are cheaper, in the long run, than paying for expensive medicines and procedures. They offer things like smoking cessation programs and discounts on gym memberships.

I've heard that a few plans, offered by employers, also give discounts for bike commuting-related expenses. So, for example, they won't pay for a $12,000 S-Works racing bike, but they offer vouchers or discounts at participating bike shops.

Now, as a cyclist who writes a bicycle blog, I may just a wee bit biased in saying that if insurance programs will subsidize gym memberships or exercise equipment, they also should do whatever will encourage bicycle commuting and recreational riding.  After all, more than a few people have lost weight and seen their blood pressure and anxiety levels drop after they rode their bikes to work or school for a few months, or even weeks.  

I also believe that encouraging kids to ride bikes to school is a good idea.  I'm thinking, specifically, of kids who live just far enough away from school to make walking a non-viable option, but not so far that they need to take a bus or be driven.  

Matt Milam, the Executive Director of United Healthcare of Nebraska seems to understand as much. He has announced that his organization is giving away bicycle helmets and cash prizes to kids in two of the state's school districts.  One reason for doing this, he says, is "encouraging healthy activity." He observes, "active kids grow up to be healthy kids."

I think it's a good start.  Of course, other measures are needed to encourage, not just the kids, but the parents.  And I think that the biggest hurdle to developing lifelong transportation and recreation cyclists is to keep kids on bikes when they start driving.     

If You Want To Buy It...

 This bike is for sale.

It's a 1970s ladies' English three-speed.  You've probably seen hundreds, if not thousands, of bikes like it--whether in actual use, a yard sale or a Craigslist or eBay listing.

Not so long ago, you could get something like that for a few dollars--unless, of course, someone gave it to you when he or she was moving or cleaning out a garage or basement.

It looks like something your neighbor's mother or aunt rode on her college campus or to her first job.

And, indeed, someone's mother did ride it to work.  Of course, she's not the mother of your neighbor--unless you happen to live next to Prince Harry or Prince William.

The bike in the photo--and up for sale--is the one Diana rode to the nursery school where she worked before her wedding to one of the world's three un-sexiest men. (Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani are the others, not only because of their politics.)

What that means, of course, is that you won't get it for an already-inflated on Craigslist, where shysters get away with calling all manner of junk "vintage."  No, Diana's bike is expected to fetch 20,000 GBP at Sussex-based auction house Burstow & Hewett.  

In the days leading up to the royal wedding, palace staff advised her to stop riding it because it was unbecoming of a royal-to-be.  So, she sold it for 211GBP to the father of a friend who kept it in his garage for 27 years.

If you buy the blue 1970s Raleigh Traveler, you'll also get a copy of a 1981 newspaper article and a framed letter from Gerald Stonehill, who bought the bike from Diana.

In case you're interested, the auction will be streamed on 28 April by Burstow & Hewett. Good luck!

Growing His Passion In Soddy-Daisy

 Here in New York City, we have Hell Gate, Hell's Kitchen and Gravesend.

There are other funny, interesting and unusual place names all over the world.  I think now "Cheesequake," in New Jersey, just a couple of towns over from where I went to high school  And Condom, in the southwest of France (I've been there)-- which, of course doesn't have the same meaning in English.  Speaking of English, there's Upperthong, in West Yorkshire.

For a cuter, more family-friendly toponym, how about Soddy-Daisy in Tennessee?  

Somehow I imagine that there must be some interesting people in a place like that.  How can you not move--or tell people you're from--there without at least cracking a smile.

One of the folks in that place is probably one of the first I'd want to meet:  Tom Jamison.

Tom Jamison.  Photo by Matt Hamilton, for the Chattanooga Times-Free Press

He bought his first bike as an adult in 1997.  But, he says, he didn't start putting in "serious mileage" until  retired as a Tennessee Valley Authority project manager at age 50, in 2004.  Almost immediately, he jumped on his bike and pedaled over 500 miles to Orlando, Florida for a vacation with his daughter.  

Since then, he reckons he's pedaled 160,000-170,000 miles.  With his riding buddies, he does two or three trips a year.  "I even pedaled to Hampton, Virginia for a high school reunion," he recalls.  "They were in amazement."

He's done about 100,000 miles, he figures, on his go-to bike:  a Trek 520.  From looking at his photo, I have little doubt he'll make it to another reunion--whether on that bike or another, from a town called Soddy-Daisy.

 

Why She--And I--Aren't Going To Arkansas

A few US states have a problem with gender identity and variance.  Cycling, as a competitive sport and as an activity, shouldn't join them.

That is what Molly Cameron says in her Bicycling online article.  She is referring, specifically, to the bill in Arkansas that would ban trans girls and women  from competing on school and university sports teams consistent with their gender identity.  It would also ban young trans people from getting the health care they need.

About that second issue:  health care, for trans people of any age, is not just about hormones and surgery.  In fact, many trans and non-binary people choose to forego them (or, sometimes, just the surgery) for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is cost. In the following paragraph, I'll mention some of the things involved in transgender health care. In it, I'll mention a few intimate and painful details of my life.  If you are not comfortable about reading such things, you can skip the rest of this post.

If you embark on a gender-affirmation (what people used to call gender transition or gender change), or simply explore the possiblilty of one, you have to go through a few rigorous processes that involve various health care and social service providers.  (That is, of course, unless you buy hormones and get surgery on the "black market," which too many trans people, especially the young or nonwhite, still do.)  Your primary doctor and specialists such as endocrinologists examine your physical fitness for the process.  You also spend lots of time with mental health specialists--I saw a therapist and social worker every week--who, not only want to ascertain that you have a clear and accurate idea of what it will really mean to live in your "new" gender, but also to sort through the trauma as well as the positive effects of having performed a gender you were assigned at birth.  To some degree, your primary doctor, endocrinologists and other health-care professionals may deal with them, too.

The positive aspects include, for many of us, achievements.  I ran, wrestled, played soccer and cycled long distances, in part, in the hope that they would make me more masculine.  Whether or not they did that is debatable, but at least becoming an athlete, at least in some fashion, mostly stopped the bullying I'd experienced.  The bullies, I am sure, turned to gossip and rumor-mongering, or other low-level forms of aggression, but at least I wasn't getting beat up every day.  

Also, I was a fairly good student.  And, it may well be that my experience is, if not the reason, then a factor in my becoming a writer and teacher.  While I have met too many homeless or otherwise food- and housing-insecure trans people, I have also met, and know of, many who achieved much.  One such trans person is Dr. Marci Bowers, who performed my surgery.

On the other hand, almost all of us carry the often-toxic detritus of having to live as someone else.  Too many of us--including some of the high-achievers, and me--have struggled with substance abuse, failed relationships and other problems. More than a few of us have attempted suicide, and some, including two friends of mine, actually took their lives because they couldn't deal with the struggle anymore.  I can't help but to wonder whether, had they gotten help (which was unavailable to them, as it was to me, because of the times and places in which we lived) earlier in their lives, they might still be living and thriving as their true selves today.

From Cyclocross Magazine

That help, for some, includes participation in a sport--and, just as important, not having to pretend to be someone else in order to participate in that sport.  I can't help but to think that at least some of the politicians who proposed Arkansas' bill—and other related legislation, such as North Carolina's "bathroom bill"--have positive memories of participating in some sport, whether in school or in another organization like Little League or Pop Warner football.  I would assume that most, if not all, of them did not have to pretend to be someone else in order to play--or to use the bathroom once the competition is over.

Molly Cameron has drawn attention to the Arkansas bill for several reasons.  For one, she is a trans woman. For another, she has been involved in Cyclo-cross, as a racer and event promoter, for more than two decades.  Which leads to the final reason:  a Cyclocross World Cup event is scheduled for the state in October, and it will host the 2022 Cyclocross World Championships.  

She is not calling for a boycott at the moment, but she says that if the events are held in Arkansas, she won't be going.  She adds, "I won't be spending any money in Arkansas or any other state that is passing laws to discriminate against the LGBTQ community."  Finally, though, she offers her prescription:  "I am putting in the work and am hopeful that things will change."

Her optimism is not unfounded.  Change is indeed coming, however slowly, whether or not legislators in Arkansas or other states want to acknowledge it.

 

Going For A Ride? Hop To It!

Even if you're not Christian, even if you haven't been to church in years, you know it's Easter.

So how do you celebrate?

Of course, an Easter ride requires proper nutrition:

Otherwise, you might end up like these guys:

Enjoy! 

Red Cross + FIVE = Help For Homebound Italians

What does FIVE have in common with one of America's most famous writers?

It's not the number of novels said writer published.  You may have surmised as much because FIVE is capitalized.  

In fact, FIVE stands for Fabbrica Italiana Veicoli Elettrici, or the association of Italian Electric Vehicle Manufacturers.  (In Italian, FIVE is pronounced "fee-vay.")  They have been supplying electric bikes for a project called "Tempo della Gentilezza" ("Time for Kindness"), which delivers--in a sustainable "green" way-- essential services and goods to homebound elderly and immunodeficient people.  

Tempo della Gentilezza is a Red Cross project.  That brings me to my connection with a famous American writer.  A Farewell to Arms is based on its author's experience driving a Red Cross ambulance for the Italian Army during World War I.

We don't hear much about the vehicle Ernest Hemingway piloted.  I assume, perhaps wrongly, that it was made in Italy, like the e-bikes used in the Tempo project.  Now, I know Hemingway was a cyclist (and an avid bicycle racing fan), but I have to admit it's a bit of a stretch to picture him on an eBike.  Or is it?