4000 miles

My odometer rolled over while I was out apartment-hunting this afternoon.  Since I was about a half-mile from the Sehome Village shopping center, I went and circled around the parking lot to finish my four-thousand-first mile in front of the Bellingham REI Co-op.

That's four thousand miles on an odometer I put on in mid-February 2010.  My bike was purchased in March 2006, and could easily have 20,000 miles on it now.

And here's a gripe on a different topic:  ten years ago in March I moved in to the apartment I'm getting kicked out of now.  Back in those days rentals were advertised in newspapers.  I used to search listings in the paper then go out and drive, bus, bike or walk around to check out addresses I liked.  Now everything is online, and the listings are often out-dated or inaccurate, or you have to sign up for a paid subscription to get complete contact info on current, correct listings.  I like the old way better.

Typical January

These are some photos of the view from my apartment, taken the week after my court date. One night, it snowed five inches before my 10pm bedtime. I expected to wake up to a beautiful, serene snow scene, but sometime early in the morning, it began to rain hard. When I woke up there were only traces of crusty slush left on the matted, sodden lawn.

This is just to give a more balanced idea of what a Pacific Northwest winter is really like.

Below, runoff from Lakeway Mobile Estates helps clear slush from the sidewalk.

If you can't ride, read

My bicycle has moved to a storage locker (I still have the front wheel, plus an assortment of tools and accessories in my living room).  While we are temporarily legally separated, I've found some books to comfort and amuse myself during the rainy season.

Even elite racers take an off season.  As a commuter, my riding program is much easier, but I never had more than a few days at a stretch off the bike.  Now I'm trying a do-it-yourself therapy plan, guided by The Healthy Back Directory, by Kim Davis and Dr. Anthony Campell (Metro Books, New York).  This little book has tabbed sections on the back, bones, joints, muscles, and aging, with very basic information and anatomical drawings.  It contains many simple exercises to loosen and strengthen tight, sore muscles and joints, with easy-to-follow instructions and photos.  Bicycling is well known to cause tightness in the shoulders and hips, making the section of the back in between weak and vulnerable to injury.  If you've come to the point that you have to loosen up to do yoga, these gentle exercises are a good start.  There are many different exercises to choose from, so you don't end up over-working the same few movements, and it's easy to stick with exercising consistently.  The book is wire bound, so it opens up flat, and with just a chair, a pillow and a yoga mat for equipment, I've been doing 20-40 minutes four or five nights a week since December.  (I slept a lot better during my legal troubles when I exercised before bedtime.)

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I found Nikki Giovanni's Bicycles - Love Poems (Harper Collins, New York).  The explanation for the title is that "love requires trust and balance."  Some of the poems contain a little too much blues, jazz, red wine and gourmet cuisine for my taste (when I was an English major, it was white wine with cheese & fruit plates).  Giovanni is a professor at Virginia Tech University, and the last poem about the shootings at the campus is phrased a bit like a college fight song - maybe it was written a little too soon after the event.  The poem "Bicycles" starts out:  "Midnight poems are bicycles, taking us on safer journeys than jets, quicker journeys than walking."  I also liked "The Scenic Route," about a mis-matched relationship, which begins "MapQuest is no help there are too many bumpy back roads," and "Gray Clouds Hover" which ends with the comforting thought that February is the shortest month.

I won! I won! I won!

Sort of.  The judge wouldn't issue an eviction order.  I was arguing that my landlord's 20-day notice was retaliatory, which is prohibited for ninety days after a dispute, under certain conditions.  It's an odd thing about Washington state rental law - if a tenant is on a month-to-month rental agreement, they can be asked to leave with twenty days notice for no reason at all.  But if notice is given within ninety days after a tenant makes a complaint or assertion of rights under the law, it may be considered retaliatory, which is illegal.  This means my landlord only has to wait until the end of March without picking a quarrel, then they can give me another 20-day notice and I will have no defense.

So I plan to move in the next ninety days. But that's a lot better than the big blue tarp plan.

Cheers - 2011

My intention with this blog is to give an honest account of my every day experiences as a car-less bicyclist. I want casual cyclists (if any ever actually read this) to know they can bike to work two or three days a week, save some money, improve their health, pollute less, burn less gas, and have some fun, all without becoming a fanatic, a radical or making a complete life-style change.

I post lots of scenic photos of Bellingham's sunny winter days and beautiful bike routes and trails because riding my bike is the best therapy and escape I know when I'm frustrated, discouraged, depressed, bored, angry, stir-crazy, whatever. But I've been avoiding posting about an unexpected blow that hit me in October - partly for fear of jinxing myself, partly because I didn't want to let loose a libelous, flaming rant that might make more trouble for me (if anyone ever actually read it). But it seems dishonest to leave this out.

My landlord is trying to evict me for keeping my bicycle in the living room of my apartment. There is a bicycle storage area in the complex, but I was never told bicycles were banned indoors, until the manager confronted me on my doorstep in October. I objected that the storage area wasn't secure or convenient; later I discovered that my keys don't even work in the lock. I tried to negotiate with the owner and managers. Too late, I was given a 20-day notice. I am contesting the eviction and have a court date next Friday.

I think I have a good case, but people keep telling me that renters have no rights.

So, things can only get better.

Or, worse things have happened.

Or other cheerful sentiments of that nature.

Today's Ride

Bellingham Bay from Boulevard Park. That's a bit of the Canadian North Cascades in the background. I managed to ride past The Woods coffee shop without stopping.

Wardrobe Issues

At this time last year I would have been out of bed before 7am, and out on the road before sunrise, in the wind, rain or snow, riding eighty miles a week to and from work. This year I'm barely riding fifty miles a week, and only at mid-day when there's no snow or rain.

In August I'd made up my mind to buy a new touring bike, and was starting to shop for rain gear, UnderArmour and fleece, and new water-resistant head and tail lights. (I've never yet found a tail light that will survive a whole winter.) I was spared all this expense when I got my layoff notice on September first. I'm making do with last year's gear.

In the summer I almost always wore spandex cycling shorts riding to and from work, then changed to work clothes in the bathroom. I put in enough miles that I really needed padded shorts to cushion tender portions of my anatomy, but lately I've been thinking that I might actually have lasted a little longer in my job if I'd worn baggy shorts or a cover-up skirt instead of bare-ass spandex.

I've worked with many women (and men, too) who had long-term weight problems, from twenty to sixty extra pounds, up to people I would have said were in the morbidly obese range. I've worked in office jobs myself, and know how your weight can creep up when you gain a few (or ten) pounds every winter, then don't quite lose it all every summer. I know it's hard to stick to an exercise program when every day is dark before and after work for four months of the year.

Luckily, as a bicycle commuter I've been spared that problem. I'm still built more like a fireplug than a Barbie doll, but I can see now that some people probably resented seeing me strut in the front door in shiny black spandex every morning. And there are many people conservative enough to call any woman who dresses in tight, skimpy shorts a whore, even if I think it's a recognized athletic uniform. Weight, appearance and body image are very touchy issues. I probably would have been more well-liked if I'd covered up more, and been seen as a team-player rather than a non-conformist.