A bag of mixed feelings

And just like that it's the end of October, although judging by the weather I would think it's January (Yes, we got quite a bit of snow).

I know I haven't written anything in a while. Maybe it's just me being tired of the reality - unusual work and school schedules, coronavirus, isolation and the election season wearing me out mentally. Or maybe it's just the fact that I know I'm writing all this mostly for myself, because rarely anyone visits this page anymore. Whatever.

There's been some pretty good stuff to read lately. That is, if you interested in the subject of how motoring industry keeps screwing with us. If you have been following the topic this is not news for you. Otherwise, take a look:

First, car makers are going completely nuts designing "road tanks",

and driving one of those ridiculously oversized family trucks can be a stressful experience.

To make matters worse, NHTSA doesn't really give a damn about pedestrians.

And you can't expect car manufacturers to police themselves and install pedestrian protecting features.

So there we are. American men buy trucks because they think this makes them manly, while all they need is a cowboy costume.

On top of all that there is the pandemic, which exposed the sad truth how badly cars messed up our cities. If we wanted though, we could change that. But we likely don't because somehow Americans can't picture a day without driving everywhere. Unlike Europe, which is making progress in giving the space back to people.

That's what it looks like in a nutshell. Honestly, I don't have high hopes it will change anytime soon. Our future is supposed to be determined next Tuesday, but even though at least one of the candidates seems to embrace trains, science and green energy, let's remember there is a big large party behind him that likes to play safe.

But enough of that. To avoid being bogged down by these mixed feelings, once a while I have to clear my mind and cycling is one thing that keeps me sane.

Last weekend I tried a quick, 30-mile route between Winchendon, MA and Jaffrey, NH. Even though cooler weather was approaching, it still had this perfect New England fall vibe.

Unfortunately, with today's snow. It's all gone now. "Like tears in rain".

Deerfield River Dirt Ride S36O

I believe I mentioned this before - when it comes to traveling anywhere by bicycle, usually the biggest problem for me is finding time. The solution is an overnighter - just a quick, 1-night trip somewhere nearby. Most of these are called S24O - "sub-24hrs overnight" rides. I typically like to turn them into S36O and try to pack more hours of riding in a 2-day period.

Last week I had a rare chance to take 2 days off and go west - visit Berkshire County in Massachusetts and then continue north into the southern part of Vermont's Green Mountains.

Day 1

To begin, I drove west to Shelburne Falls, MA where I left my car at a Park&Ride lot. I started pedaling at 9AM in a still cool but humid morning air. Fortunately, around 10AM sun started popping out from under clouds and pretty quickly humidity was gone. I stopped briefly at Bardwell's Ferry Bridge then rode north towards Greenfield.

Right after Greenfield is where the fun starts. My route was taking me along Green River and this section was very familiar, since I rode it before - when I tried to replicate my own D2R2 experience back in 2018. The Green River Rd is a great place to ride - relatively flat, unpaved and with nice views of the river and several good spots to stop and dip your feet in cool water.

This time the road was a bit more muddy because of the ongoing grading work and some rain a day earlier. Soon, I reached the famous Green River Covered Bridge.

At that point it was already around mid-day and it started getting a bit hot. I kept going to enter Wilmington, VT. This looked like a relatively good spot for lunch or to resupply but I wasn't in need of neither and I didn't want to be close to other people. We are still in pandemic after all.

A bit further down the main road I finally spotted National Forest Road 71 - my entry into Green Mountains. This is a fairly long road (23km or 14mi) that runs pretty much all the time through forest and has many free (legal) roadside camp spots.

I wasn't planning on staying there overnight. The spots were not particularly attractive. Most of them were very shady, moist, with muddy ground. They seemed to be designed for a quick overnight stop for car tourists.

It started raining very slightly. Nothing major. I kept going uphill for quite some time. My knees started to hurt slightly - might be my lack of training in mountains. Despite that I seemed to have a decent tempo the whole day - about 15km/h (9mph). That's enough for a touring pace.

Finally, I reached Stratton-Arlington Rd. It was close to 5PM at that point and I only had about 2.5hrs of sunlight left so I wanted to find my camping spot.

Camping in Green Mountain National Forest is free, but not always legal anywhere. Some places are clearly labeled as prohibited. The one good camping spot I had on mind was Grout Pond. Silly me not to do enough research about this place. It turned out to be a popular spot. There are multiple designated places to set up a tent but most of them were reserved! I had no idea that camping at Grout Pond isn't free (there is a fee to leave in a deposit box) and can be reserved online. Had I done my research, I would've reserved one too. I spent several minutes walking along the pond trying to find a spot that wasn't reserved but they all seemed occupied.

Finally, I got lucky. One spot was reserved for the following night but not the night I needed. It was empty. I studied all information carefully to confirm I was right. I didn't want anyone to suddenly show up and kick me out just before the sunset.

My camping spot was perfect. Right besides the pond, with a bench and a picnic table. All I had left for the day was to set up a tent, cook dinner and hang up food bag on a tree. This is officially recommended in order to avoid surprise night visits of Yogi Bear or his companions. Having encountered a black bear in that area 2 years ago, I would say the recommendations are reasonable.

The night was warm and quiet.

Day 2

I woke up at 6:30AM. That may seem like an early hour for some, but since I was in bed around 9PM (there isn't much else to do in a tent after sunset), it felt right. Morning was dull and very cloudy.

Anyway, I retrieved my food bag (no bears), made breakfast, packed up everything and by 7:20AM I was back on the road. The early riding hours were humid. There was not a slightest breeze in the forest and despite relatively cool morning I felt hot. Maybe because I was still moving uphill.

Fortunately, after every uphill comes a rewarding downhill and boy, this one was! The next 16km (10mi) was all downhill - about 35 minutes of coasting down the mountain on an unpaved road. Brilliant!

With sun out, it started getting hotter, but less humid again and soon I reached Bennington, VT. I had to resupply in water and some snacks and fortunately, a nearby convenience store solved that problem. I was then going to face the first major climb of the day - my plan was to go across the next mountain range and reach North Adams, MA.

Very soon the road started going uphill and then the pavement ended. For the next hour I kept riding and walking my bike (more of the latter than former) uphill. The first mile or two were on a rough dirt road but then it turned into ATV-only trail, with large rocks scattered all over the place. Well, at least the "road" was there and it wasn't flooded or muddy. Still, I spent a lot of time pushing the bike uphill and covered barely 7km (4mi) in an hour.

But again, that hill had to end somewhere and what came next was a crazy fast downhill ride all the way to North Adams. The next 9km (5.5mi) flew by in no more than 5 minutes!

Unfortunately, I wasn't done climbing for the day. I still had to go over Hoosac Range and the next climb started nearly as soon as the previous one ended. I was making my way slowly up on Mohawk Trail - a major paved road (Rt 2) with plenty of car traffic and in full sun. Not fun. I couldn't find a better way to reach Florida, MA (what a name!) from North Adams though. Well, at least this climb was a bit easier and with some rewarding views form the top.

After another long and steep downhill (Whitcomb Hill Rd - amazing!) I reached River Rd, where before continuing east, I decided to briefly ride up west and see the historic Hoosac Tunnel (Old railways are fun!). The rest of the trip was a smooth ride along Deerfield River, back to my car in Shelburne Falls.

Of course, I had to stop by at Hearty Eats and get some dinner. Even for non-vegetarians this place is a must-go.

I'm glad I had a chance to visit Western Massachusetts and Green Mountains. I should certainly explore that area a bit more. One final conclusion I made was that 115km (72mi) in one day seems like a bit too much in a very hilly terrain. It simply doesn't give me much time for longer rests stops and at a camping. Or maybe it's just my old bones talking.

Wear a helmet - it will save your head when your torso gets crushed by a truck

I was on the way back home from work one day when this happened:

 

- "You should wear a helmet. Or at least ride all the way to the right."

 

As I explained earlier, now in the times of Covid-19 I stopped using Minuteman Bikeway. It's too crowded and I feel safer on the road, even though car traffic seems to be back to normal. Having all drivers encapsulated in metal cans means that at least they don't exhale on me when I ride my bike alongside.

 

Anyway, the woman who spoke those words through the opened passenger side window seemed actually to be truly concerned. She looked worried that someone may hit me with a car and she thought the best solution in this situation was for me to put a styrofoam lid on. Sigh...

 

Unfortunately, as more and more Americans driving small cars and switch to SUVs, the effectiveness of bike helmets gets reduced even more. Not that they were particularly effective against speeding cars before, but now when cyclists are facing speeding trucks, helmets are more useless than ever.

 

Still, most people, like the woman quoted here, feel that helmets are some sort of a miracle car repellent. But Americans don't drive cars anymore - now they drive trucks instead. SUV sales have been booming in the United States, from 7% of vehicle sales in 1990 to an expected 50% in 2020. The vehicles used for daily commute by most Americans became larger, heavier and more powerful over the last 20 years. On top of that, they are deliberately designed to look aggressive and intimidating on road, which is accentuated by very tall, nearly vertical front, with hoods often much higher above the road than a roof of an ordinary sedan.

2020 Chevy Erector...uhm, I mean, Silverado. Ideal "car" for insecure males.

 

No helmet is going to protect you, when you are hit by a speeding wall - and that's what these comically oversized trucks essentially are. Unfortunately, motor industry doesn't care. They admitted that they "spent a lot of time making sure that when you stand in front of this thing it looks like it's going to come get you". 

And they do. United States is clearly heading in the wrong direction when it comes to pedestrian casualties. While European Union managed to reduce pedestrian deaths by nearly 40% within the last 12 years, U.S. increased it by 53% in about the same time frame. That's no surprise though. When Germany is planning on banning SUV in cities, recognizing they are terrible for pedestrians, cyclists and environment, America's automakers make sure nothing would disrupt them in selling huge trucks, such as a proposal to factor pedestrians into vehicle safety ratings.

Apparently, roads layered with dead bodies is the price we need to pay for American "freedom".

Too hot, too sunny

We humans love to complain. It's difficult to make us satisfied. I'm not different. When it's winter, I know it's supposed to be cold, icy and snowy. Yet, the longer winter lasts the more I keep thinking about those dry summer days when I don't have to worry about wet weather, mud and freezing hands.

But then summer comes quickly and I start complaining that it's too hot and too sunny. Actually, I'm one of those weird ones who would rather ride a bike when it's cold than hot. Anything above 75F (24C) is too much for me. I can't understand how people in my family can say they miss those 85F summer days. But they don't ride bikes, so maybe that explains it.

In fact, after years of cycling I came to a conclusion that the perfect cycling weather is 50-60F (10-15C), dry (no precipitation), not windy and partly cloudy. You don't need it to be any warmer when you're on a bike.

My biggest problem with summer cycling is the sun. There's too much of it. I overheat easily and even bringing enough water doesn't help. It's not so much about how much I drink, but about the constant exposure. I can't always ride in the shade and when I stay in the sunlight for too long my head overheats and I get bad headaches.

 

(Source: yehudamoon.com)

 

Thinking more about it, there are a few options I can try:

• wear a tinfoil hat to reflect the sunlight - out of the question for obvious reasons
• soak my hat with water periodically to keep my head cool
• ride very early in the morning, from dawn to the time before it gets too hot and sunny
• ride late in the evening, possibly into the night

The last three options look quite good on paper. Wearing a wet hat may work, but I'll be using a lot more of my drinking water this way.

Riding late in the evening is a good idea in general. Unfortunately, it would interfere with my family plans, since riding from, say, 4pm to 9pm means I would e.g. miss a family dinner.

Riding early in the morning is likely the best option here. I could be out at 5am and ride until 9am, which means I could be back for breakfast on time. Maybe I could even squeeze in a ride before work, on weekdays. The only problem of course is getting up before 5am - a bit too early for my taste, to be honest.

I'm going to give it a try. Meanwhile, if you know any reasonable options for riding in sunny weather, let me know in the comments.

"If you think you live in the perfect country, you really have no imagination"

It's difficult to write anything right now. I could just take it easy and put a black square on Instagram, but I decided to write something here instead.

You all know what this is about. It's about that pre-existing condition that America had from day one and even before. How long can one live with cancer that is growing slowly inside? At some point things are going to spill out.

I happened to live in three different countries in my life so far. I wasn't born here and my experiences and understanding is likely very different than the one of most Americans. But maybe this lets me look at this situation from a different angle. The main problem is - America has never tried to make peace with its past. Whether is the First Nations or people of color, their problems and harm done, have been continuously swept under the rug for decades. Instead of facing real issues, Americans just decided to tell themselves that they live in the "best country in the world".

Such patriotism rarely happens in Europe. In Germany for example, people are generally very aware of mistakes they did in the past and learned not to repeat them in the future. As such, you can't expect to walk the streets of Berlin with a Nazi flag in hand and not being arrested. But in the United States this is perfectly possible, in the name of "freedom".

Freedom and egoism are two words I could describe Americans with. People here have a very different concept of freedom. While in Europe we know that personal freedom can't often go above and beyond the freedom of the whole nation, Americans are being very selfish. This is why you recently heard things like "It's a free country and you can't make me wear a mask!", but it's also why any solutions that could potentially benefit the nation as whole are so difficult to implement here. Americans just somehow don't have the same feeling of being a part of one nation as many Europeans do. While Germans or Danes may agree that public preschools and universal healthcare are good for them because they're good for everyone, Americans in their selfish way would say "Why should I pay for public school from my taxes if I don't have any kids?".

While Finland, Denmark or Iceland are in the top happiest countries in the world, United States will have a serious difficulty ever getting to the podium. We focus on entirely different values here - money, wealth, career, consumption - and we stack cards in favor of those few who want to pursue those values at all cost: corporations. The rest, like many Americans of color, become victims of this system.

It's time to change this. If all lives matter, then why do some matter less then the others?

***

"But wait, I came here to read about bikes. How does it even relate to bicycles?" - you may think.

It does. Our police force efficiency is rated by the number of tickets written and arrests made, which makes cops naturally seek the weakest targets in order to improve statistics. These could be people of color or it could be bicyclists. NYPD is being especially "productive" here, responding typically with yet another "cyclists crackdown" and absolving drivers of any responsibility after nearly every car-bicycle collision in New York City.

This approach to policing somehow reminds me of communist police states in 1980's Eastern Europe. Police is then no longer a service to people - a formation to protect the citizens and enforce the law, but becomes a tool of oppression by the government. How come the freedom-loving Americans can ever tolerate this?

Bear Brook State Park and my muddy misfortunes

"He chose poorly"

- Guardian of The Holy Grail

After the long month of April, when air temperature never exceeded 70F (21C) and frequent rains soaked the soil like a sponge, the warmer weather has finally arrived. Unfortunately, plenty of sun and clear skies mean that now, in the middle of Covid-19 pandemic and after sitting at home for weeks, everyone wants to be outside. This presents a major problem - how to enjoy cycling, yet stay away from people?

Obviously, the solution is to ride somewhere where people don't go. That's easier said than done. Here, in Eastern Massachusetts, we simply don't have enough non-urbanized space and truly remote locations.

For this reason, last weekend I decided to travel just across the border, to New Hampshire, and visit places around Bear Brook State Park. I figured that this forested area is large enough that even if more people show up later in the day, I should be able to social-distance myself just fine.

It all started quite well. I drove up to Auburn, NH and left my car right next to the popular Rockingham Recreational Trail. At 7AM the trail was still empty and after a short ride, I left the trail to move north, along Tower Hill Pond. At the early hour I encounter only a few guys fly fishing and a couple of dog walkers. However, then my route took me by North Candia Rd into Bear Brook State Park and this is where things started getting dicey.

Routes through the parts are something like a cross between dirt roads and hiking trails and can get very muddy and rocky in places. I can't say I enjoyed "roads" consisting entirely of ankle-deep mud or those very steep trials looking more like someone just dumped a truckload of rocks there. I didn't enjoy them because you can't really ride your bike there. I had to do quite a bit of walking instead.

The situation has improved once I reached Podunk Rd - a fast, wide dirt road. Then, I continued along Lane Trail, which turned out to be a popular mountain bikers' destination, judging from tire tracks in the sand. Fortunately, the trail was still empty, even though it was already close to noon time. As such, I kept maintaining a proper social distance.

Soon enough, I left the park and arrived at Epsom and at that point I thought the rest of the route should be easier. But I was wrong. Once I reached North Pembroke Rd things went south really quickly. As it turned out all roads around Whittemore Town Forest are actually ATV trails - very frequently used ATV trails, to be clear. That makes them completely ruined for anyone not on an ATV. Look, I realize that ATVs are "fun", but from a perspective of a cyclist (or a mountain biker) they are scourge to anyone who doesn't share the same type of fun. Honestly, I don't like drowning in mud or wading across giant puddles just because someone thinks cutting deep tracks in soil with massive tires is the best way to kill some time.

I was really glad I finally reached safety of Route 3, even though it was a bit busy with the usual car traffic. At this point I was really tired of muddy trails and I was glad to be rolling on a regular road - Chester Turnpike. Unfortunately, the regularity of this road quickly became much less regular and became a very rough, muddy (again!) ATV trail. Even worse, a good chunk of it was completely flooded so I had no choice but to take shoes off and carry my bike over.

Chester Turnpike (no kidding!)

Once I was through this mess, I entered Tower Hill Pond area again, but since it was early afternoon and very sunny, the place was then packed with cars and people. No chance of maintaining any social distance in such conditions, so I evacuated myself ASAP and went back home.

 

Thanks for the advice!

In my search for new places to ride and places that are free of cars and people, I have a bad tendency to choose poorly. Too often I end up in the middle of a swamp. Too often I have to walk my bike. Eastern Massachusetts is not exactly famous for open dirt roads with no car traffic - somewhere where you could just ride and enjoy the view. My only option is to either embrace the paved road or venture out farther. Much farther.

Version 2.0

This new virus reality sucks. It's been 7 weeks of social distancing so far and it doesn't look like end of it is near. I'm trying to find some positives about this situation but there aren't many. Not being able to attend family parties every weekend is actually one of them.

Another one is cleaner air. When car traffic dropped dramatically, many cities reported a significant improvement in air quality.  People in India can see the Himalayas, while citizens of Los Angeles have the longest stretch of clean air since 1980.

 

Before and after - cleaner air in India due to reduction in car traffic (Source: CNN)

 

When I see pictures like this I think that people are the virus and Covid-19 is the cure. You can get roughly the same impression from this excellent short animated movie - What On Earth! 

 

Anyway, I realize it's increasingly challenging for many folks out there. Unemployment is through the roof. Economy has slowed down to a crawl. In my case though, my work keeps me very busy and one thing I regret is that I cannot simply do things I love as much as I would like.

 

Going on a bike ride is difficult. We are having a cool April, which means that every warm and sunny day results in hundreds of people going outside, walking, riding bikes, running, and playing. Everyone is waiting for warmer weather, but on top of that, people don't want to be stuck at home forever so they go out - all at once.

It's not easy to find safe places to ride. Ideally, I should just visit a deep, remote forest (not many of those here in Eastern Massachusetts), otherwise there's no guarantee I won't encounter a large group of "roadies" riding together (I guess they didn't hear the news), just like this morning.

After this virus is over, we need to restart into a newer, better reality. We need Version 2.0.

Cancelled and postponed

Day 23 of my quarantine.

 

Everything is cancelled or postponed but after the early panic period things seem to stabilize a bit. It's easier to find food in grocery stores and some toilet paper rolls. I could never understand why one of the first items to quickly disappear from stores were cooking oil, ketchup and toilet paper. Seriously, how many liters of oil do you think you need to keep at home to survive?

Apparently, with the weather getting warmer we can count on the situation to improve, since the virus doesn't live too long at elevated temperatures. Unfortunately, it would have to be well into the eighties (or over 30C) to have a meaningful effect, which means we may need to wait until June.

I guess that in order for things to get better, they will have get way worse first. Something tells me we are still about to reach the peak of this pandemic and judging by people's behavior, I don't think I'm wrong. Since all playgrounds and play fields are closed, on every warmer day there are masses of people going hiking in parks and forests. The tiny Whipple Hill Forest in Arlington must be packed on weekends, as evidenced by the number of cars parked all over the place.

Because I have to visit my workplace on some days, for limited time, I went back to taking the Minuteman Bikeway to work again, ... only to abandon it ASAP. It feels strange to write this, but now, with so little traffic on roads, it's actually safer to take a road without any proper cycling infrastructure, than to ride on the Minuteman Bikeway. All because the roads are empty, while the Bikeway is packed with people. Social distancing? Not so much.

I understand that in order to retain any level of sanity in the current situation one must go outside once a while. Even in the middle of pandemic I don't want to completely give up on cycling. Given the situation, the best thing I could do is to ride in more remote places, where I know I won't likely see anyone.

Stay safe. Stay healthy.

What happens at deer camp, stays at deer camp

What a weird time to be alive. I've been sitting at home for what feels like forever (actually just over a week), things have been pretty quiet outside, no school, low traffic, people trying to avoid each other and, of course, ... shortages of toilet paper.

Anyway, the last weekend I had a long-planned trip to Vermont and at first I questioned whether I should still go. I would be spending 2 full days in a group of 10 people after all - and that's maybe not the best idea in times of social distancing. But then, I thought that since most of these people would be from rural Vermont and I likely have a higher chance of catching any illness by just going to my local grocery store, I decided it should be safe to go.

The "2020 Eira Experience" organized by Analog Cycles, was originally planned as a fatbike ride through the snowy Green Mountains of Vermont. However, since this winter has been unusually warm, there was no snow left, not counting a few frozen patches deep in the forest. We did face plenty of very mushy mud though and some flooded trails.

Since I don't own a fatbike, I decided to rent one and generally, it worked great. We rolled through some soggy snowmobile trails and often (ok, way too often), we pushed bikes uphill. Basically, it was lots of pushing and crawling.

Finally, we reached our camp for the night - a hunting camp in "secret location". It was cozy and warm, with a large wood-burning stove in the middle.

We ate tacos, shared stories, drank bourbon laced with maple syrup and sat by the fire. (Plus some of us decided to consume mezcal grubs for a midnight snack.)

The next day morning was noticeably colder, with only 23F (-5C) outside. We had breakfast, slowly packed up and head back to the shop. It was a great way to break up this winter, even though it unfortunately had to happen in the middle of virus outbreak.

Let the warmer days arrive.

How to deal with the size problem?

Looking at the recent news, it's becoming very clear that our cities are having a serious size problem, that is, cars became too large, to the point when they present a serious danger to anyone on the outside of a car.
 

Just look around you the next time you're out on a street. It feels like at least a third of all cars are "Stadtpanzer", as Germans call them - "city tanks". Their drivers may feel safer, even though this large size doesn't necessarily translate into excellent crash test ratings. However, these massive SUVs are 28% more likely to kill other drivers in a crash (which is still an improvement as it used to be 132% more!).

For pedestrians, these numbers are a lot higher - if you're hit by a small, lightweight sedan, chances are you end up with broken legs and you would be thrown on top of the hood. But if you're hit by a large SUV, your torso gets crushed and you typically end up under the car. One doesn't need to be an expert to picture what is worse.
 

Then, there are trucks - something Americans just love to death. The death of anyone who happens to end up in front of the hood, of course. American trucks may be dependable workhorses, but unfortunately they were not designed for city use.

The 2020 Chevy Silverado HD (seen advertised during this NFL football game) seems specially-designed to make people in front of this wall of truck invisible. pic.twitter.com/FibNLs2cUF

— big trucktural change (@bikepedantic) January 12, 2020

The biggest problem with American trucks are their ridiculously high hoods - often as high above the ground as a roof of regular sedan. This may work fine on an open highway, but is extremely dangerous in crowded cities. The blind zone ahead is simply enormous. In a recent experiment, KidsAndCars.org showed how large this blind zone can be by placing sitting children in front of a typical, large family SUV.

It took 9 kids, sitting in a row, to finally notice the top of the head of the last one of them, from behind the steering wheel. This really gives you a good idea how badly our modern SUVs are designed. And pick-up trucks are even worse.

No wonder more and more cities are planning on banning large SUVs. I read earlier about Berlin limiting access of "Stadtpanzer" into the city center. Then European Transport Safety Council has urged all cities to do the same.

But that's in Europe. Here in America we are still in love affair with cars - the larger the better. And nothing seems like this romance is going to end. Just yesterday, GMC decided to revive the most obnoxious, anti-city tank ever introduced - the Hummer, as a 1000hp electric vehicle. Coming soon to your neighborhood street.

 

When it comes to cars, we are still taking a completely ass-backwards approach.