Commuting -- Impacts on air quality and your wallet

EPA lowered the air quality standard for ozone by 10 points, from an 8-hour rolling average of 85 parts per billion (ppb) to 75 ppb this week.

As part of ADEQ's ongoing internal environmental management system, we evaluate the agency's potential impact/footprint on the local environment. After some 30 years at our old location near Geyer Springs Road in SW Little Rock, we moved in August 2007 to our new campus in North Little Rock's Northshore industrial park, near the Maumelle exit on I-430. In doing so, we consolidated the staff from six different locations to a single campus. As many employees had settled in communities convenient to the old work site, commute distances changed for many... either longer or shorter. To evaluate the potential impact of this, a table was made showing the address, city, and ZIP code for each current employee, each address was plotted using Google Maps, and the distance of the optimum route from that location to 5301 Northshore Drive, NLR, (as calculated by Google Maps) was calculated and recorded. Subtracting out duplicate addresses, the remainder was summed to determine a total, one-way commute distance.

As of the time of the study (February, 2008) there are 304 employees at the North Little Rock campus. Assuming that employees who share the same address travel together (12 cases), the one-way daily commuting mileage for ADEQ employees is 5,280 miles one way, for a total of 10,560 miles commuted per business day. In rough figures, it's 17.4 miles per employee per day (using the arithmetic mean, (e.g. dividing 10,560 by the number of drivers). The median is 16 miles; the mode is 9 miles.

Assuming an average efficiency of 18 miles per gallon of gas (we have lots of pickup trucks out in the parking lot, including mine), this is roughly equates to the consumption of 587 gallons of gas per day, or $1,853 at the price down at the corner gas station on Maumelle Boulevard ($3.159 as of 7:10 a.m this morning).

In terms of air emissions, this fuel consumption equates to, on a per day basis:
• 11,740 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2)/greenhouse gases emitted; plus
• 347 pounds of carbon monoxide (CO)
• 46.1 pounds of nitrogen oxides (NOX)
• 41.7 pounds of stray, incompletely combusted hydrocarbons.

ADEQ employees live in 38 different communities as shown below:



In addition to these, at least one employee lives in the communities of Alexander, Bee Branch, Bigelow, Cammack Village, Carlisle, Carthage, Center Ridge, Dardanelle, Edgemont, El Dorado, Hot Springs Village, Jacksonville, Morrilton, Roland, Shannon Hills, Tucker, and Vilonia.

Excel's histogram function was used to group commuters by distance traveled (also one-way):



At a quick glance, the shortest commute is 1.7 miles (one way) by someone who lives just off Crystal Hill Road; the longest commute (not counting our stray guy from El Dorado (127 miles each way)) is 72.7 miles from just north of Greer's Ferry Lake (also one-way). Distances were estimated using the route option on Google Maps; for the dozen or so sites that wouldn't plot, I used the average distance for others in that area.

This just relates to getting to and from work... it doesn't count the impact of those who leave the campus for the noon meal, and does not take into account any intermediate stops along the way, e.g. for shopping or whatever purpose.

(Emissions were calculated using factors from the Colorado PH&E Department (e.g., one gallon of gasoline burned emits 20.35 pounds of CO2; per-mile vehicle emissions are 14.9 grams/mile for CO, 1.98 g/mi for NOx, and 1.79 g/mi for hydrocarbons. Grams were then converted to pounds for the more familiar unit of measure.)

ADEQ's business operations, especially the vehicle fleet, have been tracked over the past three years as one of our environmental indicators. Historically, the performance measures have been 1) amount of gasoline consumed; and 2) transitioning to a more fuel-efficient fleet.

Currently ADEQ has 118 motor vehicles (and 3 bass boats, used for water sample collection and similar needs), 31 of which are based at the NLR offices. Fuel usage is trending down slightly (from 78,182 gallons in 2005 to 75,175 in 2007) and the mileage efficiency has remained about the same... an average of 18.9 in 2005 to the current value, 19.3 mpg. Mileage has not been tracked as an indicator, but dividing 75K gallons by 19.3 mpg for 2007, we roughly got 4,051 miles on the fleet vehicles during the year... less than a single day's commuting impact.

For the record, here’s a figure from the Sept.-Oct. 2007 issue of the League’s magazine, American Bicyclist, that shows how Americans get to work, at least as they claimed in the census survey in March 2000.



Arkansas’s figures are a good bit higher – in the Little Rock metro area, more than 81% drive alone, and less than 1% (well. 0.9%) take public transportation. Housing is pretty plentiful and cheap here. The long running, 50+ year old controversy in the school system has taken its toll as well, as many move to the outlying areas simply to keep their children out of the Little Rock school system.

There’s no quick and easy solution at this point. Naturally, I would suggest cycling to work as a way to help out. My daily commute to the office is 24.7 miles, one way, up a bit from the 21 miles I did to the old office site off Geyer Springs. The distance by bicycle, using the River Trail system, is 23.4 miles, driveway to driveway, but passes through a long stretch of Highway 165 between I-440 and Rose City that is one of the least bike-friendly routes around. Narrow or no shoulders, definitely no bike accommodations, and populated with a host of aggressive drivers who don’t look out much for each other, much less cyclists.

Our public transportation system isn’t much help, either. CATA has made great progress in the past year in the core area of the city, adding bike racks to all the buses. And to their credit, nearly every bus I’ve seen go by in the past couple of months has a bike in the rack. But CAT only has 58 buses in their fleet, and they’re saturated running the routes they currently offer. They run the “Maumelle Express” twice in the morning and three times during the afternoon rush hours.

Light rail has been mentioned as a possible solution to parallel the pending upgrade of I-630. But any progress along those lines is likely years in the future.

And, to sweeten the deal, EPA announced yesterday that they will be lowering the ozone standards from the current level of 85 ppb to 75 ppb. This means that Pulaski County and the LR metro area will likely be declared to be in “non-attainment” in the very near future. Look for folks to be getting a lot more serious about Ozone Action Days this summer…

Cycling Goodies & Cookie lessons

One of the traditions in the Division over the past year has been an “employee appreciation” meeting, where the supervisors prepare and bring in some sort of treat for a Division-wide snack party. This tries to build on the old quarterly potlucks and especially the monthly get-togethers that we had in the old Inactive Sites Branch… It’s having mixed success, but it certainly has nothing to complain about on the quality of the various goodies brought to the conference table.

The last one was back around the first of September, when I was freshly back from the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred, and pretty fired up about cycling in general. Cyclists and bananas go well together, and the theme was “cheesecakes”… so I came up with a recipe for banana cheesecake, with a gingersnap crust, since I was too lazy to separate and split that many Oreo cookies for a chocolate crust… no matter how eager Sam was to help me lick the filling off the cookie pieces.

This quarter’s theme was “cookies.” I’m not a cookie person at all, but I do like oatmeal cookies, especially the chewy kind. And that being said, I'm not too bad in the kitchen (with the many years of bachelorhood, I haven't missed too many meals), but I'm not much on baking, or actually making cookies. But the quarterly Division snack parties are a throwdown between the Chief and us branch managers, so it was time to learn... With the help of our branch’s resident sous chef, I combined two or three different recipes to blend fruit (also good for cyclists) into an oatmeal cookie.

The results, all made from scratch, were pretty darned good. I have always claimed I don’t like cookies, but I really like these things. The result is very much like a Clif Bar, and a whole lot more tasty:

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies

Ingredients:

(wet) 1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

(dry) 4 cups quick-cook oatmeal
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

6 to 8 ripe bananas
1 bag chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks)

Melt the butter, and whisk in the sugar, honey, eggs, vanilla extract and water until you have a smooth, homogeneous syrup.

While the butter is melting, mash/puree the bananas.

Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients and stir until blended. Add the bananas and chocolate chips, and stir some more, until well blended.

Allow the batter to chill in the refrigerator for about an hour or so.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Version 2 of the recipe (the banana oatmeal bars are all consumed save for three put away for tomorrow’s ride) is resting in the refrigerator to set and let the flavors soak in a bit… I substituted a bag of blackberries for the bananas (Kroger was out of raspberries, my initial idea & intent). Run thru a blender – since the pureed fruit helps out with putting some liquid in the batter, making it a soft, chewy cookie/bar -- the batter is nearly blood red and undoubtedly would be good for Christmas recipes, or maybe pairing with a blueberry batter for the patriotic summer holidays coming up…

The blackberry version is history, too... I like the banana ones a little better, but the blackberry ones got rave comments too. Think I'll watch the fruit section, and try a raspberry version next...

Critical Manners, BACA, and the National Bike Summit

Tonight marks the 5th Critical Manners ride in downtown Little Rock. Cold weather in January and February have kept the numbers down a bit, to the point where it's been mostly me and Willa out there aggravating the local motorists with our presence on the streets. Willa and a sizable portion of the BACA Board are in Washington, DC this week at the National Bike Summit, so it will probably be an even smaller crowd this evening as well, but we'll be out there at least making our presence known and getting motorists accustomed to seeing cyclists behaving nicely.

Jonathan Maus, the director of Bike Portland, is also attending the Summit and keeping us stay-at-homes updated via the group's web site. It's a good means to get the gist of what's going on up there, at least until the local folks come back to share their experience. The Bike Summit is being held at the Ronald Reagan buliding, which houses a number of the functional offices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Note: EPA's administrative and media specific program staff groups are called "Offices..." not just the real estate where these folks work.)

I was particularly interested to see Maus' description and photograph's of EPA's bike storage area, since a significant number of the EPA staff are bike commuters.

ADEQ is EPA's local counterpart here in Arkansas, and recently won BACA's "Bike Friendly" award for January '08 for the fitness facilities and bike-friendly conveniences built into the agency's new headquarters building in North Little Rock's Northshore Industrial Park.

Our facilities aren't as large or as fancy as EPA's, but then the cycling culture and convenience in Little Rock/North Little Rock isn't as well ingrained as it is in DC yet. Here's part of our bike parking area as it appeared last fall:



... and a little closer look at one of the racks themselves:



Daylight Savings Time, and hopefully warmer weather should be around the corner, and with it strong encouragement to use our Bike-To-Work options more, not only to save gas money ($3.16 per gallon this morning at the two closest stations on Crystal Hill Road), but to reduce our significant footprint on central Arkansas's air quality as well.

Coming soon, an analysis of the impact of commuting by one state agency...

March Road I "Street Cycling" Course

Location: River Trail Rentals, intersection of Riverfront Drive and Olive Street (one block south of Alltel Arena, just inside the flood wall), North Little Rock, AR 72116. Course fee: $50. (Scholarships can be available if money’s a problem… call the instructor.) Meet on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Contact Tom at tomezell@aristotle.net or by phone at (501) 912-1047 for a class schedule or for more information on the course. The course material and class outline is available at http://pscyclepath.blogspot.com.

JUST WHAT IS “ROAD I”?
“Road I” is the adult bicycling skills course offered by the League of American Bicyclists, and taught by League-certified cycling instructors. It covers basic bicycle selection and fitting, fixing flat tires, inspecting a bicycle for safety, understanding state and local traffic laws, communicating with motorists, riding safely through traffic on various types of streets and intersections, selecting gear for foul weather and night riding, and avoiding crashes using defensive riding and emergency maneuvers. Even experienced bicyclists will learn many useful skills from this course.

If you are new to bicycling, or would like to feel more safe and comfortable riding on the local streets and roads, you will find this course especially helpful. Road I is a 10-hour course divided into two sessions, a block of classroom instruction and discussion, and a block of practice and practical exercise on the bike. Most of the class is hands-on, including bicycling on an open parking lot and on neighborhood streets. Anyone who registers should plan to attend both sessions. Participation is by pre-registration only.

River Trails Rentals is our host for this class, which will not only be a great and convenient location, but also a good chance to show off their facilities and what they can do for the local cycling community.

Friday Night, March 7 -- Street Cycling Skills: About 4 hours in the classroom using discussion, demonstrations, computer presentations, and videos. Street Skills covers the basics for skilled and enjoyable cycling, including riding in the Little Rock metropolitan area, necessary equipment, hazard and crash avoidance, and your legal rights and responsibilities. A bicycle is not required for this part of the course, but you may want to bring your helmet, since we will be covering helmet fitting in this session.

Saturday Morning, March 8 -- Street Cycling Skills Practice: About 5 hours. Prerequisite: Successful completion of Part 1- Street Cycling Skills. Most of this class will be on the bike. Street Cycling Skills Practice provides an opportunity to apply what was learned in the Street Cycling Skills course. We will be learning and practicing emergency maneuvers in an open parking lot, and will ride in a variety of Little Rock traffic conditions to practice and demonstrate your knowledge and performance of vehicular cycling skills. Street Cycling Skills Practice includes a written multiple choice test and a riding skills evaluation on the streets of Little Rock. For this course, you will need to show up with a helmet that fits and a bike that fits and is in good working order.

A traditional road or mountain bike with multiple speeds is an ideal bike to use for this class. However, any type of bike is okay -- if you have to ride a recumbent for whatever reason, bring your recumbent. Some of the hazard avoidance drills that we will be doing are best learned on a traditional road or mountain bike with front and rear brakes. A freewheel bike is easier to learn on and is less likely to cause you to crash. And remember, this class will be focusing a lot on how not to crash, or how to get out of a crash situation – not to give you practical experience in crashing!

Don’t have a bike yet? No problem. Our host, River Trail Rentals, can provide a bike and helmet at for a nominal fee for you to practice with.

Road I is a course that you can complete equally as comfortably in your cycling team kit or your regular street clothes. Bike gloves and bike clothing might make you a little more comfortable on the bike, but are by no means required for the class. We aren't going to ride a long distance at a strenuous pace. We are just going to do some riding practice, in open parking lots and on residential and downtown streets at an easy pace. Anything you can ride in is fine.

If there is rain in the forecast, come prepared. Relax, it is just part of the ride. We’ll stop for lunch in the River Market area toward the end of Saturday’s ride, and then finish up with the evaluations (yes, you get to grade Tom, too!) and head back to the start point for graduation.

An Alley Cat dies in Chicago

This past Sunday’s ABC group ride was a lot of fun. I was running a little late to the start after a bit of delay in shift change for Dad Watch, and so as I rolled up to the I-430 trailhead, everybody else was starting to roll out. I spun around the circle and poured on a little bit of gas, and caught up to the bunch just before they crossed Jimerson Creek.

There was a bit of a breeze blowing down the river valley, and we were rolling happily along, merging onto Rebsamen Park Road and chatting briefly about BACA projects and volunteers for the upcoming Trails Symposium in November, when I heard a little bit of clatter to the rear, and the Fast Girls Slow Guys came blowing by in a fast double paceline. Roman yelled, “hey, Tom, let’s jump on – catch the draft!”

After a couple seconds thought, I stood on the pedals and accelerated up to catch the tail end of the line, with Roman on my wheel. Rolling along about 22-23 mph, I was pretty pleased how we could hang, without a whole lot of effort… and we’d just accept the tow up to the front group of ABC. We caught them just before the turn onto Riverfront Drive, and kept rolling. FGSG apparently had some new riders who were pushing hard to keep up with the pace, and were a little squirrelly, so I backed off from the wheel I was following to give some reaction space. A little ways down Riverfront, the pack raised the pace a little bit, and then spread all over the road… taking up not only the bike lane but both traffic lanes. Little Rock is the one city in Arkansas that has not only a mandatory bike lane (MBL) and as-far-right-as practical laws as well as an ordinance prescribing riding no more than two abreast. We were way beyond legal at that point, so I dropped off the back of the pack and sat up, waiting for the ABC group to catch up. But it was fun for awhile!

I put the bike in the big ring and kept it there all through the ride, and then went back and did another loop for a total of a little more than 55 miles for the day at a little over 15 mph average, and still felt good at the end of the ride. Heading home to feed the dog, log the ride on BikeJournal.com, and rest up a bit, the BikeJournal news forum reported that a cyclist had been struck and killed in Chicago that very morning.

Apparently, this rider was part of a pack of 40+ riders taking part in a stage of the “Tour da Chicago,” an “alleycat” (e.g., illegal and unsanctioned) road race through the city streets of downtown Chicago. The pack was scorching down Lincoln Avenue, blowing every stop sign and traffic sign on the route, and then at a three-street, six-way intersection they blew another red light as an SUV entered the intersection on the green light. The driver managed to miss the first four riders in the pack, but struck the 5th guy squarely. He died there – painfully – and with lots of witnesses, in the middle of that intersection

The Chicago Sun Times and the Tribune covered the story on Monday morning.

More details were available on a Chicago club bulletin board, as well as the Bicycling Magazine web forums.

More background on the fellow who was killed:

And And as folks are noticing, the Tour da Chicago has a long legacy of lawless racing.

FGSG has tamed down a lot from their early days of racing on the River Trail, but still have a strong reputation of recklessness. I remember being run off the trail and into the bushes a time or three back in those days, and finally learned to avoid the area on their ride days, or simply time my departure for after they had already gone up the road. I felt a very little guilty for hopping onto the train for awhile Sunday, and then sobered up a bit with the Chicago news.

Fast riding is fun, and bike racing has got to be one of the biggest thrills you can have on two wheels. But this should be saved for the open rural roads, and for events where controls have been set up to minimize the risks. Bikes are covered under the same laws that prohibit racing on the highways. Not the least, these big packs of cyclists, recklessly spread across the entire traffic lane, hugging or crossing the center line to ride against oncoming traffic, and generally disregarding traffic laws are the worst example that we can show to other lawful or mostly lawful road users. That’s what gets tempers inflamed, road rage ignited, and anti-cyclist letters written to newspaper editors and public officials.

Traffic laws apply to you as a cyclist just like they do when you’re driving a car. As the Principle says, “cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles.”

And if you make a habit of running stop signs and red lights, you are eventually going to get hit. Might be today, maybe not… maybe next week… how lucky do you feel today?

Matt Manger-Lynch’s luck ran out at approximately 10:15 Sunday morning. A chef and caterer by trade, he leaves behind a wife, two young children, and a promising business.

Ya’ll do be careful out there…

The Bicycle Thief

The Bike Ed lesson at last week’s BACA meeting got pre-empted when things ran overtime, so here’s the lecture notes, less the PowerPoint glitz and glamour…


One of the great classic foreign films concerns a poor Italian worker and his family in post WW2 Rome, whose bicycle – which he depends upon to get back and forth to work – is stolen by a gang of thieves. It’s a wonderful little character study.

And yes, fellow Pscyclists, there are bears and bike thieves right here in River City.



(This illustration also serves to demonstrate one of the reasons the League Bike Ed curriculum insists you do the ABC Quick-Check each and every time you get on your bike. You never know who may have been messing with it.)

It only takes a moment's inattention or carelessness for your beloved ride to disappear. And it can be a long walk home.First, get a good locking system. U-Locks are best, cable locks are okay, provided that the cable is armored, and at least 3/8" (10 mm) in diameter. Also an excellent choice is what they call the "New York chain." Best of all is to use a U-lock in combination with a chain or cable lock. "Cross-locking" like this requires that the thief use at least two different kinds of tools to get past your security and spend a lot more time doing it. If the thief sees your bike is cross-locked, hopefully he'll move on in search of easier pickings.

Many lock manufacturers offer a guarantee where they'll pay back at least part of the value of the bike if you did use (and register) their product, and can show that the thief was able to break thru it. The better the lock, the better the guarantee.

Do NOT fool around with the little bitty cables or plastic-covered chains you see fot $5 or $6 at Wal-Mart or the big box stores unless you bought your bike there, too. These won't stand up for a second to a thief with a "master key" (read: a big-arsed pair of bolt cutters).

Now, realize that no lock is foolproof. Given time, a dedicated thief can get through. Cycling Plus magazine ran tests against a series of bike locks a couple of years ago. Even the most reliable, the Kryptonite “Fahgeddaboudit” New York U-lock and chain showed that the U-Lock held up 10 minutes against a powered grinder/cutter, the New York Chain held out for 8 minutes before they were able to cut through it. And absent the use of power tools, attempts to pry the even the cheap U-locks open usually ruined or bent the bike’s frame before the lock gave way.

Your first choice should be a quality U-Lock. As I mentioned, the Kryptonite “Fahgeddaboudit” and the New York 3000 are about the top of the line as far as resistance, even to power tools. These run somewhere between $60 to $80 apiece. If you don’t live in New York, or on the ghetto side of town, a really good deal is the OnGuard “Bulldog” U-Lock. This lock stands up to the Kryptonite NYC 3000 in every respect except resistance to power tools. The one I have cost $29 at Arkansas Cycling & Fitness (Chainwheel has them too), and came in a package deal with a 3-foot armored cable so that you can cross-lock your bike.

If the Kryptonite lock is a little too rich, even the inexpensive U-locks (Wal-Mart sells them for $9.45) are still really good locks. And even a cheap lock is far, far better than No lock at all.

The limit to U-locks, though, is that you’re limited in what you can actually lock up to – a parking meter, a steel railing or fence post, etc. If you’re needing to anchor to a light pole or telephone pole, you’ll need something longer, like a chain or cable, to wrap around the key parts of your bike, plus the pole.

Probably the best deal is Kryptonite’s “New York Chain;” bike messengers and other cyclists in high-crime areas swear by it. It's heavy like any other three foot chain, but the square link design (quad chain) makes it harder for bolt cutters to get a good angle on the chain. Just like a krypto chain is essential for an NYC messenger so are bolt cutters to an NYC thief. Quad chains force a bolt cutter's blade to put pressure down on at least one corner of a chain link, so that a thief risks denting the blade of his cutters by trying to clip a quad chain. Another advantage of the chain is that you can lock up to more than just a thin pole. You can also lock up multiple bikes and even use the chain for other uses.

With protection comes a penalty – weight. The Kryptonite and OnGuard U-locks above weigh a little more than 4 pounds apiece; and the Kryptonite NY Chain came in at a whomping 9 pounds. The OnGuard lock I looped thru the cable and wore it slung across my shoulder, the NY Chain may work the same for skinny folks, for a Clydesdale like me, it might wrap around the waist, or it can go in a bike trunk. I tried it in a handlebar bag on an urban test ride, and the weight of the chain dragged the bag down to the point it started rubbing the front tire..



While I'm fond of my New York Chain, the derned thing weights as much as my road bike does, so it does little for being a weight weinie... Makes a good set of brass knuckles too, if you should be accosted by some of the local hoodlums and bridge trolls that sometimes frequent lonely and not-so-lonely spots along the River Trail.

If you can't stay within arm's reach of your bike, then you need to lock it up. Where you choose to lock up can make a big difference in your chances of getting ripped off. Park away from other bikes, but out in the open where people (and hopefully, you) can see or watch the bike, and people pass very close to it. Parking in an isolated corner, or in a host of other bikes at the rack gives the thief cover -- either time to work at breaking your lock, or letting him look like just another cyclist getting "his" bike.

Lock up to something fixed, solid, and immovable... Some cities and businesses provide thick metal racks embedded into or bolted to the sidewalk. These are generally safe to use, making sure that you check that no one's been fiddling with the bolts that hold the rack down. Don't lock up to something that's easy to pick up and move, like simply chaining two bikes together, a door handle, wooden fence post, or a small tree.

Chaining or cabling up to a parking meter or sign post can be chancy -- a thief can remove the sign and slide your bike & lock over the top... or they can even pull up the pole and slide it out... no matter how you have it locked. If you're going to take this option, poles with several signs on them are a better choice, or pick something like a light pole or telephone pole.

For the same reason, lock to parking meters only if you're using a U-Lock; never with a chain or cable, since the thief need only slide your bike over the top.If you do lock up with a chain or cable, don't make it easy -- wrap the cable as tightly as possible.

Lock up the whole bike -- your U-lock or cable should go not only around the pole or bike rack, but also through your bike frame and both wheels if possible. Never lock thru just the wheel without going thru the frame, too -- or vice versa. If you have quick-release wheels, thief can undo them and make off with your frame, or on the other hand, with your wheels, in less than a heartbeat. If cross-locking, put one lock thru your frame and rear wheel, then run the cable up thru the frame and front wheel.

If you're using a U-lock, you want to fill the lock with as much as possible so the thief doesn't have any room or leverage in there for a pry bar, which is what they'll often try to use to pop the lock. This is also the same principle you follow when you wrap your chain or cable tightly. Position the lock itself where a thief can't place it up against a hard surface and try to bust it by smacking it with a hammer.

Looking thru the local message forums reporting stolen bikes, a large majority of the mountain bikes here are stolen from garages and carports. Nationally, more than 20% of bike thefts happen from places of residence. If you keep your bike in your garage, in the basement, on the porch, or just out in the yard somewheres, LOCK IT UP!

Okay... all this is bitter advice, and after investing in one of those super-secure OnGuard Bulldog locks with the half-inch armored cable tossed into the deal, I got in a hurry and neglected to put the lock on one evening a couple of months ago when I was running late for a meeting . Popping back out of the restaurant, the bike ain't there no more.

First of all, call the cops in the community where your bike was stolen, and report the theft. Get a police report number, since you'll need this later for dealing with the insurance agents, and in the odd case that your bike is recovered, to help show that the found bike is 1) yours and 2) hot property. Include a description of your bike and the bike's serial number in this report. If you don't know your bike's serial number, you can probably get that from the LBS where you bought the bike. Me, being a numbers freak, I keep a registry of my bike serial numbers in my training logs, and as a backup, keep a photo of each bike and the serial number in my profile on BikeJournal.com.

Look around on the ground to see if there's anything left of your bike lock, and keep these parts. You'll need 'em to show the police, your friendly insurance adjuster, and the lock manufacturer, provided there's a guarantee on your lock.

Here in mostly-urban, highly-minority Pulaski County, stolen bikes are not a real big priority with the local cops. They don't even process the reports for 3-5 days after it's filed. Feel lucky if you get a call back from the detectives; feel like you hit the lottery -- bigtime -- if they actually come up with your bike. (For the record, it was 5 weeks before the LRPD called to verify the bike’s serial number and to enter it into the database.) Report the theft to your insurance company, and to your lock manufacturer, if these are options.

Somebody asked about insurance... first of all, realize that insurance companies exist for the main purpose of collecting as many policy premiums possible while at the same time, paying as few claims as possible. If you have homeowner's or renter's insurance, ask your agent how to insure your bikes and make sure they're covered. Some insurers insure personal property (which includes bikes) independently of renter's or homeowner's policies. In any case, if you go for one of these, make sure that the policy provides coverage whether the bike is stolen inside or outside your home.

Ready for another surprise? Insurance policies typically pay for the current market (read, “used”) value of your bike – not the full replacement price. And remember, there’s usually a deductible which has to be factored in.

Absent insurance, it's mostly up to you to recover or replace your bike. Keep an eye out at flea markets, junk shops, pawn shops, "for sale" ads in the newspapers for a month or so after the theft, as well as police auctions of recovered property. Make up flyers with a picture of your bike, offering a reward for its return, and slap them on all the lamp posts, sign posts, and bulletin boards in the area.If you do find your bike, lock it where it's at with your own lock. This way, it won't go anywhere until you can resolve things with the current possessor.

Finding the bike usually means zip unless you can prove that it's yours, either by the serial number (which the thief may have filed or ground off) or some other method. Tell the possessor that the bike belongs to you, that it's stolen, and show them your serial number or other identification, matching it to the bike. If the possessor or seller refuses to give you the bike back, then leave -- and return with the police.Getting your bike back this way gets into a lot of legal issues, so if you get to this point, I'll refer you to Bob Mionske's book, Bicycling and the Law, which has excellent coverage of the lost/stolen bike issue.

Good luck, get a good lock, and be fanatical about using it...

A new reason to ride...

I've always been a fan of Fred Matheny's and Ed Pavelka's RoadBikeRider.com newsletter, as well as the cycling resources on their web site itself. Getting the newsletter is always a bit of a treat every Thursday morning.

This morning's edition brought some welcomed advice... unlike the more frequent advice of pedaling intervals until your eyeballs bleed:

"Maybe Bikes & Booze Do Mix

If you enjoy a post-ride beer you may be increasing the heart-healthy benefits of cycling.

A study in Denmark has found that drinking alcohol in moderation seems to have benefits similar to exercise. This research, reported in Time's Feb. 4 issue, is significant in that it was conducted on 12,000 people over a 20-year period.It was found that exercise and drinking alcohol each had an independent beneficial effect on the heart. Mainly, an increase in good cholesterol (HDL) and the removal of fatty deposits created by bad cholesterol (LDL) in blood vessel walls.The study also determined that drinking and exercise combine to have a greater health benefit than either alone.

The Danish researchers defined four categories and found that ...
-- people who never drink and don't exercise had the highest risk of heart
disease.
-- people who never drink but do exercise had a 30% lower risk.
-- people who drink moderately but never exercise had a 30% lower risk.
-- people who drink moderately and exercise had a 50% lower risk.

Now, before you swap your Endurox for a 6-pack of Pabst, here are the caveats:

A research team spokesman, Dr. Morten Gronbaek of Denmark's National Institute of Public Health, says the benefits of alcohol don't kick in until you're at the age -- 45 to 50 -- where heart disease becomes an appreciable risk. "There's absolutely no proof of a preventative and protective effect before age 45," Gronbaek told Time. Further, alcohol consumption is related to an increase in breast cancer among women, and anyone who has a family history of alcoholism should steer clear no matter what their age.

The study imposed a limit of one drink a day for women and two for men. It did not distinguish among beer, wine and liquor. It calls for common sense in determining a "moderate" amount: a 12-oz. beer and a double martini are far different even though they fit in the same size glass. "

I'm right in the middle of the right category... age 51, pedaling whenever possible, though I'm not real fast at it, and enjoy the occasional micro-brewed beer. Now, the task is to get the Sunday afternoon group ride to take a break at Vino's instead of Community Bakery... The veggie pizza has gotta be better for me than the pastry, anyway.