Cycling Plans

I was going to write about food again, since everyone needs to eat and I have new Unprocessed Project creations to share, but then I saw this gizmo on my way to a much-needed yoga class earlier today. Isn't it lovely?

Wait, what is it?

This, my friends, is a public DIY bike repair stand, newly installed outside the Trent University Athletic Centre. Note the ample free bike parking, too. Anyone who has paid more than her fair share for Trent AC parking tickets at $20 a pop should consider biking.

Throughout May the good folks at Peterborough Moves are running a "transportation competition and campaign" called Workplace Shifting Gears, a challenge to walk, cycle or take public transit instead of driving to work. I signed up last week for my employer, promising to cycle-commute at least twice a week. Except, hmm. That may not have been wise, seeing as a) it's far and hilly--about 25 km; b) my bike is ancient and clunky and still in winter storage; and c) I'm ancient and clunky and still in winter storage. But even if I manage a few shorter trips around town, I can log them on the Shifting Gears site and reap untold physical and mental benefits. 

When we lived in Toronto, I commuted by bike except for the extremely pregnant months. I find it therapeutic to jump from work into rush-hour traffic, dodging all the assholes uptight drivers racing home. In fact, a guy in a black convertible BMW with the top down--a detail that meant he could see me--once clipped my bike as we drove together along a narrow downtown street. His side mirror hit my handlebars. I stayed upright and screamed abuse at him (uncharacteristically: it was the adrenaline screaming). The best Rx for bike/car rage? More yoga, NOW! when it is available to me. But we don't have anything like Toronto traffic here in the hinterlands, and people are supernice, and I'm a safety-conscious rider who signals and everything, so no worries. 

Other than being out of shape. I'll let you know if I totally humiliate myself when I take a test ride this weekend.

Here are a few more shots of the apparatus. Not that I'm handy, but it's a comfort to know that you can use the pump and these other thingies should the need arise. The Shifting Gears initiative also includes free bike repair classes. (Get the themes here? Free. Public. For the good of all.)

B!KE, the non-profit Peterborough Community Cycling Club, has brought us this sublimely blue Fixit station and three others just like it, strategically located around the city. Find more details here.