Foster Consulting's Blog

After too long a hiatus in bike commuting, I started biking to work again this week.  The cool morning air, deserted streets (I ride in early), and the overall improvement in my attitude — that stuff I expected.  What I hadn’t expected was the reunion with old friends.  This marks the beginning of the 19th year that I’ve biked to work.  Taking the same route each day, I see some of the same people out walking dogs or running or getting ready for work.  After a while, you look forward to seeing their smile and tossing out a “morning.”  The bike-commuting teacher at Burroughs. The smiling woman on Clayton Road who used to run faster but now has two dogs.  LaTonya, the crossing guard.  The cigar-smoking old guy out for his morning constitutional.  The sharply dressed older woman by Ladue Country Club.  The Friday morning club riders.  In a few months, there will be tadpoles (then frogs) in a roadside culvert.  In a few months, we’ll all be running and biking faster.

In the car, I might refer to the people I see as the guy in the Nissan who’s making an unsignalled turn or the jerk who’s going to jump on green.  On the bike, there’s time to get to know people at their best and most relaxed.  Even if we never get past a few syllables in our conversations, we’re making connections.

Apparently, he admires the Queen's English. And her hairbrush.

Riddle me this: What do Newt Gingrich and Queen Victoria have in common?

Probably a lot that I really don’t want to speculate about, but the answer I’m looking for is: They both use the “Royal We.” Queen V, you will recall if you are 174 years old, famously said “We are not amused,” at court.

Likely she would have been amused by Newt Gingrich’s use of the Royal We. In part because she would remember that The Colonies have no royalty. (Maybe it’s the Self-Anointed We). Also, because the context in which he (or, playing along, “they”) announced on the TV this weekend that “We” will announce in the next month “our” candidacy for president.

I’m no fancy Constitutional Scholar (or Constitutional Monarch for that matter) but I seem to recall that only one person can occupy the office of president at a time. Does he have parasites or schizophrenia? Is he, um “with” someone as is often the case? Is he talking about the Nintendo Wii? (In which case it would be the Newt Avatar running for office.) Does he Love America So Much that he cloned himself in order to better service America’s needs?

There’s a lot to answer for here, and it appears, a lot of Newts to do the answering. I hope (oops, We hope) that this can be resolved before the inauguration.

It would be so embarrassing for our country to have him say, “I (WE) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I (WE) will faithfully execute the office(S) of President of the United States, and will to the best of my (OUR) ability(IES), preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Meantime, we are royally amused.

If you quit school early, but lingered at the church’s potluck supper, it might be reflected in your waistline according to two new studies. My interpretation of the religious finding is that there are a lot of bike rides on Sunday mornings!

Study issued last month….
“Obesity is more prevalent in areas with lower educational attainment and certain ethnic profiles than in areas of suburban sprawl, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Researchers at UIC’s Urban Transportation Center revisited their 2005 analysis of data from about 7 million northern Illinois drivers licenses, which found that body-mass index scores in most city neighborhoods differ little from those in the farthest outlying areas.”

and curiously…
“A young adult who is regularly involved in religious activities has a significantly higher chance of becoming obese by middle age, compared to other individuals, researchers from Northwestern University, Chicago, found in a study. The study, involving 32,433 individuals from the longitudinal CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults), aged from 20 to 32 years initially, were monitored for 18 years. 57% of them were female and 41% were African-American.”

Lately there’s a small group of cyclists who seem to be most worked up about bike lanes. On one list serve, they are tossing around subject lines like “Immoral” and “God save us from cycling advocates.”

Meh. You know what. I can’t take the overblown rhetoric. (“Immoral!” Really? What term do you save for genocide or theft? And ‘god save us from cycling advocates’? Again really?) These folks are throwing rocks and overheated language at the establishment (League of American Bicyclists and Alliance for Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals) and encouraging everybody to stop supporting the establishment. Then, when an underfunded establishment becomes less effective they point and say “see we told you so — look how ineffective they are.”

I’ve met, and like Andy Clarke, director of the LAB, and I think LAB does a good job. I’ve also met Mighk Wilson, who’s behind a program called cycle savvy and like him (although Orlando is a long long way from paradise for cyclists, despite flat terrain and great climate. I much prefer riding in Tampa and Destin, where there’s facilities.)

I’m sorry they are at opposite ends when there is plenty of common ground. Even without this new project, mode share in St. Louis doubled in the past 9 years. So I think Trailnet, the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation, Bike St. Louis, faciltiies advocacy and public education are more helpful than teaching so-called “deficient cyclists” one on one.

This whole “bike lanes ate my baby” business is mostly built on straw man arguments — most examples selected by the anti-bike lane crowd are admittedly nonstandard bikelanes (cyclesavvy.com has one with a car parked on the bike lane stripe as a way of showing how far a door can go into the lane or a 2 foot wide lane — not to standards). Considering the rhetoric, and the hyperbole, I’m led to ask: And are we praying for deliverance from advocacy — or hoping that in the absence of well-designed facilities would-be cyclists will turn to for-profit education services in order to learn to adapt? That’s my longstanding core issue with John Forrester — the argument seems to be: “The roads are fine as they are, motorists are fine the way they are, and cyclists need to LEARN TO ADAPT. And by the way, we’re selling a book and a course to help you do that.”

The only thing proven in peer-reviewed studies to increase cyclists’ safety is more cyclists. Facilities clearly increase the number of cyclists on the road. Therefore facilities (even poorly designed ones) make cyclists safer!

And the cyclists who run stop signs ahead of waiting motorists are never going to take a course to learn not to do that.

If you do want to learn more — here’s a link to LAB’s FREE online course in Traffic Skills: http://www.bikeed.org/

One final thought: “if bike advocates are the worse thing I have to worry about, my life is sweet sweet sweet”.

Experimenting with mobile streaming video. If it works cool. If not, please look away.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/life/sidewalk-rage-at-its-extreme-can-be-explosive-51415.html

This reminds me: On Bompart in WG last night there were two guys (one in a bright red Volvo outfit) going about 11 mph. First off, if you are going to wear team colors, at least pretend you have leg muscles.  Second, since they were taking the lane, I opted to follow at the same speed for about six blocks.  Not only did these a$$clowns not show courtesy and move over, Volvo boy actually slowed down to take a drink of his water bottle. It was good that he slowed down, because they were approaching a four way stop, where a car was waiting its turn.

Wait for it. Wait for it. OF COURSE they rolled through the stop!!!

It takes a lot of effort to get back up to 11 mph on a road bike.

I’m thinking in a case like this, the best thing a True Bike Advocate could do is lay on the horn, explain to them they disgrace cycling and look like posers, and shame them on cycling groups.  I’ve been to too many meetings — and had too many conversations — where I’ve had to defend the behavior of clowns like this. It’s early in the season. Time to start calling them out.

Street skills: An overview of onroad cycling

Includes graphics from Bicyclesafe.org.  Good diagrams and detailed explanations.

Bike Parking Report

The best practices in bike parking get summarized in this excellent report by Patty Vinyard of the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation.

My sister is starting to look for a new job, and wanted help with using Linked In. I put together the following and thought you all might have good insights to add!

As groundwork, add a photo, and start making connections.
 
It’s probably better to make profile changes AFTER you make the connections because every time you update your profile, it is reflected in your connections’ updates.
 
A rule of thumb — the static resume/profile is not the important thing on social media. The important thing is creating a ‘brand” for yourself that is broadly appealing and reflects aspirations as much as accomplishments. 
 
When you get a contact, consider asking for a “recommendation.”  The more recommendations one has, the higher one appears in searches for particular expertise. Another rule of thumb — on Linked In, a connection is someone you have sat in a room with or exchanged emails with who is related to your aspirations at ANY LEVEL.  This is important because THEY may know the people who might be in a position to hire you or consult with you.
 
I’d be sure to have a summary statement that is broad.   Once you decide on that statement, start scouring Linked In for organizations that are related to that statement — the scientist one you have is a good start.  
 
There are any numbers of discussion groups — find ones that match your aspirations, join and start “lurking.” You may find leads there and if you think of a meaningful question, ask it. Better, answer some questions.  The goal is to catch people’s attention and strengthen your brand as an authority in the area you aspire to.
 
So that’s a start for homework — connections, summary statement and group joining!

I’ve no idea where Gateway Hostelling spends its money, but I did think this video is funny.  Apparently the Executive Director of Gateway Hostelling wants to launch a “different and improved”  advocacy organization in St Louis.  I still remember when he offered to “help” the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation by offering half a desk in a cubicle upstairs at their Big Bend and Clayton Road office.  This “deal” would have only cost the Bike Fed $400 a month!  (As a sidenote, Trailnet offered prime space at one of its desks for free).  Also, it’s hard not to have a little bit of dismay when somebody refers to competing bike rides (Tour de Cure, MS-150 etc.) as the “disease of the week” rides.