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#331
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AG: Beginners and Parking lots
John B. wrote in
: On Sat, 24 Oct 2015 22:06:52 -0300, Joy Beeson wrote: A rank beginner is apt to flee from a street where cars are constantly overtaking and meeting him into the calm safety of a parking lot -- but in a parking lot, the cars come at you from *every* direction. Until you have a clue, get off and walk whenever you enter a parking lot. I'm assuming that you already know how to walk across a parking lot -- is that rash? Maybe. There a lot more people killed in "Person" - auto collisions than "Bicycle" - Auto collisions :-) The problem in parking lots is more often the pedestrians, not the motorists. Avoiding witless pedestrians may put you in conflict with drivers seeking a spot or trying to exit. -- Andrew Chaplin SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO (If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.) |
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#332
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AG: Beginners and Parking lots
On 26/10/2015 3:06 PM, Phil W Lee wrote:
Andrew Chaplin considered Sun, 25 Oct 2015 20:07:59 +0000 (UTC) the perfect time to write: John B. wrote in : On Sat, 24 Oct 2015 22:06:52 -0300, Joy Beeson wrote: A rank beginner is apt to flee from a street where cars are constantly overtaking and meeting him into the calm safety of a parking lot -- but in a parking lot, the cars come at you from *every* direction. Until you have a clue, get off and walk whenever you enter a parking lot. I'm assuming that you already know how to walk across a parking lot -- is that rash? Maybe. There a lot more people killed in "Person" - auto collisions than "Bicycle" - Auto collisions :-) The problem in parking lots is more often the pedestrians, not the motorists. Avoiding witless pedestrians may put you in conflict with drivers seeking a spot or trying to exit. Since a parking lot by definition has pedestrians going to and from their vehicles, the drivers should be aware and on the lookout for them - it is THEIR responsibility to avoid the pedestrians, not the other way around. Driving is optional, being a pedestrian isn't. Anyone who can't drive safely in a parking lot shouldn't be driving at all. Motorists have an absolute responsibility to ensure that they do not cause harm by their use of a motor vehicle. Absolutely. Just as they have a responsibility to not run over innocent cyclists. But in either case I wouldn't want to trust to their responsibilities. |
#333
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AG: Beginners and Alleys
Alleys are pleasant to ride in because you hardly ever have to share them. But when you do meet someone in an alley, he is surprised to see you and may not do his share to avoid a collision. If you are also surprised and not doing your share . . . There are twice as many intersections in alleys as on streets. When you are on a street, you can pretty much ignore the alleys, but when you are in an alley, every alley is an intersection. When you cross a street, you will find that the people in the street are pretty much ignoring the alley. Come to a full and complete stop and check carefully before crossing. Looking both ways is harder in alleys than in streets because the set-backs required by law are smaller on alleys than on streets -- and they are more likely to be ignored. There's nothing wrong with setting a storage shed half an inch from the alley, because it isn't a building, it's lawn furniture. Moreover, these sheds are set, by preference, in a corner of the lawn to keep them out of the way, which means that the most-likely location for a shed is right where it blocks your view of the other alley. Summary: If you are a beginner, DON'T USE ALLEYS. If you are an expert, and you are tired, or hungry, or worried sick about something, DON'T USE ALLEYS. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
#334
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AG: Beginners and Alleys
Joy Beeson wrote in
: Alleys are pleasant to ride in because you hardly ever have to share them. But when you do meet someone in an alley, he is surprised to see you and may not do his share to avoid a collision. If you are also surprised and not doing your share . . . There are twice as many intersections in alleys as on streets. When you are on a street, you can pretty much ignore the alleys, but when you are in an alley, every alley is an intersection. When you cross a street, you will find that the people in the street are pretty much ignoring the alley. Come to a full and complete stop and check carefully before crossing. Looking both ways is harder in alleys than in streets because the set-backs required by law are smaller on alleys than on streets -- and they are more likely to be ignored. There's nothing wrong with setting a storage shed half an inch from the alley, because it isn't a building, it's lawn furniture. Moreover, these sheds are set, by preference, in a corner of the lawn to keep them out of the way, which means that the most-likely location for a shed is right where it blocks your view of the other alley. Summary: If you are a beginner, DON'T USE ALLEYS. If you are an expert, and you are tired, or hungry, or worried sick about something, DON'T USE ALLEYS. We don't see too many alleys hereabouts, they just make the snow clearance problem more complex. There is one alley on my route from work to one of my favourite pubs. It parallels a main street in an old neighbourhood and means I do not have to make a left turn into heavy traffic (not that difficult, since there is a traffic light at that intersection) followed by a left turn across heavy traffic (a tedious task since there is no light, and one has to bull one's way across a lane of traffic to get into position to make the turn). I rarely meet a vehicle in the alley, but, since I know the route well, I know where there are bolt-holes where I can lay by and let the motorist through. Sometimes, however, delivery vehicles stop in the alley and I have to dismount since there is barely a handlebar width available. -- Andrew Chaplin SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO (If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.) |
#335
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AG: Fuel: some assembly required.
While taking a recreational tour of Meijer after lunching at Panda Express on my way home from Goodwill, I found a display of single-serve envelopes of almond butter, bought one, and added it to my emergency snacks. Which was rather silly, as it's useless without bread or crackers. It was a reflex, left over from the days when I needed sandwich components that would keep for four hours at ninety degrees. In those days I usually carried High Calorie Muffins, and I'll post about that some day, but today I'll reminisce about sandwiches that don't go icky before lunch time. One trick was to put a slice of dried beef between two slices of bread and carry a small whole tomato. Uncut tomatoes will keep good for days at room temperature, and love a couple of hours at "crystals of salt all over my face" temperature. Find a picnic table or a shady spot, slice the tomato onto the salty beef, yum! Most fresh vegetables keep well when uncut. I once bought some sweet peppers at a roadside stand, to the considerable improvement of my lunch. Once I took a single-serve can of chicken salad to spread on my bread. That didn't work out so well. I open such cans with a can opener when I'm at home, so I wasn't in the habit of being very, very careful of the sharp microtooth saw that wrench-and-flip lids leave on the can. It was a very small cut, but bled like a stuck pig. The bleeding stopped instantly when I pressed my thumb on the cut and held my hand over my head, but getting a band-aid out of my emergency kit while holding that position wasn't easy. To carry a beverage that would spoil if allowed to get warm, freeze a small amount in a container with a tight lid, fill the container just before leaving. Beverage ice cubes don't work; the good stuff freezes out of the beverage and sticks to the ice tray. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
#336
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AG: Fuel: some assembly required.
On Sat, 07 Nov 2015 23:24:00 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote: While taking a recreational tour of Meijer after lunching at Panda Express on my way home from Goodwill, I found a display of single-serve envelopes of almond butter, bought one, and added it to my emergency snacks. Which was rather silly, as it's useless without bread or crackers. It was a reflex, left over from the days when I needed sandwich components that would keep for four hours at ninety degrees. In those days I usually carried High Calorie Muffins, and I'll post about that some day, but today I'll reminisce about sandwiches that don't go icky before lunch time. One trick was to put a slice of dried beef between two slices of bread and carry a small whole tomato. Uncut tomatoes will keep good for days at room temperature, and love a couple of hours at "crystals of salt all over my face" temperature. Find a picnic table or a shady spot, slice the tomato onto the salty beef, yum! Most fresh vegetables keep well when uncut. I once bought some sweet peppers at a roadside stand, to the considerable improvement of my lunch. Once I took a single-serve can of chicken salad to spread on my bread. That didn't work out so well. I open such cans with a can opener when I'm at home, so I wasn't in the habit of being very, very careful of the sharp microtooth saw that wrench-and-flip lids leave on the can. It was a very small cut, but bled like a stuck pig. The bleeding stopped instantly when I pressed my thumb on the cut and held my hand over my head, but getting a band-aid out of my emergency kit while holding that position wasn't easy. To carry a beverage that would spoil if allowed to get warm, freeze a small amount in a container with a tight lid, fill the container just before leaving. Beverage ice cubes don't work; the good stuff freezes out of the beverage and sticks to the ice tray. I mix a normal bicycle bottle full of "beverage" and freeze the entire bottle and contents over night. In 30 - 31 (C) weather it will last for about 4 hours before it gets warm. -- cheers, John B. |
#337
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AG: Fuel: some assembly required.
On Sun, 08 Nov 2015 12:18:42 +0700, John B.
wrote: I mix a normal bicycle bottle full of "beverage" and freeze the entire bottle and contents over night. In 30 - 31 (C) weather it will last for about 4 hours before it gets warm. One summer I froze water in bottles, used it to keep my cooler cold, and when I'd emptied both bike bottles, began to pour a quarter bottle of ice water at a time. This was very good for hydration, because I was strongly motivated to drink it before it got warm. But toward the end of one ride, I was frantically trying to get the ice to thaw faster. It's odd: when I lived in upstate New York, I always carried food, but was confident of being able to re-fill my bottles. In Indiana, I usually eat in restaurants, but always carry water. Hrrm. I remember stopping in the racquet club on a very hot day with four bottles in my arms and remarking that I'd re-filled them three (or was it four) times and yet was in no particular hurry to get to the ladies' locker room. Four bottles is about what I carry now -- my rides are shorter! A perfectly-good puzzle ruined by a fact. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
#338
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AG: Fuel: some assembly required.
On Sun, 08 Nov 2015 19:44:54 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote: On Sun, 08 Nov 2015 12:18:42 +0700, John B. wrote: I mix a normal bicycle bottle full of "beverage" and freeze the entire bottle and contents over night. In 30 - 31 (C) weather it will last for about 4 hours before it gets warm. One summer I froze water in bottles, used it to keep my cooler cold, and when I'd emptied both bike bottles, began to pour a quarter bottle of ice water at a time. This was very good for hydration, because I was strongly motivated to drink it before it got warm. But toward the end of one ride, I was frantically trying to get the ice to thaw faster. It's odd: when I lived in upstate New York, I always carried food, but was confident of being able to re-fill my bottles. In Indiana, I usually eat in restaurants, but always carry water. Hrrm. I remember stopping in the racquet club on a very hot day with four bottles in my arms and remarking that I'd re-filled them three (or was it four) times and yet was in no particular hurry to get to the ladies' locker room. Four bottles is about what I carry now -- my rides are shorter! A perfectly-good puzzle ruined by a fact. Riding in Bangkok one can get along perfectly well without either food or water as nearly every gasoline pump has a 7-11 or another shop as part of the complex. I don't usually use them as I prefer to carry my own supplies and stop where there is a shady area to rest, but it is nice to know that they are there in an emergency. In other areas it isn't as handy as the service stations are further apart and "country gas stations" may not have a 7-11. -- cheers, John B. |
#339
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AG: Fuel: some assembly required.
On Mon, 09 Nov 2015 18:01:22 +0700, John B.
wrote: Riding in Bangkok one can get along perfectly well without either food or water as nearly every gasoline pump has a 7-11 or another shop as part of the complex. I don't usually use them as I prefer to carry my own supplies and stop where there is a shady area to rest, but it is nice to know that they are there in an emergency. In other areas it isn't as handy as the service stations are further apart and "country gas stations" may not have a 7-11. I don't think I ever stopped at a gas station when I lived in New York State -- not on the bike. (I avoided the sort of road that had gas stations as much as possible, and I lived where the shortest route to a destination was seldom along a main road.) There was a convenience chain called Stewart's Shops that were good rest stops, and every one had an outdoor faucet for re-filling one's bottles. I recall having one of my bottles filled with hot cocoa in a Stewart's near the Albany city limits one frigid day. When the Mohawk-Hudson Wheelmen wanted to print a packet of their ride maps, Stewart's agreed to pay for the printing and cartography in exchange for having the locations of their stores marked on the maps. *That* was a really good deal! Around here, I don't recall being in a gas station that didn't at least sell hot coffee, if you don't count Country Mark. Once when I stopped for a slice of pizza at the Marathon in Larwill, I saw the attendant rolling out pizza dough. The Marathon in Leesburg has anonymous fried things in an infra-red display case. I thought I was pointing at potato wedges, but it turned out to be miniature tacos. The gas station near Atwood didn't have anything as good as my emergency bars, but I bought a bottle of juice. (Great ride, disappointing destination; Atwood turned out to be one of those towns that is no longer around.) It's getting hard to distinguish among gas stations, convenience stores, and groceries: gas stations have expanded their candy-and-aspirin offerings into full-scale convenients, and groceries increasingly have gas pumps. -- Joy Beeson joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ |
#340
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AG: Fuel: some assembly required.
On Tue, 10 Nov 2015 23:30:44 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote: On Mon, 09 Nov 2015 18:01:22 +0700, John B. wrote: Riding in Bangkok one can get along perfectly well without either food or water as nearly every gasoline pump has a 7-11 or another shop as part of the complex. I don't usually use them as I prefer to carry my own supplies and stop where there is a shady area to rest, but it is nice to know that they are there in an emergency. In other areas it isn't as handy as the service stations are further apart and "country gas stations" may not have a 7-11. I don't think I ever stopped at a gas station when I lived in New York State -- not on the bike. (I avoided the sort of road that had gas stations as much as possible, and I lived where the shortest route to a destination was seldom along a main road.) There was a convenience chain called Stewart's Shops that were good rest stops, and every one had an outdoor faucet for re-filling one's bottles. I recall having one of my bottles filled with hot cocoa in a Stewart's near the Albany city limits one frigid day. When the Mohawk-Hudson Wheelmen wanted to print a packet of their ride maps, Stewart's agreed to pay for the printing and cartography in exchange for having the locations of their stores marked on the maps. *That* was a really good deal! Around here, I don't recall being in a gas station that didn't at least sell hot coffee, if you don't count Country Mark. Once when I stopped for a slice of pizza at the Marathon in Larwill, I saw the attendant rolling out pizza dough. The Marathon in Leesburg has anonymous fried things in an infra-red display case. I thought I was pointing at potato wedges, but it turned out to be miniature tacos. The gas station near Atwood didn't have anything as good as my emergency bars, but I bought a bottle of juice. (Great ride, disappointing destination; Atwood turned out to be one of those towns that is no longer around.) It's getting hard to distinguish among gas stations, convenience stores, and groceries: gas stations have expanded their candy-and-aspirin offerings into full-scale convenients, and groceries increasingly have gas pumps. The old "General Store" with the two gasoline pumps out in front :-) -- cheers, John B. |
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