This advice may seem obvious, but it bears repeating:

Don’t trust Google Maps.

On Friday afternoon, I got the jump on Bike To Work Week by riding from downtown Santa Fe to a state office complex near the outlet mall south of town for an interview.

In my experience, the fastest route south is along Agua Fria, so I took that road to the end. Then, per Google and the official Santa Fe bike map (PDF), I took Paseo Del Sol south, expecting to hit shortcut shown on the map—what looks like a straightforward county road with one fork.

It’s actually this:

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Hopefully, the wind will have died down a bit when Bike to Work Week begins on Monday, May 17.

Some of the events look pretty cool, actually. There are, however, a couple of noteworthy omissions.

For instance, the official schedule contains no mention of a Critical Mass ride this year. Presumably, the city of Santa Fe, a sponsor and promoter of BTTW, decided a “Community/Family Ride” was more appropriate, or less likely to generate a lawsuit and upset the police.

And while it’s all well and good that the organizers will offer free “Youth helmet fitting” on Friday in the Railyard, there’s unfortunately no class on “Why One Shouldn’t Ride Against Traffic While Wearing An iPod.” Perhaps that’s covered in Thursday’s “Bicycle Traffic Skills and Maintenance Basics” class.

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Day 1

The current state of the River Trail

Admission: I almost always ride my bike to work, but rarely do I ride my bicycle.

In other words, I take my motorcycle to work as often as possible, so I do better than the average car with my 55 to 60 mpg, my small parking footprint and relatively few raw resources required in the manufacture and upkeep of my transportation. If anyone is wondering, Ride to Work Day for motorcycles, is July 15.

Today, May 11, of course is the first day of Bike to Work Week (I guess they need a week, ’cause they move so slow compared to motorcycles), and I still did not ride my bicycle to work. Like everyone else who failed, I have an excuse: 2.3 million errands and meetings to fit into a very small time span and a very large space span.

Internal combustion aided and abetted me and I feel OK about it.

But I do plan to honor Bike to Work Week for the remaining four days. 4.7 miles each way is not a big deal in a normal city, but in Santa Fe, it can feel like a death wish. Still, ever since being an avid rider and amateur racer in the 1980s, I have remained a big bicycle dork, so I’m looking foward to it.

In fact, my big dilemma is wheter to take the fixie–fast and light–the single speed coaster brake with the big farmers market basket–utilitarian with a touch of hooligan–or the 29er–able to roll over cars at will.

All are single speeds, naturally: it’s pretty flat around here and I lost my taste for riding up steep mountain roads a long time ago. Continue reading »

Just arrived at City Hall, in advance of tomorrow’s event at the Railyard.

7 a.m. – 10 a.m. BIKE TO WORK DAY on the Railyard
FREE food, coffee, t-shirts to the first 350 people, prizes and giveaways – take a swing at the goathead piñata – Bikeways maps – bicycle maintenance experts – Youth helmet fitting – Santa Fe Trails bus demo – join a convoy to the Railyard, route details and map online!

There’s also a Critical Mass right leaving from the Plaza at 5:30 p.m. TODAY. I’ll be there. I heard it will end in beer.

Today Gov. Bill Richardson issued a proclamation declaring May 11-15 New Mexico’s official “Bike to Work” week. Among his stated reasons (full doc here) :

WHEREAS, the economic, environmental and health effects of a car-dependent world are extensive and far reaching; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico has assumed a nationwide leadership role in the advancement of ground-breaking energy efficiency policies and practices to promote and implement energy conservation, renewable energy development, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency measure; and

WHEREAS, as part of New Mexico’s “Lead by Example” initiative it is the goal of all Executive Branch state agencies to achieve a 20 percent usage reduction below 2005 levels in the state fleet and transportation-related activities by 2015 based on the average transportation-related energy usage per state employee; and

WHEREAS, bicycle commuting is an effective means to improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion and noise, and to conserve energy;

Well, the governor isn’t exactly leading by example. Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos tells SFR that, no, the governor will not be riding his bike to work this week. However, he does, indeed, own a bike.