Bike Gadgets & Directions

Happy New Year!!!  In preparation for my first bike/bus commute of the year with Julie, I decided to install some bike gadgets I received for Christmas from one of my family members.


Despite feeling kind of badass riding around Detroit and the metropolitan area with my headlamp to light my adventures, I decided to install my first bike gadget, a new bike headlight.  It was pretty simple.  I started by taking the old one off with a phillips screwdriver.  An aside - I finally found where the spiders that created webs last year on my bike hung out - in the cracks of my old headlight!  Back to the story - after I took the old gadget off, I installed the new one without any tools.  It was a piece of cake and I felt super kick ass that I installed it in just minutes while also preventing future spiders from spinning their webs all over my bike in 2013.



Feeling pretty confident, I decided to install my other new exciting gadget.  It's one of those neat bike computers that calculates your distance, speed, time, and who knows what.  Well, it was neat until I went to use it.  Do you see the directions in the picture?  Unfortunately, they are not well written and I was lost within minutes.  Actually, the only thing that seemed to work was that the computer now kept time, which meant it was keeping track of how long it took me to figure out the directions.  AHHH!!!  The pressure!  After an hour and twenty-one minutes, I gave up and decided to write this blog.  The good news is that I didn't completely give up.  The better news is that I went to the manufacturer's website and found a very easy video to follow that has directions on how to install this gadget (thank goodness)!  In this day and age, they should have just saved the paper and wrote that on the box.  Hopefully, I can wake up early enough to install it in the morning before the big bike/bus commute of 2013!


Lastly - just out of curiosity - if you have a bike computer, how many miles do you put on your bike a year?  I'm not talking about the miles from biking on a trail for fun - I'm talking about commuting.  I ask because I want to set a goal for 2013.

Cheers to new bike gadgets, more bike/bus adventures in 2013, and a regional transit authority (that hopefully works)!

People of the bus/city: so much amazing

I had the total fantastic opportunity to bus/bike back-to-back Thursday and Friday last week. After three weeks of work travel-holiday-work travel, I was having some serious bus/bike withdrawal. Thursday was basically an insane mix of random so let me summarize the best I can. 

At the SMART bus stop, 8:10am: A woman that works at the salon right near my usual bus stop unlocks the door to say hi and to tell me she's glad I'm ok as she hasn't seen me at the bus stop in awhile. Wow.

SB 460, 8:25am: a man drinks 2 five-hour-energy drinks + an iced tea in about 1 minute. Caffeine shots + a chaser? Let's get this party started! 

SB 460, 8:35am: the following is seen in front of the DIA: 

1. A waving Santa
2. A small card table with a bunch of stuff on it
3. A police car, lights on, on the sidewalk next to the table

Um, the holidays have arrived!? 

SB 460, 8:50am: five-hour energy man stands up, spends what feels like 10 minutes fumbling with this pants and maybe puts on a belt?

Post-work, I enjoy a few cocktails with my coworker and catch the northbound 475 back up Woodward. As my stop gets closer, I move towards the front of the bus and who is there? BIG HAT, PLASTIC BAG MAN. The one that hands out sandwiches to people when he gets off the bus! I see him all the time, no matter what bus or schedule I'm running, but we've never spoken.

This guy to me is like bus-celebrity. And how it seems he lives his life? Love him. 

He turns to me and "Hi, I see you on the bus all the time. What's your name? I'm Alan. Do you have far to go? No? That's good. It's cold out there. Be safe and see you next time." 

As he steps off the bus, yes with his big hat and a few plastic bags, I have this distinct feeling that I'm truly a bus-regular. I'm so used to looking at my bus/biking through the eyes of this blog and material for it - I forget that bus/bike commuting is just kind of a norm for me now. Talking to this bus-saint Alan has me thinking all sorts of stuff. Would I still bus/bike if I didn't have the blog? Do I do weird things on the bus that someone is blogging about?! 

Bus-existentialism. 
Too much wine. 
It's time to get home.

But does the story end here? Alas, the best is yet to come. 

I have about 1/4 of a mile left on my bike commute. Smooth sailing down this hill right by by my place and I notice man standing right in the middle of the sidewalk near the end of the hill. I get closer and I see he's holding a bag of Doritos and one of the chips up towards the sky - just kind of staring at it. I literally have to stop completely as he's blocking my way. He finally notices me, yells "OH MY GOD I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT YOU WERE THAT LIGHT", and jumps into the grass.  

One day. All of this happened in ONE DAY. 

I've missed you, people of the bus/city. Three weeks was too long for us to be apart! 

This is why I'll never go into politics.

"Transit authority bill stalls after House Dems withhold votes over right-to-work"

The headline from this article: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20121205/NEWS/121209923/transit-authority-bill-stalls-after-house-dems-withhold-votes-over-right-to-work

What I really want to write: &$%#&#(*$&#(#&@#%#@@#

What I will write instead:  it's so beyond sad to me that politics has come to this. And it comes from both sides. Super important legislation that will MOVE THIS AREA FORWARD is swept aside due political games. And has to be used as a bargaining chip. 

If I were in the House as a Democrat (let's just say), I don't know if I'd be physically able to vote "no" on the Regional Transit Authority. Is democracy not voting as your constituents - the people that elected you - would vote? Aren't you called a "representative" for a reason? 

Super idealistic? Totally. Maybe I don't "understand" politics. But voting with my heart/my constituents hearts on the bill at hand without playing these types of games? C'mon people. 

We should all be embarrassed that our political system supports and encourages this kind of behavior. And as a side note - "this behavior" also includes bringing up something like "Right to Work" during a lame duck session after previously stating it wasn't a priority for your administration, Gov. Snyder. 

So until we get this *all* figured out - I'll just continue to watch the efficiency of the DDOT Woodward 53 and the SMART 450 leapfrog all over Woodward as we all watch the Regional Transit Authority fade away in the distance. We've been waiting 30+ years for this, so what's another legislative session? 

Bus romance turned......therapy session?

Bus romance has lately been few & far between but ALAS. The temps are dropping and people are looking to hunker down for the winter. What can you do? 

I am on the bus after downing a very quick post-work cocktail. A friend calls and while I'm talking in that loud whisper that everyone knows is louder than actually talking (one drink, people. and I do apologize, fellow bus riders), this man gets on the bus near the DIA. With a large garbage bag of pop cans - wearing a piano tie and a Bill Cosby sweater (YES). This is most definitely not our first meeting - he's actually tried to chat with me twice before - usually right before I get off the bus. So, he sits in the seat across from me and yells 'HELLO MA'AM'. I'm still on the phone but the second I finish my conversation - he says hello again. The conversation goes like this:

Hello, I'm Derek. What's your name? I'm just getting off work - I have a job with DIA security. Do you have a job? Do you have a degree? Awesome. I'm at OCC working to finish my degree in communications. You know - I've seen you around Royal Oak a lot. Do you live there? I live in Troy. ALONE. Do you live alone? (mini-white-lie alert) Oh, you live with your boyfriend. So is it serious? He's a lucky guy. Is he good to you? He better be. 

Best pick-up line ever, by the way: I live alone. YOU live alone. What else do you need?

<conversation shift>

My ex-girlfriend MELISSA (those trifling Melissas!) - she's constantly jerking me around. Calling me when she needs money. She has this best friend - Aaron. She says he's gay but I've seen the pictures. Pictures of them making out all over Facebook. We were together two years. TWO YEARS. She takes advantage of my kindness and generosity and I'm just getting sick of it. Last Christmas, she actually asked me to buy Aaron's gifts. As I'm buying them - we were still together you see - I thought - WHY am I do this? And then this year - she showed up at my birthday party. And asked me for MONEY. 

I'm just listening - this poor soul. I tell him he's better off without her - he can do better. That he deserves someone that appreciates him. This other woman (who, by the way, last week - handed out her phone number to a fellow bus rider. BUS ROMANCE EVERYWHERE) starts chiming in and saying some similar things. That he should just think it through - not to be blinded by love. He knows that Melissa and this Aaron character are actually together. 

As we are all gathering our things to get off the bus - Derek says he feels better. Just needed to get that out and get some validation. 

This therapy session - well worth the $2 bus fare.

Regional Transit Authority: Let's get serious.

Ok, so has anyone tried to drive around the Metro-Detroit area in the past few weeks?

I know the answer is probably close to 100% of our dear, wonderful 2W4W readers. We all know the limits on our transit options.

So, what's been going on lately?

Traffic has been like LA-style (ok, maybe a *tad* dramatic) parking-lot-moving-nowhere-it-now-takes-me-almost-one-hour-to-go-12-miles.

Lines of people waiting for the bus have been CRAZY. A bus-commute down Woodward = a bunch of people waiting and ONE bus spotted during morning rush hour. ONE BUS. BOTH WAYS. WHAAAT.

So the region is growing (awesome), people are working (alright, alright), needing to get around...so hmmmm.
What could be next...??

Maybe, just maybe a Regional Transit Authority (RTA) for SE Michigan? So we can move forward and take the region to the next level?

Local business and higher education leaders confirm what we all know and live:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120926/METRO05/209260410#ixzz27b3AIK5O

There's a hearing TODAY in Lansing on these important bills. If you can't make it to Lansing - no worries! Here's a great opportunity to email your legislators to let them know (and remember - they work for YOU) that you support the RTA.
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50450/p/dia/action/public/

And pass this info on to your family, friends, lovers, neighbors - anyone and everyone!

Every major metropolitan city in the world has seen the major and amazing benefits of an RTA. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Let's do this!

People of the bus: Big hat. Plastic bags.

Anyone that rides the bus or commutes or runs errands in a regular way is sure to run into the same people. I usually am on the same bus routes each week - and probably 50% of the bus contains familiar faces. These segments are meant to highlight these amazing characters, especially as you learn something fascinating - as I did this morning.

There is this short-ish man that always gets on the bus in Pleasant Ridge. He's older, kind of hunched over, and is always wearing some sort of huge hat. Khakis and a jacket. He's also one of those people I see all over downtown Detroit - sometimes in my office building, sometimes on the street at lunch or after work. One thing I always have noticed is that he has an insane amount of plastic grocery bags full of stuff with him. Like dude bought groceries for the week, and decided to drag them all over on the bus and downtown. Every. single. day.

Today, I happened to get off the bus in behind him and noticed that there were many people kind of standing and maybe waiting for him. When he stepped off the bus, these folks kind of descended quickly upon him - so I was kind of keeping an eye out (he's a bus buddy, gotta watch out for each other!). Then he opens the plastic bags and he starts handing things out. Food from what I saw. Sandwiches. He's asking people what they'd like - was there a specific sandwich they wanted. Wow.

And here I just thought he was a crazy dude that really loved his grocery shopping.

The people of the bus. The people of Detroit. Full of surprises - and compassion.

#lovedetroit
#lovethebus

Holy DDOT Has Entered the 21st Century, Batman!

Amazing news!!!

First, on my way home this evening I saw Batman (in cape) riding his bike east across Woodward, north of downtown.  On his way to meet Robin for happy hour?  Beware bad guys?!  BOOM!  POW!  CHOP!  DRINK!

One Batman.  One Robin.  Two Wheels.

Second, DDOT has entered the 21st century!  Yes, they launched a text message service that allows you to find out when the next bus will arrive.  This is amazing!!!  Too amazing to believe, so I tested it immediately.  And guess what?  It worked!!!  So how does it work?

1. Text the cross streets where you are to 50464 (message rates do apply).
2. You will receive a text message back almost immediately (for real - I tested it out), that asks which direction you are heading.  Respond with your direction
3. Receive a text message that lets you know how many minutes you need to wait until the next bus arrives.  
4. AMAZING!!!

Kudos to DDOT for this step forward!  And here's to hoping that SMART will follow in DDOT's bus tracks...