a midway bikelog

Two train stories from opposite ends of the last century:

On June 30 1899, Charles “Mile-a-Minute” Murphy set a new speed record for bicycles, riding 57 MPH, motor-paced behind a train. The record was the result of a boast, 13 years earlier, that there wasn’t a locomotive built that could out run him on his bike with him drafting behind. Well, he did it, and he might have gone over a mile a minute if the train could only have gone faster.

Fast forward to April 3 2007, and a French TGV train set the rail speed record at 357.2 mph. Now this is progress! Quick trip from Mpls to NYC? 4 hours.

China is the intended market for these super-fast trains, and I hope they do a good job of it. A large scale project like that with a clean start could be very efficient, a valuable infrastructure investment in a rapidly growing economy. And frankly China + the rest of the world will be totally screwed, pollution-wise, if they go the same automobile route that America has taken. They can be the example for us to follow.

What are the odds that someone with both the will and the money make high speed rail travel work around here? How fed up with the airlines will people have to get before trains make a real comeback? It would definitely be more fun to travel if it were feasible to take a fast train and a bicycle for long weekend trips somewhere. It would also be a lot more fun to take a 1-day train ride from STP to say, PDX than to fly or drive that far.

(via Two Cities Two Wheels)

Cool idea – Burma Shave-style signs along streets promote Share the Road routes. Of course, the verse would probably get interrupted by a dozen Open House or political signs, and who needs more distratctions? Still, kinda neat.

A couple more i thought of:

soda in the left hand
cell phone in the right
eyeballs in the rearview mirror
pull over, flashing lights
Share the Road

wave to your neighbor
rolling down the street
two wheels, four wheels
or people on their feet
Share the Road

I made a routine grocery run tonight, but did a poor job of estimating my weight. I had a good list, but foolishly decided that i could just fit it all into my panniers instead of taking our cargo trailer. Here’s what the load looked like on the way home:

And here’s what it looks like unloaded:

37.5 pounds of food, including 5.5 lbs of peanut butter, a gallon of milk, 5 lbs of potatoes, and 2 dozen eggs (non broken). The bike handled like a dream… as long as i was sitting down, going straight. Next time, i’m taking the trailer.