Bicycle Helmets: When to replace?

Via FaceBook, bike blogger Jillian sends this link from the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute for when to replace your helmet.  It's a lot more detailed, but here's the bullet list:

Did you crash it? Replace immediately.

Did you drop it hard enough to crack the foam? Replace.

Is it from the 1970's? Replace.

Is the outside just foam or cloth instead of plastic? Replace.

Does it lack a CPSC, ASTM or Snell sticker inside? Replace.

Can you not adjust it to fit correctly? Replace!! 

 I need a new helmet.

Gainesville Sun's Ron Cunningham comments on his blog about Republican bike vs. truck race

Ron Cunningham is a true-blue green patriot because he is a dedicated Gainesville cyclist and a great advocate for the rather large bicycle culture in town.  He weighed in briefly on the recent Alachua County Republican Party-sponsored "race" between a truck and a bicycle:

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad Stafford Jones and Alex Patton don’t ride bicycles. First, they’d almost certainly hurt themselves, and we’d never hear the end of it. And second…Alex, seriously, nobody hauls lumber on a bicycle. That’s  dumb as…well…dumb as wood.

THANK YOU, Ron, for validating my point that no dedicated green patriot worth their salt would attempt a lumber carry on a bicycle without the proper equipment!  Alex Patton also responded to this post with a nice letter that took offense that Ron was skeptical of Patton's ability to ride a bicycle.  I think everyone should be questioning the logic of a cyclist who would carry a 2x4 on their bike without at least a trailer.  Very impractical, Alex.

Alachua County Republican Party doesn't like bikes

You need you some panniers, Alex Patton!

I think that is a pretty good summary of the Gainesville Sun article posted today, where the GOP machine in Alachua County sponsored a cycling event in the 13th Street Home Depot parking lot.  The goal?  To prove that bicycles are inefficient and impractical for transportation in Gainesville and the rest of the county.

This is hardly about whatever deficiencies riding a bicycle (besides not having the benefit of having about three tons of metal between you and another vehicle) in the city may present to citizens.  This is about stopping all efforts to promote more efficient roadways and other city planning projects that would benefit pedestrians and cyclists:

In Alachua County, 90 percent of the money raised from the 5-cent gas tax goes toward paying for roads. The other 10 percent goes toward bicycle paths.

Patton said bicycle usage outside the downtown area doesn’t warrant that level of contribution.

Of course not!  What could possibly be the benefit of safer bike pathways on roads outside of the city limits?  No one with a "three ton Chevy Avalanche" needs a bike path, and those who do are just poor and so who cares?

Alex Patton, who rode the bicycle against the above-mentioned truck, apparently lost the race because he was attempting to pick up cartons of eggs and ice cream, some dry cleaning, and a 2x4 as part of the errands to accomplish during the race.  This is without any sort of carrying component to the bike other than a backpack.  A 2x4?  Seriously?  

I've reported over the years about the various changes we've made to our family's bicycles in order to carry out the day-to-day activities we do with just one car; when DJ was a toddler we had in him a child trailer which eventually became a grocery trailer; a child carrier on the back of the bike; a ride-along bike trailer when DJ was learning how to bicycle; and finally, DJ is now old enough to ride his own bike and I have attached a cargo trailer on our extra beater bike.  As any seasoned commuter cyclist who spends a good portion of time riding to and from their destinations knows, you need the right tools to do the right job.  Like anyone who owns a big ol' truck, you have tools in case you break down (in fact, my blogger buddy, Jillian, just posted about the tool kit a commuter cyclist needs on the road).  

This was obviously an exercise in futility if you require a cyclist to make these kinds of trips with nothing more than a backpack; anyone who only had a bike and needed one 2x4 would ask a friend with a car for help (like asking the driver of the truck, for instance), or making the trip on the bus.  It's possible to carry a 2x4 on a bike, but there is little reason for someone to do it when there are other options.  I'm sure there's an argument to be made about this if the person in question is poor and cannot afford the bus or has no friends with cars, but it seems like any argument for or against bicycles is going to somehow entail some kind of inconvenience.

Be prepared to hear the "bikes are inefficient" line over and over again anytime the question of taxes for city planning and bike pathways that in any way improve the bike-ability of Gainesville or Alachua County is raised.  Critics will most likely even point to this Gainesville Sun article as an example.

Update on bulk soaps at Citizen's Co-op

So I reported last week that me and DJ took a first shopping trip to our shiny, brand-new cooperative food store, Citizen's Co-op.  That trip we concentrated on bulk food items; today I ran in with a couple of containers to get castile soap and Charlie's laundry soap.  I was a little disappointed that they did not have a huge bucket of castile soap and instead had gallon jugs of Dr. Bronner's; don't get me wrong, I grew up on Dr. Bronner's almond-scented liquid soap (which I bought today, in fact) but it would have been cheaper to have gotten it in larger bulk.  It was still pretty cheap, though; an 8-ounce bottle was $2.80USD (they charge by bottle size).  The Charlie's soap came in liquid and powder; I'm used to the powder so that is what I got - it was about 7-dollars for a smallish OxyClean bucket - about 15 scoops.  I actually should have been more scientific about it and DANG IT! I threw away the receipt.  Why did I do that???  Okay, now I have to go back and get the price breakdown.

Anyway, while I was there, the kind gentleman who helped me get the tare weights the last time helped me do this for my OxyClean container, and I mentioned that I didn't see any unscented castile soap.  He said they tried to get the Dr. B's Baby unscented but it didn't come in gallon jugs; I suggested they try to purchase Stephenson's organic castile soap.  Last time I bought it, it was around 22-dollars a gallon, and the price breakdown got better the more you got (they also had 5 gallon and 22-gallon barrels).  The gentleman said he would check into it; I think it would be a good choice for the store because I'm positive it would be cheaper in the long run to have at least a 5-gallon bucket of unscented than the gallon jugs of the Dr. Bronner's.  Also, I like to put my own fragrance in the castile soap, if I am of a mind.

In the end, I'm really glad that Citizen's Co-op has bulk soaps (forgot to mention they also have Charlie's All-Purpose Cleanser which I will have to try next) and that will be my go-to place for laundry and body wash from here on out!

Urban Agriculture and the Alachua County Comp Plan: What You Should Know!

Diana, the nice lady I buy eggs from on payday, sent this my way via Facebook so thought I'd share it on the blog - It's taking place Wednesday, July 20, from 6:00-7:30pm at the Downtown Public Library.  Here's the text:

 

FREE Public Forum. Join Alachua County Growth Management Planner Holly Banner who will present information on proposed changes to the Alachua County Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) relating to agricultural uses.

The intent is to support and promote a stronger local food system with improved access to healthy, affordable, nutritious food. This will be achieved by expanding the list of allowable uses to include more urban agriculture, such as backyard chicken keeping, community gardens and farmer's markets.

Holly will run through the proposed changes and take your questions. This promises to be a lively evening of sharing! Free and open to the public. 

 

This is part of Grow! Gainesville, a part of Gainesville Farm Fresh, a new site dedicated to connecting area folks with sustainably-grown, local foods.  If you follow the link you can connect to them via Facebook, as well :)

Front Yard Gardens

Clothesline, twine, and tent pegs

Bamboo and twine

My big one right now is actually in the back yard, but wanted to also show a couple of other yards on my street, each with its own, unique system of lattice work for vines. Mine, as you can see, is a makeshift job of clothesline, with twine anchored down with tent pegs. I'm actually quite proud of myself for coming up with that! The second yard is up the street a few houses, and the neighbors rigged up a pretty cool-looking network of bamboo poles and twine.  Beautiful sunflowers!  The last one is our neighbor Mark's garden, and he has the most unique set up I've ever seen.  For the past two years he's used these Rubber Maid bins that are self-contained growing spots for at least a spring and summer garden (I believe he lets them winter over, covered with plastic sheeting.  I had been telling friends about this set up and said that he had started with one and now had four, but looking at the picture I realized he is now up to six!  And he's growing corn!!  I don't want to be a hater so will merely channel the frustration and envy of those who have unsuccessfully tried to grow corn in their garden plots -- KHAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!111!!!!!

CORN!

The thing I love about Mark's lattice work is that he is totally a dude and went with PVC pipe; I really shouldn't be so sexist!  Even if he wasn't a dude, it makes perfect sense to build a frame of PVC pipe to hold up your tomatoes and squash (I think it was actually a cantaloupe I saw a ways back), because you can just disassemble it at the end of the season and let the pipes and joiners rest neatly in your shed until next year. 

Native American cucumber

Here's a couple of updated photos of the backyard garden; The vines are crawling up the twine very nicely as you can see.  The vine in front is a vegetable plant Hollie from Morningside Nature Center gave me in the Spring; it sprouted one vegetable, and from the photo it looks like a yellow squash, but not so!  I finally decided to bring it inside and slice it to find out what it was (I thought Hollie had said it was a watermelon) and while it looked like a squash on the outside it was more cucumber-looking on the inside, and had a nice, tart flavor - if I hadn't eaten it raw right then and there it might have made a nice accompanyment to some pickled vegetables.  Spoke with Hollie later and she said it must have been one of the Native American cucumber types she had sprouted.  Cool!  I saved the seeds so maybe next year I can get some more of these.  It's still going strong, though, and actually put out another blossom yesterday - maybe we'll get another cucumber for pickling!

The other vines are loofah sprouts I got from Farmer John's table at Ward's; the bean plants are also from Farmer John's but I can't for the life of me remember what they are, except some kind of bean plant.  They could be edible or ornamental, so will have to wait and see.