Bike to Work Week: Why People Ride Their Bikes

It's Bike to Work Week here in Madison. A great time to ask people why they ride the bikes they ride. It's one of my favorite questions to ask. The answers tend to suggest a close relationship between the rider and his or her bike.

During the Bike to Work Week event hosted Tuesday morning by Isthmus (the Madison weekly where I enjoy the privilege of being a staff writer, and which offered coffee, bagels, rolls, fresh fruit to two-wheeled commuters, along with free bike checks courtesy of Williamson Bicycle Works mechanics), I posed the question to several people. Every answer was distinct. Here's Steve Goldstein, explaining why he rides a Klein....



And here's former Ald. Robbie Webber, extolling the virtues of her well-traveled and -accessorized hybrid bike (watch for an amusing cameo appearance by Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz)...



Next, John Rider, Madison's bicycle registration coordinator, introduces his beloved Giant Iguana...



Greg Blake, a product designer for Madison-based Pacific Cycle, explains the appeal of his Mongoose road bike:



My youngest sister, Louisa, is up next, with a testimonial for her Univega Activa Country:



Trisha Crinkley, a certified Physician Assistant at Wildwood Family Clinic and self-proclaimed fair-weather bike commuter, likewise expresses great fondness for her Fuji Touring bike:



And to wrap this up, Brian Conger, outreach coordinator for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (organizers of Bike to Work Week) explains how spiffing up his vintage Schwinn Madison has made him the coolest kid on his block:



Bike to Work Week continues through Friday, June 12, with events including Bike Trivia and a final BTWW celebration at Vilas Park. For details, check the listings on Isthmus's website at The Daily Page.

Giant Tulips March on Capitol

They grow 'em pretty darn huge here on the grounds of the state Capitol in Madison. Note how some of them are big enough to dwarf the statue of Hans Christian Heg.....

Lake Monona Legs

They ran the annual Lake Monona 20K this morning, 12.4 miles, clockwise, around Lake Monona. This is one of the oldest foot races in Madison, dating to the mid-1970s, maybe the early 1970s -- it used to be on the old Vilas Running Club schedule, somewhere between February's 10-kilometer Freezeroo around Lake Wingra and May's Syttende Mai 20-mile run from Madison to Stoughton. The race has changed organizers at least a couple times over the 30 or so years it's been run, but it's still going. There were 653 finishers today -- 373 men, 280 women. About three-fourths of the way through the race, somewhere between nine miles and the 15-kilometer mark, Joe Kurian had already opened up a lead of several minutes en route to a dominating victory margin of four minutes, 31 seconds. A few minutes after he raced past the site where Harry Whitehorse's Effigy Tree will soon be re-installed as a bronze casting, I turned on the camera to catch the next 20 pairs of legs. In between the tap of footfalls on Lakeland Avenue, I listened to the birds in the trees.

Geese off Picnic Point

Among the many waterfowl encountered yesterday while kayaking around Picnic Point to Second Point, these two geese were the most vocal. This is not the most inept video clip I've ever captured, but neither is it the most ept.



Happiness,
David

Kayaking up the Yahara

After an extended stretch of uncooperative weather, my patience reached its limits a few days ago and I finally got the kayak out for its inaugural voyage of the season. Putting in at Olbrich Park, I paddled west along Lake Monona's north shore past Hudson and Yahara Place parks to the middle Yahara, and pointed my bow upstream. The water dynamics appeared vigorous as the river entered the lake, and it took about twice as long as usual to get up to the Tenney lock and dam. The current felt pushier than usual, so I was curious to know what might be going on at the locks. Were they letting more than the average volume of water vent downstream? Arriving at Tenney Park, I found a visual answer: What appeared to be quite a robust volume of water indeed was being released out of Lake Mendota, creating some of the liveliest swirls and eddies I've ever seen below the locks.



In an effort to quantify what I was seeing, I checked the US Geological Survey's data for its East Main Street water gauge. Sure enough, it was showing flows well above average for this time of year. The gauge height is reaing more than six feet -- two above its mean average for this time of year, and one above its median. At more than 430 cubic feet per second, the discharge rate has been at or near the 15-year records set last year, and almost triple the median average for the 15-year period of record. The stream's velocity, too, is running swift at about 1.5 to 1.6 feet per second. Match that with the volume and it's no wonder paddling upstream felt like slow going.

The ride back downsteam was a breeze, and took little effort -- more like sightseeing than kayaking....


The succession of railroad, automobile, bike and pedestrian bridges spanning the middle Yahara make this one of my favoirte places to paddle.


The distinctive way each bridge frames the next never fails to catch my eye...

But kayaking the middle Yahara also affords a waterborne perspective on its banks, and on the neighborhoods that flank it.....

Happiness,
David

The Snowshoe Commute Across Lake Monona

The snowshoe commute to work across Lake Monona is one of the great pleasures of winter in Madison. Starting from Olbrich Park, there is a choice of routes. One is to skirt the lake's north shoreline, getting off the lake at Yahara Place Park to cross the Yahara River on the Rutledge Street bridge, and getting back on the lake one block west at Morrison Park for the duration of the trek. The other option is to venture way out toward the middle of the lake to get around the middle Yahara River's mouth (because the flow can make for unpredictable ice). Both routes reconverge near the snowfence that marks the warm-water effluent zone from Madison Gas & Electric's Blount Street generating plant, where the final approach to the commute's conclusion at Monona Terrace affords a perspective of the isthmus skyline that is worth savoring in the silence that comes with stopping for a moment.

Happy Cows May Come from California, but the Cow of Love is from Wisconsin

Valentine's Day ought to be Valentine's Month, n'est-ce pas?

Gimme Yer Tired Yer Poor Yer Huddled Iceboaters and Curious Onlookers

Lady Lib has once again come up for air on Lake Mendota off the UW Memorial Union Terrace.