The Blog Page

News, commentary and humor about bicycling and other topics of the day

 

Richland Creek Greenway Trail update

For those of you who haven't been on the Richland Creek Greenway Trail in Belleville, Ill., you're in for a pleasant surprise. Crosswalk signals have been installed at signals at West Main and Sixth streets. Pedestrians and cyclists can easily press the button to activate the signals, which will give them safe access across West Main.

Before, stop signs were installed at the intersection, but it wasn't a safe situation. West Main is a busy street, and it was difficult to find a opening to get across the street.

At least the times I've crossed the street with the signal, you still have to be wary of people turning east onto West Main because they may not be paying attention to people in the crosswalk. Still, the situation is better than it was.

Kudos to the city of Belleville and another other public agencies that was involved in installing the lights.

ROUGH SPOT: On the Richland Creek Greenway Trail between West Main Street and Centerville Avenue, watch out for a bit of the asphalt that is missing. Gravel has been put in the hole in attempt to fill it, but you could be heading for a fall if you're not watching for it, particularly if you're on a road bike.

Roger 0 comments 6:33 PM

Friday, March 24, 2006

Bicycle lanes gone amok

The BBC asked for photos of bizarre bike lanes, and visitors responded with some real doozies! Take a look for yourself.

Roger 2 comments 7:24 PM

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Illinois’ Route 66 Trail

The League of Illinois Bicyclists, in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and other partners, have published the map of Illinois’ Route 66 Trail.

Right now, the cue sheets that go along with the map are north to south, from Chicago to St. Louis, but LIB says south-to-north cue sheets should be available soon.

Much of the trail actually is not on the Mother Road, primarily for safety purposes.

For example, much of the Madison County segment of the trail uses Madison County Transit's Confluence and Quercus Grove trails as well as the bike lanes on Poag Road between Edwardsville and the Lewis and Clark Historic site.

One of the old alignments of Route 66 used Chain of Rocks Road from the Mississippi River to the present Illinois Route 157, took Route 157 through Edwardsville and Hamel, then continued north. While for historical accuracy's sake, it would be better that the trail used that alignment, those roads simply aren't very well suited for bicycle touring because of high traffic or inadequate lane width.

As you might imagine, the trail also strays off the alignments of Route 66 in the Chicago area, again because of heavy traffic on the streets that were part of Route 66. Through the rest of the state. the trail often does stray from the Route 66 alignments, but the map gives advanced cyclists the option of using the actual alignments.

The trail, by LIB's own admission, is a work in progress. As more off-road routes and road improvements are made, the trail will change. But at least this is a start, and we should appreciate the efforts of LIB and DNR in putting this ambitious project together.

To get a feel why the Mother Road is so important to many people, check out these sites:

• Illinois Route 66 Heritage Project
• Route 66 Association of Illinois
• Route 66 News
• Spring Break 66

Roger 1 comments 2:59 AM

Friday, March 17, 2006

Tour de Stooges T-shirt

For those of you who have been waiting to sign up for the Tour de Stooges on May 6 in Lebanon, Ill., wait no longer.

Our T-shirt this year will feature one of your favorite comedy teams riding tricycles! We hope to have an image of the shirt available soon.

If you want a $5 discount on your shirt, the deadline for pre-registering and getting the shirt discount is April 1. After April 1, the shirts will cost $22.50, and you won't be guaranteed of getting one on the day of the ride.

As for the ride itself, you have until roughly the end of April to pre-register and get a discount on the ride fee itself.

To see more details on the ride, including registering online, visit the ride's Web site: http://stooges.rogerkramercycling.org.

Roger 0 comments 2:09 PM

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Do burgers and Krispy Kremes go together?

As a co-founder of the Tour de Donut bicycle "race," I could not help being fascinated about the new culinary delight that will be sold at the Sauget, Ill.-based Gateway Grizzlies minor-league baseball team's concession stand this year: "Baseball's Best Burger"

What is it? It's a thick hamburger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon surrounded by a bun that is two halves of a grilled Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut.

Grizzlies General Manager Tony Funderburg describes it this way: "It tastes a lot like a McGriddle, a lunch version of the McGriddle. The sharp cheddar cheese is a great complement to the Krispy Kreme. It's a really good sandwich."

In case you're counting calories, you might have second thoughts about putting one in your mouth. It weighs in at 1,000 calories with 45 grams of fat.

You can read more about the burger at the Belleville News-Democrat and take a online poll on whether you'd eat the thing. You also can read about it and see a photo of "Baseball's Best Burger" at ESPN.

Roger 1 comments 12:28 PM

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Get off and walk

The Edwardsville Intelligencer reports that a design flaw in the construction of the Governors Parkway is preventing some effective use of the bicycle trails that intersect it.

Ann Schonlau of Edwardsville, a member of the League of Illinois Bicyclists board of directors, considers it something of an aggravation that she can't get off at Governors' Parkway and ride her bike on to Troy Road.

Schonlau, a retired recreation professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, suspects the reason a connector linking the trail to the roadway is absent is because government officials have had a misplaced fear that building one would expose them to liability when the inevitable accident happens.

She may be onto something.

Edwardsville Township Supervisor Mike Campbell told the Intelligencer that township trustees are united against the bill that would have given bicyclists the same rights on Illinois roads. Bicyclists on public roads, he said, "are an absolute hazard to vehicular traffic and bystander traffic. I don't think anyone can argue that we have some of the greatest bicycle paths that provide a safe outlet for bikers. If you give them the same rights as drivers, does it give them the same responsibility?"

Sadly, a lot of officials -- and much of the public -- share the same thinking as Campbell.

First of all, cyclists are not "an absolute hazard to vehicular traffic and bystander traffic." Cyclists who follow the rules of the road are no more so a hazard than someone in a motor vehicle who follows the rules of the road. And they are clearly less of a hazard than a drunken driver or someone speeding or driving in a reckless manner.

Campbell also doesn't seem to understand that not everyone drives a car to a trailhead and starts riding. People who live in Edwardsville Township probably have to ride on a street to get to the trails.

Campbell asks, "If you give them the same rights as drivers, does it give them the same responsibility?" Yes, of course, it does. Under the current state of Illinois law, bicycles are permitted, but not intended, users of Illinois streets and highways. Illinois law also makes it very clear that bicyclists must follow the same traffic laws as motorists as well as laws specifically made for bicyclists.

If you agree with me that Campbell is wrong, perhaps you should contact him at:

Mike Campbell
300 West Park Street
Edwardsville, IL 62025
(618) 656-0292

Roger 0 comments 3:19 AM

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Surprise bicycle ride

I had no intentions to get on my bike today. Some much-needed rain fell in the St. Louis metropolitan area, and the temperatures barely were reaching the 40s. Besides, I was on my way to Godfrey, Ill., to celebrate the 14th birthday of my niece, Lauren.

I decided to go to Mass at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Relgious Center before going to my sister's house. I left Belleville late and forgot to fill my gas tank, but I figured I could get to Edwardsville before I had to fill up. I made it to the Interstate 270-Interstate 255 intersection when the fuel light came on. In the past, that meant that I had one gallon in the tank and could go several more miles before I had to get gas. But I found out the hard way that isn't the case any more.

I was doing fine until I got to the hill leading up to the SIUE campus. Suddenly the car started sputtering and then died. I was hoping there were a few more drops in the gas tank to get to the main campus, but there weren't. I briefly thought about my options when I realized I had my road bike in the back of the car.

I figured a cold, wet bike ride would take less time than a cold, wet walk to the nearest gas station, on Illinois Route 157, so up the hill I went. I didn't have my bicycling shoes with me, but I managed to keep my casual dress shoes on my clipless pedals. I missed Mass, but at least I got some gas to get the car moving.

I'm hoping my adventure today will encourage me to do more bicycle commuting to work. I normally don't do that because I get off work in the vicinity of midnight and worry too much about drunken Belleville drivers. But after today's adventure, that commute doesn't sound too bad.

Roger 0 comments 8:25 PM

Friday, March 03, 2006

Bad news for Illinois cyclists

Efforts to overturn the chilling effects of the Illinois Supreme Court's Boub v. Township of Wayne ruling appear to be dead during the 2006 session of the Illinois General Assembly.

Here's what the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation has to say on the subject:

Rep. Elaine Nekritz has informed Chicagoland Bicycle Federation that House Bill 4907 does not have the votes to move forward in the Illinois House. The bill, drafted by the village of Skokie and strongly supported by the Northwest Municipal Conference, passed out of the House Local Government Committee in early February on a close 6-4 vote. The bill was a genuine attempt to combine sound public policy encouraging safe bicycling with a reasonable liability burden for local governments. Efforts by Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen and his legal staff were skilled and heroic. It is unfortunate that the effort was never fairly considered.

Reactionary opponents blitzed the bill with same set of false accusations used against previous proposals without regard to the new content and intent of House Bill 4907. Thanks to CBF member calls and faxes: most legislators who supported bicycling last year held. Unfortunately, we were not able to hold our narrow margin of support.

The Illinois Municipal League and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley were major factors in killing this bill. I do understand their fears about litigation, given the current climate of tort reform prevalent in Illinois. Cook, Madison and St. Clair counties have been painted as "judicial hellholes" by the American Tort Reform Association. That group contends "Illinois's litigious environment is making doctors and businesses shy away from entering the state, resulting in both a medical liability crisis and a suppressed economy."

I think their fears are exaggerated, but I also understand how politics works. The reality is that state legislators are more apt to listen to municipal leaders than to cyclists.

Until the political environment changes in Illinois enough to get this legislation passed, my hope is that municipal, township and county road departments will make a commitment to upgrade the quality of the roads. Many of these upgrades can make the roads more suitable for cyclists.

Madison County, to its credit, already does that. The roads the county maintains near urban areas have fairly wide shoulders suitable for cycling, and the roads in rural areas are wide enough to handle two lanes of vehicles plus cyclists who are following the rules of the road. St. Clair County-maintained roads are a mixed bag. Many of its roads in urban areas don't have shoulders suitable for bicyclists, and many of its rural roads are rough or narrow.

I think townships in those counties make a legitimate effort to maintain their roads as best they can, but they simply don't have the financial resources to make the roads as wide or smooth as many vehicle operators would like.

As development continues in Madison and St. Clair counties, we cyclists will need to work with local governments to make sure the roads are suitable for both motor vehicles and bicycles.

Roger 0 comments 12:09 PM

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Angel Kisses

I got a pleasant surprise today when I opened my e-mail -- a note from the Specialized Angel, Jana Ireton!

Here's a portion of what she had to say:

"Thank you for your kind write up about me as the Specialized Angel. I had a blast on the Tour de California and hope to return for more upcoming tours."

She also asked me to link to her new Web site, http://www.janaireton.com/, because her site at Explore Talent is outdated.

How could I refuse, especially since she threw Angel Kisses my way!

Roger 2 comments 6:56 PM