bicycle commuting

Linus Bikes have proven to be a very practical line of bikes that we love for their utility sensibility, but certainly one can't miss the simple and clean aesthetic design. Today's New York Times features Linus for just these features.

You can check out the feature on the NYTimes web page HERE

This past December I was asked to jury The St. Paul Prize Design Competition 2008. A somewhat unusual role for me as I'm not an architect, a designer, nor a member of the St. Paul Chapter of the American Institute of Architects who sponsored the event. However, I do own a bike shop that's dedicated to cycling as transportation. As luck would have it, architect Eric Lagerquist (Smithgroup) was in the shop to pick up a copy of VeloVision, and asked if I would participate.

The judges included six designers/architects, myself and my friend who is car-free and a Minneapolis city bus driver. The entries were presentation boards as well as written explanation of the designers intent. All of the entries were exciting and well done. Everyone did a nice job of making it look fun and easy to commute via bike and bus.

Participants in the competition were local architectural interns. The programmatic requirements were minimal in order to allow a more free hand for the aspiring designers. They were given two real locations with a few constraints for each:

White Bear Location
• Storage for 50 Bicycles
• Two single occupant toilet rooms, ADA compliant - 80 s.f.
• Coffee Hut – 50 s.f.
• Work Space for attendant/repair man – 100 s.f.
• Ticket Sales Kiosk
• Integrated Renewable Energy Element

Como Location
• Storage for 20 Bicycles
• Ticket Sales Kiosk
• Integrated Renewable Energy Element

Typically the simpler designs faired better than more complex ones. (It's true, less is more.) Not only were they cleaner solutions, but they would be easier to maintain, less expensive to build and more portable. One of the more complex designs was made of hexagonal glass sheets put together in a honeycomb style. It was inspired by the designers own carbon fiber bike frame. Everyone agreed it was spectacular, but the cost of building and maintaining it would most likely keep it on the drawing board, particularly in this economy.

Winter commuting by bicycle in Minnesota can be  challenge. Last week was a full on battle. It was below zero most of the week and we've had a few snowfalls in the last 10 days. This mix of super cold temps with snow makes for huge patches of extremely slippery ice. I can hear most of you chuckling over my comment referring to this weeks ice as being more slippery than last weeks ice. Funny, Yes. True, Yes.

On Monday I was struggling through my commute with fresh snow falling and my eyelashes froze together on one eye. Moments earlier while walking my bike as I walked my daughter to her morning Spanish Class I mentioned how I thought the snow gave a romantic feel to the cold temperatures. At the time I wasn't thinking about how the moisture in the air could melt on my eye and then freeze as the wind blew across my face.

As I got within a few blocks of the shop I was riding out in the lane because the side of the road was too chunky and icy for me to ride on. I had a truck pull up alongside me and I was sure that I was going to get yelled at for, well it could have been so many things actually, but my main thought was for riding in the lane of a busy street. The driver rolled down the passenger side window and let me know that my kickstand was down. As he pulled away he said he just didn't want me to get hurt. How sweet is that! It's 10 degrees below freezing, it's snowing hard now, I'm sweating from the challenge to stay upright, I can only open one eye and here's someone looking out for me. "Thank You" I yelled to him as he drove ahead.

He didn't know that I wasn't going to catch my kickstand this week. The only way to have the kickstand catch the ground would be for me to lean the bike into a turn. Riding on city streets that are a sheet of ice does not lend the luxury of leaning into a turn. Bummer.

I have always muttered to myself on the best and worst of commuting days that a day I can ride to work is a good day. It's true. I was lucky enough this week to be healthy enough mentally and physically to ride to work. Sweet!

Wednesday the temperature didn't get higher minus 5 degrees. Early in the afternoon a kid named Jason came in needing air in his tire. He was chatting with the mechanic a bit as he got air and he talked about making music and what a great party he'd been to last weekend, ect, ect. When asked where he worked he said he was working now, delivering sandwiches by bike. In fact he had to get going because he was on a delivery. As he started to the door he mentioned that the job was great and he was feeling good about being lucky enough to have a decent job. Unbelievable! He wasn't dressed all that well and his bike was a 70's Schwinn running the original tires and he didn't ever mention the ice or the temperature! Rock on Jason! It's a good day.

We have a pretty wide range of customer's at the shop that put in a good amount of miles each year. Some do (or lead) a lot of club rides, some love the call to tour, some are just all round bicycle users and some are big time commuters. Mark is a commuter with a love of a good tour every now and again.

Mark consistently gets in over 4,000 miles a year. We're talking year after year after year.

Here's some Q & A that Mark submitted as a "Bike Profile"

Bicycle (year, brand and model): 2000 Vision R44, 2002 Vision R85 tandem, 2005 ICE-T

What's your primary use of this bike?: Commuting, but I do day rides and I tour with my wife.

Do you have an especially memorable ride that you did on this bike?: All my rides are memorable, but our tour last summer through the Iron Range in northern Minnesota was a hoot.

Are there any accessories or custom modifications on your bike that you'd like to point out?: I've crated my own "T" bar for mounting my computer and ! light systems and it cost under three dollars. I'll try and get some close up pictures downloaded.

Anything else that you'd like to mention about the bike?: They are like riding on a human powered magic carpet.

Thanks Mark!