Sharing is Good; Your Mother Was Right

Two Wheeled Gratification

I've been out here bemoaning the lack of a bicycle(s) almost since day one. Last week I did something about it. No, I didn't do the usual Tom thing of buying another bike (I've considered it). I started taking part in the local bike sharing service called Norisbike. And I am digging it. Observe my sweet ride on the left. Sharp eyes may note that the bike itself is probably not UCI legal. The aerodynamic fairing covering the rear wheel is shaped similar to my aero helmet and likely provides a 2-3% reduction in the drag coefficient (wind tunnel results not yet available). Another triathlon inspired feature is the Bento style basket attached to the handlebar. It appears capable of holding 4 cases of Powerbars or Gels, a 20-pak of 0.5 liter beers or a full pork shoulder dinner complete with Kloss dumplings and red cabbage.  

Like a transition zone?

Some of you may be familiar with the bike sharing concept, it's very popular in Paris (Vélib’) and many other European cities. It was also recently introduced in Montreal (Bixi). Simply stated, for a very low price you pick the bike up from a station like this near where you need it, ride it to your destination and drop it off at a station (hopefully) close to it. As an example the station nearest my apartment is about 300meters away. I can see the one nearest to my office right now. I don't find it quite as well developed as the system in Paris, it's less automated and there aren't quite as many stations. But I love the concept and it suits my purposes very well. Door to door it's exactly the same amount of time whether I take the bike or the U-Bahn (Subway) and bus so I can afford to be very flexible using a bike whenever the spirit moves me and the conditions favour it.

The ironic thing about the well developed system of bike lanes in the city is that it's taking me a while to figure out exactly where to ride. Wherever there is red painted pavement whether it's on the road surface or a part of the sidewalk, that's where I'm supposed to be. But the red painted sections can end abruptly and there's not always an indication where to go. Sometimes the sidewalk sections are bi-directional, sometimes not. And it's not always reliable to do as the locals because they make a pretty liberal interpretation of the rules sometimes. I haven't been honked or yelled at yet in almost two weeks so I'm miles ahead of where I'd be at home.

One last comment on the bikes themselves. They're here for a long time, not a good time. I'm estimating one weighs as much as my three lightest bikes. For a good workout I recommend bench pressing one. Following a nuclear armageddon my prediction is that all that will remain are these bikes. And cockroaches. Maybe they'll even figure out how to ride them.

Thanks for reading (now over 2,000 total Page Views!),

Tom

Bits of This and That

Nothing profound from Germany in this installment but here are a few observations and insights into what I’ve been thinking and doing over the past few days.



It's easy. Just read the instructions



Indiana Jones and the Temple of Laundry



I rediscovered Laundromats last night. Certainly not glamorous but an essential part of life. If you think about it the whole “one family per washer/dryer” concept is incredibly wasteful. But the ability to stick your laundry in a machine in your own dwelling, go off and do something fun or productive then come back to finish the job on one’s own schedule is a luxury I won’t be taking for granted anytime soon.

I may be kicking my TV addiction while I’m over here. Initially I thought all the channels I got were German. That wasn’t fair. One is Austrian. Fortunately I had no difficulty with the accent. I get 22 channels total. Of those approximately 22 are German language. At home when I come into an empty house I almost always immediately flip on the TV. Over here I’ve started to put on music or internet news radio instead. What has not changed is my need to have some form of background noise. In fact it’s probably more important over here. The loneliness can start to get at you and I’m starting to understand Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway. Perhaps I should buy a volleyball.

I may be becoming more German than I know. This morning my bus was nearly two minutes late. I was almost freaking out. How could this be?

When commuting by bus (especially in Germany) you tend to see the same people every day.  There’s a father with a young son 3-4 years old. The man must work near my office as he drops his boy at the day care here in the office park. The little boy is normally very cute. This morning he was just in a foul mood, crying from the second he set foot (actually today he had to be carried) in the bus. Now I have no formal training in psychology but I do consider myself a keen observer of the human condition. This young man had no projects running behind schedule and no impending cost overruns. There were no customers making unreasonable demands of him. He hadn’t had any disagreements with a spouse, likely had no personal financial concerns and almost certainly had not had any traffic encounters with poor drivers. Maybe he was in a foul mood just because he was. And maybe that happens to all of us. We get into a funk just because. On the other hand maybe everything happens for a reason and he didn’t get a prize in his cereal or he hated the outfit his mother made him wear. Who knows?

On the factual side I’m keeping myself fed and I’m running every day with no particular program or goal. Most days I get plenty of sleep but with last night being laundry night my bedtime was later than I prefer. I’m able to stay in touch with my family using various tools of modern technology but I still miss them.

More later, thanks for reading.

Tom