Thread: New bike path
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Old March 13th 18, 08:23 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
JBeattie
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Posts: 5,870
Default New bike path

On Tuesday, March 13, 2018 at 7:36:16 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-03-12 22:26, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 12 Mar 2018 19:55:30 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

On Monday, March 12, 2018 at 7:32:27 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 12 Mar 2018 19:58:03 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 3/12/2018 7:35 PM, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 12 Mar 2018 09:38:15 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2018-03-11 16:12, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/11/2018 5:49 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 9:08:15 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/10/2018 8:42 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 5:47:04 PM UTC-8, Gregory Sutter wrote:
On 2018-03-10, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 12:22:52 PM UTC-8,
wrote:
On todays route, to Dutch standards through the middle of
nowhere, I noticed that a new bike path is constructed (about 3-4
km long) along a quiet road. Even I was surprised that we go to
this kind of trouble.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gAFqDSnOECBcxETP2

Wow, I guess that's what you get when you don't have to pay for
cruise missiles. I think we should conquer NL and take the bike
paths.

Jay, you win the Internet today. Here's your Unca Sam chapeau.

r==i
|**|
L==|
-======-

Aw right! A new hat! I'll wear it leading the charge into Amsterdam!
Which way to the coffee shop?

If I recall, 'coffee shop' in Nederlanderese means 'pot
vendor'. You needn't bother since you're in Oregon already.
Dutch buy coffee in an 'espresso bar' I think.

Lou, is that right?

Yes, I was using the term "coffee shop" to mean dispensary of the evil
weed with its roots in hell. Invading foreign countries is
stressful. You need something to take the edge off.

Speaking of getting high in NL, the flatness there is staggering.. 50
meters in 85km? Dang.

My son JUST GOT OUT OF HIS WHEELCHAIR! He was cleared to stand last
Wednesday, and one of the first things he did was get on his trainer.
If you forgot, he shattered both of his ankles skiing on Christmas Eve.

I set him up with the recovered Roubaix -- complete with the flat
pedals the meth tweakers had put on the bike. I also put some bright
blue duct tape on the crank arms to keep them from being scuffed the
ortho boots. The bike looks like something right out of a homeless camp.

Today, he rode outside for the first time. A few times around the
neighborhood streets. 3.5km and 80 meters of climbing -- in ortho
boots. I think he can still beat me even with two surgically repaired
ankles.

The weather was perfect today -- 65F, blue skies. I was headed out to
the Columbia River Gorge but turned back before Crown Point because
the f****** wind. I got tired of thrashing myself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcP8qK_CSZA 00:39 is why you don't
want a light bike.

What I hate about the wind is that it often shifts after mid-day when
central Oregon warms up. If you mis-time your ride, you can end up
with a headwind both ways. The wind remained out of the east for me
today, and I had a screaming tail wind going home down Marine Drive --
which made me feel like Cancellara with a Gruber assist. It was great
until I ran over a cement board screw and tore up my front tire. I
had to boot it with a $1. I think Park sells $1 bills as tire boots.
They're $2.

And not to sound too cranky, but I get tired of guys riding by and
asking if I'm O.K. One guy actually stopped and was cross-examining me
about the flat. Do you have this, do you have that? I just kept
saying, "I've got it. I'm O.K.; I've got it." He wouldn't go away. He
was wearing tights with pink flamingos on them. I kid you not. I
once had a guy stop and basically take over fixing a flat -- it was so
surrealistic that I just stood there and let it happen. It the
officious flat fixing people. Another Portland trope.



"The bike looks like something right out of a homeless camp."

Maybe for your Portland homeless camps. The pros are in LA:

http://ktla.com/2018/03/10/eye-poppi...ss-encampment/


Within weeks all that will probably be back :-(


Out of curiosity where do the "homeless" go when they are "cleared
out", as the article describes?


Into other similar areas until they are either kicked out there or the
old turf is low enough in the police presence to move back.


After all they are "homeless" so they don't have a home and one
assumes that they can't pay for a hotel room. So where do they go?


They are what Hitchcock called 'the McGuffin', a device to
move the plot along. Doesn't really matter.

In this case, the important principle of governance is,
"Once the problem's solved, the money stops."

https://nypost.com/2018/03/06/everyo...meless-policy/

https://nypost.com/2018/02/24/de-bla...ing-explosion/

Solving problems is anathema to anyone in politics.

Back when I was a young Airman I worked with a guy - probably had 10
or 12 total years service - but he had mentioned that his first hitch
he had been in the Horse Drawn Field Artillery which was pretty far
back. I asked him about that and he said yes, that his first
enlistment was in 1930-something. When I asked him why he wasn't
already retired he said that when he'd finished an enlistment he'd get
out and work for a while but when he couldn't find a job he had
reenlisted.

Maybe we should re-discover this solution for the problem of the
homeless.

The armed services used to be an alternative to serving time for petty crimes, but I don't think any branch wants known drug addicts, psychotics, schizophrenics, etc., etc. I would guess than only a small fraction of the homeless are there because they lost a job -- at least based on my observations.


My last assignment in the A.F. I had a confessed drug addict assigned
to the shop. He went to the Hospital every morning for a shot and as
he was a dope addict had no security clearance which meant he couldn't
work on any of the aircraft. As a result he could only work straight
days and on projects that were not associated with either the B-52's
or the Tankers. Not a really welcome addition to a shop that is
working days, nights, and Sundays fixing airplanes :-)

I spent considerable effort on trying to get him removed from the shop
so I could indent for a replacement who could work on the flight line
but the guy finally solved my problem by deserting.


-- Jay Beattie.


But even people sleeping on a park bench have to eat. Where does that
money come from? Unemployment payments?


Sometimes. Also welfare payments, food pantries, soup kitchens,
shelters, begging, theft. Many older homeless also get social security
payments. For a long time our church members cooked for homeless and
brought dinner to a "tolerated camp".


Don't forget picking through trash cans. Lots of good eats there.


Scramento has a huge homeless problem and especially so along the
American River bike path. To the point where it isn't always safe riding
there anymore. It is largely a homemade problem. The mayor they have now
doesn't understand that with all his throwing moeny and resources at
this he is enticing ever more homeless to move to Sacramento. Free
stuff! When he started this I could notice a substantial drop in the
number of homeless I see along the El Dorado Trail yet the guy does not
get it.


I've been buying bus tickets to Sacramento for the dudes camped along our giant MUP, the Springwater Corridor. I'm glad to see its paying off -- that and the periodic "sweeps." http://pamplinmedia.com/go/42-news/3...ingwater-sweep

I was riding back from the Gorge on Sunday and cut over on the 205 bike path and hit a spot under an over-pass where I could barely squeeze by all the tents -- and garbage and needles, etc., etc. F****** incredible pigsty.

Let me know if you come up with a solution. I sure don't have one -- at least one that doesn't sound like something out of the Old Testament, or perhaps a modern book on recycling organic matter.

-- Jay Beattie.

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