CitySmart Kit – CitySmart Packet

A: Pamphlet: from Cambridge Energy Alliance on how they will help make your home more energy efficient.
B: Pamphlet: “The REAL cost of Driving Alone,” from City of Cambridge, opens up to a bunch of fill-in-the-blanks math problems, plus a card on “6 Smart Driving Tips” (keep tires inflated, turn off engine when idling, etc)
C: Print out from Same Roads. Same Rules., Motorists tips on one side and cyclists tips on the other.
D: CitySmart reflective stickers!
E: Pamphlet: Climate Tips from the City of Cambridge
F: Card: Walk/Ride Day Dates (last Friday of every month) from the Green Streets Initiative.
G: Coupon: 10% off any class package, first time students get one week of complementary yoga to Baptise.
H: Getting Around in Cambridge Map. An excellent map with lots of info on alternative transportation options, plus additional tips printed on the flip side.
I: A thing to go with the map to trace out time, mode of travel, and distance covered. For example: inner most circle is 5 minutes by walking, marks 1/4 mile.  Pretty right on (shows that they considered possible red lights!).
J: Pamphlet from Livable Streets Alliance. (HI JACKIE!)
K: Coupon: $10 off a one hour message at Hands-On Health Associates, with their phone number (no website!)
L: Cambridge Farmers Market Map for 2010! Legend shows: day, time, neighborhood,  specific location, and 2010 dates. Another thumbs-up-map. AND it includes Davis Square and Union Square Farmers Markets even though they’re not technically in Cambridge, but are convenient for North Cambridge and East Cambridge residents, respectively. Well done.
M: Bumper sticker. (I had wished for a joke in that small print)
N: City of Cambridge Mirror Decals! Another clever idea. Static cling sticker to be placed at the bottom of the rear view mirrors. I’m a fan!

Besides the various stickers, I very much dug the Yes/No photo spread on the flip side of map (H). Check it out:

Getting Around Cambridge Map - Yes/No photos

Any questions?

(If only I had a buck for every time I’ve told a driver “Not a parking space!”…)

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CitySmart Kit

Last weekend I got my free CitySmart kit.

CitySmart Tote

CitySmart Logo

Today I finally dug in. This is what the City of Cambridge will send you as part of this pilot program, if you happen to live in N. Cambridge, if you happen to have seen the newsletter they sent at some point before today, and if you happened to remember to ask for it:

City Smart Tote and its content

A: Cambridge Calendar of Events Fall 2010, including Ongoing Events, Special Events listed by months (Sept-Nov), and Places of Interest (I’d like to see recurring annual events, too, as semi-permanent-resident)
B: A note congratulating me on participating, inviting me to Park(ing) Day 2010 (highly recommended: 9/17)
C: A card about MetroPedalPower (MPP YEA – )
D: “Fast, Flexible, Fun” water bottle (heeheeehee their slogan sounds like a cheap date)
E: le tote
F: Packet re: Car stuff
G: Packet re:  stuff that didn’t quite fit into other stuff but still cool to have
H: Packet re: Pedestrian stuff
I: Packet re: T stuff
J: Packet re: Bike stuff
K: (I took this out, laid it down, photo-d it, and then realized that it is meant to be a hard bottom for the tote)…..(The “Fast, Flexible, Fun” tote’s hard bottom. HA.)

Anyway, CitySmart is

a pilot program to test the application of social marketing techniques on transportation choices. Based on successful implementation in Europe, Australia and the United States, we hope to achieve a shift of approximately 10% of single-occupant vehicle trips to more sustainable modes, such as walking, bicycling and transit.

Ordering was very simple and quick (online form here).  My tote was delivered right to my door as promised, by MetroPedalPower (HIBEEZWAX!). Here’s MPP’s recent shout-out re: CitySmart.

If you live in N. Cambridge and you have not yet ordered a kit, please do! More kits = more interest from residents = more support from Cambridge to fund projects like these. The kit is FREE! DEADLINE TO ORDER IS OCT 1 2010! The Fast, Flexible, Fun program is moving on after this month.

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103.852 Miles Later

So. Many. Hills.

We climbed them. On 100lb chopper, tall bike, fixie with trailer, many single speeds. Add some fancy lights and speakers, + a whole lot of questionable/recycled components, and you have a SCUL Intergalatic Mission.

My ship (that’s SCUL speak for ‘bike’) sports a banana seat (ow) with tall sissy bars, carrying cargo that no doubt created way more drag than I needed. I am grateful to have threespeeds to spare this year (last year I went 109 miles on a single speed, albeit on way flatter terrain), and definitely used all three (particularly the lowest gear).

103.852 looks like this on a Google map.

Lost:
1. important components of my bubble dispenser
2. one of my two favorite hair clips of all time.

Gained:
1. new respect for my thighs and the subsequent “good job, legs!” dance
2. some bragging rights.

Totally worth the trip.

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Treat us like vehicles, please

Commute this morning:

Stopped at a red light, waiting to turn left from Mossland onto Somerville Ave. Construction everywhere! Cones and men in neon vests galore. Two cyclists stopped at the light in front of me, in the teeny, single-bike-lane-space between the lane of traffic and holes in the ground. The second man is shaking his head impatiently at the back of the first cyclist’s head, waving to to make the point of “will you please move?” for the sake of everybody behind them. I said to the back of HIS head,

“He’s stopped at the red light. That is fine.”

…for the sake of education. Shortly after they both took off, running the red light. Fine, whatever, I thought, didn’t notice any rhyme or reason to this, and continued to wait.  I waited. I waited. I (this is a really long light) waited, until a (I think) Somerville police officer whistled (like you would at your dog, not like I’m a bombshell walking down the street with fancy high heels and tight-fitting dress) at me and said,

“HEY, cyclist, Go.”
“Uh. I have a red light.”
“I’m telling you to go. I can do that.”
“That’s confusing.”
“It shouldn’t be.”

No words to the driver next to me, who was also waiting for the red light.

Sorry, officer, I didn’t realize you get to decide which vehicles qualify as vehicles, and apply the law accordingly at your whim. (I think I said something along the lines of “You don’t know your laws, officer!” as I rode off.)

Later, on Broadway in front of Akamai, police officer on motorcycle pulled into the bike lane in front of me, turned on his spinny lights as warning to a shiny Lincoln town car in front of him, which was parked in the bicycle lane. Thanks officer, I know you meant well, but what you actually did was cut me off, too, so that I have to go around both of you.  Next time: maybe you could at least issue them a ticket for parking in the bike lane?

I have a < 5 mile ride into work. That’s two too many things to report.

Brighter notes! Commute home yesterday:

SUN! Oh my.

Lady cyclist was pulled over by two Cambridge bicycle police officers for running a red light in front of Lord Hobo. They were sneaky: I didn’t see them at all until one jumped out to stop the cyclist. She carried her bike onto the sidewalk rather dejectedly. No idea if they issued a ticket or warning. I don’t like that this is likely a bad cycling experience for her, but I did celebrate a little bit on the inside for justice. That Cambridge team of officers on bicycles are pretty right on  (don’t get me started on Boston bicycle police that hang out around Downtown Crossing).

Soon after, on Beacon, I passed by a lovely cyclist with twin kids seas attached to her bicycle just behind the main saddle. The seats were painted bright blue with yellow polka dots. She said a friend built it and she did the paint job. It’s awesome, I gushed. Bicycle also sported a license plate that read “One Less Mini Van.”

I’d like to be half as cool as her when I’m a mom.

Approaching mid-March. SCUL Season soon! The preparations have begun. More on this later.

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Bro = Funny

FB message to Bro:

‘Mom sent me an email: “If you are driving at night and eggs are thrown at your windshield, do not operate the wiper and spray any water. Eggs mixed with water become milky blocking your vision up to 92.5%. You are forced to stop at the roadside to become a victim of robbers. This is a new technique used by robbers. Please inform your friends and relatives.”
Did you get this, too? JEEEESH. I thought she knew I biked everywhere.’

Bro replies:

‘It’s actually only 90.8%, and I can totally drive with that.’

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Too much?

I wrote this in Feb 09, and never sent it. Recently I received news that I may have to attend a hearing (so my car insurance premium doesn’t increase). A year later, I’m still dealing with Ares Geovanos’ idiocy.

I had considered blacking out his name for his privacy. But what the heck, he messed up good, so this is now going onto the interwebs. Here’s a letter to his parents:

Mr and Mrs. Geovanos:

I’m writing to you regarding a recent accident in Harvard Square, in which Mr. Ares Geovanos was involved.

My partner and I were returning from Southbridge, MA, celebrating an upcoming wedding. It was the first time we’ve used our car in nearly three weeks, but unfortunately public transit cannot take us to Southbridge. It was late, and it had been sleeting and raining all night.

As we stopped for a red light at the intersection of JFK and Mt. Auburn, we spotted Mr. Geovanos standing in a crosswalk on the far side of the intersection. He had a hand on (presumably) his bike, chatting with a friend, did not cross the street while he had the green light.

We were stopped behind an SUV, which was stopped behind a taxi. We were in the left lane on JFK, a two lane, one way street. As the light turned green for us, the taxi driver decided to make a right across one lane of traffic, creating chaos and confusion, blocking both lanes of traffic. The SUV swerved around the taxi to continue on JFK, and I followed, keeping an eye on the taxi in case it changes its mind.

Just as the SUV crossed the crosswalk, swerving to avoid Mr. Geovanos, we see him spit on the driver side window. Within the next few seconds, my attention was divided between going around the taxi and Mr. Geovanos, taking care not to hit either one of them. When I looked back to the SUV, it was too late – it had slammed on its brakes to a dead stop, and we slid right into its back bumper. This was followed by cheering and celebration from Mr. Geovanos and his group of friends.

We exchange information with the woman driving the SUV, who said that she had slammed on her brakes because she was startled by the pedestrian who spat on her window. We both identified Mr. Geovanos as the pedestrian responsible, and a Harvard University police officer near the scene apprehended him, then turned him over to a Cambridge Police officer, who provided me with your contact information.

In seeing his reaction to the SUV, I can only assume that Mr. Geovanos holds some unknown resentment toward the driver, or her vehicle. Both my partner and I are avid cyclists, and found his behavior to be irresponsible, dangerous. and disrespectful to others sharing the road, whether they’re other cyclists, cars, or pedestrians.

I’d like share the details and consequences of Mr. Geovanos’ seemingly harmless action.

The vehicle that was spat at:
2007 Cadillac Escala, luxury SUV
Kelly Blue Book value: 37,700 – 38,500
Gas mileage: 12 mpg city, 18-19 mpg highway
Seats up to 8

At the time of accident, this vehicle carried a driver only, with an empty trunk. According to the driver, she has made one payment on the vehicle, and it has already been rear-ended once.

Our vehicle:
2001 Ford Focus, hatchback
Kelly Blue Book value: 4,450 – 5,375
25 – 28 mpg city
31 – 36 mpg highway
Seats up to 4

Who we are: At the time of accident, this vehicle carried 2 passengers + heavy load in trunk/back seats. The car has been paid off and has never been in an accident. Between my partner and myself, we share 15 years of daily bicycle commuting, totaling over 30,000 miles of cycling.

The costs of the accident:

For the SUV driver: Perhaps minor adjustment to her insurance premium.

For us: paying for damages out of our pockets, plus the cost of SUV driver’s deductible (insert costs here). The accident will also log up to 30 miles of carbon emission by our car, for repairs and inspections.

One last thing: in confirming your contact information, I inadvertently discovered that Mr. Geovanos had provided false information to the Cambridge Police Department, fineable in MA up to $500.

I will not be asking asking for reimbursement for the insurance adjustment made to our insurance policy as a result of this accident – an on-going cost – however, I do expect for Mr. Geovanos to take responsibilities for his action and cover the damages to both vehicles. I will be sending a bill of the total costs to this address (as well as his Montana address), as soon as it has been calculated. I will also provide receipts for proof.

To Ares Geovanos: please consider your actions carefully, next time you decide to purposefully obstruct traffic. You’re very fortunate that the rest of us cared enough to protect your safety.

Sincerely,

—–

(For those of you that are curious – the damages to our car came to just over $2,400.)

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Swobo Adventures Pt 6 – Conclusion (Why I’ll Never buy Another Swobo Nor Another Bike from Wheelworks Ever Again)

(part 5)

I really love my Dixon.

My proportionally short legs makes it very difficult to find bicycles to fit. Any average bike that should fit an average 5′ 4″ person digs into my private parts when met with my below-average stand over (discounting ‘ladies frames’). I took months trying out bikes and reading frame specs:  Specialized, Redline, Trek, Masi, Marin, Iro, Surly (ohgodsowantonethatfits),…nothing worked until I straddled a Swobo (that’s what she said. harharharsnorthar).

During this debacle I promised myself that I’d seek revenge:  I’d write to consumer advocacy groups in both California and Massachusetts, Better Business Bureau, the Attorney General’s office for Swobo’s failure to honor the warranty, write to every bicycle review group, the whole 9 yards and then some. But now that the bike is back, all of that just sounds like, well,  even more time to be wasted.

Total cost of SNAFU:

  • Shipping of frame $28
  • T pass for nearly two months = $100+
  • Pain and suffering (as any good lawyer might suggest. Specifically: irretrievable time on MBTA, catching of swine flu from MBTA, loss of productivity/sick days)

So much of this experience could have been avoided if people could just communicate.  Swobo to Ace, Ace to Swobo, Ace to me, Swobo to me. Since I’ve been a regular bicycle commuter, this was the single most unsatisfactory customer service experience I’ve received from any local bicycle shop.  Ace is literally one block from my house, and it is Oh-So-Convenient for me to go and pick up parts when I need them.  But I’m done.

Ace is not going to suffer from losing my business, and Swobo will care less about me not buying a Sanchez (in fact, I kind of care about not having a Sanchez. It’s such a nice bike.) But it is still a choice I have, and I choose to spend my money elsewhere, where I am treated as I treated my customers, once upon a time as a retail associate.

I’ll ride out the repair. If it proves to be solid, great. If the frame fails me again, then, oh, let the wrath begin.  Oh and – I’ll probaby still Yelp.

2-month Post-Repair Update:

Frame is going strong, new fender holding. Snow/salt/ice got nothing on me and my Dixon, dressed in its wintry studded rubber.  I’ve not been to Ace once since this incident, and have gone out of my way to patronize other local bicycle shops (Paramount, ATA Cycle, Park Sales, Menotomy Vintage Bicycles. I can vouch for the awesomeness of all of these vendors with the exception of ATA Cycles, having only been there once. Broadway I respect, but I don’t love…but that’s another story.)  I’m happy with this decision so far, and am enjoying riding more – by taking the bike further away.

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Swobo Adventures Pt 5 (Why I’ll Never buy Another Swobo Nor Another Bike from Wheelworks Ever Again)

(part 4)

Some time later, I found myself waiting for news on the shipped bike, and looking at a calendar that read December 15th. I called Ace, asked for lady.  We were now two weeks since the bike supposedly shipped from Swobo, and it is not at Ace. Lady rep asid she will “send them an email” to find out what is going on.

December 16th: lady rep called back (she’s so much better about this than other Ace folks), they have the frame at Ace! But: she wasn’t sure where the parts were. I assured her that Ace has the parts somewhere (feeling a bit like a mother by this point). She put me on hold, went to investigate, and returned with a confirmation.  She said,

“I was just given a frame and asked to deal with!”

There was no cost to reassemble the bike, which was good news. I then asked if I could pick it up that night, she said,

“Probably tomorrow,” and “we’ll call you when it’s ready.”

Tomorrow came. No longer surprised to not hear from Ace. My patience was running very, very low, but I gave yet another day, true to my padding technique. Wouldn’t you know it: the padding needed its own padding. On the 19th I made another call to Ace. They

– Didn’t know where the parts were and still haven’t located the parts, which meant
– No progress was made.

The original rep said:

“There’s some confusion on where the parts are after they were taken off the frame. You don’t have the parts, right?”

“No. and that was two days ago when you couldn’t find the parts.”

“Right. We’ll have this taken care of today, I will give you a call back.”  Yeah ohokay.

Original rep was probably surprised to hear me calling after all this time concerning that same issue he handled, and that it was still unresolved. Whatever the reason, he indeed called me back an hour later, to tell me that the parts were located and a mechanic was already working on reassembly.

Two hours later :  Mechanic called to tell me that the bike was ready, and within 5 minutes I was there. 15 minutes later I was taking photos, documenting.

Here’s repair, seat stage seen from above:

Seen from below:

Read on for Moral of the Story…

(part 6)

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Swobo Adventures Pt 4 (Why I’ll Never buy Another Swobo Nor Another Bike from Wheelworks Ever Again)

(part 3)

Two weeks later. Nothing – no surprise there. Maybe three weeks later? Nope. I gave my week of padding, for good measures, and called Ace on Nov 30th.

The original sales rep answered. He recognized my ..case(?), took a message and said he would find the status. Another rep called me back, the second time I’ve received a promised call-back (whoa) snce this whole fiasco began. She said,

“They have the bike over at Swobo, and I will find out what the status is and call you back. ” She did so later that same day (double whoa) and asked:

“Swobo says they can fix the frame. They said ‘It won’t look right, but we can fix it.’ They want me to ask if you would be ok with that.”

“No,” I said, “that’s not the warranty. I’m not ok with that. The warranty is a new frame.”

“Ok. I will tell them.”

Another weekend (4.5 weeks since bike went to Ace) went by and I hear nothing. When I called Ace again on Dec 7th, lady rep put me on hold to gather her notes (ie. there was progress but I had to call to prompt the update), and returned to the phone with:

“Now, I’m only a messenger: …”

According to lady rep, Swobo had went ahead with the repair and shipped the bike back. She couldn’t tell me exactly when this happened, but she believed it was either on Dec 1 or 2nd. She also gave me a Swobo phone number and name to call, and said that they would be happy to talk to me about that repair. The bike should be en route to Ace.

Since they’ve already shipped it, I just wanted it back. I asked how much the shipping cost would be, and lady rep couldn’t tell me that, either, because the person in charge of that (manager’s mom – don’t know why this info was important) is on vacation (and I guess neglected to delegate her responsibilities while she was away).

In this same conversation, I expressed my disappointment with Swobo, and that I had planned to buy the Sanchez. Lady rep then began to suggest (sell) some models of Specialized. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I was also disappointed with Ace’s’ customer service and will not be buying bikes from them again (she was perfectly sweet and she called me back two out of the three times promised. That’s pretty good for Ace).

I asked lady rep to keep me posted as soon as the bike arrives. At the time of this conversation, I had been without a bike for exactly five weeks.

(part 5)

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Swobo Adventures Pt 3 (Why I’ll Never buy Another Swobo Nor Another Bike from Wheelworks Ever Again)

(Part 2)

I’ve been a regular customer of Wheelworks since about 2005.  If I had to write a Yelp review for it as of August 09, I would’ve given them 3-stars: The staff is pretty friendly, and a select few employees are quite knowledgeable if you’re lucky to be helped by them. But the repair work is inconsistent, and prices are rather high for the work done.  What boggled me was this: when they say they’ll call, that your bike will be ready in a couple of days, they really mean that there’s a 20% chance they’ll try to remember to call, at which point you may or may not get your bike back.  I know this well, so I always give extra padding when dealing with Ace.

So a week after the Dixon went in and I’ve heard nothing, I figured it was time to take the initiative. I called, and the manager said:

“We called Swobo. They’re not getting back to us.” and that was where the original sales rep left it. No progress. Manager promised to continue to contact Swobo, because he had “a great relationship with Swobo – it’s not like them to ignore me,” and the bike stayed at Ace in the meanwhile. He said he’d call. I said, “Ok.” and thought – “We’ll see if you do.”

Another week went by, no word from Ace. I called, got the manager on the phone. He said he will follow up with Swobo again, and that he will call me back “today.” At about 6pm I got tired of waiting for his call so I went to Ace to find out what the status was, since it would be harder for him to ignore me if I was staring right at him.

“Oh, [manager] left for the day.”

Crud. I almost lost it here, because it was one thing if you don’t call ’cause you don’t have an update, it was another to OFFER TO CALL and then leave me hanging (I sometimes refer to this as “lie”).  I asked,

“Could I have my bike back, at least? I’ve gone two weeks without my main mode of transportation. I sort of need it. If there’s no update from Swobo, and I know the bike is ride-able, I don’t see why you have to keep it here.”

A bit of waiting around and a few phone calls later, I got my bike back. Unimpressed, I asked to be kept posted of their attempt to reach Swobo, they agreed, wrote something down, and I left Ace annoyed but happy to have my bike.

Yet another week later (if you’re keeping track, we’re going into fourth week of trying to contact Swobo). Nothing from Ace. Time for another call to the manager. He said:

“Swobo is still avoiding calls and emails. We’ve sent photos to show them the damage, this should be a no-brainer, it’s a warranty replacement,” etc.  He said he would prod again and call me back.

Later that day: Success! Swobo gave the ok to swap frame. This was the first phone call with Ace where they dialed my number. Well, bygones, I thought, I’m going to get a new frame! Manager said,

“You can bring bike back at any time, now that we know Swobo will honor the warranty.”

I asked,

“Since Swobo has agreed to honor the warranty and send a new bike, couldn’t I take a bike from your stock, and you’d take the incoming bike?”

No such luck, because  “if Swobo doesn’ send a bike then we’re out a bike.”

Well, isn’t that interesting. Did they agree to honor the warranty or not? I think Ace didn’t know, either.

The night before Hub on Wheels, I went in to see if I can get a fender in place.  Manager offered to put a clip-on fender in place, and did so. Things were looking up! Ace was re-earning its gold stars.

I knew that I needed the bike through October as my main transport, so I decided to wait until the first week of November so that I could ride more before the snow hit. Ace manager said that this would be fine, and I could make the exchange whenever I was ready. In one of the earlier conversations, another employee had told me to allow 2-3 weeks for turn-around time.  I added some padding to this estimate, made plans for transportation, and said goodbye to the Dixon on Monday Nov 2nd.

(part 4)

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