Oh, the Media!

Some day in Omaha...

There's a lot of buzz about bikes in Omaha these days, and for better or worse, I've been a part of it. Between all the newspaper articles, radio spots, and now tv spots it's all over the place!  At times, it's been quite a challenge to keep my head on straight, particularly when crazy radio personalities are absolutely lying to their listeners. 

One such incident , on KFAB, really got me riled up!  Poor, ignorant Scott Voorhees; what a buffoon!  I was only able to listen to it for a moment or two before I had to call in and try to talk some sense into the fear-mongering idiot.  That's right, I called him an idiot.  Listen to him smashing apart Omaha's City Planning Department starting around the 9 minute mark and you'll see what I mean.  I think the point when I finally got on air was around the 28 minute mark and I realllllly had a hard time not calling him out on his blatant disregard for reality.  Oh well, kind of fun.  Sort of made me reminisce about my encounter with good ol' Tom Becka several months ago.  Blog post on that around the end of December if you feel like reading about that one.

Then, just this morning on KETV there was the morning "Chronicle" which featured the Transportation Master Plan and cycling in our city as the feature.  In case you missed it, here it is.  I really hated the fact that the segment starts out with Rob framing the conversation in a negative light by saying that cyclists will create an obstacle course on your daily commute.  As we all know, it's all in how the media portrays news and not just necessarily what that news really is.  The news, in my opinion, is this: cycling is taking off in Omaha!  Finally!  And it's turning into a polarizing subject.  Which sucks.

I've also been asked to do a guest blog for www.livewellnebraska.com.  I submitted a little write up and we'll see what they do with it.  I'd guess maybe nothing as I tend to be overly opinionated.  I think it would do better here:

"I am not Lance Armstrong.  So, to the gentleman who buzzed by me in his Hyundai yelling, “Get on the sidewalk, Lance” I’d like to make that clear.  I am Sarah Johnson and I live, work, and ride my bicycle in Omaha.  That’s right; I ride a bicycle in the streets of Omaha and so far, I’ve lived to tell about it.  

Right now, you’re probably deciding where you stand on this hot button issue: do you choose to share the road with other users (of all sorts) or do you prefer to harass them and make them feel unwelcome on “your” street?  I don’t like that this is such a polarizing issue these days but with the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) in the works, and about to go to City Council, everyone seems to have an opinion.  This is good…if you’re actually getting all of the facts, and not just emotions to form your opinion. Mine is this: we really can all get along; there is room for everyone.

Part of what I think people aren’t looking at, is the fact that this is a Transportation Master Plan.  Not a Bicycle Master Plan. Not an Automobile Master Plan.  But instead, something that takes both of those modes and more, into consideration and looks at how we can all coexist, safely.  I’m proud that Omaha is growing up as a City, but part of those growing pains requires evolving into a city that can support people moving about efficiently in a manner that they choose.  Right now, a lot of people would say that is in their personal vehicle.  If you look at really any other city where transportation choice has been implemented, you’ll see full buses instead of empty ones, smiling people on bicycles in bike lanes instead of cyclists fearing for their safety, and people of all ages walking down the street getting from point A to B. What you won’t see is a city without cars.  So don’t worry!  Part of having choice, is being able to choose to drive your car.  By yourself.  Don’t even carpool.  No one is forcing you.  

There seems to be an unfortunate amount of fear mongering going on around this issue: “The City is trying to take your car keys away and force you to ride your bike” is one ridiculous comment I heard this week coming from the mouth of a radio personality.  Granted, his job is to stir things up, but if we’re intelligent enough to see past this and imagine a slight change that involves new infrastructure to support choice in transportation, everyone will win.  There will be less congestion, not more because transportation is really about moving people, not just cars.

One way that you can get informed, have fun, and make a difference is coming right up!  Tuesday, May 1^st from 5pm-dark there is a transportation celebration, and you should be there.  This Heyday on May Day takes place between 26^th and 24^th Streets on Harney where you’ll find hundreds of people who are interested in getting around our city.  This Mode Shift Omaha/City of Omaha co-sponsored event will include: food trucks, cycling groups, Trugs, music, a photo booth, group bike rides meeting around the city and arriving together at the Heyday, an alley cat bike race, and most importantly the City Planning Department will give a presentation about the TMP at 6:30pm.  This is an event unlike any Omaha has seen and we’re excited to imagine the possibilities together.  To show some of what is possible and in the plan for Harney Street, or Market to Midtown Connector, we’re shutting down the two north lanes of Harney and spray chalking in bike lanes complete with a tree lined separation from vehicle traffic. "

The sign is up already!

 

Between ModeShift Omaha and www.movingomaha.org a lot of good information is getting spread around.  It may be biased (towards choices and safer cycling) but it's not full of lies, propaganda, and fear tactics.  Read up and we'll see you on Tuesday at the Heyday on May Day!!  

 Hope to see you on the road, riding safely and courteously, of course!

-SJ

Fun for your Friday night!!

If you don't have plans for this beautiful evening, we have an idea for ya!  There's a little group ride leaving Greenstreet Cycles tonight at 8pm for a casual cruise around Downtown (complete with a stop or two at some local watering holes).  This is a ride to showcase one of our Bicycle Friendly Destinations, Film Streams, that's showing "The Kid With a Bike" at 10pm.  They're kind enough to offer their student pricing if you ride in.  And, tonight only, if you show up via bicycle, you'll get a FREEEEEE fun-sized popcorn!  Thanks Film Streams!  We're looking forward to it.

-SJ

What I've Been Working On...

It's a transportation celebration! And we need you here to make it possible.

Omaha is about to adopt a new Transportation Master Plan for our fine city, and we're throwing a party to celebrate our past accomplishments and look to the future with hope for many more.

So here's the deal: we're working with the City to shut down the north two lanes of Harney Street between 26th and 24th Ave. to showcase how wonderful an active, walkable, bikeable, liveable street could be! Priority 1 on the master plan is to convert Harney Street, from UNMC to the Old Market, into a protected cycle track for biking and walking. We're calling it the 'Market to Midtown Connector' and it's sure to be a wonderful addition to Omaha! At the Heyday, we'll help you visualize what that could mean to you.

Please join us, ideally by bicycle, bus, shuttle, foot, or carpool for too much fun to list on one page. There will be group bike rides organizing from around the city. Some of the fun, once you get there, will be in the form of the following:

*6pm: TMPlan discussion/community feedback
*5-9pm:
*music
*food trucks
*beverages
*Trugs
*bicycle racing/riding
*sidewalk chalking
*all sorts of art
*tree-lined street-scaping/beautification project
*bike shops and clubs with information
*filming and photographing the fun
*open house of the area
*yoga
*hoola hooping
*roller skating
*skate boarding
*anything that you can think of that involves fun outside

As you can see, there's an action-packed evening in Omaha's future. You should be there; after all, it is your city.

Ladies Ride Day!

Wellll, apparently I'm inept when it comes to uploading video.  So a few quick photos will have to do.  Maybe I'll ask one of those smart young kids I work with to show me how...

11 Wheels on Burt Street

There was bike traffic this morning and it made me smile!!

We (Copper, Vince, and I) were pedaling (or sitting in our Tail Wagon as the case may be) down our usual Burt route towards the shop when we ran into Aaron from Film Streams, our North Downtown neighbor on his daily commute.  But that's not the fun part.  At at stop light on about 20th and Burt, I did a quick wheel count...11 was what I came up with. 

So yeah, 11 because with Copper's trailer
2 + my Vaya 2 + Vince's Surly Necromancer 2 + his older 26" Long Haul Trucker 2 that he pulled along next to him+ his newly built up crazy ass fat unicycle 1 (also a Surly...the guy may be obsessed. Oh, and he just got in a new Pacer frameset that he's building up real purdy like to round out the collection)  + Aaron's bike 2 = 11 wheels!  Whoa.

It was fun to have that much of a bike presence on one corner.  Good times.  Yes indeed, good times.


As you can see, it's nothing but blue skies today and the weekend looks to be gorgeous as well.  Get out and ride folks, and then report!  Or don't.  You never do.  Dang.  Although I do get a lot of wonderful stories in the shop.  So that's nice.  Ok, that's it.  Buh bye.
SJ

Hello Spring!

I'm not sure if it's the 2 cups of coffee I'm operating on currently, the nice weather with the garage door open at the shop, or Prince on the radio, but I feel like today's going to be a good day.

Today I'm not going to make excuses about why I've not posted in quite some time; I'm just going to do it!  It's March.  Can. You. Believe. It?!!  I can't.  Last post, I was talking about a blizzard of sorts and there's been an even bigger once since:

Here was a GIANT pile of snow that had been plowed right into our lovely Burt St. bike lane.  February 3rd was the date. We were supposed to have our 3rd Greensprints that night but ended up cancelling it (which was fine by us actually since driving in the stuff was certainly less fun than pedaling in it).



We had fun riding to and from work that day. We really only opened the shop so that we had an excuse to go ride in the dumping snow!  Vince's fat bike (a Surly, aren't you shocked) was pretty fun to tool around on and did truly get around better than my little Bianchi, although I still did love my studded tires.

Vince, looking pleased that he's riding in the snow, slightly less pleased about the photo op! 








We also had a stretch of really nice weather too, and we took the opportunity to find a few miles of fun on the Wabash Trace in Iowa.  It was a touch sloppy but definitely rideable and fun for the most part.

Beatuiful nonetheless.

We packed a lunch and a few bicycle beverages and hit the trail.  It's been too long since we've gotten out and enjoyed a day on our bikes.  Not too cold, not too hot, just right.

 So that was a fun day.  And has actually gotten us thinking more seriously about a bike tour during the CWS when the the shop is closed.  The tentative plan is driving to Duluth, MN and then riding north up into Canada.  Fun, eh?!  Just practicing my Canadian. 

 We're working on some pretty cool stuff with Patrick's Market Downtown on 14th and Howard.  Civia Cycles and Greenstreet are collaborating to get a few of their sweet bikes out and into Omaha!  We have a Halsted and a Twin City on display above the produce case right now.  Go in and check 'em out!  Tell them Greenstreet sent you. 

 Also, Greensprints  has been a blast!  We've been pulling all of our equipment for the events to the venue by bike.  Fun and a bit precarious at times.  We gave away 2 Surly Steamroller framesets, a Globe Roll, and a bunch of other wonderful swag, thanks to our fantastic sponsors.

 Today is bike maintenance day for me!  Which is a very rare occurrence; kind of like the ol' blog updates.  Anyway, a little Green Fizz and some Clean Streak and it was a little cleaner.  Topped it off with some Chain-L lube that I haven't tried yet.  Supposed to be good, so I'll let you know.  The boys seem to like it for gross conditions and lots o miles, which is what I ride in.

Anyway, that's about it!  How've things been in the streets of Omaha for you?  Good?  Bad? The same?  Let me know.  I've also been busy with the usual advocacy stuff.  Testifying at the State Capitol trying to get LB1030 passed into law (3ft passing rule), so we'll see how that goes. 

Over and out!
SJ

Wintry Recap

 

 

 

 

So, once again, I've been delinquent with my blogging.  It's because with this shockingly nice weather, the old bike shop has been pretty darn busy.  One of our mechanics is on a 10 day vacation too, so that adds to our work load a bit.  Hope you're enjoying sunny California Jonathan!  I know you are. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yup, this was December. No coat needed!

 

While it hasn't been quite CA weather, it certainly hasn't felt like winter in Nebraska these last few months either.  I've been riding off road a whole bunch, loving my new Stumpjumper and getting to the trails as much as possible.  Sadly, Vince can ride his Surly fat bike, that tips the scales at a beefy 38 pounds, and I am cruising along on my 22 pound SJ and we've found the equalization point.  Yikes.  He's fast or I'm not...or something.  Super fun, irregardless. 

 

 

And so was this.  Been riding off ro-ad a bunch lately.

The weather has been so hit and miss this 'winter' it's been challenging to find the right layering to stay comfortable.  I have been enjoying my new (aka freshly stolen from Vince) Bern helmet even though I kind of have my eyes on that mint Bern Brighton...

 

Yup, the ol' nose drip.  Officially cold!

The Ladies Ride is still going strong!

Today, snow finallllllly!!

Today was the first day that actually felt like winter, to me.  Wintery conditions, snow flakes falling, chilling winds.  This is what I've been waiting for!  Bobby (my Bianchi snow-ready bike) has been getting antsy!  He's just been hanging out in my basement, under the stairs, waiting like a troll for some kind of weather that would justify the studded tires that he sports year round. Well, Bobby, welcome back!  I've missed ya buddy. The ride down today was fun.  Icy side streets and slush elsewhere: the full fenders and grippy tires were appreciated on today's commute.

My 2 favorite winter commuting accessories: Sorels and studded tires!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from riding, I've been fighting the ban on the pedicabs and talking to the media about my thoughts.  So far, so good.  Mostly.  The ban hasn't been completely squashed, or filed, so this isn't ideal, but I'm hopeful that the OPD and the concerned citizens of Omaha can reach a compromise that benefits everyone while still maintaining the safety of the event.

Speaking of talking to the media about my feelings, I had a little run-in with the lovely and charming Tom Becka. 



We were both patronizing one of my favorite little wine bars, the Cork and Bottle in Dundee, when I spotted him and couldn't help but approach.  As he was leaving (after he finished talking to a few large-chested blondes about their, um, attributes) I engaged him in a friendly (at first), yet spirited, little chat about cycling in Omaha.  Now, for those of you who don't know this fine fellow (*sarcasm dripping*), he's not exactly a fan of cyclists. Formerly a radio personality of KFAB, he's been known to encourage his listeners to run cyclists off the road.  Our conversation was hysterical, in my opinion anyway. He seemed to be less amused.  

I walked up to him outside as he was walking away from the buxom blondes and said, " Hey Tom, my name is Sarah Johnson and I manage Greenstreet Cycles, a bike shop downtown. I ride my bike every day and have heard that you're not much of a fan of cyclists. I'd like to come on your show and talk to you about that." He informed me that he'd been fired (moving to Fargo, woo hoo!) and so I wouldn't be able to  come on his show, but he was interested in telling me how arrogant cyclists are.  Then he started going off about how cyclists have a pseudo-superiority complex and we're all the same red light-running, wrong way-riding, idiots. He then informed me that he wants the city to build him a golf course on Dodge Street because he thinks that cycling is fun, so is golf, and he should be able to play where ever he wants to since we ride where ever we want to.  He told me to stay on the trails since that's where his money was going, not on the streets, since I didn't pay taxes (right).  He was pretty worked up at this point and I was just standing there beaming ear to ear, basically in awe of his shoddy argument and all of the holes I could shoot through it.

I started into the whole transportation alternatives thing and how cyclists are actually helping the city save money (not creating pot holes, helping the environment, health, yadda yadda yadda...my usual soapbox) and he kept doing his weird breathing huffy puffy thing.  At this point, I realized that he wasn't a big fan of logical, rational discussion, so I'm afraid I stooped to his level and dealt a bit of a low blow. I poked him in his big, round, chubby belly and explained that he should appreciate the fact that I rode there that night because I saved him a parking spot!!

Wow, was that a reaction-getter!!! I started wondering if the headlines of the paper the next day would read, "Tom Becka Killed by Cyclist-Induced Heart Attack" since he was nearly hyperventilating at this point and his face matched my tail light.  I just chuckled a bit while he stood there muttering nearly unintelligibly.   All I understood was something about how I was reinforcing stereotypes about the arrogance of cyclists.  Oh well, at least I wasn't reinforcing the stereotype about overweight, white, right-wing, cyclist-haters.  


I told him that I wished him nothing but success in Fargo with his new job; we shook hands, he said happy holidays, and we parted ways.  What a rush.  I floated on an argument-high back to my bar stool and laughed with my buddies who got a kick out of watching from inside.  


A few days later I got a long bitchy email from him basically restating all of the things he barked at me the night in front of the bar.  Oh what fun.  


Since I can't end the post on that sort of note, here's a picture of something happy:

 Over and out.


XOXO,
SJ