For Old Times Sake...

 Demonitized, de-incentivized and irrelevant as time has moved on...

...But I'm still here.

    I remember a time when Google would send me a $100 check in the mail every year for my blog contributions on Blogger. It was always a treat to see proof that people were engaging with my written content and it made me feel good as an amateur columnist of the internet. Those were the days when people read instead of scrolled. The modern day chat forums were in their infancy and if most people were interested in researching a topic they would turn to blog posts instead of going on YouTube. 

A lot of good ideas and good intentions have now gone by the wayside. Technology has left them behind as well as the fickle nature of people's constant wandering interests. Every once in a while, something is picked up from the rubbish heap and trended for a few days on social media. A good idea can be acknowledged with a fleeting curiosity, given a self righteous lip service then tossed back in the heap for a few more years. The truth is, all good ideas are filtered through the sea of bad ones, making it impossible for them to prevail. They are constantly tumbling in an ever changing media spin of trends and content that is making the world's head spin. Society is primed and ready for a Fahrenheit 451 scenario, all too ready to stop reading, critically thinking, creating and imagining all together. Here's the thing, if good ideas were allowed to flourish, progress would be made and our society as a whole would be improved. However, only be bad ones prevail because they promote inequality and division instead of collaboration, inclusion and a societal baseline safety net. Bad ideas only benefit a small group of people who hold the most power, instead of giving more power to the people. Social media has become the coping mechanism for the masses, a means of consuming the fantasies of wealth and status (whether real or imaginary) that the privileged few occasionally decide to share with us. Meanwhile, the infrastructure projects that would improve people's lives are quietly shelved or hollowed out of funds on a local, state and federal level so that a bigger football stadium can be built in one town or more parking space for giant SUVs and trucks can be added in another.

Reading the list of transportation initiatives that have failed to thrive in the past ten years would easily read like a eulogy.  Mixed use zoning was a way of property developers to make overpriced, luxury apartments that gentrified long standing neighborhoods. Bicycle transportation networks have resulted in many trails that lead to nowhere. Sharrows no longer get repainted by city maintenance. Rental bikes were often vandalized, stolen or tossed around towns and college campuses as road debris. Whatever happened to that bullet train that was supposed to go from Dallas to Houston? Whatever happened to that trail that was supposed to connect Dallas to Fort Worth? What ever happened to many cities 2030 walkability plans? Was that bond money re-allocated to say, having the nation's largest High School football stadium only to be outdone by another town the following year? How about the policing and fare enforcement of DART rail? How did DART go from being one of the largest rail networks in the country to one of the most poorly maintained, and dangerous to ride on? Why does most new city planning in new areas not include sidewalks or bicycle infrastructure? Why are SUVs and trucks 3 times the size that they were 10 years ago as well as 3 times as fatal? Why do public works projects like installing a traffic light now take a year or more to complete?

The changing landscape that has resulted as bad ideas have taken over have left us in the DFW cycling community with little recourse as our roads have slowly become unrideable over the past few years. The post pandemic population explosion has also added more vehicles to an already strained, unkept road infrastructure. All of these new vehicles have grills and headlights taller than a child's head in the front, resulting in poor visibility to the driver and over reliance on lane and other object sensors. Now, already distracted drivers on their phones are behind the steering wheels of much more fatal weapons. What is a road cyclist to do these days?

The truth is, it is expensive to live near any cycling infrastructure as properties that are built or around existing trails are fetching a premium. In addition to these locations having always been expensive and cost prohibitive, the current mortgage interest rates and property values have deemed areas that once could be aspired to as un-obtainium. For long time locals in the area, moving to another part of the state is simply not doable. The result of all of this is that we now face a grim choice as cyclists if we are to continue doing the sport we love; cycle indoors or quit cycling. In recent years, indoor cycling has enjoyed a resurgence as more technology has been thrown into smart trainers and virtual reality cycling software. I guess when reality sucks the only way to keep fitness gains and be a part of the community is through virtual workouts. As a user of indoor trainers there is nothing I hate more than burning the rubber on my rear bike tire sitting in place or an hour, sweating puddles and giving myself crotch pain trying to push out watts on a traditional trainer. However, with how bad the situation has gotten on the roads I am seriously contemplating buying a smart spin bicycle that can work with virtual riding software. Even with a mischievous toddler and limited space in my home this option seems wiser than riding out of the neighborhood sometimes. 

Driving to the trails isn't much of a better option. The nearest trail to nowhere that is paved is still a good 30 minutes away from my house. To get to a premium riding destination is about an hour drive. I have a few mountain biking trails that are closer, but extreme weather can keep those trails closed weeks at a time. Up until a few years ago, I lived near trails or lived in a bike friendly town. I would routinely get rides in as often as 3 times a week. I had fitness, I had drive and I was in the right environment for cycling. When we bought our first home in many years we were priced out of the areas I had lived in previously. We bought into a new community which was at time a small neighborhood surrounded by quiet, rural roads. In a matter of just a few years, the growth in the area has exploded, but the roads aren't any better. Several neighborhoods are now built or being built in the area. Newcomers who don't respect the slower pace of rural life are tearing up the once tranquil, idyllic roads. The new home we bought as a family has become a money pit of problems caused by rushed construction and rolling black outs in the area. We are in the golden handcuffs scenario as having a mortgage rate too low to refinance and no way of lowering our mortgage payment elsewhere. So unless I leave Texas altogether, there is no moving back to the city or closer to bike trails anytime soon. 

As I get older, the more irrelevant  I become. My cycling peers of a similar age have already moved over to the dark side of cycling, aka indoor cycling. Road cycling isn't attracting a younger audience like it did when I started riding, one could even argue that it has always struggled to find its footing with younger people. The fact that I am choosing to blog about it in 2024, when the written language is going the way of analog film cameras, is my therapy and way of coping with life's changes. We are in a malaise era in a lot of ways, but this is probably the worst time to be a cyclist on the roads of north Texas than any other period of time that I can remember . In the grand scheme of things, my problems are only a ripple effect pointing to a much larger moral bankruptcy in our society today. 

It's official that the millennial generation that I am a part of has finally grown up, peaked and fallen out of style and favor with the generation coming behind it. Despite this, I am still here in the sense that I will continually adapt to life's changes and will do my best to make the best of getting older. I do not really feel like my time has passed. There is very little evidence of change of who I am on the outside as well as how I feel on the inside. I must admit, however that the rest of the world is moving on and away from those in my age group, especially in terms of deeming them a target audience in the fitness community. I get more targeted ads for investing and politics than I get for new bikes. No matter what, I will keep going, putting one foot in front of the other, one pedal stroke at a time.

Vanlifing: What is #Vanlife and why is it so popular?

This Article will talk about the pros and cons of camper van ownership, and how this applies to bicycle adventures.

Meet Ruby, our new Volkswagen Vanagon, and latest family addition

If you haven't been living under a rock for the past year or so, you have probably heard of the term van life. Van lifing is essentially living or traveling for an extended period of time from within your van. Let me give a disclaimer; neither my job nor my wife's job allow for us to actually live in our van. We bought the van for the sole purpose of all weather camping trips where we could in theory sleep in the car if we had to and maybe the occasional road trip out of state. So some self proclaimed van life experts might say that "we're not doing it right". That's okay, we are doing it our own way.

On that note we can start discussing the pros and cons of actually living in a van, or any vehicle for that matter. First off, the illusion to being part of  van life is saving money by living in your vehicle and not having to pay rent. I'm going to burst that bubble real quick. It takes money to set yourself up for van lifing. First you will need a van. Depending on how new or practical the van is (ours is not, as we bought a 35 year old van, even though it is in good condition) you will incur maintenance and repair expenses. Right at the onset, be prepared to shell out $5-8k for a vehicle that is decent and in running condition. Be prepared to spend another grand right off the bat getting it roadworthy if it is an older, vintage vehicle.  In the specific case of Ruby, our VW Vanagon, we will in the long run look to spend another small fortune on a modern engine retrofit. For right now, the van runs fine, although it is cranky to get off and moving and needs a few tries to get it cold started. In the specific case of our VW, regular inspection of the engine is required and fuel lines and ground wires need to be checked regularly for leaks or tears. This requires a willingness to get to know the car mechanically and oftentimes do our own repair work. If this isn't your cup of tea, I would recommend starting with a cheap Chevy panel van or a late 90's/early 00's conversion van. If money is no object then $40-$60k will get you a new Sprinter or just an RV. A starter van in good mechanical condition, no matter what you decide on getting, will be equally hard to come by. That is because very few full size vans were made after the end of the 90's. Fuel efficiency and smaller families have popularized SUVs and mini vans to the point that they are most of the large vehicles seen on the roads today.

Having a vehicle that is large enough to carry all of our camping equipment, bikes and ourselves in it is the main draw for our recent van purchase. I always thought of vans as the ultimate dork mobile. That is because my first daily driver was a Ford Aerostar, during a time in my teenage years where friends drove in mustangs, pick up trucks, Toyota Celicas and Honda Civics. Now, my view has changed somewhat. I don't see owning a van as the ultimate compromise anymore. Rather, I just see it as the right tool for the job. Especially if said van can be used as a bike hauler, interim camper and comes in metallic red with a manual transmission. I'm sure that the honeymoon will wear off as soon as I roll up my sleeves and get under the engine of this thing. But for now, we love our newest addition to the family.

We can conclude that unless you already had a van and lost your job or got evicted out of your home, living in your van as a way to save money and try to live the simple life is oftentimes a false narrative. People who live in their cars do so out of necessity, not choice. I know this first hand because I have a brother who lived in his van for almost a year (remember the Ford Aerostar?). He was one stinky hippie when someone finally decided on giving him room and boarding. He was also one step away from being homeless; a starving musician that would eye people at restaurants so he could swoop in on their leftovers once they were done eating. Not exactly what is pictured on Instagram nowadays under the hashtag #vanlife. The true vehicle for traveling around the country and living in is an RV. That doesn't mean that you can't live in your van and be a telecommuter or just someone who works from their laptop and travels, the question more or less is would you really want to if you had the choice not to? An old, full size van is the perfect vehicle for a weekend mountain biking trip or out of state adventure. For more permanent, on the road living situations there are better vehicle options out there to choose from. No matter how many adventure blogs I read and YouTube videos I watch, I can't wrap my head around the thought of ending a camping trip with my van in the back of a flat bad tow truck. It very well could happen being that I have an old vehicle but it would most certainly happen if I lived in it full time. Of course, sometimes hasty decisions reap unforgettable experiences. Sometimes risks pay off with dividends. Case in point we took Ruby on a 10 hour drive all the way to South Texas. The van had a broken fuel gauge and odometer, so we were guesstimating on when to stop for gas. We made it all the way to South Padre Island and repaired the van on the way back. We ran into some unforeseen expenses, but we spent our winter break traveling instead of being cooped up at home feeling sorry for ourselves. That is what the Vanlife movement means to us.

Vintage Mountain Bike Racing

Tales of the rigid mountain bike

The vintage mountain bike race

Vintage Mountain Bike Race on my 1990 GT Karakoram

Mountain bikes have been around since the late 70's and mass produced since the mid 80's. Therefore, it's fair to say that some of those early mountain bikes can now be considered classics. Lately, people are reminiscing about all things 90's. Even mom jeans tried to make a short lived comeback. What's next, acid washed jeans, neon and the like? One cool trend that I have been noticing, at least in the world of mountain biking, is an appreciation for old school mountain bikes, like the ones I grew up riding as a kid.

It was probably 1997 or 1998 when I first got my Huffy rigid mountain bike, with grip shifters and cheap brakes that imitated a much earlier but more functional U-brake design. It was about 98' or 99' when that bike hit dirt for the first time at a flat trail then known to the locals as California Crossing. By then, good suspension systems were just being developed and we dreamed about doing the things that we can do today on our modern suspension 29ers. We lacked the skill and the equipment to be good at mountain biking, but the motivation was definitely there. 

Mountain biking was on experimental territory back then and so were mountain bikers. It wasn't unusual to see people riding in cut off jeans, flannel shirts and gardening gloves. Lycra as common as it now is wasn't the norm back in those days. Sure, some people wore Lycra in mountain bike racing. Most people however didn't buy their clothes from a bike shop and wore whatever exercise clothing they could find or make themselves. That's right, even exercise clothing had to some extent, be made because no one really wore exercise specific clothing aside from Richard Simmons and a bunch of suburban Mom's doing aerobic workout routines in front of a TV.   

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to relive that old 90's feeling to a certain extent. The local mountain bike racing association decided to host an exibition vintage mountain bike race, only accepting bikes that were made before 1999 with no modern modifications. I had found this 1990 GT Karakoram on Craigslist that I'm sure I only paid 20 bucks for. The bike needed to be stripped down to the frame, cleaned, re-greased and needed a couple of new parts. All in all I think I added around $100 to that original $20 purchase price. I lined up against guys with some pretty iconic 90's bikes that where real contenders in their day. The winner of the race had a Schwinn Homegrown with a Rockshox SID fork and lightweight Mavic Crossmax wheels. The guy with the Schwinn posted a lap time that could have easily put him in a top ten position in the regular races. The guy in second place had a titanium Merlin mountain bike that probably weighed nothing, as he ended up modifying it with carbon cranks ( I seriously don't know how he didn't get DQ'ed from a 90's themed mountain bike race).  I came in fourth, with my friend Nathan taking third on his 90's Ironhorse with Rockshox Quadra forks that he engineered to turn them into rigid forks. There were other cool bikes that were way lighter and more responsive than mine, so 4th place out of 11th was a good ride for me. I received a cool participation award for most vintage bike, and a lot of kudos from other riders for having the guts to show up and narrowly miss the podium on a nearly 30 year old, rigid bike with a front shifter that dropped the chain. I did, in fact have a mechanical which caused me to fall 3 places back and I had to overtake 3 guys to get back in 4th position.

Here's a couple of more pictures of the vintage mountain bike race...

Nathan on his Ironhorse with modified shocks.

The only other rider who had a bike older than mine

I hope to see more races like these as time goes on. I appreciate the nod DORBA gave to us former 90's kids and mountain bikers. In a world that is ever more serious and focused on tech, nutrition and other nuances, it's nice to get back to our lighthearted roots and more innocent times. I will still continue to ride my modern mountain bikes because I'm not a curmudgeon or a retro grouch. I will nevertheless look forward to the next event like this and hopefully this one won't be the last!

Possibly to come on my blog; I will try if time allows to showcase some of my recent vintage mountain bike findings, write more point of view articles and try to revive this blog a little bit. My goal is to go from a roadie to a mountain biker and come full circle with myself. Let's see if changing the format up a little bit will bring life into a bike blog that is nearly a decade old.

Transit Oriented Developments: Bikable, Walkable Cities or an Economic Double Standard?

Transit Oriented Development

Discussing the modern effects of mixed used zoning, both good and bad

Downtown Las Colinas was the first transit oriented development in the mid-west. This residential and office district now features a light rail, connecting it to the rest of Dallas.

As a former resident of the Las Colinas/Greater Dallas area, I am a huge fan of Transit Oriented Developments and mixed used zoning. When I lived in the area, I could ride my bike to the library, the post office, the local pizza shop and even the grocery store. Las Colinas has a 10 mile bicycle trail connecting it to the neighboring suburb of Valley Ranch. Valley Ranch is a township of the city of Irving, with an extensive trail and canal system running through it's core. Back in 2007 it was the place to be if you were a twenty-something, young, single person or a young couple without kids. I have many fond memories of this place in the 3 years that I lived there, although after 2008 I was hard pressed to find work due to the economic recession. With the addition of a new member to the family, after 2010 it soon did not make economic sense to stay there any longer. My wife and I took advantage of the depressed housing market and we have been living in the suburbs ever since. Not the happy ending I was hoping for, but a happy one nonetheless. 

Don't get me wrong, I love living in apartments. I love living on the chic, trendy side of town with endless choices of good eateries and high end retail. I would be lying to myself if I said I didn't miss the convenience of not having to mow my own lawn, repair my own house, or drive to my favorite restaurant. I miss the late nights as a single guy where I would go jogging around the canals or go free-running in downtown Las Colinas, jumping over trash cans and clearing bus stops. I miss being an urbanist. Maybe one day I can get back to that place, maybe make it a goal. The point is I couldn't afford to live there any longer, I was priced out of the market. I have since made my peace with it and moved on, because change is inevitable and the Valley Ranch/ Las Colinas area isn't what it was 8 years ago anyway.

The truth is, after I lost my job and had a kid, the concept of livable, walkable cities became more and more foreign to me. The fact of the matter is that living in a place where all you do is spend money eating out and shopping goes against everything that someone struggling financially would do. The master plans and zoning regulations of most New Urbanist developments in the United States favor and cater to high end retail, niche boutiques and haute cuisine dinning. Where are all the corner stores and delis? Where are the Aldi's? The Lidl's? The pharmacies? The farmer's market? Is a community that is supposed to be walkable, livable, really sustainable without these things?

The answer to the latter question is no. The minute the economy turned many young people abandoned ship and left Las Colinas to go live with their parents, or to go live in the suburbs where the cost of housing is relatively cheaper. The fall of the economy also coincided with rising costs of living and renting in the area. One could say that a figurative noose was tightening around our necks, as apartment costs out-priced home mortgages. It didn't matter how walkable or bike friendly a place Las Colinas was, essential goods and services were out of reach and the area had no "real" economy to sustain itself with. During hard times, people will eat out less, shop less and drink more coffee at home. Therefore a mixed used zoning development that has businesses such as jewelry stores, coffee shops and organic burger joints will not be able to weather the storm when hard times hit. The people living there will not be able to sustain their consumer spending lifestyle of eating out all the time and not having food in their refrigerators. Yet here in the U.S, at least in North Texas where I live, there are no practical businesses in these types of Transit Oriented Developments being built. The businesses moving in seem to be taking out the corner stores, bakeries, tax offices, and other vital businesses that the existing communities have relied on for years. This is especially true in the case of historical downtown re-developments, or downtown revitalizations. Main streets all across the country have been neglected for about 50 years thanks to suburban sprawl. In the meantime many city centers became working class communities and cultural districts. Commercial and residential property values crashed in these areas and in a lot of cases it brought poverty and crime as a result. In the last 10 years or so, the kids of suburban dwellers started to rediscover urban centers and their affordable cost of living. Many of them started to buy back commercial spaces and historical homes. Now property values in these areas have increased and become too expensive for the blue collar residents that have been living there for generations. Whether intentionally or consequently, Transit Oriented Development has led to gentrifying of whole neighborhoods and communities. We only need to look at places like Brooklyn, New York to confirm this is true.

This is the double standard of Transit Oriented Development. It's affordable for "some", but not affordable to all. It gives the illusion of a walkable, bike friendly community, but without the accessibility to get one's basic necessities. This is what is fundamentally wrong with this model as it is being currently implemented. If I pay over $1,000.00 a month for rent on an apartment, I'm not going to be eating $10 burgers everyday and driving to the next town to find a grocery store. That defeats the point of paying for the "privilege" and convenience of living in a mixed used zoning development. It's better to live in a suburb with a real sense of community rather than in a "fake" economy, glorified strip mall with flats on the second floor. All retail business that do not provide an essential service to the community are "fake" economy businesses. All they do is take up commercial space that would otherwise be used by more permanent entrepreneurs. Many of these businesses stick around an area while they are in vogue, later closing down the minute their sales start to drop. The result is a high turnover of residents and little to no investment in the community. The long term outlook for these new urban developments is bleak unless grocers, bankers, pharmacies and other real businesses start getting in on the action and setting up their shops in them. For that to happen, the current consumer and corporate mindset alike has to change. The concept of the "supermarket" or "superstore" is one that is hardwired and ingrained in everyone living in the U.S. Having a grocery store in a corner retail slot rather than in a stand alone building can be as foreign a concept as the moon to most people living here. Retail businesses are currently increasing rather than decreasing their store sizes, reasoning to themselves that "bigger is better as long as there is somewhere to build it". Case in point Nebraska Furniture Mart, a furniture store that takes up 77 acres of land, or several football fields in size. I mean, who needs a furniture store that big? In order for things to change, consumers need to demand it with their wallets. 

No one wants to hear or to talk about the negative effects of Transit Oriented Developments. Everyone wants to talk about sustainability, complete streets and environmental friendliness. Land developers, architects and investors need to practice what they preach. A truly sustainable community is one were all the residents rely on each other. It's a community where people work, shop, buy their necessities and don't shop at Wal-Mart or other big box stores. It's a community that in a way has it's own GDP; where economic growth comes from within by an exchange of services and not from outside consumer spending. Sustainable developments don't kick the current residents to the curb by raising the rent on them. They adapt and cater to all levels of income and demographic types. The conclusion we can draw is that there is currently a double standard to Transit Oriented Development. It's a situation that could spell the end of master planned, livable communities in the long term unless things change. Many of these projects have been abandoned mid-stage, many end up being converted into office spaces or even ghost towns as a result of unresolved issues. We shouldn't leave good ideas like  the Transit Oriented Development to die. Otherwise people will remember these developments as failed social experiments, not for the potential that they once had. I'm no one with the power to change that though, I'm just a guy writing a blog. Developers, businesses, local governments and entrepreneurs alike need to work with each other and come up with the solution. All I know is if I were the venture capitalist of a master planned community and my aim was livability, I wouldn't allow any $10 burger joints or stand alone supermarkets to be zoned there. End of rant.



P.S on this article: 

I also wanted to say that bike friendly neighborhoods have been a cause that I have personally defended and championed in the past. I still feel that it is the way to go to counteract the negative effects of car-culture. However, I am strongly against any action that would displace others for the sake of "the greater good". I understand that things change, landscapes change and cities change. Change is inevitable. There are people who have come to call a place home only to get uprooted or forced to leave because they were "not a right fit" financially or otherwise. Those people have skin in the game, a real relationship with their community and are heavily invested in their properties. I for one know what it's like to have to leave an area after thinking I had laid down my roots and settled down. So while I'm in favor of purpose built communities and "revitalizations" that favor bicycle transport and walkability, I can't say I agree with the way TODs are being carried out.