We Can't Wait for a Safe Network of Bike Lanes Downtown

The Seattle City Council's Sustainability and Transportation Committee met yesterday to get the details on why SDOT is cutting the downtown bike network and bike lanes throughout Seattle (background here.)

As a daily bike rider who is directly affected by the lack of action by SDOT, I planned to testify about my experiences biking around town, but especially downtown. I thought I would have 2 minutes, but with such a big turnout, Mike O'Brien shortened public testimony to 1 minute each.

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When my name was called, everything I planned to say got thrown out the window as a jumbled mess of something came tumbling out of my mouth. In truth, I think I invited the council members to go for a bike ride, told them it was unsafe, but other than that I'm not sure what else. King5 got a clip of me and surprsingly I don't sound too awful: 

Thankfully, I also saved the text of my planned testimony. So, dear readers, here is what I planned to say to the City Council (and have since emailed them):

Good afternoon Council Members and Seattle Department of Transportation. My name is Marley Blonsky and I’m a daily bike rider. I ride my bike everywhere- to work, for errands, for fun, for volunteer commitments, camping trips- literally everywhere. In the last two weeks alone, I’ve taken 62 bike trips for over 300 miles.

This year, I’m also in charge of my company’s Bike to Work activities. I recruited 82 coworkers to join me this month in biking to work. 36 of those people are new to biking to work. When they ask me about safe route into work, I don’t have many options to give them. Sure, we’ve got 2nd Avenue, but have you ever tried to get there on a bicycle? Good luck.

Imagine building one mile of a freeway with no connections to it. That’s what our 2nd ave protected bike lane is like.

My daily bike commute takes me from Capitol Hill to 3rd and Madison in downtown. While I’m a confident bike rider, it is incredibly scary to transition from a bike lane on Pine to a wide open street with no bike lanes at Boren. Downtown is even scarier, with no connections to the bike lane on 2nd Avenue, constant construction, and daily construction hazards.

Going home in the afternoon is even worse. After I leave the 2nd Avenue protected bike lane, I jockey with taxis, buses, and trucks from 2nd to 8th avenue on Pike Street until there is a bike lane on Pine street again.

This isn’t right.

 I had hope for more protected bike lanes and neighborhood greenways.

I called voters for the Move Seattle Levy. 

The current state of our streets is NOT SAFE.

If you think it’s good enough, I invite you to ride with me one day and see how close cars come to me. Seriously, let’s go for a ride.

Please, restore the 16 miles of bike lanes that were cut. We need a connected bike network. Thank you.

Something I said stuck with some reporter, as a friend screenshotted this quote from the Seattle Times:

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Climate Change, Babies, and Jealousy

There's a number of questions on OkCupid about your desire to have kids, and for the most part, I've been pretty ambivalent about it. Sure, in theory they're wonderful. Pass on your genes, take care of you when you're old, give you something to be responsible for, all that jazz. But honestly, I never saw myself as much of a mom. Ever.

Growing up I never really played "house" with my friends, and when we did, I was the Dad, or the sister, or the aunt. Never the mom. It's not that I'm not nurturing, as I think I probably have that ability, but it's just never been an innate quality.

Back when I was married, my partner and I were looking towards having kids, and had gone so far as to investigate sperm donations, work with a lawyer, and even ordered bulk ovulation testing and pregnancy testing kits from Amazon. Turns out you can get them super cheap in bulk. (Spoiler alert, no kids came out of it. The affair happened before we ordered sperm from the magic bank.)

That all seems like a lifetime away, as the thought of being responsible to a living being (besides my tomato plant) seems to inconceivably foreign to me right now.

Which is why it is so strange that when biking home tonight I saw a woman about my age, about 7 or 8 months pregnant and got an intense urge of jealousy. I can't put my finger on it- perhaps it was her rad SubPop sweatshirt, doting partner with a lustworthy red beard, or just the round pregnant belly, but something deep inside me ached to be in her position.

I pedaled onwards up Capitol Hill, reminding myself of all the reasons I've rationalized to myself against having kids. Primary in these is my lack of ability to maintain any semblance of relationship with another person, but also, climate change. Yes, that magical global warming is a big reason for me not wanting to have kids.

As much as my uterus aches to bring a baby into this world, I logically cannot fathom leaving that child to deal with the ecological wreck we've created on this planet. The last 7 months in a row have been the hottest on record, basically assuring that 2016 will be the hottest year on record. And we all know how this goes- famine, drought, war, floor, fire, etc.. Repeated cycles. 

I know this seems really gloom and doom. And it totally is. I just honestly cannot imagine bringing a child into a world like this.

At least I have an adorable nephew to dote on. My sister can keep reproducing all she wants and give me all the cute nieces and nephews ever. I'll just be the best auntie.

That's Liam- my super cute new nephew.

Basket Life- Help me find a bag!

Edit: I found a bag! I'm in love with my Swift Industries Sugarloaf. Full details of why I went with this bag and why I love it are in this post.

I’m approaching year my one-year anniversary of buying my Surly Straggler and if you’ve ever looked at my Instagram, it’s no secret that I love that bicycle. She fits me like no other bike ever has and we go on some outstanding adventures together. Over mountains, under bridges, finding new friends, and down highways. That glitter dream machine is truly a dream bicycle for me.

Because of the Shimano 105 components, I’m limited in my front carry capacity options. The cables are routed such a way that it limits the installation of a porteur or handlebar bag, and unless I switch my entire setup (or go with v-noodles to get the cables out of the way), I’m pretty much stuck with it. Thankfully, I’ve got some awesome local bike shop knowledge who was able to hook me up with a great front rack and basket, so I can still live that low-trail lifestyle and #basketlife.

I started out riding with the Soma Lucas Mini Front Rack and the Wald 137 basket. I was warned that the carrying capacity for this rack was 10lbs, and I regularly pushed that over its limit. This setup lasted quite a while, throughout my first camping season and into winter. It also survived two crashes, bearing the brunt of most of my falls and holding up pretty well. This rack was great overall, with an eyelet for a dynamo light and super lightweight.

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The Soma Lucas Mini Front Rack

Eventually however, I stressed this rack out beyond its capacity. Finally admitting that I like to carry lots of things, I settled on the Surly 8 Pack Rack, a much heavier duty chromoly steel rack with a 30lb carrying capacity. This rack seems much better suited to my bike set up, fitting way closer to the fork, improving handling, and overall feel.  This rack also has eyelets for my dynamo light, so making the switch was pretty easy.

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Surly 8 Pack Rack

Now that I’ve got the hardware dialed in, my biggest challenge is how to carry the soft goods. Searching the market of bike bags, there seems to be an infinite supply of backpacks, panniers, frame bags, porteur, and handlebar bags. But there are very limited options for bags specifically designed for baskets!

Most of the time if you see me rolling around town, my basket looks crazy. I’ll have groceries, shoes, maybe a change of clothes, food, and perhaps a pool noodle strapped to it. For camping trips I’ve been known to throw my tent poles in there along with a 6 pack and a speaker. I’ve searched REI high and low for a bag that will fit nice and neat to help me stay organizedand come up empty handed every time. My best option so far has been a reusable bag from Trader Joes.

Check out the photos below- thank God for a cargo net or my stuff would be flying all over the roads! I seriously need a better solution ASAP! 

I know of 2 companies making purposefully built basket bags- Sackville and Porcelain Rocket. Both seem to be pretty great- hooks/buttons on the bottom for extra security, zippered tops, organizational pockets, everything that you’d want in a bag. But they’re kind of boring, especially the Sackville one that I could actually afford. The Porcelain Rocket comes in lots of fun colors, but for $175, I could probably learn how to sew.

So, friends and creative types, anybody want to make me a basket bag? I’ll pay you! We can prototype on my bike and then get rich! It’s what all the cool kids are doing now days. We’ll even have an Instagram or something for your product line. 

My Next Thirty Years

I grew up deep in the heart of Texas in a very liberal household. My mom is from Pennsylvania and my dad is from Missouri. We were working class, raised Jewish, blue blooded Democrats. My mom was adamant that I would never talked with a Texan accent because it “sounded ignorant.” Despite all of this influence, there was no keeping me away from Tim McGraw.

The first time I made out with somebody all night long was to his “Greatest Hits” album  (true confession- he was a bull rider on my high school's rodeo team. How Texan is that?)  I slow danced at summer camp on the tennis court to “Don’t Take the Girl” and remember fondly driving down country roads singing “Down on the Farm.” As much as I loved my pop-punk CDs, Tim McGraw, sweet tea, and Texas country definitely held a special place in my heart.

As I’m about to hit my 30th birthday, I can’t help but think about his song “My Next 30 Years.” Look at these cheese ball lyrics:

I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age

The ending of an era and the turning of a page

Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here

Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

 

Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun

Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done

Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears

And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years

 

My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores

Cry a little less, laugh a little more

Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear

Figure out just what I’m doing here

In my next thirty years

 

Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight

Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late

Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers

Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years

 

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life

Raise a little family and hang out with my wife

Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear

Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years

In my next thirty year

 

Reading those lyrics, I gotta say, I’ve done a pretty good job so far. An upcoming blog post will cover some reflections on my last 10 years, but yeah, overall, I’m pretty darn pleased with things. So, Tim, thanks, I think I’d be ok doing all of that in my next 30 years.