Bike commuting in Tucson is becoming easier. My routes are starting to take shape, and I'm feeling less and less like I will get lost on the way to work. I don't think of my commutes as "exercise." Rather, I'm aware that my body is adjusting to what I'm asking it to do every day: ride 20 or more miles. And with the commuting part of my life becoming easier and more routine, my beginner's mind is learning what it means to live and adapt in a city this size when one doesn't have a car. Not carless, but car free, thank you. (In case you missed my first pretentious post on "The Beginner's Mind," it refers to the Zen practice of approaching your pursuits ...

I've completed two weeks of bike commuting in Tucson. Since this isn't a permanent move for me, I'm deliberately cultivating a transitory (i.e. non-permanent) lifestyle here in Old Pueblo, as the locals call it. I'm couch surfing here -- no real couches yet, but guest rooms and inflatable mattresses. My commute will change several times while I'm here -- it already has. My bike has changed too. And I am trying to experience Tucson with the Beginners Mind, or Shoshin, which is the Zen habit of approaching a subject without preconceptions, regardless of your experience or expertise. Quality of life, so they say, requires living with the beginners mind: enthusiasm, creativity, zeal, and optimism. Consider the opposite of these qualities and what do ...

Bike Shop Hub moved to Tucson, Arizona over the weekend. While my co-workers moved five big truckloads of inventory and office equipment, I was entrusted with delivering our rotted and weathered picnic table. Tucson Commute 1 I commuted by truck with this precious cargo more than 250 miles in our company's gutless Mazda, and brought them both safely to their new home. So this week I begin my extended stay in Tucson, Arizona, which means... I'm starting from scratch as a bike commuter in a new city, which means... It's an opportunity to experience the apprehension of many people who come to this site because they want to try bike commuting for the first time -- but hopefully not make the rookie mistakes. It also means that ...

Lately I've been spending a lot of time on two single speed bikes, and the two couldn't be more different. Loyal readers have seen these bikes before. One is the Critical Cycles bike that Pete Prebus reviewed here, but with an E-Bike Kit. The other is my grandfather's Murray Montery, which has finally started to receive my fix-up attention. The Critical Cycles bike has a pretty high gear. I'm not sure I'd like it on the hills around here. I'm a fan of multiple gears, and hell yes I'm going to use that motor on the uphills of my commute. I'm not hauling 25 pounds of battery and motor around for a workout. The Murray bike is old and even without a motor ...

This is a tale of idiocy or brilliant resourcefulness. You decide. You may have read that I have one of those Ridekick trailers that push the bike. (See: "Ridekick: A Nicotine Patch for Car Addiction.") This story ends with me doing something that I'm sure the Ridekick company doesn't ever want you to do. So I was out running errands with my wife's bike, geared up with the whole "marital aids" setup, and taking a shortcut through the local university. I cranked hard from a full stop, and plplplplplpl... My rear tire was rubbing against the frame. It wouldn't budge. The nut on the drive side of the axle must have been just a little bit loose. I had no tools on me. Hell. I ...

I'm boring. I'm a closet introvert. I don't go on group rides. For my commute, I stick to the same couple of routes. I commute alone, with my deep thoughts, like, Maybe only dumb people recount being abducted by aliens because aliens keep the smart ones. So I don't really get why there are so many competing services offering to help people map and share their rides. Which brings me back to BikeSpike. Since my first post about BikeSpike, they have received pledges for more than half of their goal. There are so many mapping benefits for advocacy, but also for social sharing. A service such as MyRidePool could use shared information from BikeSpike to help commuters find each other and ride to ...