Stolen Bike

Dear borrower of my bike,

You left in such a hurry that I was unable to introduce myself last week! I am sure you had could reason to kick down my garden door in the process of trying to steal, oops, I meant “borrow” my mountain bike. I guess you had trouble finding the spare key I leave out for friends that need to use any of my things…I guess I shouldn’t hide it so well! It was very thoughtful of you to leave one bike behind for me, but I guess riding away with both bikes would have been a challenge.

Since you did not leave a note, I was forced to assume that my beloved blue vehicle was stolen and had to file a police report. But alas! I did not have my bike registered, so you are probably safe from the long arm of the law. You may want to peel off the stickers that denote my interest in activism and local non-profits, because that may be a red flag to others that it does in fact belong to me. If someone I know should happen to see you, I would brace yourself for a solid body check off the bike, because they may not realize that you are in fact just taking it out for a joy-ride.

While you are out on the town riding my 2006 Diamondback Outlook, light blue with a ladies sloping top tube, please make sure to ring my prized clear jelly-bell with enthusiasm! If you should find yourself getting bored of using my trusty steed, please feel free to give me a call at work and I will be happy to pick it up from you: (843) 768-0998. If you are the shy type and want to be more discrete, you can always drop it back by my house, since you already know where I live!

If you decide that you want to borrow it on a long term basis, then I might start harboring some negative feelings about this transaction and be forced to hunt you down. Although the police officer handling the file said that you were probably going to be hard to find, I ride all over town and know plenty of fellow bikers that would be more than happy tackle you off the two-wheels you so abrasively stole. But again, I don’t want to assume the worst, my friend!

Your gracious neighborhood bike lender,

Nikki

Intermodal

After having caught a lot of negative feedback from local residents, CARTA has been making headlines lately in a good way. Their newest adventure is the proposed North Charleston Regional Intermodal Center which will expand existing services and could potentially serve as a one stop shop for Amtrak, Greyhound, local buses, and even light rail! If you have thoughts on this project, CARTA will be hosting a public information meeting regarding the proposed Center at the North Charleston City Hall, 3rd Floor Buist Room, 2500 City Hall Lane, N. Charleston, SC on Thursday, 10/08/09 from 6PM to 8PM. My first suggestion... pick a sexier name.

For a full article click HERE.

In other bus news...those of you that have not heard, CARTA, Charlestons Bus company, has started a trial line from Downtown to Folly Beach. Click HERE for the map. For now, the route is only runs on weekends and will be ending in two weeks on the 18th.

And last but definitely not least- one bus service that I have left out of my blog is the Tri-County Link. This bus runs to all of the places that are beyond the reach of the CARTA system in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties. I have never used this system, but I think it might be time to try and ride it to work!

http://www.ridetricountylink.com/index.html

Red Light PSA

World Car-free Day

Bike + Beer

What could be better than bikes? Bikes and Beers? Only if they are gluten free beers for me :-) This picture above is from Amsterdam... if you want something on our continent, just check out this one in Portland by clicking HERE.

the new kids.

This one is for all of the College Freshmen out there…

Welcome to Charleston. I am glad that you have chosen to join my alma mater in your pursuit for higher education. Since you are new here, I figured I would share a few things to help make your four years easier on us both.

My first piece of advice: Get a bike. Yes, there is a good chance that you grew up in the suburbs where you had to have that gas guzzling four wheeled vehicle to get you from your isolated neighborhoods and to the closest amenities, but now that you are here, you can get almost everywhere with a bike. You can contact the Holy City Bike Co-op and get yourself a good used one: http://holycitybikecoop.org/. (While you are at it, check out there events and meetings as well...because biking it fun!!)

This pic is from our last Midnight Mystery Ride...

Now that you have a bike, you should probably know the SC Bike laws: http://www.mybikelaw.com/ Please do me a favor and follow the traffic laws, which include NOT riding the wrong way up St. Phillip, staying off the sidewalks, and having head/tail lights on your bike at night. If you are breaking these rules, you will lose your rights as a biker and you will also lose some of my respect. And I will use this on you:

Yes, that is an air-horn for your bike that holds 30 blasts which can be recharged with a bike pump AND you can hear it from inside a car. For those of you out there that want one...

http://www.deltacycle.com/product.php?g=1

So let’s say you need to venture off the peninsula to run errands that are not bike-worthy? Well that brings me to my second little gem….Luckily for you, we have a bus system here called CARTA. First you need to go to card services and pick up a bus pass and then you should check out the RideCarta.com website to find out the routes, times, and other info. If the front rack scares you, just watch this sweet bike rack rap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoFFg0W9UME

But Nikki, you say, what about visiting my parents? Not to worry. There are so many options at your disposal. First, there is the old fashion ride share. The best way to go is with someone that you know, but otherwise check out Craiglist or Ridester Or even better, start a ride share program at the college!!

Next up, the train and finally, the good old fashion bus: http://www.greyhound.com/home/

Now that I have gotten you from A to B, check out this website for just about everything else green in Charleston: http://www.gogreencharleston.org/

I hope this helps you all make the most of Charleston with the least amount of impact :-)

And after all of that... I just found this blog post: http://carfreeamerica.org/2009/02/28/steves-car-free-journey-february-2009/

Life is....

"Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving."
~Albert Einstein

With my traveling adventures behind me and epic amounts of debt ahead of me, I have officially come back to reality and it is not as peachy as I had hoped. With the decrease in jobs offers and an increase in student loans, I had to make some decisions quick. Do I stay in Charleston and fight for a job or do I move somewhere else and do the same? Should I return to food and beverage to make some extra money or continue to be over worked and underpaid? In the end I did not have choose because my tendency to chat up strangers resulted in a job offer.

When I received the position requirements, it said that I must have "reliable transportation." I considered the fact that the organization most likely assumed that this meant a car, but I figured that I could just blow them away at my interview and then casually mention that my idea of transportation was a bike. This little detail has managed to become a big one for so many people. One of the first questions people ask me when I mention that I am car-free is "Well... how do you get to work?"

So when the time came for my interview, I hopped on my trusty Specialized steed, dressed in business bike-friendly casual (thankfully leggings are in style right now) and made my way down King Street for my meeting. Had I been in a car I probably would have missed the building and been late but instead I was early enough to have a little cool down period pre-interview. The meeting was going fantastic, so I decided to drop my little transportation bomb and see what happened when the smoke cleared. Here is how it went:

Me: "I saw on the requirements that I would need reliable transportation. I just want to let you know that I do not own a car, but instead I bike everywhere."
Her: "Well, is it reliable?"
Me: "Yes, I have never missed a meeting, even when I lived in West Ashley."
Her: "Then I don't see any problem."

And without hesitation she moved to the next question. And yes, I got the job.

For all those people that told me not owning a vehicle would stop me from being able to get a job, well, I just burst your bubble.

To celebrate my new job (yes, now I have two jobs) here are two fun bike things:

Really, this whole website is fantastic: http://www.instructables.com/id/Bikes/

Here is a video sent to me by Mr. Kelley: