I’ve been spending the last few evenings over at the building I put a rubber roof on sorting through tools.  Man do I have a lot of tools.  The reason I’m having to sort through them is because about half the time I use these tools it is not here in Topeka, thus I load up a bunch of tools into the van, then they get all mixed up and when I’m back, I just unload them all in a big bunch on the floor.

Plus, there is all the excess stuff that I’ve bought.  Boxes of screws, nails and various other odd bits that might be useful on another project.  Yesterday those odd bits didn’t seem so valuable, so most of them went into recycling.

I love a project that involves buying a new tool.  A new tool that isn’t that expensive, but is key to the project getting completed timely.  Cordless power tools have been a game changer the past 20 years.  The batteries are getting better, thus the tool more powerful.  I was looking at my odd collection of cordless power tools and was thinking it is about time I get a new set.  I have quite a few Dewalt 18v tools, but they are so old and the drill drivers are about done.

I find that I’ve already written a post about just about everything I think about, thus there is this one about tools that I did 3 years ago.

Proper Tools are Invaluable 

I’ve been replacing this fence down in Richardson Texas the last few days. It always amazes me how important that the proper tools are for each and every situation. It isn’t only in construction, but everything you need a tool for.

I’d say that a large part of doing construction is having the right tools for the job and always having the necessary components when they are needed. Nothing slows a project down than running out of anything. It goes in a certain order and when that order is interrupted then the project sometimes comes to a complete stop.

The same when dealing with bicycles. More so. Can you imagine not having a chain tool when one is needed? There is nothing that can replace that. Maybe in “wartime” you could use a punch and a pair of pliers to get a chain back together, but not in a race situation.

Park Tool company is now taken for granted, but they have been innovators in bicycle tools. When Thomas Frischnecht first came to the US from Switzerland, he barely spoke English. It was about the same time that Park came out with the tri-tool, the y-tool with the 4-5-6 mm allen keys on it. When Thomas came to Boulder and stayed with me and saw the tool, he wanted to buy 50 and take them back to Switzerland and give them to his friends. He was that impressed with it. I have to agree. Life is much easier for me because there is a Park Hex wrench in the world. It holds true for lots and lots of tools.

Specialty tools are just that, special. There are many situations that there is nearly only one tool that will work for a specific situation. And if that tool is missing or unknown to the person that needs it, then there is nearly a zero percent chance that the task can be completed.

I guess this post is for me to acknowledge my appreciation to all the people out there that have thought through the process and made tools for each and every situation. It makes my life much easier on a daily basis. I always look for projects that “force” me to acquire new tools. If that is the case, then the project is usually always a success.

This little Bosch driver is one of my favorites now. It fits in a pocket of a tool pouch and is pretty powerful considering its size.

This Paslode nail gun is can virtually build a house by itself. It is a framing nailer, but…..

it can also be used here with a non-mar tip to use on fences, etc.

The Park tri-tool and Shimano chain tool are a couple of the tools that are indispensable.

The Campagnolo Tool Kit. I still want one, even though most of the tools in it aren’t used for modern day bicycles now.

Me. Innocent.  

The phrase single file is now only used pertaining to cyclists and how they don’t ride close enough the the side of the road.  Cyclists riding two abreast seems to be a recipe that turns regular people into  aggro motorists.

I saw an article at Cyclingweekly that was a discussion between Chris Boardman and someone that felt that a truck had passed her mother too closely.  Chris Boardman tweeted that they should have been riding single file on such a narrow road.

The only case I can see for this is that it might not piss off the truck driver so much.  It is definitely more dangerous.  Riding single file encourages drivers to try to make hasty passes when the road isn’t necessarily clear.

That is what most drivers don’t get, is that there isn’t enough room on a normal two lane road for two cars and one bicycle.  A car has to cross the centerline to pass safely.  If the average motorist understood this, I think the problem would be much less.

I got thinking about this because some dick on a Harley came by a couple days ago, revved his engine, which scared the shit out of me, and then proceeded to yell at us to ride single file.

The terrain around Northeast Kansas is such that we could encounter more issues if it were more populated.  It is rolling around here, with lots of short hills in succession, so hard to pass, even car vs. car.  What I have found alleviates the issue some, is when I get to the top of a hill and see that it is safe to cross the centerline for the car to pass, I wave the car by.  It seems to tell the driver that we were concerned about holding him up.  At least that is what I think.  I’ve never waved a car by and had the guy go irate on me.

Again, I googled it and have already written a post of most of my thought about single file riding.   Here it is.

Two Abreast, It’s the Law

That is the law here in Kansas for cyclists. It is a super good law. The only problem with the law is that nobody but cyclists know it.

I don’t know how many times in my lifetime I’ve had people yell “single file” to me. Probably 1000’s. The only time I’ve ever heard those two words in a phrase was when I was elementary school, walking in the hall to the auditorium or somewhere as a class and riding my bicycle. I don’t know where it got ingrained into people’s brains that single file is how cyclists are “supposed” to ride on the street, but it is a common mistake.

I’ve been riding back and forth to Lawrence recently. Unless I’m riding on gravel down by the river, I have to ride on State Hwy. 40 for some amount of time. The road isn’t too busy and really not that dangerous. But, it doesn’t have a shoulder and rolls enough to make passing tricky. Cars passing each other and cars passing cyclists.

At least once, and usually more, when I ride the road, some yahoo will pass me, crossing into the opposite lane going up a hill. Inevitably, a car will be coming from the other direction and have to swerve, brake or something. It never ceases to amaze me that the guy in the other lane nearly always honks or flips me off when he comes by.

I just don’t get it. The car that was passing me is nearly always crossing a double yellow line on a blind hill and the other car blames the cyclist. What’s up with that?

It is even worse when I’m riding with someone else. The drivers of the cars think, mistakenly, that we’re breaking the law by riding two abreast. Somehow that mentality gives these people the need to try to enforce their mistaken thoughts by honking or coming by dangerously close, usually passing illegally themselves. It is super weird, like the law should even matter enough to endanger someones life.

I’ve had people actually stop a couple times and go into a tirade about the two abreast riding. Only a couple times. I used to carry a piece of paper in plastic that stated the Kansas State Law concerning riding bicycles two abreast. Each time a person stopped, I would show them the law and it was amazing how that would calm them down. It is like they thought they were the two abreast police and the realization that they didn’t know the law completely deflated them down to nothing.

Once we were riding over to Kansas City for a training race and got pulled over by the Douglas County Sheriffs near Lawrence. The guy was hassling us for riding two abreast. I happened to have the law with me and showed it to the officer. Next thing I know, the guy’s supervisor shows up. The officer had already called him since there were 6 of us. The officer goes and tells him that we were riding 4 abreast, when just 5 minutes earlier he had told us he stopped us for not riding single file. I was obviously pissed.

I had a conversation with the supervisor and told him that it was a much bigger deal having a sheriff lie to his supervisor, right in front of 6 regular citizens than whatever law the guy thought we were breaking to start with. It really didn’t go anywhere. The supervisor said that they had big problems with groups of riders “massing” on the county roads and thought this was one of those situations. Anyway, it goes to show that even the local law enforcement officers don’t know the law.

If that is the case, I don’t know why I would expect anyone else to. I went down and renewed my driver’s license in February. I thought that is would be a good idea to include a question on the renewal test about the two abreast law, but we don’t even take a test anymore. Just walk in, take an eye exam, get a photo taken, pay $25 and out. Maybe 5 minutes max.

I don’t know how to fix the problem. It sure would be nice if the drivers didn’t think that all us cyclists were law breakers when we ride side by side. I know that would alleviate a ton of the tension. But I don’t really see a way to do it.

Maybe some signs like this might help some. Funny, I got this off a website talking about riding in Tenerife and how it is a 1500 Euro fine to pass cyclists illegally in Spain.
  
 The cats are now staying high now that Tucker is more coordinated.