Riding with ALS

I was recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Naturally this was quite a shock and has taken a lot of adjustment. I take each day one day at a time and every day that I can still ride my bike is a good day. I don't think that I will every completely recover from a recent right leg hip fracture because of damage to the motor neurons in that leg. My other leg is reasonable OK. My arms are noticeably weaker now but I can still operate the brakes OK. I did two rides last weekend and my speed is definitely much slower. My average was only about 14 mph. I have to be careful to eat enough to keep my energy level up and to not get too tired. I hope to ride this weekend although I will only do the shorter rides. I don't think that I am good for much more than about 40 miles. I would just like to have somebody to ride with.

I am using my Bike Friday because of the lower gearing and step through frame. Helps because problems with the hip fracture on the right leg.

My ALS started in my throat area with difficulty swallowing and later difficulty eating. I have learned how to swallow better but I have to eat slowly. I didn't notice other muscle related symptoms until my diagnosis on September 16. ALS is such a rare disease that most doctors are not very familiar with it (they may only see one case in there entire career). Also my type, with symptoms starting in the throat area, occurs in only about 20% of all ALS cases.

While I started this blog to discuss transportation and bicycling issues I am going to use it now to record my struggle with ALS (at least as long as I can). So thanks for listening.

Road Position for Winter Conditions

During an unusual break in our winter weather in upstate New York I was able to ride my bike to work for 3 days in January. One big problem was all the sand left on the roadway from the highway department. Our town highway crews use a combination of sand and salt to melt ice and improve traction. While the salt washes away with rain, the sand and gravel grit remains for a long time. For this January thaw the road surface tended to stay wet since the dewpoint temperature was probably well above the road surface temperature. Some of the salt residue also remained to help absorb water from the air. The result was a road surface that didn't want dry.

Naturally I only used my old "beater" which has fenders. The sand/ gravel debris along the side of the road also forced me to ride much more in the lane than I typically would. This was not much problem for the ride in to work when there is not much traffic. I was more concerned with the afternoon return. If I was out in the lane more would cars be really mad with me? I made sure that I had a high visibility jacket. It seemed that drivers were actually more careful and may have even passed with more room when I was in "their" lane. I know this sounds strange but you almost get more respect when you are in "their" way.

I always support bike lanes and wider roads with paved shoulders so there is plenty of space between bikes and passing cars. However, there is a "psychology" of being noticed. If you are riding in your nice separate bike lane or paved shoulder then you are out of "their" way and you are less likely to be noticed. If you are visible and in "their" lane you have to be noticed. I was actually surprised how respectful everyone was when passing. This is just an observation of one situation and may be largely the result that the people who were passing me were my co-workers and possibly more sympathetic.

I have heard that overtaking accidents, while horrible, are generally rare if visibility is not an issue, such as at night. It just points at the need to be visible and aware of your surroundings no matter how wide the lane is or how much space you have available.

Ride safe and so long for now.

The Tata Nano

Is the new people's car, the Tata Nano, the solution to a transportation problem or something that will create more problems? It is an interesting update of an earlier theme starting with the original Ford Model T and followed by the German "people's car" the Volkswagen.

It's clear that it is probably safer for a family of four in India to travel in ultra small car like the Nano as opposed to squeezing onto a motor bike. Is the Tata Nano a good idea in India? And is the Tata Nano good for the world?

As chairman of Tata Motors noted India is woefully behind in infrastructure development for transportation. The question is how and what infrastructure should be built? If India and China follow the US with a heavily automobile oriented transportation system (i.e. motorways and stripmalls, etc.) where will the world be going?

I think it very hard for us in the car crazy United States to tell the people of India how to live and that they should not buy the Tata Nano. I think the only rational response for the people of North America or Europe is to lead by example. We need to redesign our communities to reduce our need for automobiles. That is only rational way that we could suggest how the people in the rising economies of India and China should live.

Anyway you look at it the age of cheap petroleum based energy for transportation will be coming to end. The Tata Nano (and I suppose similar Chinese cars) will hurry the end.

Something to think about.