12-15-11

Yesterday I rode my newly restored Schwinn Paramount to work. Otherwise my workday was much like any other. I left at 1pm and rode down to the Bikerowave. I took Culver from Lincoln instead of Ballona bike path. The traffic was heavier but I think it shavevews a good bit off the trip. The bike handles wonderfully, even before adding wide tires it seems to have the ability to smooth out the cracks and potholes in the road. I attribute this to the tubing and the long rake of the front fork. It needs some minor fit adjustment and I think the Q-factor is too wide for comfort but I cannot afford to replacement before the long ride I have planned for next week. I worry still about my ability to complete the 400k, I had a pretty stringent training plan for two weeks that was thwarted by illness and inclement weather. I'm feeling the morning commute in my legs more-so than I usually would and hope I have enough time to get into riding condition and still be able to shake this cough.
I did some work on donated bikes at BRW and waited for Alex and Heidi's arrival to help set up for the Bikeside meeting w/ Austin Beutner, a mayoral candidate for LA. A good cross section of sustainable transportation people showed up to ask him questions. I first asked him about the 3-ft law. Mayor Villaragosa recently pushed through the state legislature but it was vetoed for stupid reasons by Governer Brown. I get the feeling Beutner wasn't too versed in the issue and made some statements about Villaragosa failing in his efforts in that respect then went on to talk about how important partnerships are to have and how the state government has ignored LA. I'm getting the idea that he's really into privatization. I intended to then ask him about his stance on the high speed rail line, before I could he brought the subject up and stated that if he could, he would have LA opt out and focus the money on local transportation infrastructure. Between this and privatization I think my vote will go elsewhere if the other candidates don't mess up too much. I think he represents himself well and will likely do good as far as implementing the Bike Plan if elected.
After the meeting I spoke briefly with Steve about borrowing light mounts then Don asked me if I wanted to join him and this woman from LACBC for dinner at the Hari Krishna center then ride out together. We got to talking about our meeting with Beutner and privatization in general, decided that no-bid government contracts were a joke and directly connected to the rood problem of there being too much money in Washington and that we couldn't change anything without removing that influence first. But how do you remove the influence? What incentive could there be for people receiving the money to turn of the tap? I guess it would have to be the supreme court if anything....
We left around 8:30, rode down Venice together a ways then split off. I had so hoped to be able to make it to the passage ride tonight as the route seemed very interesting but time wasn't going to be on my side this night. The ride was set to leave around 9 and I had no way of making it so I returned home and fell asleep on the couch.