So Where Have I Been?

You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack 
You may find yourself in another part of the world 
You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile 
You may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife 
You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here? 

– Talking Heads

It’s been a while since the last blog post, and they tell me it’s important to keep up the facade of actual work being accomplished.  So here goes.

Man, summer is busy!  We went to a wedding, bought a house, moved, got a dog, built a fence, and it’s the end of August already.  It’s been good, though.

I’m itching to officially launch a new feature when I get the time to write it all up.  It may not work the way I expect, and it requires more involvement from the Northern Plains Athletics community.  Note that I didn’t say work.  It’s not so much work as a way to build our small (but growing) regional community of athletes.

On the professional race front, I’ve been heavily involved in the backend of ENDracing.  There are more races happening this year than ever before, and my small part is to help out where I can in order to keep Andy (the race director) sane.  I’ve plugged these races enough on Twitter, so I won’t do so again here.

On the personal race front, the last race I did was the Dewey Du.  I supported a swimmer for END-WET and manned a semi-remote checkopint for END-AR.  Both took more out of me than I had anticipated, so the time has come again to pull the plug and start training in earnest again.  Cyclocross and mountain bike races approach, followed by the intent at distance fatbiking, if you get my drift.

Ted (general NPA lackey and hosting provider–go buy some Toe’ds) managed to make it to SSUSA, and I’m expecting a race report from him any day now.  Right, Ted?  We sent people far and wide from Grand Forks to race the last few weekends.  Of the cyclists, the Maah Daah Hey 100 and SSUSA called.  Of the adventure racers, END-AR24 gave them mosquito bites to be proud of.  Of the runners?  I’m sad to say that I don’t have a good connection to the local road-racing set–get in touch, guys!  Sean Cooley won at least sixty-four distinct triathlons this summer.

There are many race reports to write and be read.  If you’d like to know why I’m not the one writing them yet, read that second paragraph again.  What did you do with your summer?

 

Midtown Connector Bikeway

Jason Schaefer has an idea, originally posted to the Northern Star Cycling Club on Facebook:

“I’d love your thoughts and feedback on this. Kind of one of those things where I have an idea, but not sure exactly what to do with it.

I have an idea for a bikeway that I think would be a wonderful recreational asset while also providing kids with a safe route to schools, parks, the library, the greenway and more. The safe routes to schools aspect could perhaps help secure some federal or state DOT funding for the project.

I’ve included a map with some details. I’m reaching out to you all in hopes that you would have some good ideas as far as the design and how to make it happen. It actually seems ripe for collaboration as it incorporates Park District, Library, Museum, Greenway and City properties.

View Midtown Connector Bikeway in a larger map
Here is a list of attributes and amenities the bikeway would connect:
1.) A bikeway designed to connect existing paths and public assets in the mid-section of Grand Forks.

2.) Upon completion, this path would connect the Greenway trail network with the English Coulee trail network.

3.) Public assets connected include:
-Lincoln Golf Course & Greenway Trailhead
-Lincoln tennis courts
-Myra Museum
-Viking Elementary School
-Cox Park
-South Washington pedestrian underpass
-GF Public Library
-Cushman Athletic Complex
-Eagles & Blue Line Arena’s
-Red River High School
-Apollo Softball/Baseball Complex
-Kraft Field
-English Coulee trail network
-Lions Park
-Century Elementary School

*NOTE: the line on this path is a general idea. Upon further study and input, a more exact route would be developed.  http://goo.gl/maps/zlhMe

Furthermore, there are a number of questions to be answered as far as the design. I would like to see this designed with children in mind, so for the sections that run along streets (23rd Ave So and 20th Ave S), I think something more than a simple striped bike lane would be necessary. Your insights on this aspect would be particularly valuable!”

Live from Purdue University–Campus Bike Stations

UND geology Ph.D candidate Ted is spending a month using some of Purdue’s fancy equipment and using a bicycle to get around.  He sent in these photos of a campus bike station, which lets anyone fill up his or her tires or fix other bicycle issues without having to own all the tools.  How cool would it to have one of these at UND, or even downtown?


Bike Lanes!

The bike lanes have been freshly painted on University Avenue where they exist, between Columbia Road and 42nd Avenue North.  Additionally, I was greeted with this wonderful sight on Tuesday on my way to a meeting at the CVB via 42nd Street North:
42nd Avenue bike lane 2013-07-30 13.08.03
Looking south on 42nd Avenue N.

The new striped bike lane starts at Gateway Drive (Route 2) and lasts until 6th Avenue N (on the east side) and aaaaaaalllmost University Avenue on the west side (this is a story for another day).  Slowly but surely, bicycles are gaining a little city-approved space on the roads in Grand Forks.

Livable Alleys

Here’s an idea fresh off the Streetsblog network from Vancouver, a place that I suppose gets more rain than snow, but still must have to deal with such weather occasionally.  It goes back to the idea of pocket parks, or creating what you can in the small spaces that get overlooked and trashed.

“Vancouver’s “country lanes” replace asphalt alleys with honeycomb cells filled with grass and two concrete strips, plus cobblestone drives, to reduce permeable pavement and create a pleasing aesthetic in its alleyways. Image: Spacing.ca” – Text and image pulled straight from Streetsblog.

Better alleys are just what Henry C1 is looking for in this Engage the Forks recommendation:

The alley is always in bad condition with bad pot holes because of such high use. Please close it off permanently before someone gets hurt by a driver or at least pave it due to high traffic.

In other news, had a brief chat with Jason Schaefer the other day about improving the downtown and near-downtown area by planning for more efficient land use where it counts: parking lots.  More on this later.

Systematics and Taxonomy Definitions

Winston (1999, p. 9) describes taxonomy as a “subdivision of systematics (the study of biological diversity] consisting of […] identi cation (referring a specimen to a previously classi ed and named group), classi fication (ordering organisms into groups based on perceived similarities or diff erences), and  nomenclature (naming groups of organisms according to rules developed for the process).”
 
Winston, J. E. (1999). Describing Species. Columbia Unversity Press.

Rain Garden at South Washington and 17th Ave South

Cool beans, hopefully this will be only a small part of an overall project to make South Washington look less blighted (source).

Grand Forks, ND –The City of Grand Forks and the North Dakota Department of Transportation are partnering on a storm water and right of way improvement project on the SW corner of South Washington Street and 17th Avenue South. 

The project will remove an old section of frontage road pavement and jersey barrier’s. In their place, a storm water Best Management Practices (BMP) filtration device (a.k.a rain garden) will be constructed in conjunction with landscaping. 

In addition, a kiosk will be constructed where the benefits of rain gardens will be described along with information on designing and building rain gardens.