Baby Steps

The woes of the DC metro system are legion and a daily point of frustration. I largely avoid them by riding my bike to as many places as is practical (and just about every time I do ride metro I am reminded why). I assume the good folks at Metro try hard to fix the problems, but they never seem to make much progress.

Which is why I'm baffled why they don't do one very simple thing that to cure a major pain in their rails: Abandon the escalators in favor of steps.

Some of the biggest failures and more regular delays come from the breakdowns and bottlenecks created by the moving stairs that are largely unnecessary. So when I hear that Metro is going to undertake yet another major overhaul of yet another constantly malfunctioning set of moving stairs, it stops me, well, in my tracks. People can, should, and need to walk.

I just came back from New York. They don't have this problem. Granted most of their stations were built before escalators were common, and they aren't as deep, but they save a LOT of money, use no electricity, and NEVER break down (snow and ice excluded). For those who claim that steps at the really deep stations (like Dupont Circle and Forest Glen) would be impossible and dangerous, I say okay, leave in one set, up only. Coat the rest in concrete (with non-skid paint). Build in some rest platforms if need be, but people will adapt. Even if it takes a while.

Remember, steps are good. There are 12 steps to recovery. Hitchcock had his 39 steps. Lynryd Skynyrd begged Mister "Gimme 3 Steps". Please. All good.

Good for you.

Good for me.

Good for Metro.

Photo by Thomas Hawk.

Start Spreading the News ...

No doubt from the title above, a certain song is setting itself as an ear worm right now.

I have to add my voice to the chorus and say I love the place and find it quite friendly. So imagine my surprise to read this recent (obviously nonscientific) poll which rated New York as the Rudest City in America (country of the world's rudest people).

"What ev's" as the kids today like to say. My wife and I were just there last weekend (to see the Daily Show courtesy of the always thoughtful and amazing Cody Ruxton [yes, Cody, I'm about to ask you for a favor]) and we're going back up tomorrow, right into the maw of a ferocious winter storm (4-inches of snow!!!). We are taking our three kids Nam, Rachel, and Lydia (plus Nam's fiance Lisa) to the City for a day of street food and a Broadway show. It's all a belated Christmas present. (The only negative query we've gotten is from Lydia saying "Can we go to New York sometime when it's warm?" This'll be her fourth trip, all others in December).

But during the trips, if the weather's been cold, the people haven't. For example, on this last trip I poked my head into a small bike shop W. 24th (Zen Bikes), just to browse while Deb did the same at an antique store up the block (both promising not to buy ANYTHING). I politely asked a couple of questions about some frame models and fixed-gear set-ups, figuring that as soon as they knew I wasn't buying ANYTHING, they'd give me a load of attitude until I left. Instead, they couldn't have been nicer, and, upon learning I was from outta town and on the board of a bike nonprofit in Virginia, engaged me in pleasant conversation for 20 minutes before they loaded me up with free water bottles and stickers from the store.

In most trips I can find recall a similar encounter. My faith in the Big Apple's humanity has never wavered. I can't wait to get back.

... I want to be a part of it in ... Well, you how it goes.

More on the Truth

Years ago I wrote an article for the Washington Post Style section about how I was afraid that people were stealing ideas from my head. For a while, all I had to do was think of something to write about and in a matter of days, it seemed, it would appear in print ... written by someone else of course.

So imagine my surprise, when I finally got around to putting this blog up and posting on my disappointment in Greg Mortenson and Lance Armstrong, that I would get a copy of Outside magazine with a huge expose on Lance's LiveStrong (laced with ample disappointment for Mortenson, too). It was happening all over again.

Obviously, I've been humbled again by the fact I am not the unique thinker I like to think I am (and I'm sure many other people think so, too). The best I can do is get them out of my head quicker and committed to 'paper' before they get stolen again.

Meanwhile, there is a local political race that is stretching the boundaries of truth, with a candidate neglecting to pay her taxes a few years back, then expressing shock --SHOCK! I tell ya!--when she learned there's an IRS lien against her. Again, I don't know if she did or didn't pay them, but it strains every sense of reason that she knew nothing about this. She must have the worst luck in the world given that neighboring jurisdictions PG County and Washington, DC have been plagued by having elected officials profess ignorance when confronted by charges of wrong doing. And we know how those stories ended.

Let's move on.

Photo: Truth by lizmcdaniel.

What’s the Trouble with the Truth?

2011 was a tough year for two giants in the world of outdoor sports and American charities.

Greg Mortenson, author of the bestselling books Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools, and founder of the Central Asia Institute, has been long and widely criticized for loose accounting practices, often blurring the lines between his personal fortunes made for sales of the book and the everyday operating expenses of the charity he founded to build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. What’s more damming, to some, are more recent allegations that his inspirational story outlined in the books is riddled with distortions, exaggerations, and lies, and the many of the schools the CAI has built now stand empty. Mortenson’s fall from grace has been so far that he was recently included on the dubious CharityWatch Hall of Shame, with its parent organization (the American Institute of Philanthropy) calling for his resignation in December.

Much of the evidence for Mortenson’s ignominy was outlined by a scathing piece on 60 Minutes last summer. And a report by fellow writer and climber Jon Krakauer. And Outside Magazine. In follow-up interviews with many involved, and close examination of the times and locations of many of Mortenson’s tales, they conclude things could not possibly have played out as presented.

Meanwhile, 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has had his name surface in multiple investigations of the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs in professional cycling, the most damming of those coming from his former teammate Tyler Hamilton. This also was the subject of a scathing 60 Minutes story (ironically within a week of when the Mortenson story aired). And a Sports Illustrated expose. And Men’s Journal. But the only one that matters is the federal investigation being led by Jeff Novitzky, who could bring indictments against Armstrong in 2012.

As with Mortenson, Armstrong’s claims ring false. When hearing the accounts of so many people who were so close to Armstrong for so many years, that seemingly everybody in the sport of cycling was doping, including much of his own team, you have to wonder how it was possible that the dominant rider for more than a decade not only didn’t dope, but claims to not know about anyone else doping either. Really?

I’ve had a tough time reconciling my opinions of these two. On the one hand, they have both unquestionably done amazing things that have helps thousands – if not millions – of people less fortunate. On the other hand, you can’t listen to what they say and not sense that their credibility has been stretched well past the breaking point.

Many people will say their stories don’t matter, that the good these two men are doing borders on heroic, and that deceit in the past is of little relevance to their work today. I guess for me, while I can appreciate and admire the giant feats they’ve accomplished (schools in the far corners of the Earth; beating cancer and dominating a sport), I desire something a lot easier in my heroes. I simply want them to tell the truth.