Mail truck!

I was on a high when I realized we had a third client that had scheduled a daily evening mail run to Brentwood P.O. (the anthrax post office). I loaded up my new Bikes at Work trailer and humped three tubs of mail out Rhode Island Avenue. I'm sure no one had a more intense experience summiting that hill today, even fixie kids. Every fiber of my body screamed with pain. It was as close to telemarking I ever got without snow.

When I got to the counter, the nice ladies weren't serving me. A more typically "postal" clerk explained that they can't take that much mail over the counter, it has to go "around back".

So I load it back on my rig and go around back. The guy you have to check in with says "Um, er, yeah, but the problem is no bikes." I shot back "This is not a bicycle. A bicycle has two wheels." He laughed loudly. I said "It's a tractor-trailer." He laughed some more and asked incredulously "Why, because of that!?" pointing towards my trailer. "Uh, yeah, this is a human powered mail truck!" After a little bit more talking, he caved and let me in. I told him I didn't know where to go, he told me the wrong place (there are about 100 loading docks), I went there and when I came out, a postal police was waiting for me. He was trying to tell me "no bikes" but I was telling him how they wouldn't take this much mail over the counter and I understood this was very unusual but I would be very careful, etc. He was really nice and escorted me to the correct loading dock, waited for me to unload, then escorted me back to Brentwood Road.

So it worked out this time, but I'm not as excited about the new client and the heavy load. I don't know how this will play out, but our society's bias against human powered vehicles sucks.

awesome!

Oh, you got one? Most excellent! Lurv those things.

I believe it; the most I've done is Beauregard just north of Landmark with about 130lbs of glass blocks. That was with a triple ring Fuji MTB.

I wouldn't be sure that that's an actual policy instead of just that clerks' impression of actual policy.

Classic.

Luv it.

Yep. And we're in a far more bike friendly city than most.

for a bit of contrast:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/01/1...rs-down-under/

There's a learning curve with my Bikes at Work 64. The rear end is so much farther from the pivot ( B.O.B. vertical pivot is on the edge of the cargo hold and pivot to trailer wheel axle is less than three feet. B.A.W. pivot is 22 inches ahead of the load, and on the 64 the rear end is 7 1/2 feet from the pivot.) Splitting lanes is very scary, I sit in traffic sometimes. I haven't gotten a lot more work from the added capacity but it's a learning curve for dispatch too. That mail run and a few others were a lot easier with the BAW but I could have faked it with BOB.

Does it bounce?

I guess it bounces. I'm just trying not to crash into stuff. I flipped it twice within three blocks the first day. Today (day four), I rode up on the sidewalk but one wheel almost missed the ramp and I peeked back and saw it almost flip. but I saw the flag slap at the ped I was trying to beat to the ramp, but he sort of blocked it with his hand, startled but on it, I shouted back "Hey, Sorry!". I heard him say "'t's OK". I have to ride more "vehicularly", but after four days, I only flipped it twice and smashed it into something once, and all that happened in the first three hours. Before I even screwed up, a driver ran into my trailer while I was stopped at a light and he only stopped after I started screaming at him.

Yeah. Get a BIG road alert triangle and bolt it to the back?

I flipped a 64 at the bottom of Walter Reed in Shirlington when one of the tires blew. Had to use the old grass-stuffing trick, and then it was hoppitty-bounce-bounce to the bike shop.

Biggest thing I ever hauled on it was a commercial-grade chipper right after Hurricane Isabel.

Oh, you got one? Haha. That mail run I weighed at 96lb. I think it was the biggest load I pulled so far. How much did that chipper weigh?

Not since Isabel. There was this large snag, you see, that didn't quite fall where it was supposed to.

maybe two hairs less than 250? Turning was a riot; fortunately the route was flat - uphill starts can be comedic studies in themselves.

How's it going?

Not bad, http://aistigave.hit.bg/Logistics/

Actually I took the rest of the week off.

Rod, I hope it goes well for you. I know how a new promising contract can become a disappointment

Pretty funny! So how's it been going? Have the folks at the PO loading dock gotten to know you a bit better now?

I chickened out and have been ditching the mail at the Union Station Post Office. I just don't want to get stuck almost home in Maryland with 100lbs of mail.

I used to carry a letter from the National Airport Administrator that gave me permission to operate my vehicle on the airport's roads. Maybe I'll try to get a letter from the Postmaster General, but Union Station is a lot closer to the picks and no climbing...

Joel Gwadz posted a picture of my new trailer at gwadzilla.blogspot.com if anyone's interested. I think it's a pretty cool shot.

I get a lot of attention, which I love, why else would I teleboard or ski with a lurk? I threw up a little in my mouth though when someone rolled down the window of a Humvee and tried to snap a picture. I guess I'm sort of a Human Powered Hummer, big, ugly, and in the way. Oh well...

 

Holy quadspank!

 

Nice truckin.

Do you have a permit for that 16 foot combination set-up? I hauled for a private carrier that farmed out to the USPS,they acted like you were hauling Gold.

Haha, no permit. I handle a lot of mail, but not for USPS. I have over a hundred pieces in my bag right now. I missed the 5:30 deadline to the house/senate post office trailer. I deliver a lot of boxes of mail there. Before the anthrax delivery to the Hart building, that would have been 1 hundred drops for a lucky messenger, $$$. Now it is one delivery. USPS delivered the antrax and as a direct result of that, now they handle all overt deliveries to the house and senate office buildings.

Holy Crap!

 

That's the largest load I've seen in the U.S.

 

I have seen bigger in China .

 

Michael

 

I think this load is a little bigger. I had four jobs today in the +200lb range and one job (two boxes, not heavy) to Crystal Drive in Arlington, VA. Bike messengers don't normally go that far, or maybe I should say normal bike messengers don't go that far. :)

 

"Those boxes were  kinda crushed already when I picked them up. Give me a break, you're lucky it isn't raining."

 

Picture would be nicer if a used napkin wasn't stuck to my hub. Fridays are fun. It feels good when you stop.

 

 

Second biggest job today. The client was freaked out about me carrying her stuff. She watched as I loaded, slipped me $20 tip/insurance and left before it was all cinched down.

 

People are always checking out my rig. 

 

 

Damn, I'm happy when I bike a few hours