Gunnar Wolf

Among the many columns and lesser sections of my favorite national newspaper I enjoy reading the Centenaria column — Notes published one hundred years ago in Mexico City local newspapers.

A couple of decades ago, we started having policletos on the streets — "Policías bicicletos". Cops on bikes. I don't know if we had policletos as a continuous presence before that, but I do remember it being somewhat controversial in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Anyway, this snippet (and sadly I cannot capture the 1910 writing style in English) was a joy to read:

January 18, 1910

Good results of using bicycles for surveillance

As we have come to know, the service the first-class policemen are doing on bike, mainly during night time, has yielded great results, as the street policemen often fell asleep and woke up upon hearing a horse approaching, which does not happen anymore because the first-class policemen make much quicker rounds, and before the street policemen even think of it, their superior is standing in front of them.

It also seems that robberies, so frequent during the nights, have ceased because the burglars, hastily breaking the locks, are caught by the bike-riding policemen, given the machines barely make any noise, and besides, they cannot run away because they are chased with no effort.

As many of you are aware, I am the owner of the universe. Let me correct, the proud owner of the universe. This little bugger has got me a good time in Nicaragua and, although it was a bit sick during the first couple of days, I do expect to use it several times in Cáceres. It is always good to have a bike - a reason _and_ a way to move, faster than walking, getting good views and, basically, drawing bystanders' attention.

But today, thanks to Axel, a permanent impression has entered my mind.

I rode a Brompton. Shortly, for less than a kilometer... But, WOW. And I do mean it. <blink>W-O-W</blink>.

One day, when I grow up, I will get my own Brompton. And the Universe will truly be mine.

Three weeks ago, 23 year old Liliana Castillo, student of the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas at UNAM was killed while driving her bycicle, at the Avenida Universidad and Real de Mayorazgo corner, in Mexico City, less than 3Km north from my house (and from the University). I have crossed that spot several times, also driving my bike. It is not a corner where you would expect a careless, speeding driver coming out of nowhere and killing a girl, a student, an artist.

I am reproducing this letter, that is being passed around in the University. I will surely be there, as many other cyclists. We need to make ourselves visible, to make drivers aware they are not the sole owners of the streets. There is enough place for all of us. We all deserve freedom of movement.

Estimados miembros de la comunidad universitaria,

Con gran tristeza les informo que nuestra compañera estudiante Liliana Castillo, de la Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas y de la Facultad de Filosofía murió arrollada mientras circulaba en su bicicleta el día 15 de mayo, en Avenida Universidad esquina con Mayorazgo de la Higuera en la colonia Xoco, delegación Benito Juárez.

Por tal motivo los invitamos a que nos unamos a la marcha ciclista que se llevará acabo en su memoria este miércoles 10 de junio a las 21h en el estacionamiento de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras en Ciudad Universitaria. El contingente saldrá a las 21h en punto con ruta Avenida Universidad hasta el lugar de los hechos. Ahí dejaremos veladoras y flores en memoria a nuestra compañera en conjunto con la organización bicitekas (www.bicitekas.org) quienes saldrán a su vez a la misma hora desde el Ángel de la Independencia. El contingente universitario regresará a la Facultad de Filosofía aproximadamente a las 23.30h.

Las personas que no puedan acompañarnos en bicicleta, son mas que bienvenidas para llegar al punto de reunión que se encuentra a una calle al norte del Metro Coyoacan sobre avenida Universidad.

Para mayor información sobre lo ocurrido y lo cuestionable del manejo legal del accidente, pero sobre todo para difundir su legado artístico, visiten la página:

http://fundacionlilianacastilloresendiz.blogspot.com

POR UNA CULTURA DEL CICLISMO URBANO Y MAS KILÓMETROS DE CICLOVIAS EN LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO

PD No olvides llevar una veladora y una flor para dejar en el lugar del accidente.

I was invited to talk about Free Software at yesterday's FLISOL. Yesterday? Aren't FLISOLs organized on Saturday? Well, not this one, for various reasons which I won't quote here. And no, I am not a supporter of the installfests idea, but I went gladly to talk about what is Free Software all about - The philosophy behind Free Software. Besides, the talk was at FES Iztacala, where I worked for four happy years, 1999-2003. I have not been often to Iztacala since 2003 (probably I have visited only three or four times), partly because of the distance (~25Km from home in a straight line, but the city's Northern part is quite poorly communicated). The last time I was there, last October, I went by bike, just to test my endurance and... because I could.

Yesterday, I also did, not to be outdone by my fellow Debianers Christian and Dirk. Think they are so cool because they can run for 43Km? Well, I had my 55Km yesterday, and I was not even in a competition! (yes, yes, running and biking is not the same. So sue me. I just didn't want to stand still and let them walk away with all of the fun!) I took slightly different routes (my route to get there on Nokia Sportstracker and OpenStreetMap trace, my route back on Nokia Sportstracker and OpenStreetMap trace), crossing diagonally Azcapotzalco, a region of the city (delegación) I hardly know... The Sourthern of it seems like a continuation of Tacuba to the North, small and not-very-well-communicated prior villages engulfed by our hungry, huge city. The Northern half is a mostly industrial area, with very sparse population, lots of trucks, and streets that are not in the best shape. You can end up feeling lonely in those regions, and I am glad not to have crossed back by night.

And the trip back was interesting as well... Mexico City is home to many more bikers you would expect given its size, and it is very common to find other people doing nice long stretches. In this case, I started cycling quite close to another guy in a white bike more or less when I got to Calzada Camarones. Possibly we had passed each other over and over until after Tlatelolco, arriving to Guerrero, where I approached him at a stoplight:
— Hi! Where to?
­— Near Vocacional 7, Iztapalapa!
— Nice! I'm just going to Copilco

Every now and then we crossed each other... Turns out he does this ~30Km commute daily between Iztapalapa and Azcapotzalco. Quite admirable, to be honest. I also crossed my road with Sergio Mendoza, fellow Debianer (and co-administrator of our Mexican mirror) around Centro Médico (about 7Km north from my destination), whom I had only seen before around the University. Nice surprise. And yes, getting to know the city by bike is the best way to go!

Back to the conference... my first thought when I was invited was to present ¿Qué es el Software Libre?, a talk I have given over and over since... 2002 (although, yes, with updates). I must say it's one of the best structured talks I have prepared and has almost always been very successful - But give the same talk based on the same script over and over (AFAICT, around 20 times), and you will be fed up with it. And yes, yesterday I didn't take my laptop along, and didn't put my presentation on a USB stick - I took a pen and some paper, and during the presentation prior to mine, wrote some points to go over. And yes, it was a refreshing change. The talk was as successful as expected, and it's much more refreshing to talk about the same topics bot on a different way, and without being constrained to a predefined script. I know that organizing formally your ideas makes sure you don't miss out important points and that the audience is sometimes encouraged to pay attention by having some bullet points to look at - But on the other hand, it is much easier to follow your audience's interest if you are not bound by the script. And the few times I've spoken that way, it has felt refreshing and nice.

Yesterday I took part of the fourth inter-state bike ride, requesting the construction of proper and safe cycling ways. Tens of Mexican bike-rider organizations were part of the organization, althought the effort is basically grouped under the Ciclopistas y Ciclovías Interestatales project - For further details on the route we took, you can look at the México-Pachuca road map, although it was not followed literally.
I am very happy I decided to take part of this - I went with Adrián, but after the first rest/grouping we lost track of each other, and decided the best would be for each to go at his own pace. He managed to do the 95Km ride, I decided to stop at about 85 (I set my target to the first houses of Pachuca, so I could say I arrived ;-) ) and took a ride from the barredoras that were trailing us. Still, 85Km in about six hours (including the two rests) are well over what I expected to endure. And although the conditions were not ideal (i.e. there was some re-pavement jobs in a large portion between Tizayuca and Pachuca, which led to poor road conditions in some areas, and the dry, horrid smell of tar in others; we cycled along the vehicles in the very busy highway, so we didn't exactly get a dose of clean air), it was great. And I thought each of my muscles would hurt like hell today, but no, they are just feeling lazy ;-)
The GPS tracking on Nokia SportsTracker, The GPS tracking on OpenStreetMap

Michael blogs about Critical Mass.
What is Critical Mass in case you are too lazy to go to Michael's or to the Wikipedia? A cyclist-awareness movement, showing how bikers are safer (i.e. more visible) when there are more of them. The (dis)organizational nature of this movement (at least according to Wikipedia's information) seems quite fun and interesting.
However, I have to oppose what Michael says is a strong point of CM in Austria - At least, given my country's culture.
People who don't bike often say we have the least bike-aware culture, and that this city must be like hell to cyclists. It is not - Mexicans tend to believe this is the worst place possible on many accounts, and I'm happy to prove the contrary. I do feel that bringing people out to the streets, as our local government's Muévete en bici program pushes, is completely right: It shows people how fast they can move in real streets in the city, taking away the fear of being run over by a bus, and people will gradually understand we can all excercise the right to use the streets without polluting, and gives us a better idea on how to behave with traffic (even if the traffic is made of fellow bikers) around us. I know this program works - At least, because it worked on me. Whenever possible, I go everywhere in this (not small or friendly by any measure) city by bike.
Anyway - What criticism do I have for Michael's post? That he states they:

Bicycling ludicrously slowly for a good hour, we managed to claim some fairly busy streets while many people tried to get home by car.

IMHO, what we should be doing is to demand the drivers to respect us, not to make them want to run us over. They should not be driven into hating bikers because of the chaos they generate - It is terrible to sit in a car for two hours when you usually take 30 minutes. There is simply no justification for that.
When I took part of the World Naked Bike Ride, some people wanted to take all four lanes of Reforma. Fortunately, reason prevailed, and we took only the lane we were assigned. And we should keep that in mind! Whenever possible, we should protest and make ourselves heard, but without interfering, without damaging, other people's lives!
Oh, by the way: If anybody in Mexico wants to have some nice hours of healthy fun: I am still pondering whether to join, as it is a huge effort, but I am very inclined to do so. Next week, November 9, we will go by bike from Mexico City's Zócalo to Pachuca. We face 95Km and close to four hours. The road to Pachuca is basically flat, and going in a large group is a great experience. Hope to see you there!

Last Wednesday I went for the first time in many years to FES Iztacala, the UNAM faculty where I worked for four years (1999-2003) and where I have most learnt and advanced in my career so far. I have a very special spot in my heart for Iztacala :-)
But it was not just a nostalgy drive - In no small part, I had not visited Iztacala -despite several invitations- because... It is really far away, in Tlalnepantla, Northern Mexico City (while I live in the South, just by UNAM). It takes me approximately 1.5 hours to get there via public transportation, and I would not venture less than 1 hour travel time by car. So... Having nothing to lose, I decided to go by bike - you can look at my route to get there (OpenStreetMap, SportsTracker) and safely back home (OpenStreetMap, SportsTracker). Some people I have talked with think it was a crazy thing to do - No, I don't feel that, by a long shot. A 26Km ride in slightly under two hours, and back. People insist on thinking that biking in such a large and chaotic city as Mexico is unsafe, dangerous, suicidal... I deeply disagree. Cycling is fun and got me to my destination in almost the same time I would have made by bus. And no, I would not buy four liters of gasoline just to cross my city.
Anyway, I am also happy about the reason that actually got me to go to Iztacala - I submitted a talk+paper I prepared together with Alejandro Miranda to Congreso Internacional Software Libre y Democratización del Conocimiento organized by Universidad Politécnica Salesiana in Quito, Ecuador. This conference is quite different to those I am used to, as it is quite more formal and academic; it is mainly targetted at social scientists working on understanding our movement. We prepared a talk called Software Libre y la Construcción Democrática de la Sociedad - which was accepted, to my amazement.
Neither Alejandro nor I were unable to travel to Ecuador to give the talk, so we arranged to present it via a videoconference call - Which was based on Iztacala. A nice session, although quite different to what I am used to. Our presentation was on a panel setting, under the global Ethical and political dimensions in the Free Software culture, with 20 minutes to present the topic (I am used to preparing one- or two-hour talks), and it was frankly rushed... We "met" with some friends (or were able at least to greet them shortly after the talk) who attended live to the conference, and... Well, all in all, it was one of those good, interesting experiences I would surely repeat. And besides, I have several things pending to show off about my current work to my Iztacalan fellows ;-)

In this Free Software movement we have many mottos - One of which, describing what motivates us to work writing code, is scratch where it itches.
Of course, I could not keep it to myself - Almost a week ago, I took part of the World Naked Bike Ride. What I didn't tell you... Is that it became obvious I cannot reach most of by back - And it's because I'm mostly careless. When the WNBR started, it was still quite cloudy, even starting to rain... so I was mostly careless.
If you opened the newspaper PDF I attached to my previous post, you'll surely remember (not an easy sight to get out of your head, I guess) I had painted on my back "Vehículo libre de emisiones" - Emissions-free vehicle (and yes, it's strictly true: My bike is zero emissions. The animal riding it might not be... But that's a different story). Add incomplete sunblock to the equation, and...

Were it not for the poor lighting conditions under which I took the photo, you'd clearly appreciate the words "libre de" on my back.
And... Well, one week later, my freedom itches.
Badly.

After thinking it over a couple of times, I did it. I told you here about the World Naked Bike Ride. Thousands of bikers, in over 130 cities around the world, voiced their concerns about the lack of caution drivers have towards us, about the abuse of fossil fuels for urban transportation, about the easy we are not to be seen. Many among us have been run over by careless drivers (in my case, no consequences except a broken helmet - And yes, MJ: although the impact was on the flat surface of the road and not on the kerb, the strength of the impact still amazes me). We feel naked against the motorized traffic. So, the WNBR decides to show it by taking the streets of our many cities - Naked.
It was a completely different experience of the massive naked Spencer Tunick photo, as we were there not just to show our freedom and enjoy, but to get the people to look at us. There were some of the same elements of comradeship and trust we had there (and, of course, that many of us learnt in Finland when we became GNUdists at DebConf 5's unforgettable saunas).
Anyway... I did not make the full route (I rode Chapultepec-Zócalo-Diana, ~15Km, but missed the Diana-Gandhi-Cibeles part, maybe some 5Km) as I had an appointment I was already late for. But it was a unique, great experience. If you are interested, we got a fair share of press coverage. Oh, and I must say: I am famous now. And in my favorite newspaper, nothing less :).

Bubulle's improvements on running make me envy him. Of course, I'm nowhere close to Dirk's (or for that matter, I can only hope never to be as insane as Mauricio).
I must admit that I have heavily reduced my running. This is in no small part due to the fact that it's not easy to find decently-priced running shoes of the right size in Mexico - But well, that's only an excuse after all. But yes, if I run over 7Km with my current shoes, I get blisters, invariably. And I'm a bit short on money right now...
Partly, I've been moving my preferred excercise to biking - I don't do heavy biking, of course, but I do try to get at least 15Km every day (and as I bike to and from work, I only have to take small extra detours to reach that point - although splitting an excercise session in several sub-sessions is very close to cheating on myself) and at least a longer, continuous, 25-30Km ride every weekend. But yes, I've lowered my rythm.
Also, I'm running less because of where I am currently living - Very close to my usual area, but quite a bit more hilly, and it has made my knees ache every now and then.... And by far, it is not as nice and friendly area.
I do hope to work on this - And, of course, the Debconf Morning Jog is one of the events I most look forward to. Running in Edinburgh was, after all, my favorite and most productive way to get to know the city.

May 1st is a holiday in many countries around the world - It is, at least, here in Mexico. So, what's a man to do when faced with really-crappy network connectivity at home?
Yesterday I had dinner with Gigio, and among many other things, we talked about the Ciclotón, which I've only done twice. And on my way back home, I crossed (twice) the path of a group of ~100 cyclist going over Colonia Roma.
Anyway, whatever the reason, I woke up very well in the mood for a nice 20km ride:

Now, lets get the day started!
[update] I was told about a worldwide nudist cycling activity, the World Naked Bike Ride. Their page states their main motivator:

We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignit and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians as well as the negative consequences we all face due to dependence on oil, and other forms of non-renewable energy.

Of course, Mexican groups take part in this interesting activity - Ciclomarcha nudista.
Will I be there? I don't know - Quite probably, yes. I first thought of it as a joke, and as a dangerous activity. But, come think of it, I am a move-by-bicycle-in-the-largest-city-in-the-world activist. I have been knocked over or shit-scared (and fortunately not more than that) by careless drivers, but than won't force me back into driving my car when not needed. And this kind of activities, which do get their good share of exposure, need all the participants - I hope to be there, June 7 12:00PM, at the beginning of Mexico City Ciclopista (FFCC de Cuernavaca esq. Ejército nacional, Polanco) Chapultepec's Lions' entrance, at the crossing of Lieja and Reforma.

Share the awareness. There are very good promotional pictures. And collective nudist activities are quite fun, experiences to remember for life.