My first trip with the cello actually inside the case was last Thursday. I went to the luthier to get my soundpost adjusted. I figured if the cello got jostled out of adjustment on journey over then at least I'd have an expert to put things back in place upon arrival. Fortunately when I arrived everything was still intact and the cello sounded just as it did before I left the house. A quick inspection for open seams and a tightening of the soundpost later, and I was off to complete my loop on lake Monona with my cello. I live about 6.5 miles from Overture if I go around the South side of Lake Monona and about 7.5 miles around the North Side, though the North portion of that loop tends to be a much more pleasant ride. The paths are smoother and a little less hilly. When I’ve been downtown I usually complete the full lake loop, just because I guess I need things to feel complete. Or I need the variety….it just feels better to do a full circle than to go out and back.

For those who are curious about the setup that I landed on. The pannier that the cello is sitting in is lined with open cell foam on the bottom. We recently had an engineer over to help trouble-shoot the bike/cello thing and he explained to me that while closed cell foam is water proof it actually acts like a spring and won’t absorb much in the way of shock, so open cell foam is a better choice for this application. Hearing this, I took some of the egg crate that was in the back of my car to cushion the cello case while in transit and cut a piece off to fit the base of the pannier. I also made a "custom" foam piece with a sponge and some velcro to keep it the case from knocking into the rack when I hit bumps. I bought a foam cutter a while back which just barely works, but it’s a tool I rarely get to use and I was excited that it worked for the brief period of time that I needed it for to cut a strange channel in this sponge.

After the foam is all in place, I strap it in with a cargo strap. I make sure not to strap it in too tight so that it can still pivot a little bit when I go over bumps. The cello actually rests at a bit of an angle over the side of the cargo rack and when I hit bumps it gently pivots around the rack which I think helps dampen major shocks turning them into more of a rotational movement rather than a linear one. I’ve become increasingly conscious throughout this process that the case isn’t really designed to absorb shock in every direction. It is primarily designed to absorb the shocks that happen when you are walking with it on your back. The cello spends nearly all of its time in that position when traveling, so it was logical that I would position the cello in that way when riding. The cello actually sits in an open-cell foam sling inside the case so it’s not even touching the bottom of the case. Therefore, the ideal position for it seems to be upright.

Bumps are a fact of life and avoiding them at all costs isn’t really something that interests me. On a path that hosts other riders, slowing down to a crawl to avoid a severe bump might actually create a dangerous situation for others and myself. What I want to build into the system is absorption, resilience and repeatability so that the system can reasonably soak up what is thrown at it and keep the cello safe. I think time will tell and hopefully I’m not missing some large detail. (leave a comment if you’re an engineer and think I’ve made a huge mistake)

Anyhow, the ride was very easy. My luthier lives near the zoo and I enjoyed my route over there. The ride was surprisingly quiet, meaning that the case made very little noise if any and the cello stayed pretty cool despite being in the sun for maybe half the ride. The weather has been pretty pleasant lately and so I wasn’t too concerned about the temperature, but one never knows how soft ones varnish is until it starts to come off. Is that a metaphor for something too? Here’s a video of me riding with it

You can just barely see the way this rides. I desperately need a GoPro, but I’m not sure GoPro is going to sponsor riding this extreme, so I’ll probably just have to have a friend film me on the go. That’ll look nicer anyway

This setup is what I'm going to be riding to Overture Center for rehearsals this year. I still have a car to use if necessary, but I feel satisfied that this will do a good job of protecting the cello while getting us both to rehearsal on time. The building we use for parking is even giving me a special barcode to put on my handlebars so I can be scanned in to the garage without having to get off my bike. It’ll be nice not to have to mess with keys or fobs in winter.

At work for Scram! Couriers in January of 2013

Commuting with my cello in a leisurely manner has been a dream for a while, but the technology has finally made it a simpler reality.

This bike is smooth and has a really low center of gravity which makes it feel like I'm not carrying anything significant. This was even true when I had to exchange two propane tanks a couple of weeks ago. This bike is a class1 ped-elec which means that the assist goes up to 20mph, but realistically I’m cruising around 18.5-19 mph. It’s really hard to get it up to 20mph without a downward slope. If you read any of the previous posts you know that my cello case is polycarbonate and is advertised as having a great R-value. I can confirm that at least on this ride, it did a great job. This means that the weather is less of a hindrance to riding in this way than it would’ve been with my carbon fiber case which is light and strong, but awful at preventing heat transfer. During the winter I'll have a silk bag for the cello to increase the insulation even further. The only thing I have left to do with my case is add some reflective tape. I ordered the yellowish-orange reflective tape used on school buses, which I think will make the cello case look both confusing and highly visible. I did want to have it wrapped in white sparkly automotive vinyl and even went so far as to take it to the tinting/vinyl shop down the road to get an estimate, but they never called me back. I think they found the curves of the case too intimidating. Perhaps that will become more critical next summer.

So, the technology has caught up to the dream. I suppose it has been around for a little while, but for some reason this summer felt like the perfect time to try to make this a reality. This whole experience has me thinking how fun it is that I was able to combine these two things that I love in one activity. It’s obviously okay to leave things separate too, but being integrated in this way feels right to me. I know there are many musicians out there who would prefer to bike, but feel tethered to their cars because of their instruments. It is my hope that this will inspire others to ask themselves at the very least whether this would be feasible of them. This is going to start out looking really radical and I fully expect to be recognized around town as the guy that bikes with a cello, but hopefully after people have had enough exposure it won’t feel radical anymore and others will join me.