Everybody Bike: Winter Cyclists Love Your Ride Celebration Feb 12
Are you a winter cyclist? EverybodyBIKE would like to say thank you, at their “Love Your Ride” celebration of winter cycling, Sunday Feb 12 at The Old Foundry 1110 Cornwall Ave.
• 4:00 all ages bike ride
• 5:00 Reception and Bike Film Shorts
• 6:00 Fashion Show
• 7:00 Lighted Bike Parade
• 8:00 After-party square dance hosted by Wild Buffalo
How to Report on Civilized Cycling
Marc at Amsterdamize enters a conversation with Matthew, the UK Gaurdian’s Bike Blogger, and I see this great pull quote:
Thus, when you sell bad infrastructure to the public that even ‘avid cyclists’ wouldn’t want to use, you’ve generated a negative sentiment that’s hard to spin your way out of, no matter the millions of pounds you spend on marketing that message. You can’t ‘encourage’ anyone to cycle when you give them a knife to a gun fight. It’s that simple.
However, the adventure goes sour after Matthew writes an unexpected post. Marc calls him on it and demands to know why Matthew is engaging in sloppy journalism.
Seen Bikes at Work on Farms?
I was talking with my CSA farmer about using a bike or a trike to haul boxes of veggies around the farm. While there is quite the spectrum of cargo bikes and trailers, hauling loads over unimproved paths seems challenging for small wheeled trailers. He also has a 26-inch wheeled dock-cart that could be towed with a creative hitch.
Have you seen bikes or trikes in use on farms? Please share what you think are the drawbacks and solutions.
Using Spokes as a Spring Core
Old spokes wrapped in some electrical tape should keep the hitch linkage stiff but less than entirely rigid.
The electrical tape was pretty quickly worn through, allowing the hose to bend and pinch. I will attempt to fill with wrapped inner tube and wrap with inner tube for a more solid construction.
Walk + Bike to School Day
Like every day should be, of course.
A Bicycle Lifestylist Day
It was a very bicycle-lifestyle day today. Family ride to early breakfast in Fairhaven. Biked in the Moving Planet procession to the Library. Bought some used bike parts. Cuddled Jesse when he fell off his run bike. Cheered the riders as they rolled off to Cherry Point. Picked up groceries by bike and swung by bike shop. Put different fat grips on bikes. Allowed an aquaintence to test out my recumbent and discussed ergonomics for his wrists. (Ever considered stacking bar-ends?) Adding Tuffies to my tires and doing brakes on my gray bike, adding lights for the winter and adjusting the handlebars and adding a new bike lock.
I would have liked to have spent more than a few minutes at the Bellingham Bike Plan table with these nice huge city maps that charted the bike lanes. I had to orbit the kids for the most part, and they wanted library time. I heard a fraction of Mayor Pike’s speach.
The number of people that showed up for the Bike Bellingham rally was better than none, but still really … not like a crowd the size of the Farmers Market. Really, the in-bike crowd seemed to show up. It would have been great to have held this gathering right in Railroad Ave between Market Depot and Boundary Bay Brewery, and block vehicle traffic. Mayor Pike and the other presenters would have been heard much broadly. And the bike master plan idea would have been circulated much more broadly as well.
Escape Pod 304
http://escapepod.org episode 304 is a very apropos of the current politics. We have a population eager for justice and fair living, but largely supplicants to oligarchy. The superheros are analogues of our morals: unpaid, exploited by their own marketing division, unaware of their own enslavement. It might be comic fiction, but its not a pulp story.
Disposable
I hope you do dishes, too. I wash out and re-use my plastic bags, too.
Velomobiles depart Portland!
Roll across America departs Portland. Beautiful use of coroplast and epoxy. Wonder if I’ll make my own some day?
Road Design has Social Justice Impact
Transportation as a civil rights issue.
Don’t be the one jailed for crossing where there is no crosswalk, either.
Carmageddon: Why cower, bite your nails and stay home?
#carmageddon as a hash-tag seems so strangely appropriate for something as mundane as a freeway closure. It doesn’t deserve any more hype than what Twitter could provide, the subject really exposes society’s relationship to inconvenience — something hardly worth celebrating to begin with.
I think it’s great to see these transportation challenges. I imagine that if teleportation was an option, TSA would still have such long lines and slow policies, that it would take longer to teleport than to bike places, too.
(@Wolfpackhustle woulda dropped me in the first 0.1 mile, but I’ve been happy to ride that route. Seriously, LA has plenty of non-car commuting opportunity, just ask the locals.)
True Price of Gas (video)
It’s more than $5 or $8 a gallon. Worth a watch: http://centerforinvestigativereporting.org/articles/the-price-of-gas-4865
Gender and cycling (Grist)
Good article addresses how mom and kids are still using the minivan and not bikes.
http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-06-20-bicyclings-gender-gap-its-the-economy-stupid We need more cargo bikes out there!
Finally, a Pneumatic Bike Trailer Hitch!
I LOVE the pneumatic quick release as a mechanism for an axle level trailer hitch…and so does my wife. The dumb-ass vice-hitch that came with the kidarooz trailer was repeatedly failing. So I took inspiration from my BikeRev.com EcoShopper and crafted my own hitch. A pneumatic couple cost me about nine bucks and the 6″ of 3/8″ hose with a pressed fitting was prolly another $7.
On the bike I zip tied a 5″ piece of copper pipe with the male quick release attachment. If the zippies show wear I will upgrade to hose clamp.
Awesome pneumatic quick release
suck-butt vice can’t bite my hitch
biking + bottom line
Nice little post describes benefits his company receives from encouraging bike commuting. Love the idea of no-interest bike loan.
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/123276188.html
Coal trains won’t bring in 1bn to Bham
Coal doesn’t help the tourist and bike economy.
http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-06-06-the-grand-tour-how-bike-tourism-helps-local-economies
Bicycling is an experiential form of learning
I really like this point of view, the method is enrolling and non confrontational, the phrase “experiential” could be swapped with immersing or enrolling. No blustering or hot air invloved.
http://thisbigcity.net/the-real-reason-why-bicycles-are-the-key-to-better-cities/
It reminds me of a story from my brolaw Chris about how he would help describe to bike shop customers how to bicycle in Los Angeles: avoid the major boulevards and use the nearly abandoned side streets.
Happy Bike to Work and School Day!
Grab your bike and don your lid for this mornings sunny ride! I’ll be volunteering at the Meridian Haggen activity station with Earls Bike Shop. I gotta get rollin!
Sep 24: Moving Planet Protest
Are there TW people in Bellingham planning a protest ride for this date?
