Sweden Pays Cyclists, California Allows Skateboards in Bike Paths, Citibike Pleases Capitalists, and Australians Become Irrationally Exercised Over Passing Laws

allposters.com (Christian Kolber)

There is proof that cycling is working its way into the culture of transit.  California, where the car is king, now regulates paths.  Of course they allow skateboards and e-bikes access, but as they say in California, skateboarding isn't a crime.  If you plan on riding a beer bike, peddle powered by up to five revelers/inebriates, new regulations apply to you as well, none of which have to do with an IQ test. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2015/12/22/new-laws-open-new-paths-to-electric-bikes-and-skateboards/

Arlington, Virginia aims to be more bike friendly and it is developing a plan to accomplish that.  If you want to weigh in, the time is now, not after the lanes end randomly and your block gets the nickname "Corridor of Doom."

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/29196/arlington-wants-to-be-more-bike-friendly-heres-a-plan-for-making-that-happen/

Do you ever think that drivers should pay you for not adding to their misery by putting yet another car on the road?  In Stockholm that is what they are doing.  Please let me know which elected official of either party would: (1) sponsor such a bill, and; (2) have the strength to get is passed.  And post the telephone number of that fine elected official.  Also, I will tell you where you can mail my first check.  I'll be waiting.

http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2015/12/stockholm-reverse-congestion-charge-cyclists-driving

www.theguardian.com

Laser lights are now illuminating the bike share paths of London.  Sounds glorious.  I can hear Benjamin Britten playing loudly in my head as I think of it.

http://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/in-london-england-blaze-laserlights-bring-light-to-the-dark-side/

i.dailymail.co.uk

In Australia, they have proposed a law requiring cars to stay one meter from bicycles.  Nice.  We have had that law here in Washington, D.C. for at least a year.  Just sayin'.  Yup we mistreated our indigenous people too, but we were settled by tax protestors and religious zealots, not convicted felons, and we have had the bike distance rule for several months before you.  Ha ha.  Feelin' superior for a moment.  Okay, that's over.  Have a good day.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/22/of-course-sensible-legislation-to-save-cyclists-lives-will-be-met-with-bile

Oft complained-about Citibike uses no government subsidies.  Disbursed systems like capital bike share only make 79% back and need subsidies.  Would some genius step forward to help correct this.  Nothing appeals to an American population more than a successful capitalist model.  A successful share business model could help in the global promotion of cycling.

http://citylimits.org/2015/12/21/will-expanding-citi-bike-require-taxpayer-funding/

The town of Hamilton's online newsletter, "Raise the Hammer," has an interesting piece about how cycling infrastructure is the most important investment a city can make.  No the piece does not reference a perfect predictive algorithm, but it could arguable start a conversation that we all need to have with government leaders.  "Raise the Hammer" styles itself as a non-partisan publication by citizens.  This might even be true.

https://www.raisethehammer.org/article/2815/cycling_infrastructure_one_of_the_smartest_investments_a_city_can_make

I know this has been an El Nino-influenced winter, and I can almost hear the polar icecaps melting from here, but you may still need a winter cycling survival guide, so here is one.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/winter-cycling-survival-guide-10-tips-to-keep-you-riding

So if I see you in the bike lane, whether we are sweating in the new normal winter heat, or you are a capitalist or even an Australian, and you are not befouling the lanes with skateboard antics, let's be smug.
Elisa P.

Ride With Bono

manchestereveningnews.com

The former star of #CoronationStreet, Britain's ITV series that his been running since the Pleistocene era, decided to "borrow" a $3000 #bicycle to chase after a comedian. Hahahhahahh.  Then he wrecked it and the production company has never paid for the loss.  Thud.  There are some things one can never do.  Destroying someone's bike is among them.  Lesson: Never offer your bike to celebrity, and when around one, lock your bike.
http://road.cc/content/news/173283-ex-coronation-street-star-accused-wrecking-£2000-bike-he-chased-after-johnny

If you are a clever inventor who can design a new helmet for e-bike riders, now is the time to submit your design idea to the NEN Dutch Standardization Institute.  They have set parameters: no full-face helmets, and it must be comfortable.  It should also be extremely attractive and not damage great blow-dries.  (Okay, some of these may not have been on the list.)

http://www.bike-eu.com/laws-regulations/nieuws/2015/12/development-starts-for-special-speed-e-bike-helmet-call-for-stakeholders-10125340

wearable.com

Do you have a device that tells you when to stand up at your desk and how much you have exercised?  I hate mine.  It's like a device with an agenda.  A bad example of what the world will be like when the machines are in charge.  It never knows that I work at a stand-up desk and frequently tells me to stand up.  I sometimes sit down when it does this just to be passive-aggressive.  It never realizes that I have ridden my bike to work.  Most days I ride to work after I have gone to the gym.  Yet, it seems to think I'm one of those people who sits in a car, then at a desk, then in a car, and then in front of the television before going to sleep.  My dopey device is like a bad government survey of the sort being abandoned in the U.K.  It does not count my constant activity.  At last cycling will be considered as part of the active life data.  Ah logic.  Sometimes it simply rears its head.  Next we need smart watches that are . . . actually smart.  Or ones that can at least tell when you are standing or prone.
http://road.cc/content/news/173481-government-count-cycling-work-new-version-active-people-survey

Bono is back in the saddle, thank goodness.  We all remember that terrible bike crash he had.  Now he is inviting you to ride with him in Central Park to support his #red campaign.  Three reasons to do this: (1) Bono, come on, seriously; (2) Central Park on a bike, majestic, and; (3) help people in Africa where they really need it.
https://www.omaze.com/experiences/red-bono?

So, if I see you in the bike lane, and you are wearing a fetching, yet safe, helmet with your e-bike, or you happen to be tooling along with the likes of Bono, let's be smug.
Elisa P.

Cyclists Comply With Climate Agreement Decades Before Nations

The Climate Summit ended this week in Paris with a deal.  A plan to voluntarily take steps to reduce emissions and otherwise fight climate change.  Sadly, for the children of India who subsist by collecting coal scraps and burning them to prepare food, the need to survive rules their actions.  They account for much of toxic smog in India's cities.  Add cars, you have a 120 degree planet in the works.  And as the world grows in population, fuel consumption and industrial waste will increase.  For the rest of us trying to do what is in our control, bicycle infrastructure and incentives to ditch cars are part of the solution, not all of the solution.  The timing for the United States release of Bikes vs. Cars, December 15, could not be better.  (See it at the Environmental Film Festival in March: https://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/film/bikes-vs-cars/.)  The documentary that focuses on the struggle to get bike lanes in Brazil's metropolis Sao Paolo. Will countries like China and India, with their growing middle class, come to learn from our mistakes?  Will they find ways as they grow to help the people in the slums who cook on open air coal pyres that dirty their lungs and shorten their statures and lives?  And will others be able to persuade their growing middle class that, when you make cars a symbol of success, you have a hard time undoing that myth?  Of course.  Immediately.  It's all obvious and solutions are easy.  Right?  #Bikesvscars #DCenvironmentalfilmfest
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bike-safety-cities_56655931e4b08e945fefef0f

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pascal-mittermaier/the-city-century-how-citi_b_8749212.html

You sit at lights trying to be the bicycling equivalent of a Girl Scout just to impress drivers that you are not a miscreant and they should join you in the lanes.  Sometimes, when it's cold or rain is coming, this waiting game seems silly.  In Denmark they are trying out a transponder that cyclists wear to let traffic lights know they have approached so the lights can turn green.  I must have this.  Right now.  In my Christmas stocking.  First, traffic lights.  Next, world domination.

https://blog.adafruit.com/2015/12/07/these-rfid-tags-allow-danish-cyclists-to-turn-traffic-lights-green/

Here's a bit of guidance on how to select an indoor bike trainer, something I would not do since I cannot imagine training inside on a bicycle.  It conjures images of spin class and other follies.  But if you must, do.

http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/tips/how-to-choose-an-indoor-bike-trainer

Skateboards in the bike lanes are not an idea I could support.  Not hover boards, drones, fleets of Segways, people jogging with their shirts off in a sad effort to get attention, nor cars driven by myopics or the intoxicated.  These are all things that do not belong in the bike lanes.  I state my claim.

http://www.vancourier.com/news/city-calls-for-cyclists-to-share-lanes-with-skateboarders-rollerbladers-1.2127595

I am struggling with the idea that Schlitz Park has set the gold standard for bicycling.  The bikes that will make Milwaukee famous, again.  Schlitz conjures images of bad 1970s movies, or the underside of park benches in Washington, D.C. on a Sunday morning.  But a cycling haven?  Proving again that the only certainty is change.  #schlitzpark

http://www.jsonline.com/business/schlitz-park-wins-gold-standard-for-bicycle-commuters-b99631970z1-361439061.html?ipad=y
http://www.vox.com/2015/12/3/9843562/minneapolis-bike-friendly

Dany Macaskill has taken his bike fetes to the rooftops of Canaria, Spain.  This video will either elate you or make your stomach roil.  Watch it.  You must. #danyymacaskill

http://digg.com/video/danny-macaskill-gran-canaria-spain?utm_source=digg&utm_medium=twitter

bicycleretailer.com

Electric bicycle brand Pedego is opening a series of retail stores.  At the same time a Korean company now claims that it can charge batteries wirelessly through spatial wireless charging.  Could we use electric bikes and eventually charge them as we go?  What about cars?  And what are the implications for the environment.  (Maybe we should consider that as part of or risk assessment from the get-go this time.) #pedego

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/retail-news/2015/12/10/pedego-opens-five-branded-stores-december#.Vmqp-q88KK1

http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/ict/13271-wireless-charging-spatial-wireless-charging-technique-developed-korea

So, if I see you in the bike lane, and you are not on a skateboard or behind the wheel of a car, let's be smug.
Elisa P.

Bikes vs. Cars and Bikes on Bikes

A man from India has designed a bike that, if ridden for an hour, can generate enough electricity for a family.  Wow.  I wish that by riding my bike for an hour each day, I could give a day's worth of electricity to a family somewhere.  Not a family in Beverly Hills or Manhattan, but someplace where they might really need it.  Like rural West Virginia, or that block in Chevy Chase with the inexplicably terrible shingle houses.
http://www.storypick.com/manoj-bhargava-bicycle/

As a slow cyclist I am always shocked to learn about chain reaction accidents involving cyclists not climbing mountains to claim the Tour de France.   Perhaps its my disdain for spandex and trying to draft guys who are really actuaries with gout.   Some things should not happen on quiet suburban streets.  Pile ups by non-professional cyclists are just one of them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/four-cyclists-hurt-in-chain-reaction-pileup-in-potomac-md/2015/11/28/8092de80-9642-11e5-8aa0-5d0946560a97_story.html

Cool pants and photo Betabrand

Kate Rabinowitz of DataLensDC is tracking cycling in the District of Columbia.  Her data assessment is that cycling is becoming more mainstream, but it remains more concentrated in certain areas.  She notes that men are still the majority of cyclists though women are riding more.  And more.  And more. I would say that we aren't ending up in chain reaction crashes, but this would not be entirely true.  I did get rear-ended on my Pashley Princess Sovereign by another woman in a dress and heels.  We spent a very long time apologizing to one another which seemed to a muse a nearby spandex guy.

http://technical.ly/dc/2015/11/30/datalensdc-bike-data-viz/

bikevscars.com

The movie Bikes vs. Cars tells the story of cycling advocates and detractors, or heroes and villains, if you want to be exact.  Perhaps we could have a massive showing of the film on a big screen in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue - in the bike lanes.  What would it mean for our future if we all drove less, rode bikes and limited gas profits to countries and groups that hold a strangle-grip on our foreign policy?  Just waxin' metaphysical.  It's Sunday after all.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/car-traffic-bikes-vs-cars-movie-opens

So, if I see you in the bike lane, and you are not drafting some other guy in spandex, or wearing an oil company t-shirt, let's be smug.
Elisa P.

Designer Bike Share Grocery Totes and Quaxing in the City

The urban dilemma of how to carry it all on your bike rears its head this time of year.  In the holiday season some of us cook for friends and family in a constant, rolling effort.  How can you carry groceries and gifts on a bike share bike?  You can buy a new designer tote for the front holder of bike shares rides.  These totes a cool and expensive - gratuitously so.  Or, you can use a large backpack and stuff it full of non smash-able groceries. That means that you cannot stuff the bananas at the bottom of your bag, or push the lettuce down and sit on it, like you are packing a truck for months long trip aboard a steamer.  Solutions require some planning, but it is not like planning to cross the Sierras in a covered wagon with your kin.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/bike-share-carrying-space-new-tote-design

Youtube has several videos to help you see exactly what the right quax kit would look like for your needs.  (In case you find yourself too busy to conjure your otherwise great imagination.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA-5xkBsfIA

bikearlington.org

Small, medium and large loads require different equipment and planning.  These two posts from Bike Arlington and Bike East Bay describe what you should consider if you are carrying a single baguette or a couple of banquet tables.
http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/news-events/blog/bike-errand-challenge-how-to-carry-anything-you-want-via-bike/
https://bikeeastbay.org/Carrying

The last and most obvious solution:
Buy less (the thought seems un-American) and shop more often.  Simplicity can be glorious.
https://momentummag.com/bike-curious-how-to-shop-by-bike/

If you decide to bring your Christmas Tree home on a bicycle, post it!

So, if I see you in the bike lane hauling a refrigerator or a deck of cards, let's be smug.
Elisa P.

Ride With DC Police Through the Nation's Capital or Suffer the Bloat - Your Choice

At Thanksgiving, Americans love to eat too much food.  Afterwards we need to exercise - a lot.  The Sunday after Thanksgiving, if you are not sitting in some terrible airport, staring at the Sbarro and Starbucks, and still recovering from the tryptophan hangover you got from eating too much bearded poultry, you could be riding your bicycle across Washington with DC Police.  MPD are hosting a cycling event.  Wow.  Good cops.  No donuts.  Be there.  The ride starts at Headquarters.  Do not be deterred by the Arno Breker-inspired exterior of the building.  It looked pretty haute in about 1948.  You may find yourself humming the Flight of the Valkyries, but make no mistake, MPD is a diverse and serious force.  Mostly anyway.  They have many bicycle officers, about 75 of whom just got rockin' new bikes.  And a hundred years ago, DC police had officers on bicycles.  Fixies, as it turns out.  And they wore silly hats, if you care to know.  Photos below.  See you on the 29th.
http://dcist.com/2015/11/mpd_to_ride_traverse_the_streets_al.php

By the way, if you have had your bicycle stolen in DC, use this link to try to identify it from a photo of MPD's recovered stolen and abandoned bikes. They post fairly regularly, so you may eventually see that awful Huffy you consider a loss.
http://mpdc.dc.gov/service/view-photos-recovered-property

Are cyclists and cycling advocates grandiose?  Momentum Magazine has a piece this month that posits that cycling can save the world.  So can nuclear fusion, effective drought farming, and an abandonment of extreme ideology and ethnic hatred.  But those things will take time.  So in the meantime, as you place your canned food in the charity boxes at Piggly Wiggly and Whole Foods, think about how cycling can play an important role in cutting transportation emissions in half by 2050, as Climate Central opines not unreasonably.  In addition to that tin can of no-salt white beans you accidentally purchased last year and are now inflicting on the needy, think about how to help the world's most desperate by driving far less and riding your bike far more.  Grandiose?  Not in the least bit.
https://momentummag.com/can-cycling-save-the-world/

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/transportation-emissions-could-be-halved-by-2050-19721

So, if I see you in the bike lane, dressed as pilgrim, or wearing a police uniform, and you are on a bike you lawfully own, let's be smug.

Elisa P.

Will Bike Lanes Destroy Church Communities? Seriously?

Millennials in Boston care a lot about public transit and bike share.  This is to the exclusion of cars.  They are riding the crest of a wave of common sense.  Their views are having an impact on city planning and residential development.  They are the future.  They are the young, often white residents who took to the streets in support of the idea that Black Lives Matter.  But are they tone-deaf to how those outside of their particular culture see bike lanes and cycling generally?  Could that have a bad impact of the expansion of cycling infrastructure? The extending of canoe share to existing bike share members would seem to be focused on people whose parents taught them how to canoe because they knew how to canoe themselves.  This too looks like a smart, forward leaning partnership.  But into every future, there arrives a past.  Sometimes it's a past that no longer serves a purpose.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2015/11/09/boston-millennials-care-about-public-transit
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/11/bike-share-meet-canoe-share/415260/

No place is the focus on the past more acute than in Washington, DC right now, where bike lanes have become synonymous with white gentrification, as mostly older African American residents want to prevent the placement of bike lanes in front of a church they use perhaps twice a week, and to which they mostly drive from the suburbs.  This was not the first such meeting.  The conversation has become a stream of subtext and nonsense, where older folks balk at the suggestion they ride public transit in lieu of parking and driving.  In the minds of these older Washingtonians, mass transit is for those who have not achieved a place in society where they can afford to drive.  And this crowd was not the most able-bodied to be fair.  Perhaps in about 1975 the idea that Metro was somehow a lesser transit mode would've been true.  To take a Metro bus then meant you could not get there in your own car.  The bus system was the transit medium of kitchen staff, not educated city government workers.  So somehow, through a process of illogic, bike lanes are opposed under the erroneous belief that they will cause church goers to have to park further from church or relegate worshippers to mass transit.  This opposition sadly comes from a community that is disproportionately impacted by Type 2 diabetes and other diseases related to poor diet and sedentary lifestyle.  The community leaders who could help to educate those opposing bike lanes have instead largely tried to pander to this opposition.  The terrible and longterm result may be no or fewer bike lanes in neighborhoods that need them.  Once again, whole swathes of this city will be left behind on important transportation progress, just as they were when the Metrorail system was built.  Kaboom, flash.  We are back 30 years ago or more, having conversations about things that will hurt the next generation.  Where is a hero when you need one?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/11/12/why-are-bike-lanes-such-heated-symbols-of-gentrification/

In rooting around for a hero, someone who could come in and change the tone of the conversation about cycling, I happened to find one in the person of #LisaNutter, graduate of the Wharton School, cycling advocate, African American woman, and wife of Philadelphia's mayor.  She is a competitive cyclist who has tried to bring safe cycling to all neighborhoods.  Her particular platform involves - pause - expanding bike lanes, including into underserved neighborhoods.  She has not ever talked of how these lanes would hurt African American neighborhoods as far as I know.  Quite the opposite.  I cannot imagine exactly how she would have handled the meeting with the hostile, fearful church group, but I bet she would have been a powerful influence in favor of bike lanes.   Read this short but sweet piece on Lisa Nutter in Bicycling Magazine this week.
http://www.bicycling.com/culture/people/philadelphia-first-lady-lisa-nutter-gets-ht-done-cyclists?

Failing to build sustainable cycling infrastructure will not address our continued national obesity.  Most of those opposing the bike lanes were women.  And obesity is still terribly high in the United States.  Would it surprise you to learn that women are the most obese?

http://wtop.com/health/2015/11/obesity-still-rising-among-us-adults-women-overtake-men/

http://fortune.com/2015/11/12/american-obesity-increasing

So, if you see you in the bike lane, and you are African American, Armenian American, or Asian American, or not, and you know that your presence is not taking anything from anyone at all, let's be smug,
Elisa P.

UK Writer Tells Cyclists to Get Off Road and Go To Gym and Chicago Becomes a Car Free Possibility

Yvette Castor

Yvette Castor, a writer in the UK, has offered the opinion, in writing, that cyclists should get off the road and go to the gym instead.  Brilliant.  Reasoning with people like this could draw you into their insanity.  She is clearly provocative in a time when any writer has to attract attention to survive.  But I would venture a suggestion that Yvette try a little exercise herself.  Perhaps on a bike. She would probably find herself less appalling. And dinging the way cyclists look will not deter them.  The idea that all cyclists look absurd as she suggests is simply ludicrous.  Her photo is shown above.  Choose your own caption.  A mere day or so after Yvette's blather, the same UK paper published another editorial about how cyclists were making traffic lighter, and all persons, driving, cycling or walking, should treat each other with respect.  This time the author was Luke McLaughlin featured below.  So I took a look at the related stories links to see how the cycling debate is playing out in the UK and whether it looks like the debate in the US.  The same paper published the bit about mandating licenses for cycling and the bit about how cycling could save your life and make you healthier.  The answer seems to be a split in logic and lifestyle.   If you prefer the comforts of your car, or you have no choice due to where you live, cycling may seem like a menace.  So I pause for one quick anecdote.  While riding my bike in Washington, DC, I noticed a wheelchair-bound man at 12th and G Streets who thanked me for allowing him to clear the intersection after the light had turned in my favor, something he said other cyclists had not done the day before.  As I rode on in the lanes in front of Veterans' Affairs building, an elderly woman who had placed her toe in the crosswalk thanked me for stopping as several other cyclists rode around me almost hitting her and ignoring her rights in that crosswalk.  I am not a menace.  I will try to never be a menace.  And I will be healthier than people who lose an hour a day of exercise to sit idle in the comforts of their cars as the planet warms.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/05/cyclists-are-a-menace-and-should-be-banned-from-the-roads-5482050/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/06/rather-than-complaining-about-cyclists-motorists-should-be-campaigning-for-more-bikes-on-the-roads-5484438/

"Do you really need cycling clothes?" asks the London Cyclist.  If you are not cycling far, what is the point?  Unless you are one of those folks who dresses in a matchy-matchy track suit to walk the dog imaging that is "exercise," in which case, maybe you do need special clothes.  If your commute is terribly short, not only are cycling clothes unnecessary, but they could tip you over into silly.  I ride home some nights along with a kitchen helper from a nearby Pret.  He goes all the way to Maryland from Washington, DC wearing black jeans, a black shirt and jacket, and a baseball cap.  I have never seen him get his pants caught in the chain.  I have never seen him threaten to kill a cab driver who cut him off.  And, I have never seen him fall behind anyone wearing a perfect spandex get-up.  His zen comes from the inside, not from his clothes.
http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/do-you-need-cycling-clothes/

Ah, the helmet debate.  It will not go away.  Like chewing coconut, it lingers.  Another study . . . another study . . . published in Road CC finds no link between mandating helmets and prevention of injuries.   I suppose if you found yourself nearly under the tire of a car that was about to snap your head into pieces like, well, a coconut, a helmet might help you.  But my guess is that no helmet could withstand a three ton car.  Which begs the question of why so many people think a helmet law will prevent head injuries from cycling.  Last we visited this issue, data showed that helmets would be more likely to prevent head injuries to drivers in cars.  If we enact a helmet law, I think it should apply across the board to drivers of any moving vehicle.  That bill would die in committee after spontaneous gaiety of the sort not seen in 50 years.
http://road.cc/content/news/170525-study-finds-no-link-between-cycling-helmet-laws-and-head-injury-rates

abc7chicago.com

Chicago is becoming a place where you can live car free.  Perhaps recognizing that cycling may present a challenge in winter there, Divvy bikes has teamed up with Zipcar to offer discounts to members.  There is no shame in taking the train or a Zipcar on those days when you do not want to arrive at a stoplight, let alone the office, with a snot-cicle that will be only thing people ever say about you afterwards.  ("Who is Fred? . . . Oh, the guy that had that awful snot-cicle last year in the elevator.  Right."  Never:"Fred is a great lawyer who wrote that steller brief in the Kolinsky case last year.")
Go Chicago!
Debbie-Downer edit:  The ex-COO of Divvy is accused of breaching the terms of employment with Divvy by seeking employment with Divvy's parent company's rival.  Bike share.  It's a cold calculating business, dog-eat-dog.  Nah.  Not really.
http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/zipcar-chicago-partners-with-divvy-bike-share-to-further-enable-residents-to-live-carfree-in-the-20151105-01283
http://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/510646648-divvy-corporate-parent-says-former-coo-lied-stole-company-data-when-he-left-to-launch-competitor

So if I see you in the bike lane, and you are dressed like yourself, or have chosen a matching spandex get-up that looks as uncomfortable as support pantyhose on a big girl, let's be smug.
Elisa P.

Selecting a Good Cycling Handyman & Bike Share Invades the Deep South

#Ethicalcyclist If you have a choice between two skilled laborers,  and they are equal in terms of the quality of their work, and one rides his #cargobike to work with his ladder on the back, and the other drives a truck which could easily hold several dead bodies, and you are not related to the second non-bike one through marriage, which one would you choose?  Presenting our handyman, Jim.  This is not why we chose him, but it is a serious benefit.  Jim Zinn Fix-it Guy.  www.jimzinn.com

Birmingham, Alabama columnist, #CodyOwens is hilarious and insightful as an anti-hipster, who knew the world was ending when Piggly-Wiggly starting carrying Quinoa.  He was a #bikeshare skeptic who noticed that, like kale on wheels, white people can't get enough of bike share.  However, find out whether he was converted to the pro-bike share side in this delightful piece that should launch his journalistic career in other markets - if he is willing to go places more infested with cycling hipsters than Birmingham.

http://weldbham.com/blog/2015/10/28/myview-why-do-white-people-like-bike-shares-so-much/
I think Owens may have a point about how bike share may be excluding certain groups.  Take a look at the CityLab piece that more soberly discusses this point.
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/10/the-poor-bike-the-rich-bike-share/413119/

If you live in the outer suburbs of Washington, DC, there may be some good news for you.  Bike share is expanding to Fairfax and Reston, previous bike deserts.  Drink of the joy my suburban friends, trapped as you are by strip malls and residential developments that look like well-ordered Legos from the air.  Enjoy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/10/29/capital-bikeshare-is-coming-to-fairfax/

This video shows the flow of Capital Bike Share in animation.  And it reminds me of a great nebula.  It is also a powerful message about how, if you build it, they will come.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/business/technology/animations-shows-scope-of-capital-bikeshare-bike-movement/2015/10/23/1b76c4e8-79c4-11e5-a5e2-40d6b2ad18dd_video.htm

And some more bike share notes:
Want more bike lanes in Arlington?  The transit authorities there want to hear from you.

http://wtop.com/arlington/2015/10/arlington-wants-hear-transit/

Seattle failed to score a converted TIGER grant to expand its bike share.  Other municipalities should figure out what went wrong here and learn.

http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2015/10/seattle-loses-out-on-federal-cash-to-expand-bike-share/

Want a folding electric bike that is intended to be cooler than a hover board?  There is yet another one this week that you can crowd fund if you want.
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/gi-flybike-super-quick-folding-electric-bike-26-10-2015/

Nissan's new concept car watches out for cyclists and pedestrians.  Seriously?  Oh my!  This might actually be awesome when so much about cars is not.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2015/10/28/watch-nissans-new-concept-car-tell-pedestrians-when-its-safe-to-cross/

I hope I am also still cycling at 90.  Let's form a social networking pact to strive for this as a connected group.  This former octogenarian is inspirational and beautiful. Read Bicycling Magazine's nice piece to get more info on this elegant woman.  It is a delight. Give these great folks at Bicycling Mag some clicks.  Subscribe if you can.

http://www.bicycling.com/training/age/90-year-old-cyclist-unstoppable

So, if I see you in the bike lane, and you are 90, or older or younger, let's be smug.
Elisa P.

Malta, Europe's Fattest Country Laughs at Bike Share. A Municipal Lesson in Metaphor.

Malta has the dubious distinction of being Europe's fattest country.   Yes, that island country, where Queen Elizabeth II took her honeymoon.  That densely populated little island where Brits and Germans vacation, and where the population partakes of a so-called Mediterranean diet.  Well, that island still has miserable traffic jams, and terrible bus service.  The same nation that promotes is splendor for #cycling tourists has taken a stand - or a teehee - at the notion of bike lanes for its own people.  Apparently in Malta, driving a car has come to symbolize success.  Hmmm.  How very 1973 of the Maltese.  Parliamentarians there laughed and scoffed at the idea of bike lanes on the island.  Enjoy your rising healthcare costs Maltese leaders.  Please feel free to visit my country where Type-2 diabetes - often caused by obesity and a sedentary lifestyle - has created healthcare spending unprecedented.  Hahahahahahhaha.    Then pause, and think again about bike lanes.  Besides which, had I not been on a bike cruising through the plaza in front of the White House this week, I would not have heard an utterly beautiful version of Nessun Dorna being performed on the street right next to the bike lanes.  If you want to experience less joy, Maltese, stay the course.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20151018/letters/disgusting-show-in-parliament.588613

Of all the things in the world for local politicians to decry as outlandish, a proposal for cyclists to roll through stop signs under safe circumstances would not strike me as municipal insanity.  If there are no cars coming, and you and your bike weigh not nearly enough to hurt a person, and it is night, and say you are a woman trying to get home safely, and maybe it has started to rain, or hail, or snow, and you elect to slowly ride your bike through a stop light/sign, you have not committed the moving violation equivalent of shooting up a housing project filled with toddlers with your AK-47.  San Francisco has proposed a law to allow cyclist to yield rather than stop in some instances.  Some politicians have reacted with outrage over the proposed law.  Go figure.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/john-burton-calls-proposed-rolling-stops-for-cyclists-the-craziest-thing/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/us/san-francisco-may-let-bicyclists-yield-at-stop-signs.html?_r=1

Did you ever wonder how Washington, D.C. made it all work with bike share?  Gabe Klein was the Director of the Department of Transportation when Capital Bike Share had its imperfect start.  This piece in GGW is worth a read if you want bike share to come to your city.  It may surprise some to learn that Cap Bike Share was not D.C.'s first share program.  But it was the first to shake off weak corporate sponsors, team with other jurisdictions, and use renewable solar power on docks and reduce the projected longterm capital expenditures of the program.

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/28281/how-public-and-private-came-together-to-make-capital-bikeshare-a-success/

Mark Twain said that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.  We were reminded of that again this week when incorrect data was used to claim that a bike share station on Chicago's Southside was essentially never used.  Many have claimed that bike share is used by and built for wealthy whites.  Hmmmm.  It may presently be used more by whites, or the pigment challenged as I sometimes think of us, but as bike share crops up in other neighborhoods, it is being used, rather more than some folks let on.  So to those on Chicago's Southside, ride on.  Enjoy.  Ignore nonsense.  Bike share is for everyone. Pigment or none.

http://chi.streetsblog.org/2015/10/19/once-again-dnainfo-lowballs-ridership-for-a-new-south-side-divvy-station/

Are bike sales a good gauge of cycling interest?  In the U.K., in 2010, bike sales were in the billions of Pound Sterling.  Then in 2013, the market crashed.  A sort of mortgage meltdown without the confusing derivatives.  But now sales of bicycles are creeping back up again.  At some point, the market will be saturated and we should stop caring about bike sales.  Instead we will think only that people have and are using bikes.   Which brings us back the math lesson enthusiasts all know.  Remember, the number of bikes you can own is N +1, where N is the number of bikes you already known.  Once people figure this out, sales may increase.
What are your thoughts on whether we should pay attention to bike sales when evaluating interest in cycling?

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/uk-bike-sales-rise-8/018554

Finally, I happened to be in Des Moines this past weekend.  I saw bike share and bike lanes.  Little use, but it was all there.  Cycling infrastructure and the Farm Report on the morning news.  If you happen to live in Des Moines and ride your bike, my hat is off to you, as they say.  You are a great American doing what must seem like a little thing.  You may help to change minds.

So, if I see you in the bike lanes, singing Nessun Dorna (just one of the best songs ever!) and you are here from Malta, or Des Moines,  let's be smug.

Elisa P.

The Cycling Revolution Has Begun

A new Dutch study that concluded that cycling extends your lifespan.  This week a second study shows that training on a bicycle can help lower your risk for cancer.  I believe this, but I would add a few other things that lower your risk: abstaining from smoking . . . anything, not drinking nail polish remover, and having a good attitude and assuming the best of others, unless they are behind the wheel of an S.U.V. in urban environs where the need for an S.U.V. is, well, dubious at best.  Dutch cyclists live longer.  That's something to consider.
http://www.bicycling.com/training/health-injuries/new-study-shows-link-between-exercise-and-lowered-cancer-risk?

http://road.cc/content/news/154903-riding-bike-hour-extends-cyclists-life-same-time-say-dutch-researchers
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34498871

It's fall and the time when we ride in jeans more than shorts, if you are an urban cyclist who rides everywhere except to Ikea once a year.  So what are the best cycling jeans?  Jolt Jeans and Levis commuters make the top of my list, with Jolt having a lower price point and perhaps the feel of low price point jeans.  Momentum Magazine has a few other suggestions if you want to get around and look better.  For cycling to work, I am in favor of wearing whatever you wear to work, even if that means sliding on a pair of biking shorts underneath that dress until you get there.

https://momentummag.com/best-cycling-jeans-fall/

We appear to be in the midst of a cycling revolution not foisted upon us by a despotic leader who will send us on a death march . . . or ride, whatever.  This is outstanding.  The Cycling Minister of Great Britain insists, however, that the British Empire must redouble its efforts to deliver a cycling revolution.  Redouble.  Make more intense.  Not double twice.  Which would mean, I guess, that they need to try four times harder.  London Mayor Boris Johnson waded into the cycling fray yet again by complaining about Eurostar's policy of letting very few bikes on its trains.  In any event, I wish we had a Minister of Cycling in the United States, though given our history of "Red Scares" I would caution that Minister against referring to any effort to increase cycling as a "revolution."  The next thing you know, he or she could find themselves sitting before the Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations trying to explain the language selected for the pro-cycling campaign. Unless you could somehow liken it to the industrial revolution and thereby explain cycling's link to progress.
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/campaigning/article/20151012-campaigning-news-Cycling-Minister--We-must-re-double-our-efforts-to-deliver-cycling-revolution-0?
http://road.cc/content/news/169148-mps-and-mayor-london-criticise-change-eurostar-bike-policy

The most popular bike share route in Washington is from Union Station down the H Street corridor to D.C.'s Atlas District, where the food and bars are more interesting and diverse, the streetcars will soon go, and the robbery rate is high.  This makes you wonder what any city would look like if were designed with an emphasis on cycling.  Fast Company has some ideas in an interesting piece this week.  As it turns out, one thing you can expect in a cycling city is corporate sponsorship of bike share.  In Santa Monica, Hulu, a video streaming and entertainment company, is behind the share program.  Not antithetical to cycling, you say, but it raises questions about what limits should be placed on corporate sponsorship of shares as more cities add them.  Are liquor or tobacco companies okay sponsors?  Arms manufacturers?   What about automotive companies associated with the manufacture of especially large S.U.V.s?  Marijuana pharmacies?  Colombian drug cartels?  It bears thinking about.  These may be the policy concerns of tomorrow's municipal cycling czar.  I could write that policy.
http://dcist.com/2015/10/bikeshare_members_most_popular_rout.php

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3052018/what-a-city-would-like-if-it-was-designed-for-only-bikes-no-cars-allowed

http://www.smmirror.com/articles/News/Hulu-To-Sponsor-Santa-Monicas-Bike-Sharing-System-Breeze/44339

So, if I see you in the bike lane, whether you appear aware you are part of revolution, or you are simply aware of what jeans work best for cycling, let's be smug.
Elisa P.