Models Ride Bikes, Rock Stars Design E-Bikes, and Baltimore Moves to Bike Share

America's love affair with the car is ending.  Really?  I'm shocked! A decade and of a half of wars in the Middle East, a growing sense that climate change/global warming is real, and, suddenly, people find the car less appealing? The Washington Post finally arrived at this.  A little late to the party, but finally here.  (Hey, didn't Jeff Bezos buy the Post? Isn't he supposed to be forward leaning?)  
So how can we plan for phase II, where bicycling increases and mass transit has to adjust to higher ridership? 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2015/09/02/americas-fading-car-culture/
Well, first, fill out this survey about bicycling habits in Northern Virginia so more money can ultimately be purposed for lanes. 
https://novabike.metroquest.com

Baltimore, known for police brutality, heroin and syphilis epidemics, TV crime shows (plural!), and the occasional cake making genius, is now considering bike share.  B'more also has bike building competitions and miles of glorious bike lanes, and it is home to Johns Hopkins, one of the best universities in the country.  Bike share may help it tip toward perfection.  And I say this with less irony than you think.
http://wtop.com/baltimore/2015/09/baltimore-seeking-proposals-for-bike-share-program/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/baltimore-seeking-proposals-for-bike-share-program/

When the good guys win:
A brazen midday attempt to steal bikes was thwarted by passers-by on Historic Barrack's Row in the Capital Hill neighborhood of Washington.  Great story of citizen courage and bike recovery.  However, I wanted it to end with a blubbering confession by the thieves and a promise never to steal again.

http://capitolhillcorner.org/2015/09/07/alert-bike-owner-and-passersby-foil-brazen-attempted-bike-thefts-on-barracks-row-sunday-pm/
And in Portland, Oregon, bike Mecca, the police shut down a notorious stolen bike chop shop.

http://bikeportland.org/2015/09/08/police-shut-notorious-slabtown-stolen-bike-chop-shop-158221

Bicycling Magazine published their quick fix guide, a great thing to have around when you need to make minor repairs.
http://www.bicycling.com/maintenance/bicycle-repair/quick-fix-guide?

You know that cycling is uplifting, but one woman describes how it actually healed her broken heart.  A healthy way to recover from a breakup without entering an ill-considered "bridge relationship," or getting a dramatically bad haircut.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/self/the-inspiring-buttkicking_b_8112970.html

It never hurts to have a model/actress endorse bicycling as a great way to burn calories.  You wouldn't want one writing your will or trying to perform surgery on a brain aneurysm, but as publicity goes, it is positive.  Cobie Smulders also makes cycling around NYC on Citibike sound like broken leg rehab in a blog post in InStyle Magazine.

http://www.instyle.com/news/cobie-smulders-new-york-fashion-week-citi-bike

While I am disparaging those in the image business, let me celebrate one in the music business.  The Strokes front man, Julian Casablancas, who is the son of a major modeling agency founder and a model (humbled), has invented a fold-up electric bike for which he has credibly applied for a patent. Perhaps Cobie Smulders will invent something similar and craft the patent design plans . . . Yes, it could happen.  Be not a sour skeptic.

http://www.google.com/patents/US20140077474

http://www.spin.com/2015/09/dev-hynes-julian-casablancas-interview-oyster-folding-electric-bicycle-patent-david-beckham-rocky/

So if I see you in the bike lane, whether you are a super model or an everyday person just trying to avoid angry drivers, let's be smug.
Elisa P.