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.