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Showing posts from September 11, 2011

Rediscovering The Bicycle 17 Years Later

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“Generally speaking, I think my daily riding would be much more comfortable if motorists were better educated about the rules of the road pertaining to cycling and, in particular, safely sharing space with cyclists. Too many drivers convince themselves that cyclists have no right to be on city streets and, therefore, have no qualms about abusing them (verbally or physically) when they feel inconvenienced by or annoyed with cyclists.” In closing, Robert offers the following advice: “More than anything else, I would like motorists to consider and appreciate the fact that human beings with families are riding bicycles. We shouldn’t have to fear for our lives simply because we’ve made a decision to get to work, school, or social activities by means other than a motor vehicle.” Read the full article at The Urban Country Bicycle

The World’s 5 Greenest Bikes

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Looking for a great bike without the accompanying eco-guilt? Check out these 5 planet-friendly models. When it comes to getting around, bikes are the right compromise between speed and sustainability. But while there’s no question that biking is better for the planet than, say, driving a Hummer, there’s a lot left to be desired by today’s bike production, 95 percent of which takes place in China and often with very unsustainable methods. With these bikes, however, green is part of the design. Utilizing wood, secondhand parts, and local builders whenever possible, these green machines are beyond reproach from even the haughtiest of eco-snobs (unless they’re on foot, in which case they’ll be moving far too slowly to give you a hard time). Continue reading...

Fall Classic 2011 in Burlington, VT - This looks like a good one!

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Fall Classic 2011 The Fall Classic takes in the best of Vermont dirt road cycling in the northern Champlain Valley. 114k and 200k riders share a mix of paved and dirt roads from Burlington to the shoulders of Mt. Mansfield. Both routes head into Jericho with a stop at the popular and delicious Village Cup. Populaire and Brevet Riders then part ways – the 114k rolls back into Burlington on a mix of dirt and paved roads and the 200k turns south towards Bolton Notch to the shoulders of Camel’s Hump into Huntington. 200k riders will tackle a final climb over Shaker Mt. Rd. and enjoy the descent through Big Hollow into Starksboro, VT, where dirt and paved roads bring us back to the Champlain Valley. A well earned respite from the climbing is had on the quiet dirt roads of Hinesburg, Charlotte, and Shelburne as the route makes its way to the shores of Lake Champlain and back to Burlington. The 200k includes 5 major climbs and 5 covered bridges. Both routes enjoy quiet paved roads connectin

Angry in Seattle - Okay, Fine, It's War [via The Stranger]

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A Manifesto: We Fight Because We Must Okay, Fine, It's War Cyclists are dying, collisions are rising, and people who claim that there is a "War on Cars" are out of control—it's time for a reality check and an action plan. by   STRANGER STAFF JAMES YAMASAKI A specter is haunting Seattle—the specter of a War on Cars. All the powers of Old Seattle have entered into a "holy" alliance to win this war:  Seattle Times publisher and city council president, columnist Joni Balter and developer Kemper Freeman, Rainier Club regulars and suburban slobs. Where is the advocate for increased bike and pedestrian safety who has not been branded an anti-car "militant"? Where is the politico who has not used the "War on Cars" rubric as a tool for demonizing the nondriving classes, for marginalizing our city's walkers, bike riders, and mass transit users? The mindless repetition of this "War on Cars" falsehood—by car advocates harboring a phony

Fastfood, an alley cat is Saturday, October 1

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A lil bit about the race. So the idea is that the race will themed around food and or places that serve it. There will be 5 or 6 check points at some of those check points there will surprises.I would like it to be around 15 to 20 miles. That, I hope will allow for a quick race so we can move on to the other events. There will be sprint race for sure afterward. I am working with Sarah from Columbus Bike Polo to procure the rewards for jobs well done. I am working on the fliers as we speak and as I get conformation from sponsors they too will be added to the list.  Righteous Mother Bike Club and Columbus Bike Polo are hosting both events and the after party. Thanks and stay tuned for more, Andy [More here]

Leaf Peepers 2011 is Saturday, October 15th

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Metric+ Century – Beautiful long route for the 2011 Leaf Peeper Tour keeps all of the parts that got rave reviews and we made changes based on rider feedback ($35 per-registration, $45 day of event) Low traffic route out of Nelsonville, leads to the gradual climb up to Murrey City, then into the Wayne forest over to Glouster, at Glouster your will be on the long and winding ride up to the Burr Oak rest stop. From Burr Oak the road rolls to Route 595, a left turn puts you on a very low traffic state highway where there are a few steep parts. After a short distance on 37 the you turn onto Portie Flamingo that winds through the back country and takes you to the Moxahala rest stop. A short downhill and back up onto Portie Flamingo and again rolling across the back country and a turn onto 93 and you are in Shawnee. A left turn, over a hill and the New Straitsville rest stop is waiting on you. A short section of 93 to Gore takes you to Gore-Greendale road and back into the forest. The rest

Granville man pleads guilty in death of bicyclist [Dispatch]

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Enlarge Image FILE Edward Scott Miller Edward Scott Miller pleaded guilty today to charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated in the death of a bicyclist on a Hilliard road. The guilty pleas averted a second trial. A jury had been selected and opening statements were set to begin this afternoon in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Miller, 30, of Granville in Licking County, will be sentenced Nov. 8. The maximum prison term would be five years, six months.  [continue reading at The Dispatch]

MORPC seeks volunteers for bicycle, pedestrian study - via Columbus Messenger

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The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) seeks volunteers to assist with bicycle and pedestrian counts at selected locations on Sept. 28. The counts will take place from 7–9 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. MORPC encourages any community interested in conducting their own counts to do so during the same time frame. Volunteers are needed to fill nearly 50 time slots. One of the greatest challenges facing the bicycle and pedestrian field is the lack of documentation on how many people are cycling and walking. Without accurate and consistent figures, it is difficult to measure the positive benefits of bicycle and pedestrian investments, especially when compared to other types of transportation such as the automobile and transit. Once registered, volunteers will receive a map of their specific location as well as forms and instructions to be used for the count. First-time volunteers will attend a training session Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. at the MORPC office, 111 Liberty St., Suite 100 i

Destroy your bike to keep thieves away? [via Wired]

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The StayLocked Bicycle is unridable when the locking mechanism is broken. Photo courtesy of Andrew Leinonen. No matter the gauge of the U-lock or the metallurgy of the chain looped around your frame, the  lock  securing that vintage Miyata to the parking meter will not stop a determined thief with the right tools. Enter the StayLocked Bicycle. The StayLocked secures the bike by making the lock part of the bike. If it’s broken, the bike is unridable and, parts aside, valueless.  Andrew Leinonen , a Toronto-based industrial designer and cyclist, created the prototype bike after years of the security anxiety that comes with being an urban rider. “A few weeks ago, my girlfriend’s bike was stolen,” he says. “Out of our own alleyway.” The locking mechanism comprises a section of the seatstays — the two tubes that extend up to the seat from the rear wheel. Leinonen installed a universal joint at the junction of the tube and latches in the stays to secure it to the frame. [continue reading

ContourROAM IT'S ON! [VIDEO]

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Volagi: Combines high performance carbon road frames and disk brakes.

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HIGH PERFORMANCE DISK BRAKES Volagi is the first cycling company to create a high performance carbon road bike with disk brakes. High performance bikes capable of descending at 60 mph are currently inept at braking with any control. Imagine a sports car still using rubber pads on the rim for braking. Disk brakes perform consistently in wet, dry, hot and cold conditions; even with bent rims and broken spokes. Without rim calipers, you have the freedom to put on 28C tires and fenders for the rough conditions during those long winter months. • Fully adjustable Avid BB7 road disk brakes • Stainless Steel superlight weight AirRotor®, 160mm (f), 140mm (r) We didn’t just slap on the disk brakes. We carefully engineered the hubs, rims, rotors and calipers to provide the best braking system without compromising weight and performance. [Volagi website]

RideKick Review and Ride Test

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Editor's Note: This product looks interesting, but expensive. The storage capacity doesn't look big enough for all the hassle of installation for around town. For longer trips it may be nice for a little pickup.

House and Senate Agree on 6-Month Transpo Extension [via Streetsblog]

Monday, September 12, 2011 House and Senate Agree on 6-Month Transpo Extension by Tanya Snyder on September 12, 2011 Just days after a Senate committee asked the full chamber to consider a four-month extension of SAFETEA-LU, new negotiations have replaced that idea with a six-month extension at current spending levels. The bill also extends the gas tax. Over the weekend, the House and Senate decided to combine the long-overdue FAA reauthorization with the pending surface transportation bill, considering them together as one uniform transportation extension [PDF]. The FAA bill will be extended for four months, while SAFETEA-LU will be extended for six, with an expiration date of March 31. As an added bonus, combining the bill with the FAA means that Congress can’t keep us in suspense until the last possible moment, as they’ve been prone to do lately. (Remember the debt ceiling? Remember the narrowly-averted government shutdown last spring?) The FAA extension expires September 16, so if

Under the Weather Metric Century Ride Recap - 09112011

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Highlights 66 miles Averaged 15.9mph Dawes Arboretum - Buckeye Lake 1200 ft climbing Headwind for 30 miles Rain for last 2.5 miles Slight head cold, hence "under the weather"

Bike to Oink 2011 Ride Recap - 09052011

Highlights Goodale Park start, Hills Market lunch of pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans and coleslaw. Dessert provided by John 26 miles 20+ riders 1 flat by Adam.

COP 21st Annual Tour of Hocking Hills is Saturday September 17, 2011

  Date:   Saturday September 17, 2011 Time:   7:00 am - 9:00 am   Location:   Circleville High School City State Zip:   Roundtown, O Notes:   Roads will be marked and maps provided. 50, 75, 100 miles. All options are hilly. Tune-up for Columbus Fall Challenge $4 member, $7 non-member. Peggie Shaw  peggie17@yahoo.com Mitch O’Donnell goodjohan @yahoo.com

PawPaw Double Nickel Ride is Sat., Sept. 17

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Athens Bicycle sponsors this 55-mile road ride that starts and ends at the 13th Ohio Pawpaw Festival near Athens, Ohio, on Sat., Sept. 17. Enjoy a circle tour around Zaleski State Forest, featuring challenging climbs, ridgetop views and sweet downhills, all along the Raccoon Creek Watershed. A rest stop awaits you at the halfway point. There is also a shorter 20-mile loop option. On-site rider registration will be at the festival from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – get started on the ride any time during those hours. The rest stop will be set up until 2 p.m. The self-guided, self-paced ride is included in the price of the festival admission fee, and includes a map of the ride, marked turns on the roads and the aid station. Visit the festival website ( http://www.ohiopawpawfest. com/ ) to learn more about the 13th Ohio Pawpaw Festival. Visit Athens Bicycle's website http://www.athensbicycle.c om/calendar-of-events/78-p awpaw-double-nickel-bike-r ide ) for more details about the rid

When Wheels Pile Up: Plant a Bike; Save the City [via NYT]

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Editor's Note: I think Columbus is a different situation than NYC. I don't see a lot of bikes abandoned around the city and they would be better served to be donated to one of the co-ops in town, Third Hand or Franklinton Cycleworks . I do like it when people create artwork from cycling equipment though, as seen at Pedal Instead events. From NYT Eric Michael Johnson for The New York Times Bernard Klevickas with his "twisted bicycle planter." By  NEIL GENZLINGER Published: September 2, 2011 “In 1880, New York City removed 15,000 dead horses from its streets,” the historians Joel Tarr and Clay McShane wrote in an  essay called “The Centrality of the Horse to the Nineteenth-Century American City.” Horse carcasses, they added, “were sometimes dumped with garbage into the bays or the rivers, often floating there or washing up on the beaches.” “In the late 1860s, an ‘offal dock’ stood at the foot of West 38th Street,” the essay continued. “From there, the car

Tern Eclipse P24H - Folder with interesting drivetrain.

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NEOS TRINITI DRIVETRAIN Ultra-wide Gear Range Getting proper gearing on a small-wheeled folding bike can be tricky. The Neos Triniti drivetrain solves that, and then some, by combining an internally geared 3-speed hub with an external rear derailleur –- for 24-, 27- and 30-speed systems. The Neos Triniti drivetrain delivers a 578% range of gears. In real world terms it means that the Neos delivers a low gear as low as a mountain bike and a high gear as high as a road bike, with a better chainline. Another benefit is that the hub can be easily downshifted when you stop for a light (you do stop right?). The Neos Triniti hub is paired with the low-profile Neos 3.0 rear derailleur, which delivers fast, precise shifts. Custom for Tern. [Tern Website]

Rumble Strip Update - Adventure Cycling Association

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Could things be looking up for bicyclists on rumble strips? Last month, I  wrote  that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had issued an important new technical advisory (TA) on rumble strips for the first time in 10 years. From a bicyclist's perspective, it was a disaster -- and I write this as someone who fully understands that rumble strips can be effective safety devices, when properly used. However, the new TA encouraged the irresponsible and even dangerous use of rumbles on a number of secondary and country roads that are important for traveling and recreational cyclists. With our partners, the  League of American Bicyclists  and the  Alliance for Biking and Walking , we have worked very hard over the last few months to change the TA and develop a much better federal guidance on rumbles. We started with detailed analyses of the deficiencies in the new TA (encapsulated  in this pdf document ) and have held lengthy meetings with FHWA's director of safety and tec

Pacesetter Bicycle Travel Award

Are you kidding? No one has advocated bicycling in Columbus, Ohio more since Charlie Pace or any of the other fine founders at Adventure Cycling! Ray George started Bike the Cbus (now going into it's 5th year), dedicated to discovering Columbus neighborhoods by bicycle at http://bikethecbus.com. He also leads the famous Tuesday Night Rides as seen on Facebook and Twitter or his Flickr feed http://www.flickr.com/photos/raymondmgeorge/ AND he posts to the highly influential Columbus Rides Bikes blog at http://www.columbusridesbikes.com/. Seriously, Ray's grass roots efforts for bicycle advocacy, I nominate Raymond George for the 2011 Pacesetter Bicycle Travel Award. Help me nominate Ray at http://www.adventurecycling.org/outreach/awards/champion.cfm Thank you! -Bill

COP 36th Columbus Fall Challenge (Pre-register to save on fees)

  Date:   Thursday September 15, 2011 Time:   9:00 am - 10:00 am Next reminder:   The next reminder for this event will be sent in 3 days, 23 hours, 3 minutes. Location:   Registration on Oct 1 LIMITED to first 25 registrants Notes:   36th Columbus Fall Challenge -Sat. and Sun. Oct. 1st & 2nd Full Service Tour. 7-8:30 a.m. Berne Union High School, Sugar Grove, OH. Roads will be marked. CFC is a challenging ride, for the rider who likes steep climbs, swift descents, and breathtaking (if you even have any left) views from the hills of Southeastern Ohio. It is a strenuous, two-day ride that covers over 200 miles, starting and ending at Sugar Grove. 110 miles each day. $45 COP members. $55 non-COP members. $70 day of ride (limited to first 25 registrants). Frank Seebode  Frankseebode@frontier.com .