Columbus Rides Bikes!

As people become more concerned with conserving the environment and improving our health, bicycle superhighways seem to be the ideal panacea. Encouraging commuters to bike to work instead of drive in a car promotes personal well-being, a greener world and it can even  encourage fresh thinking in the workplace . Below, we outline three cities whose transit innovations are headed in the right direction, promoting healthier transportation options for both the planet and ourselves. Would you commute on a bicycle superhighway if you had one in your city? Let us know in the comments. Image: MyLoupe/Universal Images Group via Gettty Images Copenhagen's  Cykelsuperstier  is the perfect example of a successfully implemented bike superhighway. Aiming to connect residential areas outside of Copenhagen with educational facilities and job-laden areas, the local governments teamed up to build an expansive system of 26 new bike routes. The first route opened in April 2012 and connect

A bicyclist was taken to Grant Medical Center after being hit by a truck in south Columbus. Police shut down the intersection at Fairwood Avenue and Marion Road while they treated the victim, but was reopened shortly after the victim was transported to the hospital. The driver of the pick-up truck did stop at the scene. Police said the bicyclist is expected to recover. Stay with 10TV and refresh 10TV.com for updates on this story.

Pedal to the Nettle - Digital Edition from Edible Manhattan on Vimeo .

My first CoGo experience got off to a rough start. The bike-share station at 3 rd  & Gay refused to take my credit card. I tried again. No. I tried a third time. No. Is it my card, is it the station? I went over to the station at Broad & High and … voila … it worked! Thank goodness, otherwise this blog post would have ended right here. Later, someone from CoGo said there’d been a temporary glitch in the system, which they had fixed, and this is why I couldn’t get my bike at 3 rd  & Gay. So, here’s my review of CoGo: Getting started . It’s pretty easy and straightforward, although there are a lot of steps to get your day pass/code. First, you have to tell the machine if you want one or two day passes, then you swipe your credit card, hope it accepts it and then follow several prompts, including the one where you agree to pay $1,200 if the bike you rent is stolen. In other words: don’t let your bike out of your sight! It costs $6 for a day pass, which seems a litt

Get the app here:   http://www.columbusridesbikes.com/2013/07/spotcycle-helps-you-get-most-out-of.html

Recently we reported that cyclists are usually more efficient on both hills and flat terrain when they pedal quickly (at about 80-85 rpm) rather than at slower cadences. Now, a new study suggests that the greater efficiency may be related to the rapid rate at which glycogen is depleted in fast-twitch muscle fibers during slow, high-force pedaling. To determine the actual effects of slow and fast pedaling on leg-muscle cells, scientists at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Wyoming asked eight experienced cyclists to cycle at an intensity of 85%  V02max  for 30 minutes under two different conditions. In one case the cyclists pedaled their bikes at 50 revolutions per minute (rpm) while using a high gear. In the second case, the athletes pedaled in a low gear at 100 rpm. The athletes were traveling at identical speeds in the two instances, so their leg-muscle contractions were quite forceful at 50 rpm and moderate -- but more frequent -- at 100 rpm. As it turned ou

Spotcycle™ is a  free , fast and smart mobile application that maximizes your bike-sharing experience. Created by  8D Technologies™ ,  the brains behind some of the most successful bike-share systems around the world , Spotcycle is one of the handiest apps available on the market. BIKE stations status and location Locate bike stations on the bike share system. List the ten nearest bike stations. Display the bike and bike dock availability for each bike station. Group stations into favorites for quick access. CREATE personalized bike routes* Use your smartphone's GPS feature to record and map out your bike route. Annotate points of interest to your bike route. Save your bike routes to your Spotcycle account for later use. Edit your bike routes or add descriptions to them. Add descriptions to your annotations. Class your bike routes and annotations into pre-defined categories. SHARE your routes Share your saved bike routes with the Spotcycle community an

Experiments in Speed from SpindleProductions on Vimeo .

Soybean rows line both sides of the road, with a forested line of hills to the left.  At midmorning on a Saturday, a slight breeze rustles the tall weeds in the ditches — and the bicycling feels good again.  My husband, Joe, and I flirt with the improbable conclusion that we stayed in shape during the winter.  We’re training for Pelotonia, the summer bike tour that raises money for cancer research.  We’re of a certain age, the age at which we refer to ourselves as being of a certain age, and we need to train for almost everything we do.  These hills make a good start.  On our two bicycles, we form a unit of sorts. We always ride single file — Joe in front and me behind.  Joe has a great sense of direction, so he leads and I follow, with a small blinking “ taillight” attached to a vent in my helmet.  He has the rain jackets in his larger bike bag, and I keep the cellphone and glasses cleaner in my jersey pockets.  He carries the bike pump, and I have the ibuprofen.  He sets the pace, an

Even for Portland, Oregon, it was the perfect storm: a major bike collection was opening at the Portland Art Museum while the city was hosting the  World Naked Bike Ride . And that’s how a thousand nearly naked people, who paid a discounted admission price of $1 for every item of clothing they wore, came to see “ Cyclepedia: Iconic Bicycle Design ,” a selection of 40 bikes owned by Vienna-based designer  Michael Embacher , when it premiered at the museum early last month. Aside from the nudity, the event resembles much of the bike-related programming art museums are developing these days: It showcases the bicycle as an object of design, as well as personal expression. It reaches out to non-traditional museum audiences. It rewards visitors for using alternative transportation. And it’s packing in the crowds. More than 20,000 people have visited the show already, says museum director Brian J. Ferriso. “Communicating that objects of great design are in our world every day opens up

Columbus police have cited bicyclists more than 800 times in the past 18 months for violations, including riding on sidewalks, parking illegally and not having required reflectors or lights.Those don’t include general traffic-code violations, such as running red lights or stop signs.The number will go higher. Hundreds of new bicycles — and likely some new riders — will hit Columbus streets this month when the CoGo Bike Share program launches. “I think bicyclists forget they’re part of the traffic pattern and they have to obey the rules of the road,” said Lt. Brent Mull of the Columbus police traffic bureau. In all, there were 826 violations of the city’s bicycle code, which includes some moped and motorcycle rules as well, according to Franklin County Municipal Court. [Keep reading at Columbus Dispatch]

Time spent in jail sends a person into deep reflection; inspiring ways to better yourself or a situation. Well 26-year-old  Aleric  " AJ " Constantine  has done just that. Even though he only spent around 24 hours in prison, every minute was put to good use devising a very sweet revenge. He was arrested on June 28th, 2013 for serving ice cream without a license... yes seriously that is what he was arrested for. AJ rigged a hybrid refrigerator-bike for his artisanal ice cream to sell during the  Critical Mass  bike race in  Miami . [Keep reading at  Huff Post]

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)  — Shared, or so-called “sharrow”, lanes meant to make traveling safer for cyclists and motorists are causing confusion on the road. Wes Hijh told CBS2/KCAL9′s Amy Johnson he was driving his bike in West Hollywood Tuesday morning when he was approached by a L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy. The 30-year-old was wearing a helment camera at the time and posted a video of the encounter on YouTube. “He just pulled up alongside me and started talking to me and told me I needed to be farther to the right. [I] pointed out that I was riding along the sharrow, which – based on my own research and reading of the laws and why they are there – that is where I’m supposed to be riding for my safety,” he said. [Keep reading at losangeles.cbslocal.com]

Getting in a crash is one of the scariest things that can happen to a cyclist. Even worse is when police assume that bicyclists are always at fault, even if they've got evidence to the contrary. The crash about to happen. Photo captured from MPD surveillance video. On a pleasant March morning in 2011, I was on my way to work, biking south on 14th St NW in the center of the right lane. As I approached W Street, I looked to make sure I had ample time to cross. The light was green. As I left the intersection, an SUV driver made a left turn across traffic, directly into my path. All I could do was hit the brakes hard. The next thing I knew, I was on my back in the middle of the street. I tried to sit up, but failed pathetically and landed back on the road. My glasses were in a mangled heap nearby. Seconds later, some cyclists stopped by. None had seen the collision, but they locked my bike at the scene and helped me to a safe place. Someone called an ambulance, which showed up

Sean Stipp | Tribune-Review Matt Terchick of the West Newton Rotary; Betsy Manderino, vice president of the Westmoreland Yough Trail Chapter; and Sam Cover, president of the Belle Vernon Rotary (from left) stand next to one of six new covered picnic tables along the Youghiogheny River Trail. To support the Youghiogheny River Trail, a part of the Great Allegheny Passage, two local Rotary clubs donated six covered picnic tables available for the public's use. The wooden tables, made with pressure-treated lumber and a shingled roof, were built and installed along the trail over the past several weeks, said Bob Hand, president of the Westmoreland Yough Trail Chapter. The Belle Vernon Rotary donated $2,000 for four tables; the West Newton Rotary donated $1,000 for two tables. “Our Rotary, Belle Vernon, is trying to partner with Westmoreland Yough Trail Chapter because we think it's a great thing for the community, for young families to be able to go out and walk an

Proposals drawn up by Lord Rogers of Riverside in 1986 showing how the Embankment along the River Thames could be turned into a public park   Richard Rogers Partnership Kaya Burgess Last updated at 12:01AM, July 15 2013 There will be a widespread ban on cars in London within the next 20 years, according to one of Britain’s leading architects, who has called for cities to be designed for pedestrians and cyclists rather than for traffic. The prediction from Lord Rogers of Riverside — who was behind the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the National Assembly Building in Cardiff and the Lloyd’s Building in London — comes as cities around the country consider restricting access for cars in their centres. Lord Rogers predicted that small electric vehicles would become commonplace across the country and said that increasing the number of cyclists will solve the capital’s congestion problems. “By the year 2033 — my 100th birthday — you’re looking at a widespread ban on cars, c

Kael Greco, MIT Researcher, monitors his own stress levels as he takes a test drive around the Boston area.  (Courtesy of MIT Sensible Cities Lab) Driving is stressful. To MIT researcher Kael Greco, piloting an automobile falls somewhere on the anxiety scale above giving a class presentation and below sky diving but just barely.  Those are the initial findings of a trial for what will become the  Road Frustration Index , a plan from the MIT SENSEable Cities Lab and Audi to measure the stress of driving in 30 cities. "Intuitively we all understand that driving is stressful, but it was surprising to see how high," he said referring to the results of nine preliminary tests where he and others were wired up with a variety of stress sensors as they cruised around the Boston area.  Greco is a graduate student at MIT and the first guinea pig for the stress sensors. He took an early morning drive around the Boston area— suspensfully documented in a slick video below —and

DRAGONSKIN from Becker Schmitz on Vimeo .

We are always being told to incorporate more exercise into our daily routines - and cycling to work is an excellent way of doing so.  And if you were reluctant to hit the pedals before, a new gizmo could provide all the incentive you need to get on your bike.  A firm has launched the Happy Ride - a vibrating seat cover that will make journeys by bicycle that bit more exciting.  The inconspicuous gadget slips over the seat of a bike and incorporates 'vibration stimulation’ as you ride. 10 per cent of adults now cycle at least once a week, now the Happy Ride seat will no doubt encourage a few more to embrace two wheels... Manufactured with a padded lining and black nylon fabric outer surface the cover, which houses a powerful vibrator, is designed to fit all seats. [keep reading at Daily Mail Online]

The bicycle is an ingenious mobility device. It gets you from A to B and lets you observe your surroundings at a leisurely pace. It is usually lightweight, and it provides an intimate visual, aromatic, and auditory connection to the world around you. In dense urban environments, riding a bicycle for short distances is often faster than traversing the same distance via car. While the bicycle has many virtues, it also prompts people to go overboard. It’s often lauded as the transportation of tomorrow and the savior of cities. It is not. It is called transportation. It is not. That’s because the bicycle is not, strictly defined, a transport device. Ever try to carry a watermelon on a bicycle? (Yes, it can be done, but how much else could you carry?) The bicycle is a biomechanical device that depends on the rider for balance and propulsion. It therefore operates under rigid limitations: the physical condition (and therefore age) of the rider, seasons and weather conditions, and terr

Saut au dessus du Tour de France 2013 from EnchoRage on Vimeo .

Girls Ride - PARIS AMSTERDAM 2013 - Le départ ! from Renaud Skyronka on Vimeo .

Dan Gutierrez, who helped write this article, took the video from which these snapshots are taken. In the left photo, Dan's colleague Brian DeSousa is riding close to the curb in the right-hand lane of a multilane arterial. That position invites motorists to pass him within the lane, and sure enough, one does. On the right Brian is in a  lane control position, which tells motorists they need to change lanes to pass. How the car lane paradigm eroded our lane rights and what we can do to restore them Not long ago I was riding in the middle of the right-hand (slow) lane on a 4-lane urban street with parallel parking and a 25 mph speed limit. I had just stopped at a 4-way stop when the young male driver of a powerful car in the left lane yelled at me, “You aint no f***ing car man, get on the sidewalk.” He then sped away, cutting it close as he changed lanes right in front of me in an attempt, I suppose, to teach me a lesson. That guy stated in a profane way the world view of