Columbus Rides Bikes!

Matt Cornock/Flickr For most people, a satisfying commute is not necessarily a happy one—a not-so-unhappy one will do. Yes, it's true that the ideal commute  not absolutely zero commute ; many of us can use the time to decompress or get some thinking done. But it's also true that beyond a certain point—roughly 15 minutes one-way, on average—we just want our lives and sanity back. Even within that general framework of unpleasantness, some commutes are more enjoyable than others. A  group of researchers  at McGill University in Montreal recently tried to establish a clear hierarchy among the main six work-trip modes: driving, riding (bus and metro and commuter rail), walking, and cycling. They asked nearly 3,400 people who commuted to campus on a single mode to describe their typical trip in both winter and summer, and to rate their satisfaction with various aspects of that trip. The researchers then converted the ratings into a single satisfaction score for each of six commut

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live." -Mark Twain Every year I try to find something that pushes me further or at least gets me out of my comfort zone for a bit. This year I finally convinced/found a friend who would bike the Pittsburgh-D.C. 334 mile Rail Trail! I've been intrigued by the idea for the past 3 years or ever since I got back from my European adventures. However, life, work, and not wanting to do the trek alone delayed it until now. Planning : We honestly did basically no preparation. We got the  TrailBook . I looked up restaurants and good snack food because biking an average of 60 miles a day and going through many small towns, we had the opportunity to try local restaurants and pack fantastic snacks. My friend picked the walk-off campsites for us as a loose estimate for daily mileage. Then we met once to at least pretend that we were being formal about it all, packed extra tubes, met in the morning and were off for our 6 day Jail Rail

REQUEST TO BUY THIS PHOTO JONATHAN QUILTER | DISPATCH Sam Tinianow, lead station technician for CoGo Bike Share, repairs a docking unit at the system’s City Hall station. CoGo has 30 stations and plans to add eight to 12 outside the Downtown area in the next year. By  Rick Rouan The Columbus Dispatch    •    Monday August 25, 2014 2:34 AM CoGo Bike Share patrons have taken more than 60,000 trips since the service launched last summer. The service is expanding outside Downtown and  landed a sponsorship from Medical Mutual  this summer to help pay for operations. City officials and CoGo representatives say they’re pleased with the bike share’s first year. However, CoGo has suffered from some of the same problems that have hit other U.S. bike-share systems, including falling short of ridership projections. [Keep reading at The Dispatch]

The car-free Tilikum Crossing is being hailed the "bridge of the people."  (Flickr/TriMet) PORTLAND, Oregon—It's an early-summer morning at the construction site for Portland's first new bridge in a generation, the  Tilikum Crossing , and Dan Blocher is feeling good about its progress. Completion is still a year away, but since the two ends of the bridge were connected in the middle several weeks ago, public response in self-described Bridgetown (when it's not, say, the Rose City, Stumptown or Rip City) has been positive. "Most people can sort of viscerally recognize an inherent beauty when the bridge is properly designed for its need," says Blocher, executive director of capitol projects for TriMet, the city's transit agency. "I think you know when you've got it right when the completed product just seems to fit, just like it belongs there. And we feel very good about the feedback we're getting on this bridge now that you can see what

Online registration ends August 29th at NOON. Register today. Event management for Bike the Cbus 2014 powered by Eventbrite On-site registration ($40 cash or credit card) and packet/tshirt pickup Friday, August 30, 2013 5:30PM – 8:00PM Where:  Zanzibar Brews  (740 East Long Street) Ride: Saturday, August 30, 2014 7:00AM: On-site registration ($40 cash or credit card) and packet/tshirt pickup 8:00 AM:  We ride! Riders can head out on the route Ride begins and ends  at:  Zanzibar Brews  (740 East Long Street) Parking Options No rain date, ride will take place rain or shine! Bike the C-Bus is celebrating our SEVENTH year! The ride is a fun way to check out a few of the neighborhoods in and around Columbus. Experience segments of the King Lincoln District, Woodland Park, Olde Town East, Downtown, Short North Arts District, Italian Village, Harrison West, Victorian Village, Arena District, Franklinton, Brewery District and German Village. The entire ride will cover a

The aftermath of a collision in eastern Oregon. (Photo: OSP) There have been four (officially recorded) rear-end collisions involving a bicycle rider in the past week. One of them resulted in a fatality and the other three resulted in serious injuries. The incidents have occurred throughout Oregon and nearby southwest Washington. While the incidents are unrelated, the uncommon frequency (two happened on the same day) led to a response by the Oregon State Police earlier this week. In an official statement published on August 17th, they said: “OSP urges all drivers to be alert for bicyclists and other vulnerable highway users. When approaching from behind, make sure there is adequate room to safely pass on the left of the bicyclist(s).” [Keep reading at BikePortland]

This 'Mad Men' writer doesn’t just want to beat traffic What's an Emmy nominee to do about downtown traffic on awards night Monday? Well, one could limo-pool, depart at 2:30 p.m., or use the valet at a nearby hotel — or hail an Uber or brave freeway gridlock like an average commuter. Then there's  Tom Smuts ' way: bike it. The writer, who is nominated for Outstanding Drama Series with the rest of the producers of  Mad Men 's seventh season, will lead a 15-person bike ride to the awards ceremony. The Television Academy has granted permission for six riders to cycle up to the carpet, a group that will include Smuts' wife, Homeland  executive producer and two-time Emmy winner  Meredith Stiehm . The route will run 17 miles from their Santa Monica home to the Nokia Theater in about an hour and a half, Smuts says, and forget the spandex — he will arrive in bike-friendly evening attire (pictured) by  Rapha . Continue reading at The Hol

Ohio Dominican University East Campus . 2600 Airport Drive  The end is in sight. On Tues., Aug. 26, a groundbreaking ceremony will mark the final phase of the ALUM CREEK TRAIL. Starting at 10 a.m., on the Ohio Dominican University’s east campus, 2600 Airport Drive, join Mayor Michael B. Coleman, Columbus Recreation and Parks Department and community leaders as we kick-off construction on the remaining 1.5 miles of the 22-mile greenway. From Westerville to Obetz, the trail will provide easy access to over eight parks, and connections to over 90 miles of regional pathways throughout Central Ohio. Visitors will experience natural areas, neighborhoods and one of the most scenic river corridors the state has to offer. 

REQUEST TO BUY THIS PHOTO STEVE WARTENBERG | DISPATCH Chris Haydocy says plans for a Wilson Road hub on the Cleveland-Cincinnati bike trail will help revitalize the West Side. Chris Haydocy looks at the West Side and sees a future in which young people are buying houses and businesses and returning to long-shuttered vacant properties. The catalyst for that resurgence, the auto dealer says, is what he hopes will be the “crown jewel” of a 330-mile bike trail between Cincinnati and Cleveland. Planners the city hired are designing a hub that could be the center of activity on the Camp Chase Trail, a path that will connect the West Side to Downtown and link the Ohio-to-Erie trail through Columbus. [Keep reading at Columbus Dispatch]

  Cities with successful bike share programs have waived or rescinded laws requiring helmets for cyclists — at least, for adult cyclists. Photograph by:  Peter Mccabe , THE GAZETTE Go to New York City and you’ll see the inconceivable: Thousands of people riding bikes in the thickest of traffic, without helmets. In the Land Of The Free, they have the right to bare heads. But then, you can see the same thing in Paris, London, Dublin, Barcelona, Tel Aviv ... I could go on. All those cities have successful bike-share programs. Their common denominator: They waived or rescinded laws requiring helmets for cyclists — at least, for adult cyclists. (Many cities with bike-sharing programs still require children to wear helmets.) [Keep reading at Vancouver Sun]

CC BY-NC-ND 2.0  Joel Mann One of the biggest challenges of making cities more bike friendly is that most of the road space is already "used up." Adding bike lanes means removing something. That's when a bit of perspective comes in handy. Convincing your city's decision-makers and other citizens to replace some car infrastructure with bike infrastructure can be a huge challenge. Unfortunately, arguing that shifting more people to bicycling will free up space on the roads and reduce congestion isn't always effective. So, how have other cities succeeded in breaking through the anti-bike barrier? [Keep reading at  treehugger]

COGOO Clean City Organisation - Saddle Blossoms from tbwaasiapacific on Vimeo .

Today “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz and Gerard Soffian, both former officials with NYC DOT, said the city should amend laws that treat cyclists and motorists the same. One of their recommendations is to lower the fine for cyclists who run red lights. “Right now, penalties against bicyclists who run red lights are up to $270 — identical to car driver fines, even though the consequences, in terms of injuring others, are much fewer,” they wrote on  CityLand . Schwartz and Soffian suggest a fine of $50, payable to the city Department of Finance, rather than the Traffic Violations Bureau, a Department of Motor Vehicles division that splits ticket revenues with the state. The four tickets an officer issued to a cyclist on Ninth Avenue in a single traffic stop. Here’s an example of how screwy the current penalty structure is. The going rate for  killing someone with a car while driving without a license  in NYC is $500. And depending on where you commit the crime,  the DA might let you

Photo by Heather Mull Safe passage: Pennsylvania law mandates that drivers give cyclists a 4-foot buffer when passing. It isn't often that lawmakers spend years shepherding legislation they know will likely not be enforced. Yet when it came to state Rep. Ron Miller's "Safe Passing" bicycle bill — a law designed to give cyclists a buffer from drivers — that's exactly what he foresaw. "From day one, we suspected it would be very hard to write citations, because it's a judgment call" for law enforcement, says Miller, a York Republican. Overwhelmingly passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Tom Corbett in February 2012, the law was celebrated as a win by many bike advocates, who have successfully lobbied 25 state governments nationwide to pass similar measures. "The state of Pennsylvania took a huge stride toward improving our  Bike Friendly State  standing," declared local advocacy group Bike Pittsburgh the day after Corbe

From Guillaume Blanchet, Filmmaker: "I love being on a bike, it helps me feel free. I get it from my dad. After days and days of cycling the streets of Montreal, come cold or sun, or even a little frightened, I dedicate this film to him." 

BERLIN — With a faint electric whir, Iris Marossek pedals her bicycle through concrete apartment blocks in the heart of old East Berlin, delivering mail to 1,500 people a day. Painted yellow and black like a bumble bee, her bicycle is a nod to both past and future. It is decorated with an image of a curving black horn, harking back to earlier centuries when German postal workers trumpeted their arrival. But the twin battery packs under her seat also reveal it is more than the average bike. Ms. Marossek rides one of the 6,200 e-bikes in service for Deutsche Post, the German mail service. E-bikes use electric motors to make them easier to pedal and have been gaining popularity in bike-loving countries like Germany, appealing to older people, delivery businesses and commuters who don’t want to sweat. “They are really nice and they are only getting better,” Ms. Marossek said. “You’re not as exhausted as you would be with a regular bike.” With tens of millions of e-bikes already on

AIRWHEEL UNICYCLES Airwheel is the worlds leading producer of one and two wheel self-balancing unicycles. Airwheel is developed and made in Changzhou, China, and comes in several different models with both one and two wheels. Advanced gyro stabilizing software, combined with altitude control software from aerospace technology. Riders can control the vehicle by leaning forward or backward. Similar to the techniques of riding a bicycle, the riders achieve balance on Airwheel by slightly tilting sideways. Airwheel is a green and smart vehicle, powered by electriciy, and can easily be carried into buses or subways, facilitating daily commuters.  Features The airwheel drives at up to 10mph with a normal speed of 7-8mph. A warning beep is heard when speed gets above 8mph and the standing platform will lean gently backwards to avoid further acceleration. The range varies from 6 to 25 miles depending on battery size, body weight, terrain, speed and temperature. The range o

London plans to spend more than a  billion dollars on better bike infrastructure  over the next decade, and across the rest of the U.K., the government will spend  hundreds of millions more . The only problem: There's very little data about where cyclists ride, making it difficult to plan exactly where new bike lanes are most needed. A new iPhone app aims to help by tracking routes as people ride and and turning that data into maps. When volunteer cyclists install the app, called WeCycle, it automatically begins mapping. It runs continuously at low power, and senses when someone starts to ride, rather than forcing someone to start and stop the app each time. "A cyclist can see the routes it's recording on a map in the app, and all of that data then is automatically synched on our service to generate this aggregate picture of how cyclists are moving around," explains  Peter Lindgren , COO of  TravelAI , the company that developed the app. "It shows how cyclin

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A big, bold way to connect Cleveland neighborhoods, pump up businesses and add tree-lined bikeways to miles and miles of city streets is hiding in plain sight. The paved-over tracks of Cleveland's once-extensive streetcar network left some of its main avenues far broader than needed for the traffic they're handling. Bike and community advocates say that buried transit system can be transformed into "the Midway" -- a center-of-the-road, two-way bike lane protected on either side with boulevards, with a lane of traffic and a parking row on either side of that. Members of Bike Cleveland, St. Clair Superior Development Corporation and Bialosky + Partners Architects have been working for two years on plans to reimagine some of the wide, low-traffic streets that branch to all corners of Cleveland and to the Emerald Necklace fringing the city. As a start, the Midway team proposes a one-mile stretch of boulevard-buffered bikeway along St. Clair

Look what we found... Looks like retaining walls are going up to start the foundation for the bridge over I-270 along the railroad line between Sullivant Ave. West (seen in the distance) and Georgesville Rd. (would be behind you in this photo). This photo was taken a few days ago heading north on I-270. This is a major piece of infrastructure that will connect the Ohio to Erie Trail from Cincinnati to Cleveland. To learn more about the Ohio to Erie Trail, visit  http://www.ohiotoerietrail.org/Home.aspx  or follow them on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/OhiotoErie

Borderline Stupid from Gunnar Oliphant on Vimeo .

DETROIT, MI — The Tour de Troit annual bike ride has grown exponentially since it began in 2001. The event drew 50 participants during its inception race and has grown into a community attraction that featured 6,500 riders last year, making it the largest bike ride in Michigan. Vittoria Katanski, co-director of Tour de Troit, said 7,500 participants are expected at this year’s Sept. 20 ride that goes for 30 or 62 miles, depending on your route. Over 2,500 have already signed up. Since 2005, the Tour de Troit ride has raised over $180,000 for the greenways network and non-motorized transportation projects in Detroit. “Cycling in the city has been on the up-rise,” Katanski said. “It has become more visible to other people, too, and it’s providing an alternate method of transportation. Sharing the road is a very important thing for the city and for the people that visit.” [Keep reading at  MLive]

What happened to Portland’s bike scene? Maybe first it would help to envision what it used to be. There was this booming, diverse, vibrant DIY bike activist and bike fun scene that transformed this city, from  Critical Mass  to  Shift  to any number of wild initiatives popping up. Any night of the week, there was some sort of free bike fun going on; anywhere you were in the city, if you were outdoors you were likely to see a mass of people riding by, all of them smiling. People were coming here from all over the country to see what we were doing and how they could replicate it in their own city. People were moving here so they could sell their car and live their dream. We also have had a long-running statewide advocacy organization that’s tended to focus more on legislation and programs. It floundered a lot, and that was too bad, but it was also ok because there was so much else going on. But then, five years ago, all those other things just sort of petered out. People, myself inc

goTenna from goTenna on Vimeo . [goTenna]

With a simple click, stand your bicycle upright on any terrain or park your bike at the office or in your house! "Imagine how the little things in life could change the way you live life" - From  BaikBike .com about Bicyclick [More at Kickstarter]

Below: Camp Chase Trail retaining wall and gravel base before paving. Here, you are looking west towards Alton Road. Alton is where the paved section of the trail ends and this gravel section begins. The bridge being constructed over Hellbranch Run is behind me in this photo. The bridge abutments are in place and the prefabricated bridge sections have been delivered and are on site ready to be installed. I predict this section should be open all the way to Galloway by the end of this year. ----- Below: Here is the trail at Alton Rd. facing East. The trail is all gravel from this point. ----- Below: Here is the trail at Alton Rd. facing West. The trail is paved in this direction all the way to Cincinnati. There is no parking available here, we recommend parking at the trail head at Big Darby Creek and the Little Darby Creek on Alkire Rd. You can request a permit for overnight parking from the Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park rangers, office or possibly the new natur