Columbus Rides Bikes!

Riding in DC's protected bike lane on 15th Street. Well, Washington DC isn't working the way it's supposed to. But one thing in the District definitely has been: its local bike transportation policy. Census data released last month validated an idea that's been bubbling through the bike world for a couple years now: of all the major U.S. cities reinvesting in human transportation, none has been making bikes work better for its people more rapidly than the nation's capital. Source: Census Bureau, via  League of American Bicyclists . Last year, the new estimates found, DC jumped past San Francisco and Seattle to become the nation's No. 3 city for bike commuting. Since 2007, the District has added about 9,000 net new regular bike commuters, almost as many as there are in all of Minneapolis, the No. 2 city. And all this despite having only a "Silver" rating from the League of American Biyclists' widely respected  rating of cities' bike-fr...

Active lifestyle is your need. Speed is your want. Only the best of quality matters to you. Riding a custom Vitess is about making a statement; it is about individuality, self-confidence and exclusivity. Your dream bike is within reach: saddle up on a custom Vitess from $4,000 or enter the world of Vitess Bespoke, starting at $10,000. Working with our team of experts, we’ll custom fit, paint and build your bike to fit your performance goals, to guarantee your comfort, to match your personality. It can be as light and racy as you want it to be. It can be as visually unique as you can imagine. Imagine anything is possible. Get inspired: [See their line of bikes here]

For people who rely on their bicycle--even the two aluminum parts are cast from scrap so anyone can repair it or make it themselves. I’m Sue Knaup, the executive director of One Street, an international bicycle advocacy organization. I designed this bicycle shift lever after countless complaints from our partner organizations in all parts of the world. Programs that provide bicycles to people who need them for transportation, hauling goods and carrying their children can no longer find shift levers that hold up to hard use. They can choose from ridiculously complex and expensive shifters that are usually integrated with the brake lever or cheap shifters made of plastic and pot metal. Both types wear out within months of daily use and cannot be repaired. I owned a bike shop here in Prescott, Arizona for 13 years before founding One Street in 2007 (read more about One Street at  OneStreet.org ). Even as a bike shop owner I was frustrated by the lack of dependable, afford...

To me, Alaska has always seemed like a far off wild country with no rules or laws. It seemed like a place where there might be more wild animals drinking beer at the bar than humans. I pictured few paved, and mostly minimum maintenance, roads that had car-swallowing ruts for miles. I imagined that people there carried guns on their hips, and the sheriff wore a cowboy hat with a tin star under his duster. These were the visions that floated through my dreams as a youngster longing to visit a not-yet-settled land. My dreams started to come true when we announced the winner of our Reveal the Path contest. Erinn Vasquez solicited five more votes than the next closest contestant in the final minutes of voting.  Click here to see his winning video.  It was official, we had a winner and we needed to draw straws to determine which lucky Salsa team members were going to get the privilege to go to the beaches of the Kenai Peninsula. The straw drawing came shortly after we shipped Er...

Pictured above is the  Easy Pedal-A-Watt Package Simple, quick insertion and removal of bike.   See setup video here Sets up easily. Folds up for storage and transport - weighs 21 lbs Creates up to 400 watts.  Hand crank generators only create 10 watts Price cannot be beat for 400 watts of power Lifetime Warranty - we have been in business for 14 years     Power small, household appliances such as a desktop PC, laptop, or stereo The Pedal-A-Watt bicycle stand keeps the user fit while creating power that may be used to power lights and/or other small appliances. Any bicycle that is in good shape will work with the Pedal-a-Watt Stand as long as the wheel is 20 inches or greater.  Smooth road tires work better than off road knobby tires as there will less noise and vibration.   See how easy it is to setup and use the Pedal-A-Watt in this short video . The average rider will produce between 125 and 300 watts usin...

Flickr/davitydavel In dozens of small ways, emerging technology has been subtly nudging our behavior – at work, at home, while socializing or traveling – in ways that directly impact how people use transportation. Teleconferencing has made telework more common. E-commerce has reduced the need to drive to the mall. Real-time arrival apps have made public transit more predictable. Solar-powered stations have helped bike-share expand. WiFi and smart phones have made it possible to get work done on a moving bus, raising the mental cost of driving alone. And social media, for some people, has reduced the need to travel across town to see a friend you might more easily connect with on Facebook. None of these personal technology trends has really revolutionized American mobility patterns, and for that reason it's easy to overlook their importance in influencing how people get around (people are driving less because of... apps?). But taken together? "They really seem to be more...

Midwest Outdoor Experience (formerly GearFest) has grown beyond just gear and exploded into a multi-day event, featuring  outdoor activities ,  exhibitor village , competitions ,  music ,  craft beer garden  &  food ,  camping ,  exciting demos  and more! Midwest Outdoor Experience offers something for the budding weekend warrior to the hardcore outdoor enthusiast. With over 15,000 visitors during the 2012 event, Midwest Outdoor Experience is one of the largest festivals celebrating the outdoor lifestyle in the Midwest. http://www.metroparks.org/outdoorx/

Panty Raid: "How to Fix a Flat" from Panty Raid on Vimeo .

The most sophisticated, durable, efficient, simple, discreet, reliable, unique, soundless (not more clanking), light, eco-friendly, good looking bicycle fenders in the world. And they are free  :) Am I exaggerating? UPDATE: After six months of everyday use in the city (loads of rain), it’s still in perfect condition! I’m genuinely excited with this hack, it really is the best bicycle fender your money  can’t  buy! Finally! The tutorial is here! Take a look to the detailed illustration (click on it and then zoom it to the actual size) and if you have any problems understanding something let me know in the comments section. Also, I forgot to put it into the illustration that if you can put reflective stickers on the back of the fender so the drivers can see you in the dark. It even looks cooler that way. In real life it looks like this: Recycled bike fenders http://bicycleobsession.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/...

Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City's transportation commissioner.  Agaton Strom for The Wall Street Journal New York The bike helmet on her head said "Nutcase," and though this was merely the name of the Oregon company that made it, there was something wry and self-aware about Janette Sadik-Khan choosing to wear one on the streets of New York. You had to be a little unhinged and adventurous to have the big vision that Sadik-Khan, New York City's transportation commissioner, brought to this unruly madhouse of a city. You didn't need to be a nutcase. But it helped to be a little nutcase-ish. Because here we were, on a perfect Manhattan morning not long ago, sitting in an intersection on the West Side near 14th Street, where just a few years ago, we would have been promptly run over by a truck. Instead we were drinking iced coffees. And around us, other people were drinking iced coffees, prepared at a coffee stand that, like us, sat in an intersectio...

TRAIN  for 250 miles (we’ll help you!) From Oct. 1-Nov 8, train at the YMCA’s indoor and outdoor cycling classes exclusively for RideSTRONG participants. You can participate in all of the RideSTRONG training classes at any YMCA branch.*  track your mileage   Coming Oct. 1 RAISE  $250 (or more!) That’s a dollar per mile. $250 will support one survivor to participate in LiveSTRONG at the YMCA for 6 weeks. RideSTRONG  Nov 9 Join hundreds of cyclists in Central Ohio’s largest indoor cycling event: The RideSTRONG for Cancer Survivors! 100 bikes, 6 hours, celebrity cycling instructors, raffle prizes** every hour, swag, plus 2 TREK bikes grand prizes! Select your own 2-hour time slot and join hundreds of cyclists in Central Ohio's largest indoor cycling. [Learn more at  YMCAColumbus ‎]

Bicycle Touring - DC to Pittsburgh to Toronto from Levi on Vimeo . www.levipounds.com I want this to be the video you show the friends that ask, "You're doing WHAT this summer vacation!?" Video of my 2013 vacation: a solo unsupported bicycle tour from Washington, DC to Pittsburgh via the C&O Towpath followed by the Great Allegheny Passage route. From Pittsburgh, I used google maps turn by turn navigation set to "bicycle routes" until Toronto. The video was shot and edited by me. Music: 40 Day Dream - Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros I do not own the rights to this music (this video is not for profit and will not be monetized) Shot with a Canon T4i and Sigma 30mm 1.4. GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition using Protune. Edited on Final Cut Pro x in conjunction with GoPro Cineform Studio. Exported using Compressor.

Bike shares are exploding in popularity in cities, but the docking stations are expensive and ugly. Why not just lock up a bike where you need and have a GPS smartphone app to track them down? Most bike sharing schemes are based around fixed hubs. You take a bike at one location and return it to another point in the network.  Social Bicycles  is different: You can leave the bike anywhere within a designated area. The bike--fitted with GPS, a cell link, and a computer--is the star, not the docking system. That's good for a couple of reasons. One, it's much cheaper--about half the price, according to Social Bicycle's CEO Ryan Rzepecki. And two, the infrastructure is more flexible. While schemes like New York's  Citi Bike  operate from heavy fixed-length corrals, free-floating bikes can use conventional racks, minimizing  neighborhood disruption . "Our system behaves just like an stationary dock system, but it has other upsides," Rze...

Recon Jet with George Hincapie from Recon Instruments on Vimeo . George Hincapie takes Recon Jet for a ride. Order now at http://jet.reconinstruments.com Recon Jet delivers information instantly, effortlessly and unobtrusively via a microcomputer and high-resolution widescreen Heads-up Display. All this is mounted on a precision-engineered, fashionable pair of sunglasses on par with the best in the world. George Hincapie is one of the most recognized riders in the world, with numerous world championships, national championships and professional victories to his credit. He rode in the Tour de France 17 times, won three US National Road Race championships, competed in a record 17 Ronde van Vlaanderen races and finished second at the gruelling Paris-Roubaix, the best ever for any American.

There is nothing quite like a fine well-brewed cup of coffee before…during…and after a bicycle ride. Many of my close friends will attest for my near obsessive love of coffee. In our apartment, I have a little “coffee corner” which has no less than 5 ways to make coffee as well as a small pile of gadgets and doodads (digital scale, measuring spoon, small artisanal drinking cups). At the heart of all the coffee paraphernalia and coffee making process is our grinder, the  Porlex Mini Mill . The  Porlex  is not cheap. I had lusted after one for a while, but was quite content with my  Hario Slim Mill that was half the price. However, after about 9 months, my Hario broke at the handle in a place that couldn’t be easily fixed, so I gave myself the green light for the Porlex. [Keep reading at  The Epicurian Cyclist]

Edge Touring Plus works like the GPS navigator you use in your car, only with maps and features specifically designed to help you find your way by bike. Whether you have a specific destination in mind, or just a distance you want to ride, Edge Touring Plus gives you the freedom to know you can find your way. You can even find and download rides others have completed on  Garmin Connect  and  Garmin Adventures , or share your own with the community. Find Places and Get Directions Bike-specific maps preloaded in Edge Touring Plus make it easy to get from point A to point B (and beyond) and back again. Simply search for points of interest and Edge Touring Plus will give you turn-by-turn directions to your destination(s). You can choose between cycling, tour cycling and mountain biking modes to calculate the most appropriate route for the type of cycling you do, taking you on paved roads, unpaved roads or on paths and trails. With round trip routing, you can tell Ed...

[Xtracycle EdgeRunner]

FROM THE BIKE-OHIO.COM site Why does a person decide to voluntarily lead an event be bicycling, boating, hiking, and the like? I would say it is because they have a passion for the event and the desire to bring others into the experience of the event. Columbus Outdoor Pursuits provided the medium for transaction to occur. COP simply asks those leaders to follow some guidelines and rules for safety, risk management, and record keeping. It is a relationship where the volunteer leader and COP both win. COP has generally kept a hands off approach to events management, even events that were fund raisers for COP. For example, in cycling a ride like Rocky lead by Peggie Shaw and Mitch O’Donnell is their ride, not COP’s. Peggie and Mitch have the passion, COP provides the medium for the ride to happen, and all parties benefit from that relationship. As long as COP gets the liability release, you are generally happy. When there is no one who has the passi...

"If I bring my own food, can you just heat it up for me?" And if the proprietor obligingly says yes to (1), then: "I don't know anything about cooking. Could you just quickly talk me through what ingredients to buy and how to prepare them?"   "Can I just borrow a knife and a chopping board? I know what I'm doing, I used to work in a canteen." [See the rest at  The secret bike mechanic]

I’m speeding across town, weaving in and out of traffic. I’ve already done sixteen runs. Good messengers do twenty-five, but I’ll settle for twenty. I’m tired, and it’s late. But I’m trying for that magic number. So I pedal harder. I’m pushing, trying to reach the front of the line of traffic. As I move up to take the lead, I no longer feel tired. My mind is working fast, checking out openings. I hug the curb, keeping clear of the traffic. But I’m riding too close to construction debris: there are mounds of dry cement powder on the road. Before I realize what’s happening, the hike skids out of control. I pump the brakes but still can’t keep my balance. I can feel myself going down. The impact on the cold pavement overwhelms me. I remember there is a truck behind me, but my body won’t move. My head can turn, so I twist it backward and stare helplessly at the driver seated high above me. I feel like a conquered gladiator. The driver motions to me to lie still, not to move until I’m r...