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Showing posts from May 18, 2014

Solar FREAKIN' Roadways!

Bike Share’s Rough Ride | NY Times

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IT’S been a year since Citi Bike started in New York City, and the program has been a tremendous success, with  more than 100,000  annual members and  over seven million  trips to date. Or, if you prefer, in Citi Bike’s first year, the program has  struggled financially  and is in urgent need of tens of millions of dollars. Both are true, so take your pick. The story of bike share in New York City has been one of contradiction and antagonism, even before its inception: “$10 to ride a bike? That’s for rich people!” “A bike share station in front of my building? How is the doorman supposed to hail me a cab?” By the time the program was ready to roll, the calamitous prognostications came pell-mell. This town’s too tough for bike share! The streets would run red with the blood of hapless tourists and the helmetless! All 6,000 bikes would be stolen by America’s most industrious bike thieves! None of these predictions came to pass. In our egotistic frenzy, we had forgotten a few

DC Beer Crit 2014

DC Beer Crit 2014 from drunkcyclist.com on Vimeo .

Orbit City Bikes is Columbus' electric bike store #letsride

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release Thursday, May 22, 2014 Contact: Tom Bennett 614.284.1299 (Columbus) A new kind of bicycle store has come to Central Ohio. Columbus now has its first ever Electric bike store. Orbit City Bikes at 3030 North High Street, Ohio’s largest electric bicycle retailer, is celebrating its first spring in Columbus. Orit City’s electric bikes or e-bikes have a battery powered motor that gives riders a boost, especially on hills. E-bikes not only empower seasoned bicyclists to extend their range, they allow older riders or people with mobility issues who can’t ride an ordinary bike to take long bike rides. “About 9 years ago I started having arthritic knee problems that made it basically impossible for me to ride an ordinary bike.” said Tom Bennett, owner of Orbit City Bikes. “When I discovered e-bikes, it was like a new world opened for me. I was able to ride again. It was thrilling.” Orbit City Bikes is located on the corner of N. High Street and Weber Rd in Co

Why bikers should live by the same laws as everyone else | Grist

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All of us who ride bikes know the feeling of not wanting to stop completely at an intersection when there’s no one coming. It’s an understandable impulse. Far more often, though, I’ve been legally walking across a street and had a bike roll through the crosswalk, forcing me to freeze in mid-intersection as it breaks the law and crosses my path. Sometimes, it zips frighteningly close. But some cycling advocates argue that we should make it legal for bikes to go through a red light, after stopping to check that there are no oncoming cars and pedestrians. This is called the “Idaho stop.” Legal only in Idaho and a few towns in Colorado, it also allows bikes to roll slowly through stop signs, treating them essentially as yield signs. The idea has been picking up steam for the last few years in local blogs from  San Francisco  to  New York , thanks partly to this oddly popular  video . In a recent, widely read  article in Vox , Joseph Stromberg compellingly laid out the case, drawing o

Who Wants Vehicular Cycling? | Streets MN

Part I – Promote Vehicular Cycling. Really? There are a few reasons that vehicular cyclists give for their opposition to segregated bicycle facilities; they can’t ride fast on them, they have to stop too often, there are too many bumps and too much road furniture (signs, mailboxes, etc.) in the way, they are more dangerous than the road (like bike lanes in door zones), and sharing with unpredictable pedestrians and dogs is dangerous. I mostly agree. These though are issues of bad design, not of segregated bicycle facilities themselves being problematic. This is like saying that we don’t like cars because the Trabant we once had broke down every two days. The bicycle network designed by Dutch Engineers generally doesn’t have these problems, except on some very old facilities. Riding 20-25 mph is not often a problem. There are actually fewer stops than on the motor network thanks to bicyclists ability to negotiate with each other through their own intersections. Pathways in The

Motorist Road Rage on DC Bicycle Route

Motorist Road Rage on DC Bicycle Route from Evan Wilder on Vimeo .

Track Attack - Part One from Michele Colucci

Cycling on Stage

Temper Tantrum on Spruce Street

Temper Tantrum on Spruce Street from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo .

Green Drinks bike hop is on Wednesday, May 28 #letsride @Green_Columbus

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May is National Bike Month! Join us to celebrate and raise awareness for all things bike-related by partaking in our annual Green Drinks bike hop on Wednesday, May 28.  As a group, we'll bike to some of our favorite Columbus watering holes where we'll toast to bicycle awareness and learn more about bike commuting in our fair city.  Our schedule is as follows, feel free to join us (with or without your bike) at any stop on the route:  6:00-6:45pm  - We'll kick things off at  Strongwater Food and Spirits  (401 W. Town Street)  with happy hour drink prices as well as a special green-themed cocktail. 7:00-7:45pm  - Next up is  Brothers Drake Meadery  (26 E. Fifth Avenue)  to enjoy a glass of mead (or another drink) and participate in a conversation about bike commuting facilitated by Green Columbus founder and active bike commuter, Tad Dritz. 8:00-8:45pm  - We'll end the night at  The Crest Gastropub (2855 Indianola Avenue)  to enjoy one last drink, or a meal, as a group.

URGENT - Ohio's Three Foot Law

We've received a message from REP HENNE - there has been a change of position so he needs another VOTE to get the 3 Foot Law out of committee - he is asking if ANYONE is a constituent of Ohio House Representatives JOHNSON, GREEN or RUHL and if so to FLOOD THEIR INBOXES with MESSAGES URGING PASSAGE OF THE THREE FOOT LAW - HB 145! DO IT NOW!!! http://www.ohiohouse.gov/committee/transportation-public-safety-and-homeland-security Doug Green   R from House District 66 - Mt. Orab -  Email Rep Green   Terry Johnson  R from House District 90 - McDermott - He introduced "Annie's Law" - HB469, which would require a 1st time offender to use a small breathalyzer to start a car.  Email Him Margaret Ruhl - R from House District 68 -  Mt. Vernon -  http://www.ohiohouse.gov/margaret-ann-ruhl Email Rep Ruhl

THE CLUG BIKE MOUNT

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THE CLUG BIKE MOUNT, A TINY PLASTIC ANCHOR, IS NEARING ITS GOAL ON KICKSTARTER. If you've been wondering what to do with a 3-D printer besides make little plastic toys, here's  a Kickstarter  that begins to hint at the possibility of the technology. Clug is simple: a little clip that mounts on your wall and holds a bike in place. But it's a product that isn't just a good idea for a 3-D printed device: it's a good idea, period. It's both incredibly cheap and the smallest and least obtrusive bike mount I've ever seen--and if you lose it, you can always print another one. It's not a floating bike mount, exactly; the Clug keeps your bike in place, but it isn't strong enough to solely support a bike's weight. Instead, Clug is a little U-shaped plastic clip that keeps your bike in place while a wheel or two rests on the floor. The base of the U mounts on your wall, and you slip your bike's tire in between the U's outward-facing open arms,

In Sweden, Free Bikes To Commuters Who Promise To Drive Less

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Many people never bike because they've never tried it. This program wants to get everyone riding. Even though more people are starting to commute by bike, few cities match up to ultra-bike-friendly Copenhagen, where around half of the population cycles to work. In the U.S., Portland leads the list of larger cities, but even there, only 6% of commuters bike. What does it take to get more bikes on the road? The obvious answer is better infrastructure like decent bike lanes. But a new program in Sweden is taking a different approach, based on the theory that one reason many people don’t ride is that haven’t really tried it. In Gothenburg--a city with bike commuter rates on par with Portland--the government is giving some people the chance to try a bike for six months in exchange for the promise that they will ditch their cars at least three times a week. We’re trying to create those good examples--people from many different groups in the population, who all can solve their d

An Electric Pedicab Powered By Human Energy, Designed For Short City Trips

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On the Mellowcab, pedaling doesn't propel the vehicle forward. It helps charge an electric battery and get commuters to work on time. Getting to work in South Africa can be a painful process, unless you happen to be among the wealthy few who own a car. Most people commute on overcrowded, notoriously dangerous minibus taxis that end up in around 70,000 crashes every year and kill an average of three people every day. The taxis are also responsible for ever-increasing congestion and pollution in cities like Cape Town. One solution, at least for short commutes, might come in the form of a new electric pedicab called the  Mellowcab . Designed to fill the "last mile" gap for commuters, the Mellowcab is powered both by a hydrogen fuel cell and human energy--pedaling doesn't propel the cab forward, but helps charge an electric battery. The cab also captures energy every time the driver brakes. The designers say using electric power was an obvious choice. "Elec

Share your vision for the future of Columbus Recreation and Parks

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As a valued member of the community, your input and knowledge has been crucial in developing recommendations that will guide the future of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. We will be hosting a public meeting on  Wednesday, May 21  from 6 PM to 8 PM at the  Martin Janis Senior Center  to share and discuss our findings and preliminary recommendations with you. Since we last met with you, we have: ·          Completed a citywide public survey effort ·          Updated our recreation facilities and parklands inventory ·          Consistently presented this information and have received guidance from the Park Board, an internal staff Steering Committee and an Advisory Committee representing a cross-section of the Columbus community. ·          Internally assessed and evaluated existing recreation programs, operations, management protocols, as well as the financial expenditures and budgetary aspects of the CRPD Our community outreach effort, in concert with the
NYC Streets Metamorphosis from STREETFILMS on Vimeo .

Jyrobike - Auto balance bicycle with control hub in the front wheel @Jyrobike

[Jyrobike website]

GoPro: Danny MacAskill Sunday Ride

Swallow Bicycle Works Athens Ohio S24O ride

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Location: Athens, Ohio Route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4456524 Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/79517887@N02/sets/72157644220125091/ Last weekend Tom, Mary and I geared up for our final pre-ride/camp-out before we head out West for  Oregon Outback  (a 360-mile dirt road ride across Oregon). I have always wanted to explore the appalachian landscape, and glacial cave systems out near Hocking Hills so what better way to explore the region than high mileage bike ride. My goal with the route was to include as much dirt and distance as possible to get us ready for what our first day goal for the Oregon Outback is; to reach  The Cowboy Dinner Tree  for our 7:30 PM reservation (115 miles of dirt roads in under 12 hours).  Day one was tough. I had planned for us to ride about 90-ish miles west of Athens, to Tar Hollow, then north to Hocking Hills from there. At mile 15 we hit what looked like a fantastic double track gravel rail-trail, the catch was that all the train brid

This Folding Electric Bike Tries To Include Any Feature Bike Commuters Might Want

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It's electric. It folds up and locks itself. It even charges your phone while you ride. The Gi Bike tries to have it all. As  more people start to commute by bike , designers are trying to tackle the various pain points involved with riding in the city--whether that’s finding ways to help cyclists  squeeze bikes  on public transit,  adding electric motors  so riders sweat less, or  preventing theft . A typical design might focus on a couple of features at a time, but the  Gi Bike , a new design that just launched  on Kickstarter , attempts to include every possible detail a commuter could want. “There are no full-featured bikes on the market,” says Agustín Augustinoy, the chief technology officer for Gi Bike. “If a bike folds, it has 20-inch, circus-like wheels. Electric kits look like DIY projects. No electric bike comes with lights, motor, and everything else integrated and working on the same battery with only one charging point.” The Gi Bike can fold

Portable bike # 14 | Drew's Mini Blog

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Still rideable with your standard touring tires, but it gets more challenging down the trail. Having ridden  portable bike #13  for about 6 years, I came to the point where I needed to make a new one from scratch. The event that was a catalyst for this was my  ride on the OC&E trail  I did last year. The largest tires the bike fits are 50mm (2.0). It just wasn't a large enough footprint to ride on the surfaces I encountered on the trail. A bigger tire would make the gravely and loose sections easier to negotiate. So I figured I would make a new one with bigger tire clearance; having signed up for the Oregon outback ride (although I cannot make the group ride this year).  It will be easier to take Amtrak with this bike, just fold it up and put it in the luggage area as I board the train. The new fork would be an inch taller. The rear triangle would need extra space. The new design would increase the folded size slightly, but it would allow for the fattest tires out there f

New Lexington Gravel Grinder Recap - Broken Chains & Kittens 05182014 #LifeinCbus

Broken chains & kittens gravel grinder. New Lexington start. 9 riders. 37.5 miles. 3300+ ft climbing. 1 broken chain, broken twice. Two kittens. One great day in the saddle with beautiful weather and great friends.

Revisiting Donald Appleyard's Livable Streets

Revisiting Donald Appleyard's Livable Streets from STREETFILMS on Vimeo .