Columbus Rides Bikes!

Is road cycling dangerous? What are the chances of being hit by a car while riding on the road? Can cyclists manage risk while riding in a shared bicycle/car environment? The perception is that road cycling is more dangerous today than a decade ago. And, that driver distraction and higher traffic volume have increased the risk and frequency of car/bike accidents. There is one problem with this perception:  The data does not support it.  In fact, there  is  data to suggest that road cycling is statistically  safer  today per rider than ten years ago if you compare the frequency of reported accidents to the rate of growth in road and triathlon cycling. [Keep reading at Tom Demerly]

Ford Motor Co. will test new car-sharing programs and foldable electric bikes inside its vehicles as it seeks new ways to adapt to global congestion and changing consumer attitudes... ...Sometimes, you just can’t get all the way to your destination by car. So Ford is also testing a “multi-modal” mobility solution called MoDe:Flex that includes a reconfigurable electric bike that charges while stored in the vehicle and an app that helps identify the most efficient and cost-effective mode of transportation for a trip. The MoDe:Link app, for example, might suggest you drive you car to the train station, ride the train to the city, then ride your bike the final mile to the office. It is also being adapted for a smartwatch, which is good, since you don’t want to arrive at the office all sweaty. Instead, you can set the watch to ”no sweat mode” which amps up the electric pedal assist based on your heart rate to ensure you don’t break a sweat on the way to your destination. It also hel

New Edge models claimed to be smallest GPS head units in the world Garmin Edge 25 – the world's smallest GPS bike computer  (Garmin) Garmin has announced its new Edge 20 and Edge 25 bike computers – the smallest GPS cycling computers in the world. Taking the title from Lezyne’s Mini GPS,  Garmin’s  new Edge 20 (£110) and Edge 25 (£140) head units are claimed to be the tiniest, and lightest, GPS-equipped models on the market, while still offering a full feature set. Garmin has come up with a handy video to outline the features, which can be seen below: The computers use GPS and GLONASS navigation satellites to give you data including speed, distance, location, time and total ascent.  Despite their diminutive sizes, Garmin has also squeezed in routing capability. Riders are able to follow downloaded routes, giving a line to follow without full mapping, but with turn indications. The Edge 25 also boasts ANT+ compatibility, allowing the addition of heart r

(Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images) The Pope, it turns out, is an urban planner. In a few paragraphs embedded in the middle of  his epic environmental encyclical published this week , he managed to tie together affordable housing, mass transit, parking, inequality, architecture, public space and segregation (perhaps no surprising feat given his startling facility in this same document connecting fossil fuels, solar panels, animal rights and recycling). The way we design communities, he argues — and this is basically the central tenet of urban planning — is vital to the kind of lives people experience within them. And so sprawling, car-dependent places force us to spend our lives unhappily idling in traffic. Expensive and overcrowded places rob residents of the dignity of having a good home. Great public spaces, by contrast, bring us together. [Read more at The Washington Post]