Columbus Rides Bikes!

BY  ANNIE LUBIN DAILY NEWS WRITER Wednesday, December 8th 2010, 11:55 AM Ikea  might be strongly opposed to the new bike lane in front of its  Brooklyn  megastore, but it's apparently in favor of bikes as gifts.     After objecting to the  Red Hook  bike lane earlier this year, Ikea showed it was still a lover of green transportation and handed out 12,400 bicycles to employees nationwide,  reports the Brooklyn Paper. Read more:  http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2010/12/08/2010-12-08_ikea_said_no_to_new_bike_lane_in_front_of_brooklyn_store_but_yes_to_bikes_as_gif.html#ixzz17Y7jimt

Your Platform For Adventure Freeload is the world’s first fully adjustable bicycle carrier rack that can be fitted to the front or rear of all types of bicycles, including full-suspension mountain bikes. This innovation is a major breakthrough for load-carrying on mountain bikes, especially in off-road touring situations. Designed and developed in New Zealand, home to some of the most challenging and beautiful off-road touring destinations, the Freeload system provides you with a truly flexible platform for adventure. Freeload lets you remove the load from your back and mount it directly to your bike, giving you more freedom to enjoy the ride. The Freeload System: Can be fitted to the fork (front) or seat stays (rear) of your bike in minutes. Is lightweight at only 880g. Supports panniers, backpacks, dry bags, tents and more. Has secure, tough construction and is rated to 25kg in rough off-road use. Offers silent and vibration-free performance, even over the roughest terrain....

Time Friday, December 17 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm Location Wheeling, WV More Info Join us on the 3rd Annual Oglebay Christmas Lights Ride as we ride through the Oglebay Festival of Lights on bicycles. Meet at 7pm at the Elm Grove trailhead (Mason Rehab Center). We will head up Peters Run Road to the park and ride through most of the lights and then head down to the Alpha to warm up with food and drink. [Facebook Event Page]

Please email  webmaster@columbus.gov and ask them to add Yay Bikes! and your favorite Columbus cycling blogs to the list. [Incomplete resource page here]

Thursday, December 16 · 2:30pm - 6:00pm Location ALL OVER 1934 N. 4th Street, Columbus, OH 43201 Columbus, OH READ! Thats right bitches! winter alleycat! Cold? Bored? wanna go for a ride and potentially get sweet shit and support a good cause? then come race in our SANTA THEMED ALLEYCAT!!!! Its set up like a normal alleycat EXCEPT ONE THING!!!!! You need a BAG in which to carry STUFF!! so if you plan on racing BRING A BAG! Also its $10 (ten) to enter. The money goes to Two Machines ( http://twomachines.blogspo t.com/ ) which would help impo verished people in Tijuana. Also if you plan on racing, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!WE NEED TO KNOW BY DECEMBER 10TH!!!!!!!!! so that we can prepare things before. we need to know how many racers there will be. So please do that. Just comment on THIS PAGE saying that your gonna do it. Thats all the info im giving now.....except that you need to be at the 4th street cafe (1934 N. 4th Street, Columbus, OH 43201) for registration AT 2:30...

CVNP looks at adding mountain biking to park usage Park board reviewing environmental impact statement by WKSU's  JEFF ST. CLAIR Morning Edition Host Jeff St. Clair   Mountain bike enthusiasts have long lobbied for access to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Bikers ususally create separate trails so as not to interfere with hikers. Courtesy of Dirk Bormann, Flickr In The Region: The new superintendent of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park says a decision on whether to allow mountain bikers on park trails is one of his top priorities. Stan Austin took over the 33,000 acre park in September. He formerly managed Yosemite and Glen Canyon National Parks. [continue at WKSU News]

Saturday, January 8, 2011          10:00 AM Mass Start Ten years, can you believe that?   I didn't think so.  But hey, who would make something like that up?   (for the ten-year anniversary, I thought I'd re-introduce the spiritual aspect to the ride... and start with Mass again)   For this year's HATTARICK,  milestone 10 and all... we should do something special.     I'm thinking....  How about temperature's above 30 dF !!!    Geesh, was last year cold or what??   There must have been 15 people said they were definitely riding.... six showed up.  One for each degree above zero.   Certainly, those six degrees separated these riders far from the rest of the maddening crowd.    (ooh... I just got an eerie feeling after writing/reading that... did you?  spooky) Please Note:   The HATTARICK traditionally does not compete with other January 1 rides, as a courtesy......

Dear Friends of the Bike Lady! We’re steadily rolling towards the goal of $35,000 to put at least 500 kids who’ve suffered a history of neglect and abuse and are under the care of Franklin County Children Services (FCCS) on their very first bike this holiday season! We just surpassed $22,000 which is fantastic in light of the economy and so many people struggling to make ends meet. A few donor stories… ·           From Afghanistan, Pat Brooks, formerly "Batman" with the C-Bus Police Department gang unit, who has been overseas the last 2 1/2 years, says he "loves kids and bikes". He’s married to Mo Armstrong Brooks , a super C-Bus NICU nurse who has seen newborns immediately placed under the care of FCCS start life passively addicted to opiates and other drugs...they took the time to donate online this week. (Pat departed the front lines yesterday and will get home right before Christmas.)   ·        ...

I am testing these 700x35 tires on my Lemond. The rear is a tight fit with a few MM clearance on each side so hopefully I don't run into a bunch of snow pack issues. I will give an update as the winter season progresses. [Nokian website]

by  Warren Riddle  on  December 4, 2010  at  12:00 PM Oblivious Brooklynites intent on walking and gabbing need to be on high alert for brazen and blazing cell-phone thieves. A wave of iPhone thefts has intensified in recent weeks, and the ride-by bandits commit their crimes while saddled on bicycles. The cell-crime spree, which began to garner attention in October, continues to spread  through various neighborhoods in the borough , including Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Boerum Hill. The iPhone pilferers primarily target women, who -- so far -- have represented six of the seven known victims. The criminals don't just snatch and speed away, though. One bicycle thief punched his female target before swiping her $400 iPhone. [more at switched.com] 

1.  “There’s No Scientific Data Indicating Helmets Reduce Risk of Injury.” Actually,  there is . But the data is fairly thin, and anti-helmet forces have seized on this, arguing that the paucity of scientific evidence indicates that helmets must not really do any good. But this argument suffers from the negative proof fallacy–the implication that because the efficacy of helmets has not been conclusively proven via scientific studies, helmets must be valueless. But consider how many propositions we accept as true in the absence of any scientific studies proving them so. For example, I don’t know of any studies proving that ritualistically slamming my head into the door jamb on the way out every morning leads to a greater incidence of brain injury. But I needn’t make such demands on empiricism. I  know  it’s bad a idea, and I don’t need a study to tell me that. It’s hardly less intuitive that wrapping one’s melon in a layer of foam padding will help reduce the severit...

How Portland plans to become the first world-class bike city in America. by  Jay Walljasper posted Nov 29, 2010 Photo by Zach Vanderkooy It’s become a cliché that Portland is America’s most livable city, a hotbed for innovative ways to support green policies,  public spaces , pedestrian amenities,  transit , and, of course, bicycles.  In fact some people are growing weary (and the rest of us envious) of hearing about how great things are in Oregon’s largest city. When it comes to bicycling, at least, the cliché is true. Today Portland sports the highest share of bicycle commuters (6-8 percent) of any large U.S. city.  It’s also the only large city to earn the League of American Bicyclists’ coveted platinum status as a bicycle-friendly city. But Portland wasn’t born with bike lanes. “No one in the 1970s or ‘80s would have singled out Portland as a great town for biking,” admits city Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller. Its current success is the result of 20 years...

BY DOUG MCCLELLAN WASHINGTON, D.C.—It’s “back to basics” for cycling advocates, after the midterm elections swept Republicans into power in the House and delivered an unexpected defeat to cycling’s most powerful supporter in Congress. Facing a new Republican House Speaker and Majority Leader who have been hostile to federal funding for cycling, the industry will need to adjust its message and refocus on local organizing, officials said. “The simple message for us is that we very much need to get back to basics and make sure the state and local grassroots machinery of the bicycle movement is in really good working order,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. [continue at Bicycle Retailer and Industry News]