Columbus Rides Bikes!

Columbus Food League, a restaurant management group dedicated to serving food and drinks that people love, is giving back to the community. Their restaurants include The Chintz Room, Surly Girl Saloon, Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails, Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace, Dirty Frank's Westgate, and Grass Skirt Tiki Room. Over the past two and half years, Columbus Food League has developed a great way to give back through its Charitable Giving Program. Their program has helped raise thousands of dollars each year for many organizations in the Columbus community. The staff of Grass Skirt has chosen Yay Bikes! as their Community Partner for January! Our Community Partner Day will be January 7th . On this day, Grass Skirt will donate $1 from every drink special sold and 10% of the days food sales to Yay Bikes!. Grass Skirt will also display a donation tin at the bar to highlight them and collect money throughout the month. Stop over to Grass Skirt Tiki Room all day tomorrow and tal...

All else equal, decreasing rolling resistance (rr) increases speed. Shorter curves indicate faster, lower rr tires. The two colors on each curve show rr for each tire at different tire pressures, 84 and 112 psi. Editor’s note:  This tech article ran in the  November 2012  issue of  Velo  magazine. Whether on tarmac or singletrack, a tire with lower rolling resistance reduces the power required to move forward while also providing a better quality ride. The tire absorbs small bumps by not transferring them into the bicycle and rider, resulting in a smoother ride, faster speeds, and better cornering. How could you pass that up? Read more at http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/12/bikes-and-tech/resistance-futile-tire-pressure-width-affect-rolling-resistance_355085#DO6bCEFRSmZbYXGg.99

Michale ("Mick-ail") Sevy isn’t a fitness devotee or a glutton for punishment. He’s not particularly issue-driven. He’s a low-key guy from Minneapolis who’s downsized his life and gets around without ever getting behind the wheel of a car. And though he doesn’t brag about belonging to that cohort of year-round car-free cyclists, he’s quick to encourage others to join the car-free club.   “I’ve been living without a car in Minneapolis for several years now and it works perfectly for me,” he says. “If I can do it, a lot of other people can too,” even if they rely more on transit and carsharing than year-round biking. “You just have to take the plunge,” he adds. Here’s how Sevy became car-free. [Keep reading at The Line]

Last week, Moab banned electric bikes from many of the area's most popular trails. And that's the right decision (for now). What's more alarming is the vitriolic reaction to the machines and their riders, making the cycling community sound a lot like the road's worst drivers.  By:  AARON GULLEY The Bureau of Land Management in Moab, Utah, updated its website last week with guidelines that  exclude “motor-assisted bicycles”  from many of the most popular trails around town. The update wasn’t really news. It is simply an articulation of standing policy that e-bikes are considered motorized vehicles and, as such, are banned from all trails designated for non-motorized use. But the BLM’s decision to overhaul the website—and MTBR’s decision to  report on it —reflects the growing confusion and unease over e-mountain bikes. [Keep reading at Bicycling]

EAST TO WEST from ManualPedal on Vimeo . [More at Manual Pedal]

It was a clear and bright spring morning in central Mississippi.  Jan Morgan and her cycling buddy Kim Richardson were riding along the edge of a two-lane highway, training for an upcoming triathlon in Florida. Both wore helmets. It was Sunday and traffic was slow on a rare flat stretch of State Highway 50. That’s when Richardson heard the rumble of an approaching car. The initial impact sounded “like a gunshot,” Richardson recalls. Morgan, 57, had been hit from behind. Richardson saw her friend bounce into the air and come falling back down onto the hood of the car, which continued to speed ahead for several hundred feet before coming to a stop. Local newspaper accounts said the vehicle had been traveling at 55 miles an hour, although no one will ever know exactly how fast the car was going when it hit Morgan. Richardson remembers the driver, a local woman named Robbie Norton, getting out of her car with a cell phone pressed against her ear. She was telling the person on...

LAST year 264 people died in road crashes in Sweden, a record low. Although the number of cars in circulation and the number of miles driven have both doubled since 1970, the number of road deaths has fallen by four-fifths during the same period. With only three of every 100,000 Swedes dying on the roads each year, compared with 5.5 per 100,000 across the European Union, 11.4 in America and 40 in the Dominican Republic, which has the world's deadliest traffic, Sweden’s roads have become the world’s safest. Other places such as New York City are now trying to copy its success. How has Sweden done it? [Keep reading at The Economist]

Flickr.com Many people mistakenly believe that taxes levied on gas pay for road construction and maintenance. However, the funding from gas taxes makes up a relatively small amount of transportation funding. According to a 2011 report by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, gas taxes and other “user fees,” like automobile registration, fund only about half of the nation’s road expenses. The remaining costs are covered through general government funding. This means we all pay for our roads, whether we drive on them or not. [Keep reading at  PeopleForBikes]

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft from michael evans on Vimeo .

We had 35+ cyclists for the ride. 30 miles. 3400+ ft of climbing. Temps in the mid 50's. Great day in the saddle. We even partook in #coffeeoutside

[Review at Road Bike Review]

Ski mounts video from Boo Bicycles on Vimeo . http://boobicycles.com/bikes/ski-mounts/

Carol of the Spokes from Velocity USA on Vimeo .