California Cycleway....huh
Saturday, July 4, 2009
So you want to be a Bike Commuter
Well here are a couple of thoughts regarding that:
1. Get a bike. It doesn't have to be expensive or a certain brand, it doesn't have to be pretty, it's just gotta work.
2. Get on your bike. Get the bike that you have out of the garage, or basement, and get on your bike. Start Pedaling!! Stop making excuses that prevent you from doing so.
3. Have something to carry stuff. Put a backpack on yourself, or a basket on your bike. Again, looks are nothing but as you know you carry a lot of stuff with you in your car and if you are commuting on your bike then you need to have at least a couple things with you. Like a change of clothes, or rain gear, or some water.
4. Choose a destination. Work, the store.
5. Choose a route. I know that for many of you this may be the hardest part. If you truly want to be a bike commuter though, guess what, you must play nice with cars and hope and pray to God that they will play nice with you.
6. So you have a problem with #5? Well, here is another piece of advice. Move back into town to a neighborhood that would allow you to commute to everything using residential streets. I recommend the Northside Neighborhood. It has been a great choice for us. I am sure that I have made mention of this before but we drew a 3 mile circle around downtown where I work and bought a house in there.
7. Repeat as often as you can. I prefer daily but start with one or two trips per week and work your way up! You can do it.
FWBC
1. Get a bike. It doesn't have to be expensive or a certain brand, it doesn't have to be pretty, it's just gotta work.
2. Get on your bike. Get the bike that you have out of the garage, or basement, and get on your bike. Start Pedaling!! Stop making excuses that prevent you from doing so.
3. Have something to carry stuff. Put a backpack on yourself, or a basket on your bike. Again, looks are nothing but as you know you carry a lot of stuff with you in your car and if you are commuting on your bike then you need to have at least a couple things with you. Like a change of clothes, or rain gear, or some water.
4. Choose a destination. Work, the store.
5. Choose a route. I know that for many of you this may be the hardest part. If you truly want to be a bike commuter though, guess what, you must play nice with cars and hope and pray to God that they will play nice with you.
6. So you have a problem with #5? Well, here is another piece of advice. Move back into town to a neighborhood that would allow you to commute to everything using residential streets. I recommend the Northside Neighborhood. It has been a great choice for us. I am sure that I have made mention of this before but we drew a 3 mile circle around downtown where I work and bought a house in there.
7. Repeat as often as you can. I prefer daily but start with one or two trips per week and work your way up! You can do it.
FWBC
Just click on the link!
Just check out this link
It has a video on it that is truly amazing.
I know it is in Amsterdam, I know fort Wayne is not like any other place on earth and everyone knows that but this is just unreal!!
It has a video on it that is truly amazing.
I know it is in Amsterdam, I know fort Wayne is not like any other place on earth and everyone knows that but this is just unreal!!
Mobility Coordinator....huh? Wouldn't have thought of that.
This is a great story about a different way to attempt to get things working. Granted it is California but it is nice to see that Fort Wayne is not the only community that has challenges with regard to biking and more specifically bike commuting.
FLAT TIRED
Jennifer Stockdale
Wed. June 10
Can Long Beach’s newly appointed mobility coordinator Charlie Gandy patch up the city’s busted bike infrastructure?
On a recent rainy Wednesday, Charlie Gandy breezes into new East Village coffee spot Sipology, shuffling his well-worn Chuck Taylors across the floor, slightly beat-up bike helmet in hand, right khaki pant leg folded up to his shin.
Well, he certainly looks the part of the city’s new mobility coordinator—aka, the guy who’s supposed to know how to build a functioning bicycle infrastructure into our overcrowded grid system and around our dysfunctional city government. And his palpable charisma and expert tutelage might just be enough to ease the peculiar aggression found among Long Beach’s cyclists, motorists and law enforcement.
The rest of the story
FLAT TIRED
Jennifer Stockdale
Wed. June 10
Can Long Beach’s newly appointed mobility coordinator Charlie Gandy patch up the city’s busted bike infrastructure?
On a recent rainy Wednesday, Charlie Gandy breezes into new East Village coffee spot Sipology, shuffling his well-worn Chuck Taylors across the floor, slightly beat-up bike helmet in hand, right khaki pant leg folded up to his shin.
Well, he certainly looks the part of the city’s new mobility coordinator—aka, the guy who’s supposed to know how to build a functioning bicycle infrastructure into our overcrowded grid system and around our dysfunctional city government. And his palpable charisma and expert tutelage might just be enough to ease the peculiar aggression found among Long Beach’s cyclists, motorists and law enforcement.
The rest of the story
Create Bike Only Roads
I gotta tell you I love this line of thinking even though I think that it is a long way off for here in Fort Wayne.
Create Bike-Only Roads
by Max Fisher
Citing a need to alleviate motor traffic, reduce air pollution, and increase general health, cities are carving out more bike lanes. But bike lanes simply don't work. Maybe something about America's competitive cowboy culture means drivers just can't bring themselves to share the road, frequently parking in bike lanes, turning across bike lanes without warning, and colliding with bikes.
In 2007, car-on-bike accidents killed 698 cyclists and injured 45,000, including me, courtesy of a Washington, D.C., minivan driver who, unsatisfied with my 22-mph pace at the height of rush hour, decided she had more of a right to the stretch of road I was occupying. With law enforcement often unwilling to enforce bikers' claims to the road, it's hard to see behavior changing. Take the much-publicized case of the driver who crippled a 14-year-old cyclist by dragging him under her SUV for 131 feet and got a $500 ticket. Not much of a disincentive.
The Rest of the Story
Create Bike-Only Roads
by Max Fisher
Citing a need to alleviate motor traffic, reduce air pollution, and increase general health, cities are carving out more bike lanes. But bike lanes simply don't work. Maybe something about America's competitive cowboy culture means drivers just can't bring themselves to share the road, frequently parking in bike lanes, turning across bike lanes without warning, and colliding with bikes.
In 2007, car-on-bike accidents killed 698 cyclists and injured 45,000, including me, courtesy of a Washington, D.C., minivan driver who, unsatisfied with my 22-mph pace at the height of rush hour, decided she had more of a right to the stretch of road I was occupying. With law enforcement often unwilling to enforce bikers' claims to the road, it's hard to see behavior changing. Take the much-publicized case of the driver who crippled a 14-year-old cyclist by dragging him under her SUV for 131 feet and got a $500 ticket. Not much of a disincentive.
The Rest of the Story
Bicycle Indiana Survey
Check out What's Going Downtown
It is a fairly extensive survey about biking and bikers habits in order to help them to understand the cycling community here in Indiana.
Thanks Michael K and Scott.
It is a fairly extensive survey about biking and bikers habits in order to help them to understand the cycling community here in Indiana.
Thanks Michael K and Scott.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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