Friday Funny, Transportation planning

This guy just amazes me

From Forbes Magazine

Tanya Mohn, Contributor

I write about travel and road safety.

5/20/2012 @ 7:46AM |2,961 views

Pedaling to Prosperity: Biking Saves U.S. Riders Billions A Year

 

Biking on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New data highlight that bicyclists in the United States save at least $4.6 billion a year by riding instead of driving.
The analyses were released on Friday to coincide with National Bike to Work Day, part of National Bike Month, which occurs each May.
The average annual operating cost of a bicycle is $308, compared to $8,220 for the average car, and if American drivers replaced just one four-mile car trip with a bike each week for the entire year, it would save more than two billion gallons of gas, for a total savings of $7.3 billion a year, based on $4 a gallon for gas.
The findings were announced by the League of American Bicyclists, Sierra Club, and the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy organization for the Hispanic community, to reflect the strong economic and health benefits of bicycling, and its importance as a safe and efficient mode of transportation.
“There are so many reasons more people are riding, from improving their health to protecting the environment,” Andy Clarke, the League’s president, said in a statement. “But, especially in tough economic times, bicycling can also be an economic catalyst, keeping billions of dollars in the pockets of American families.”
More Americans are choosing to bicycle for everyday transportation. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of bicycle commuters grew 40 percent nationwide, and was even greater — 77 percent — in the some cities, according to the report.  Yet “government funding of safe bicycling projects is not keeping up. Though biking and walking account for 12 percent of all trips in theU.S., these transportation modes receive only 1.6 percent of federal transportation spending.”
The average American household spends more— 16 percent of its budget—on transportation than on food or healthcare. Low-income families spend as much as 55 percent of their household budgets on transportation, the report noted.
Making it easier and safer for people to walk or bicycle “is a matter of fairness,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote on his blog Fast Lane on Friday. “Many Americans cannot afford a car or are physically unable to drive. According to a recent Brookings Institute report, more than 10 percent of Americans not only don’t own a car, but don’t even have access to a car. In our cities, that number is even higher.”
LaHood noted that walking and bicycling are options people want, citing a national poll released by Princeton Survey Research Associates International in March that indicated that “more than 80 percent of Americans support maintaining or increasing federal funding for biking and walking.” “The benefits of bicycling are real, and there’s no arguing with the impressive ridership data,” LaHood said. “Bicycling is an important part of the 21st century transportation mix.”
Click here for the full fact sheet and more about National Bike Month, and here to read: New Report Finds That More Biking and Walking Do Not Increase Crash Rate.

Local Fort Wayne Company

NatrilGear Store | The world is waiting…

Selling an awesome product.  If you are looking for something to "Lug" around all your stuff when commuting by bike, these Luggers are for you

Drivers be careful

Next American City » Buzz » The Closed Street as a Living Street

Next American City » Buzz » The Closed Street as a Living Street

A woonerf is a low-speed street where pedestrians and cyclists have legal priority over drivers. In practice, cars, bikes and people on foot mix freely. Unlike a standard woonerf, Pennsylvania Avenue doesn’t have regular drivers, but it has taken on many of the elements of the woonerf. Security needs can also close them at a moment’s notice. Therefore, I like to call this a “security woonerf.”

Shareable: The Boom in Biking Benefits Everyone, Not Just Bicyclists

Shareable: The Boom in Biking Benefits Everyone, Not Just Bicyclists

Some:
The political forces that want to steer policies back to the 1950s—when cars and highways were seen as the only way to go—have consistently failed to muster enough votes to shift federal transportation funding into reverse.  There are several reason for this, but one of the most surprising is the emergence of bicycle advocates—and to a lesser extent pedestrian advocates—as a persuasive political lobby.

...and more
While Congressional critics belittle bicyclists as a marginal, almost silly special interest group, others herald them as self-reliant citizens who get around without the need of imported oil and mega-highway projects that cost taxpayers billions.  Instead of a boondoggle, continued funding to improve biking and walking conditions in the U.S. represents a sound investment that saves taxpayers money now and in the future.

From The Atlantic Cities

Fashion Accessory of the Day: Light-Up Bicycling Gloves

• John Metcalfe
• Mar 23, 2012
• Comments

Irene Posch

Bicycle lights have evolved to the point where they could stun a rampaging rhino from a thousand feet with the sheer power of lumens. But their effectiveness is limited to only showing where a bicyclist is, not where a bicyclist plans to go. And at night, drivers often can't see your hands gesturing to indicate a left or right turn.
The "Early Winter Night Biking Gloves," created by Vienna-based tech artist Irene Posch, tackle this safety issue with a design ripped straight out of Tron. These futuristic fashion accessories are made from felt or knitted wool and are studded with 3-millimeter LEDs arranged into the shape of arrows. As Posch explains on her website:

Raising visibility is a big issue for urban bikers. The Gloves aesthetically and functionally translate this need: Winter nights come early, thus there is more need for extra lighting; at the same time it is cold, so wearing gloves is necessary anyway. Preserving the look and feel of normal gloves, LEDs showing a turn signal light up when the hand is stretched out and a fist is formed, a strong signal for following cars....
Choosing gloves as the basis allows to have the signal actually at the furthermost extension of your body, being for following cars not just an indication that you are turning, but also what distance they should keep from you. Also, risks that the signal is covered by a backpack or similar, as possible when directly mounted in a jacket for example, are kept minimal.

How does making a fist activate the lights? The fabric that Posch uses is threaded with metal hairs to make the gloves electrically conductive, a not-unheard-of trick in the world of crafting. (Check out these lamp-dimming pom poms.) Closing the hand completes a circuit running on a tiny 3-volt battery and bing! On go the diodes.
Another feature of these pieces of wearable technology: The fingertips are conductive as well, allowing a rider to use a smartphone while pedaling down the street. How the gloves hold up when a distracted biker is violently skidding hands-first on rough asphalt has yet to be determined.

Keywords: Bicycling, Bike, Bike Commuting, Technology, clothing

John Metcalfe is a staff writer at The Atlantic Cities. All posts »

Making the jump to 9 miles

By Tim Harvey (including image)

Steady pressure on the pedals and a gentle downward slope whips my speed up towards 25 mph. Pavement, trees, and mailboxes whiz past in a blur. I press on faster and top 26 mph, exultant. This is the closest I'll come to flying and it feels incredible.

This stretch of road near Stellhorn Road is one of my favorite spots on the new commute. I love the speed and chance to pour every ounce of energy I've got into going as fast as possible.

February marked a big change for our family, moving from downtown Fort Wayne near Taylor street to a neighborhood near 469 and Maplecrest. What used to be a casual 1.1 mile jaunt is now a more epic 8.6 mile trek each way. Gone are the days of arriving at work 7 minutes after walking out the front door. The new ride comes in at close to 40 minutes.

I'm loving every. single. minute.

Truth be told, I wasn't always so enthusiastic about cycling. I grew up riding a BMX bike around the neighborhood like many other kids in Southwest Allen county. It was a taste of freedom before you turned 16.

But loving the bike died suddenly when I started working to drive, or driving to work. It was a bit of both at first.

Fast forward a decade and some change and you'd find me in Grabill with a family, busy job, and a beautiful countryside to explore. Realizing that we *still* need to get fit after many attempts, my wife Sara and I started thinking about bikes. We started at Summit City Bikes, and got some of the best cycling advice ever..."If you're not sure about spending $400-500 on a bike that will last, go get something for $60 that will break down and frustrate you. Come back after that happens and you'll love what you find here."

While I wanted to convince myself that we'd ride every day (work was only 300 yards away and Grabill is a great place to ride), we both knew ourselves better than that. We went with the Wal-Mart bikes.

Sadly, I missed out on a lot of beautiful riding in the Grabill area. My web design consulting business changed gears and I started working with Squaremouth.com in Fort Wayne, so we moved again. We loved the idea of urban living, being conscious of the environment, and living frugally. I started walking a mile to the office, which took about 20 minutes.

And thus, my love of cycling began...with a walk. Eager to spend as much time with the family as possible, I pulled out my bike. It was rickety, weighed a ton, and shifted to the sound of machine gun fire. But I tell you what, whizzing through the streets of Fort Wayne of it were magic. Popping up and over curbs, whipping past traffic, and charging through downtown was fantastic.

With work so close and biking/walking seeming to fit, we dropped down to one car. Now that I was going to rely on my bike for transportation, we decided to invest in a bike that would last, and even just work properly. :)

I scoured the Net for information and settled on a Trek Valencia, due in a large part to the bikegurus.com blog. He raved about his Valencia and I wanted every bit of the fun he talked about in his series of review rides (here's one of them: http://www.bikegurus.com/2008/12/trek-valencia-review-ride-1-first-impression.html).

Back to Summit City Bikes I went and this time was ready for the investment. They were exactly right, after riding a $70 bike for a while, the new Valencia felt like a Porsche. It was fast, light, shifted like a dream and felt great.

Riding to work was a joy and was helped considerably by the accommodating nature of the office I work in. Cycling really took off for me when my boss, Matt Outten, started pouring gas on the fire. He got me thinking about riding more than just to work. Pretty soon, I was doing 5 miles rides on the greenway around Fort Wayne.

Matt, a cyclist himself, challenged our team of 3-4 to ride all the way to Squaremouth's other office in St. Pete Beach, FL. Not literally, but we'd all total our mileage together to see how long before the four of us could rack up 1,100 miles. The competition at the office pushed me over the edge! Pretty soon I was doing 20-30 mile rides before work around the greenway. Up to IPFW, over to New Haven, down the south Wal-mart, over to the Towpath trail, everywhere I could find! If I remember right, we combined for 1,100 miles in less than 3 months, and I had a couple 300 mile months.

Cycling remains the first, and only exercise I've ever really enjoyed and been able to stick to. I feel like I've barely begun to ride, but this summer will mark 2 years of cycling as an adult. I've lost 30 pounds and feel great. My kids used to tire me out. Now, I can run with them till they're ready to drop. Riding has become such an integral part of life that when we decided to move close to our best friends, being able to stay on one car was a major factor.

I explored the various routes as we looked at houses and evaluated whether the increase in mileage would be feasible. While 20-30 mile rides were common for me to do, I wasn't sure about doing 20 miles each day being mandatory. Fortunately, I have a couple route options. I start out on Evard, and can then take a designated bike route (Reed Road to Lakeside Park) or Shoaff Park greenway to IPFW and down into town.

It's been about 6 weeks since we moved and it's worked out better than I could have imagined. Several weeks, I've been able to ride 4 out of 5 days. It takes a bit longer than I originally expected (I tested the routes on my road bike with no laptop or gear in the summer), but I'm getting faster. The traffic on Reed Road is consistent but manageable, with motorists being surprisingly patient and giving me plenty of room. I've yet to have anyone wave the 1-fingered gesture of friendship, so I call that a win.

The longer ride hasn't been without challenge. I've had to buy a bit more clothing and some shoes. In February, I found that the clothes I rode in downtown at 0 degrees was barely getting me by at 20 degrees.

The longer distance also required another set of riding clothes so I always have something clean. Yea, I'm one of those people who much prefers to ride with cycling-specific shorts/pants. With clothing sorted, shoes were the only other challenge (and mostly because I'm kinda picky).

Previously, I'd clip in with my winter riding boots on SPD cleats and use regular shoes in the summer. At almost 9 miles, I can't stand to ride without being clipped in. I want to move fast and I like the solid feel of clipping in. So I invested in some lightweight mountain bike shoes that I can walk in, but still use cleats. They've been great!

It's amazing to me that in less than 2 years, I've gone from a flabby desk-driver to a marginally fit bike commuter. I never would have thought we'd have one car and bike to work most days. It certainly wouldn't be possible without the incredible support of my family who drops me off some days or stays home while I have the car.

Including cycling in our lifestyle has meant better health, saving money, meeting incredible new people, and doing some good for the Earth.

Our oldest daughter told me the other day, "Daddy, when I get old enough, I want to bike everywhere like you."

Priceless.

I'm always excited to talk about gear or riding. You can find me on twitter: @tihm. I'm planning to start up a blog about my riding experiences and the stuff I use. You can follow the twitter account if you want to know when I get going: @PedalTransport.

Take a peek at maps of my rides:
Old commute: http://runkeeper.com/user/timharvey/activity/11430393
New commute (longer Shoaff Park route): http://runkeeper.com/user/timharvey/activity/68786108
New commute (shorter Reed Road route): http://runkeeper.com/user/timharvey/activity/75749359

I had met Tim through the Twitterverse and got to chat with him at our January Bike to Work Day at the Dash In. Hearing about where his commute by bike was about to take him I asked if he would like to write a post detailing his experiences. He took me up on it and I am so glad he did. Thanks Tim! If you are interested in writing about your bicycle commuting experiences, please contact me via twitter, @fwbikecommuter or email, fwbikecommuter@gmail.com

Enjoy

From the Netherlands to America: Translating the World's Best Bikeway Designs from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

How to get and keep Women commuting by bike

your-bike-love-videos from womenonbikessocal.org - StumbleUpon

Man this would be sweet!

Dutch Kids Pedal Their Own Bus To School | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

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Go Wisconsin!

Wis. lawmakers to consider bicycle passing rules - chicagotribune.com

If you make it safer for cyclists, or at least give them perceived sense of safety, more people will ride! If you want more people to ride, this must occur.

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The future is Utility Bikes

From a recently held contest in Oregon.
The Rest of the Story is HERE
Thanks to Lucas for the enlightenment.

Stuck on Earth: Going Where No Band Has Gone Before

Here is the Link to the website.
Consider donating.

Why the Post-Industrial Landscape Works as Places of Play

25 August 2011

from Rust Wire

Recently I have written a lot about physical abandonment and loss, or how vacancy can be a dispiriting and anger-provoking bit of sightliness: a skull at the societal banquet. But this doesn’t tell the whole story. As in abandonment there is also an opportunity to play.

To play is to ultimately recreate. To recreate monotony into entertainment—to recreate passivity into a kinetic interchange with the physics around you—to recreate what otherwise is into what could be through an outside molding of one’s inside imagination. To that end, play is the perfect medium to be thrown into abandonment if only as an act asserting life.

This perhaps helps explain the more recent phenomena of turning the bones of the post-industrial landscape into the limbs that make up a killer recreational spot. See below, a few…

The Whole Story

This guy is mindblowing

Thanks Paul P.!

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Sick

I don't understand how this guy isn't all sweaty at the end of this (Not like that is the only unrealistic aspect of this video). Totally awesome just the same.

bike repair vending machines? Holy Cow!

Check Out Minneapolis’ Bike Repair Vending Machines | Transportation Nation

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