Cult of the Bicycle

March 2008 - Posts

• Corn rationed in 2008?

  Alisha came to my door yesterday asking me to sign a petition to promote the use of alternative fuels in California. I declined because most alternative fuel schemes only prolong the damage inflicted by our fundamentally unsustainable transportation system. Yes, I'm a participant of that system, and any change will be very painful for everybody, even those who are car-free. And now I read the news that there may be real, honest to God food shortages in the United States this year. Analysts say that corn may be rationed in 2008 because of insufficient supply and increased demand. In part this is a backlash from overplanting in 2007, which caused corn prices to fall and bean prices to rise. U.S. farmers are expected to plan 8% less corn from 2007 while demand for ethanol production remains high. I'm not against all forms of motorized transportation: they certainly make life easy and convenient, and I'm for ease and convenience. But we're now at the point of choosing between food and fuel, and I'd much rather eat than drive. Here's another petition, except I support this one. Via. Posted Mar 31 2008, 05:24 PM by Cyclelicious

• My Alibi women's cycling underwear

  Pro MTB racer Abbie Durkee and her sister Moriah have started My Alibi to inspire more women to get on bicycles. Their perspective is that if more women felt beautiful on a bike, they would be happier, and healthier. The vision is that as communities become more localized and gas prices rise the practicality of bicycles will be more evident in America just as they are in much of Europe. Their first product are the My Alibi Bloomers. These cycling under crackers are made in Italy using top of the line Lycra with a Pro quality gel pad for maximum booty protection. With no binding elastic and a low cut waist they virtually disappear under your favorite skirt, Capri, or shorts according to My Alibi. Leaving you feeling light and pretty, they are your little secret while cruising around comfortably on your bike. With spring arriving now is a perfect time for My Alibi's Bloomers to get some use! As a Pro level MTB racer, Abbie Durkee, has spent many hours in the saddle and has listened to the testimonies of all types female riders. The common tune is a desire to feel feminine while on a bike. This has inspired her to create the Bloomers an essential base layer to wearing fashionable feminine clothing on a bike. Currently the Bloomers are the only innovative product My Alibi has on the market but these sisters are working hard to release an entire line of coordinating fashionable styles. Posted Mar 31 2008, 04:27 PM by Cyclelicious

• Stupid bike lanes

  Everybody is talking about the stupidest bike lane video, but Karl in the UK posts a video of his 10 meter bike lane in the UK. Do you know of any shorter? Via Carlton. Posted Mar 31 2008, 03:28 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: facilities

• Dog powered trike

  Here's video of the dog trike and a dog scooter in action. Buy from this guy. Via the newly renamed Cophagenize. Posted Mar 31 2008, 01:28 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: pets

• Bicycle website

  Michael is a 10 year bike commuting veteran in Ashland, Oregon, where he's current a grad student in an online program for Environmental Management and is interested in the concept of environmental behavior change. Michael and his friends believe more people should try biking to work, and he's researched the best ways to use the Internet to promote biking to work. Michael has surveyed bike commuters and used focus groups to discuss what motivates bike commuters and what barriers need to be overcome to encourage commuting by bike. He started the website velocommuter to provide knowledge and inspiration for the average person to try commuting by bike. "Some may hate it," says Michael, "but lots of people will probably love it and think that it is a simple way to reduce consumption of oil while getting a great workout." Michael also really wants to push the Velocommute Pledge Page -- pledge to commit to biking to work once per week, and the site will tell you how much you save in CO2 emissions. Tim is a cyclist in Buffalo, NY. He started Bike Wire, a free website for cyclists featuring social networking, stat tracking & graphing, honor code leaderboard, blogging, photo, and meatworld networking. The idea is that John Doe fro Orlando, FL should be able to sign up for BikeWire and have instant access to his area's ride maps, clubs, teams, group rides, and more that have been posted by Orlando's users. This one isn't cycling related but it may be of interest to some of you: TransitRant is a forum to rant about your public transportation. Personal note: I went to a birthday party this afternoon with some Filipino friends and was introduced to one of their delicacies -- balut. Google for images of this treat, if you dare. I literally lost a portion of my lunch. Posted Mar 30 2008, 01:06 AM by Cyclelicious

• Bicycles in the news

  Bicycles in the news from Los Angeles, Bangalore, East Sussex, Rawalpindi, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and London. Click through for the stories. British Conservative Party MP Boris Johnson, who is known for his outlandish persona and love of cycling for transportation, is running for Mayor of London and pushes cycling in his platform. He has been the victim of several bike thefts and has expressed his desire to plant "decoy bicycles throughout Islington and send Navy Seals in through the windows of thieves." Paul McCartney is back on the bicycle with a new riding partner. Los Angeles: Cyclists are your friends. It's crazy, but we cyclists think that we're a transportation solution, as local activist Stephen Box is fond of saying. We think more riders on major boulevards during rush hour will solve LA's congestion problems - and in a green way. Why? Because while cyclists might appear to impede traffic when you're stuck behind one huffing and puffing uphill, they actually free up traffic. For every instance where a cyclist slows you down, there are 100 times they pass through congested traffic unnoticed. That means one less car in that traffic jam. When you get to your destination and go to park, that cyclist translates into one more available parking space. Edinburgh: Cyclist ban on local trails may be illegal. Bangalore: A cyclist's confessions The resolution to use the cycle to go places within a 10-km radius of my home amid honk-happy motorists on Bangalore roads made me learn a lot of things - like patience and perseverance. If one has lost anything, it is weight - 10 kg in seven months. "Nothing can help me unwind as much as cycling after a hard day's work" was my belief. And in Pakistan: The Rawalpindi city government will distribute bicycles to sewer workers. In South Wales, police are searching for a flasher on a bike. Photo: "Cook's cycle girl" by Steve Garfield. Posted Mar 28 2008, 03:05 PM by Cyclelicious

• Talking about bicycles

  In 1946, author C.S. Lewis published his short essay "Talking about bicycles," in which he describes the simple happiness of riding a bicycle, even for utilitarian trips. C.S. Lewis never bought a car and never learned to drive "very well." Click through to read Lewis's essay. "Talking about bicycles," said my friend, "I have been through the four ages. I can remember a time in early childhood when a bicycle meant nothing to me: it was just part of the huge meaningless background of grown-up gadgets against which life went on. Then came a time when to have a bicycle, and to have learned to ride it, and to be at last spinning along on one's own, early in the morning, under trees, in and out of the shadows, was like entering Paradise. That apparently effortless and frictionless gliding--more like swimming than any other motion, but really most like the discovery of a fifth element--that seemed to have solved the secret of life. Now one would begin to be happy. But, of course, I soon reached the third period. Pedalling to and fro from school (it was one of those journeys that feel up-hill both ways) in all weathers, soon revealed the prose of cycling. The bicycle, itself, became to me what his oar is to a galley slave." "But what was the fourth age?" I asked. "I am in it now, or rather I am frequently in it. I have had to go back to cycling lately now that there's no car. And the jobs I use it for are often dull enough. But again and again the mere fact of riding brings back a delicious whiff of memory. I recover the feelings of the second age. What's more, I see how true they were--how philosophical, even. For it really is a remarkably pleasant motion. To be sure, it is not a recipe for happiness as I then thought. In that sense the second age was a mirage. But a mirage of something." "How do you mean?", said I. "I mean this. Whether there is, or whether there is not, in this world or in any other, the kind of happiness which one's first experiences of cycling seemed to promise, still, on any view, it is something to have had the idea of it. The value of the thing promised remains even if that particular promise was false--even if all possible promises of it are false."   --C.S. Lewis, Present Concerns. "Talking About Bicycles." Posted Mar 28 2008, 12:31 PM by Cyclelicious

• Bicycle prices on the way up up up and away!

  Masiguy does an excellent job explaining what's going on in the bike industry with price increases. The falling dollar, dramatically higher costs from labor, raw materials, energy and so forth is resulting in significantly higher costs for bike companies while the US and global economy is slowing. Small player Masi is concerned about consolidation, as well they should be since that's what happens when the economy slows. There's some indication that bike sales may go up as people try to save gas money by biking to work and errands, though the more profitable high end of the market will probably suffer. It might interest you to know that one of the cyclists who was killed by the Sheriff's deputy in Cupertino the other week, Matt Peterson, was a bike buyer for Wal-Mart. Most of the bikes I see on my commute are still things like Dave's $100 road bike shown here, available from Target. Posted Mar 27 2008, 03:15 PM by Cyclelicious

• Bicycle Neglect

  I posted about this months ago, but it's worth another mention. Bicycle Neglect is a series of articles by Alan Durning about why most Seattle area cities don't treat bicycles as transportation, which communities are doing the best job, and what's at stake. Elsewhere: Bicycle Design on the NYC better bike racks contest. Like father like son: Taylor Phinney goes fast. And here's the whole Phinney family in the New York Times. Kansas City on a bike. Brian informs me that Land Rover started out as a bicycle: the Starley & Sutton Co's Rover Safety Bicycle, which replaces the unstable penny farthing bicycles of its day. The Cheeseburger Footprint. Posted Mar 27 2008, 02:52 PM by Cyclelicious

• Almost famous

  James spotted a photo of me on Treehugger today! Well, a small part of me, anyway - you can see my left knee in the corner of the photo. The photo below isn't me, but it's in the top 10 of popular photos in my Flickr account. My Flickr photos have been popular this last week. SFist used my Market Street cyclist photo, as did Bike Hugger. An Italian eco blog liked one of my bikes on train photos. My deliberate link bait almost worked Bike Hugger. A Spanish solar power blog illustrated an article about solar power in Japan with this photo of workers installing photovoltaic panels on my parents' home in Japan. And finally, this Anglican website liked my "Children at church" photograph. Posted Mar 26 2008, 05:04 PM by Cyclelicious

• DIY bite valve hydration system for cyclists

  Bay Area cyclist Alison Chaiken doesn't like backpack hydration systems. The plastic bladder is easy to puncture, difficult to clean and expensive to replace. The backpack is annoying to cyclists. Alison came up with this homebrew bite valve hydration system that uses PET soda bottles and other readily available parts. Gents, Alison is single. She's a physicist who likes working with large powered tools. For more DIY bike stuff, see Bike Hacks. Posted Mar 26 2008, 02:17 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: diy

• 18.9 mph

  That was my average speed on my 23 mile commute from Menlo Park and across Santa Clara County last evening, according to my cyclocomputer which only measures time when I'm actually moving. I spent 14 minutes waiting at red lights and stop signs. If I divide 23 miles (the distance) by 1 hour 27 minutes (the actual wall time spent in transit), my average speed drops down to 15.9 mph. I'm starting to ride the full distance more often now that we have some daylight. I'll make a more formal announcement later, but if you want to join my bike train riding from San Jose to Palo Alto/Menlo Park, please drop me a line. In the mornings, I leave San Jose near the Shark Tank at either 6:55 AM or 7:30 AM. In the evenings, I pass through downtown Palo Alto a little after 5 PM. I can't usually leave work that early so the evening ride is fairly rare. I'll take any of several routes. Coming from San Jose, these are: 1. Any of various routes to Central Expressway, then Rengstorf, Middlefield, University (the fastest route). 2. Park St, Monroe, Evelyn, California St in Mountain View, Wilkie Way, Meadow, Bryant (the bike-friendly route). 3. Park St., Homestead Rd, Foothill Expressway, Page Mill Rd, California Station underpass, Bryant (the fun route). 4. The Alameda and El Camino Real straight up the Peninsula (the crazy man's route). I'm flexible if you need to stop off at an intermediate point, e.g. if you work at Google or NASA I'm willing to go that way and hop on the Bay trails that lead into East Palo Alto. I'm an assertive rider, but I do stop at red lights and yield proper right of way at stop signs. The 18+ mph average speed is on my road bike; when I'm on my pannier equipped commuter or my fixed gear bike, my average speed is closer to 15 mph, sometimes even less. If you're faster than me, I'm an incurable wheelsucker. Posted Mar 26 2008, 01:10 PM by Cyclelicious

• Tuesday testimony: Tammy Thomas took tonic

  Illinois chemist and former bodybuilder Patrick Arnold testified that he shipped steroids to former Olympic cyclist Tammy Thomas in testimony during Thomas's perjury trial. Thomas was indicted in December 2006 for lying to the grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) in Burlingame, CA. Thomas was banned from competition for life in 2002 after she tested positive for the steroid norbolethone. Norbolethone, first developed in the 60s, was pulled from clinical trials in the 70s because of its toxicity. More: San Francisco Chronicle coverage of Tammy Thomas trial. ESPN: BALCO chemist becomes witness. Steroid Nation: The interesting case of Tammy Thomas: In her current photo, I see a slender, attractive woman. Look at the close-up from 2002, at which time Ms. Thomas expressed an anabolic androgen in her urine. The photo looks like an androgenized female. Rugged looks. Male pattern baldness. San Francisco Examiner Prosecutors outline case against BALCO figure Tammy Thomas: Federal prosecutors said Thursday they have "overwhelming" proof that former Olympic cyclist Tammy Thomas lied when she told a grand jury that she never used steroids, including a high-end bicycle they allege she traded for performance-enhancing drugs when she was low on cash. The prosecutors quote a doctor's report in August 2000 suggesting that Thomas had to shave a full beard, a steroids side effect for women. According to the government's filing, Dr. Margaret Wierman wrote Thomas that she feared the cyclist was exposing herself to long-term health problems if she continued to ingest steroids. Also testifying will be Kelcey Dalton, the chemist's live-in girlfriend at the time who said she had several phone conversations with Thomas during a three-month period several years ago. Dalton and Thomas' conversations "consisted of talk about weightlifting and steroids, in particular about steroids side-effects," the government's court filing stated. According to the filing, Thomas offered Dalton a LeMond racing bicycle in exchange for some of Arnold's designer steroids. "The deal was made and Dalton still has the bicycle," the filing stated. Trust But Verify mentions the Thomas trial in the Saturday roundup and the Wednesday roundup. Her side of the story in this New York Times article: "Every day is the same day," she said in her gravelly voice. "I used to be well respected. I made my parents proud. Now I've embarrassed my family. For the rest of my life, wherever I go and whatever I do, I'm going to be known as a cheater." Tammy Thomas photo by Casey Gibson. Posted Mar 26 2008, 11:21 AM by Cyclelicious Filed under: doping

• Make cycling safer

  David R. Ragland, P.D., is the director of the UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center and teaches traffic safety planning and injury courses in the UC Berkeley Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Public Health. The San Francisco Chronicle posted his essay on improving cyclist safety in their Opinion section. If we are going to encourage cycling and walking (and taking transit) for the "greater good," we must be sure we know the effect of our policies. We need to make sure that our efforts to encourage people to do the right thing don't place them in harm's way. Ragland also, surprisingly, advocates for centerline rumble strips. In the past, cycling advocacy groups typically lobby against such strips, because they discourage drivers from crossing the centerline when passing cyclists. The Chron also published an opinion piece by S.F. Bike Coalition Executive Director Leah Shahum: In the wake of the tragic deaths of two cyclists in Cupertino, I am startled by a looming prejudice against those who choose to ride bikes, particularly in the media. Though it is clear that these cyclists were not at fault when they were killed by a deputy sheriff veering across the road, what has surfaced is an inexcusable "blame the victim" sentiment. We have seen articles about which streets are "most dangerous" for bicyclists, stories about how often cyclists are deemed at fault by police in collisions, and reports of bad cyclist behavior. The Cupertino tragedy has been portrayed as a "bicycle safety" story, instead of what it really is, a story about the risks of dangerous driving. If that deputy had veered across the road into an oncoming VW Beetle or Mazda Miata instead of a line of cyclists, the occupants of that car would likely be seriously injured or dead, as would the driver himself. Read more. Posted Mar 26 2008, 09:49 AM by Cyclelicious Filed under: safety

• Airbag for cyclists

  It's for motorcyclists, not bicyclists, but I can kind of see how something like this might work for bicyclists. The video demonstrates the Dainese D Air racing air bag system, which is designed for use in Dainese motorcycle racing suits. Bicyclists don't tend to wear much protective gear -- we're usually much slower than motorcycle racers and heat can be a problem -- but this product brings some possibilities to mind. Hat tip to Sue for this. Posted Mar 25 2008, 02:59 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: safety