Cult of the Bicycle

April 2008 - Posts

• On "Get-there-itis"

  An opinion piece published in the Orlando Sentinel asking that we all get along. One thing I've heard from cyclists and non-cyclists, alike, is: "That road is too dangerous for bikes." Of course, the roads themselves are not dangerous. It's the behavior of impatient and distracted motorists that creates danger. And most of us are guilty of it at one time or another. Isn't it time we all act to change behavior that kills more than 40,000 Americans each year? "Get-there-itis" is well known to pilots as a cause of preventable aviation crashes. Student pilots are instilled with the understanding that they must detach from a sense of urgency to get there and make sound decisions. Pilots know that irresponsible actions will cost them their hard-earned license. Perhaps if society placed a fraction of that emphasis on motorists, our entire traffic culture would look much different. Keri Caffrey, a cycling instructor with the League of American Bicyclists, has ridden a bike on the roads in Orlando for 22 years. Read the full story here. Please remember to take the Cyclelicious survey for a chance to win a CycleAware Stow Away bag. Posted Apr 30 2008, 11:58 PM by Cyclelicious

• Tim Jackson / Masiguy in the hospital

  Everybody's favorite bike blogger crashed hard at the velodrome, hitting the deck at 30+ mph and breaking bones and getting a concussion. more here. Posted Apr 30 2008, 03:15 PM by Cyclelicious

• Rockefellers: Change crucial for future of Exxon

  Members of the Rockefeller family, descendants of the man who founded ExxonMobil forerunner Standard Oil, are calling for changes in governance and is urging the company to cut greenhouse gas emissions and look into renewable fuels in shareholder resolutions sponsored by the family. Exxon management opposes the resolutions. The family "are concerned Exxon's senior management has tunnel vision and is too absorbed with the challenges of daily management of multibillion dollar oil and natural-gas projects to ask hard questions about the future of fossil fuels. Mr. Tillerson and other Exxon executives have said they believe oil and gas will represent the vast majority of energy consumption for decades," according to The Wall Street Journal. Although the family does not own a controlling share of ExxonMobil, the Rockefellers symbolic introduction of these resolutions has gotten the attention of management and hope other shareholders will join them. Read more at wsj.com. The London Times Online also discusses the challenges faced by ExxonMobil as they move into they future: While the Rockefellers beat their breasts, most shareholders will continue to love the fat Exxon dividend. Yet underlying the protest from the trust fund Rockers is a big problem for oil companies - their ever-increasing reliance on the support of governments and regulators. Exxon's riposte to the climate change and peak oil lobbies is that technology rather than regulation will provide answers to our energy problems. It is a disingenuous argument because the energy industry is at the governments' knees begging for help - big dollops of taxpayer cash to build experimental power stations. Tip of the hat to Jack for this article. Posted Apr 30 2008, 10:48 AM by Cyclelicious Filed under: peak oil

• Portland goes Platinum

  The city of Portland, Oregon has joined Davis, California as a Platinum level Bicycle Friendly Community. The League of American Bicyclists recognizes various levels of bicycle friendliness, with platinum at the highest level. "When Portland received the Gold award in 2003," said Andy Clarke, president of the league in Washington, D.C., "we challenged the community to increase ridership to get to Platinum. Bold leadership, community-wide involvement, and a lot of hard work have resulted in a 144 percent increase in bicycle use since the 2000 Census -- impressive results by any standard." The league's reviewers noted that Portland has coupled modest but smart investments in infrastructure, with outstanding education, promotion, and encouragement activities to make cycling a practical and safe option for many more Portlanders than ever before. Go Portland! Read more at Bike Portland. Posted Apr 29 2008, 06:15 PM by Cyclelicious

• Bike newbies on Caltrain

  As gas prices officially reached the $4 mark in San Francisco, Caltrain reported record weekday ridership of 36,993 for February 2008, a 9.3% increase over 2007. I'm not as scientific as Caltrain, but I'm seeing substantially more cyclists on the Caltrain bike cars, many of them with shiny new bikes. If you're on the platform with your bike and don't have a clue what's going on, please feel free to ask the other people around what to do. The BayRail Alliance also updated their Caltrain Bike Tips page today. I provided some of the input for that tips page, including the mild suggestion to "the idiot" the train nearly hit yesterday morning. Today is free ice cream cone day at Ben & Jerry's! Please also don't forgot to do the Cyclelicious survey. More: Bay Area drivers driving fewer miles as public transit use increases. Car pooling up in Bay Area. Posted Apr 29 2008, 04:16 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: san francisco

• Decorative decals for your deep dish aero rims

  Those monocolor aero rims are so 2007. Get with the program with Wheeltags rim decals. A variety of sizes are available to fit different rim sizes. Each "can" runs about $40 more or less (depending on the size) and comes with seven decals, enough to completely cover one side of a wheel. Learn more at Wheeltags and the Wheeltags blog. Posted Apr 29 2008, 02:28 PM by Cyclelicious

• CycleAware Stow Away backpack

  The new Stow Away backpack from CycleAware is a simple mesh bag perfect for carrying small, lightweight objects such as jackets, arm warmers, and small odds and ends like wallets. The mesh minimizes weight and sweat, while a reflective panel on the back improves visibility. In this video, Lee of Cycle Aware describes the benefits of the Stow Away cycling backpack. You can buy the Stow Away from sports retailers such as REI, from bike shops, or online from CycleAware.com for $15.95. U.S. residents have a chance to win this bag if you take this survey and enter your email address in the survey. I'm thinking about changing the direction of Cyclelicious and I'd like your feedback. Posted Apr 29 2008, 01:26 AM by Cyclelicious

• On road and cyclist rage: Wheels are evil

  From the Chicago Tribune: Rage between cars, bikes is a vicious wheel -- When I am in my car, cyclists vex the mess out of me. On my bicycle, cyclists and motorists vex the mess out of me. And at the root of it all is anger. Why? What's making us all so mad? "We're trained that way," said Leon James, a psychologist who has studied drivers and their psychology for 25 years. "It's cultural practice to be tough and say, 'Don't let them make a fool of you.' " That's right. You wake up angry, roll out of the house angry and are just waiting for the catalyst that turns anger into rage. Momentum Planet: Why all the bike hate? Hear hear! Beyond Chron: Bicyclists take to the streets for safety -- The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition organized a volunteer effort to mark road hazards with neon chalk sprayed over stencils. Bike Hugger: Safety First. City of Boulder, Colorado transportation allowance for the city manager, municipal judge and city attorneys is for a bicycle! But, they don't actually use the allowance. Missouri DOT tosses cyclists over the handlebars. Photo by Ian in Leicester. Posted Apr 28 2008, 05:23 PM by Cyclelicious

• Bike lock instruction video

  StreetFilms posted a great followup to Hal Ruzal's video in which he gives letter grades on the locking skills of bikes he sees in the neighborhood. Hal Ruzal is a mechanic at Bicycle Habitat in New York City. In the sequel, he's joined by Bike Church founder Kerri Martin. They evaluate the security of bikes locked to posts, poles and fences with quality Kryptonite locks and low cost "Craptoenite" locks and chains. Watch and learn how to lock your bike. Posted Apr 28 2008, 02:15 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: crime

• Kanstantin Sivtsov

  Who in the world is Kanstantin Sivtsov? How many spellings of that name have you seen? And how do you pronounce Siutsou / Sivtsov / Sweet Sue? And is it Konstantin or Kanstantin? For those who don't know, Kanstantin Sivtsov is the young cyclist on Team High Road who won the Tour de Georgia this last weekend. Sweet Sue hails from Belarus, for whom he dreams of riding for the Olympic cycling team. Frankie Andreu caught up to Kanstantin in this video interview. Sivtsov is obviously very proud of his Team High Road jersey, and he doesn't look or sound anything like Belov from "American Flyers." See also Kanstantin Sivtsov's page at Team High Road website. Posted Apr 28 2008, 01:03 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: pro cycling

• In praise of pie plates

  I agree with the Bike Snob that pie plates are about as misplaced on many bikes as the red skinsuit man, but they do have their utility. Pie plates are plastic rings placed against the spokes on the rear wheel of dérailleur equipped bicycles. They protect the wheel and derailleur against damage by preventing the chain or dérailleur from going into the spokes if the rear dérailleur is misadjusted. I once had to replace spokes, chain, derailleur and chainring for want of a spoke protector because my dérailleur hanger got bent in on the train. If you ride a high end road bike, you're expected to fiddle with the limit screws like a tweaking meth user, so get rid of the pie plate. Ditto for fixed gears, singlespeeds and hub geared bikes, which have no need for spoke protectors. If you ride your bike for transportation, though, and your bike is flung against other bikes, crammed into closets, dropped on the sidewalk and you otherwise don't want to mess with the gear adjustments, keep that spoke protector in place. Posted Apr 27 2008, 08:05 PM by Cyclelicious

• Bicycling to the Beijing Olympics

  14 people are traveling on their bicycles to the Beijing Olympics. They started in Olympia, Greece last February and will travel across Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China before their planned arrival on August 8 in time for the start of the 2008 Summer Olympics. This group are blogging about their adventures on Pentacycle.com. Posted Apr 27 2008, 06:40 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: blog

• Bicycle education material in Spanish

  To better serve families and communities throughout the state, Bicycle Colorado's education team is translating key Safe Routes to School materials into Spanish. More than 70,000 school-age students speak primarily Spanish in Colorado, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. "Providing our handouts and education materials in both English and Spanish allows us to effectively reach out to more students and families within our communities with bicycle and pedestrian safety messages," said Maggie Thompson, Bicycle Colorado education director. Bicycle Colorado wants all bicyclists in the state to have access to safety information and the rules of the road. After all, when more people ride bikes more often, everyone benefits. Posted Apr 25 2008, 02:03 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: colorado, safe routes

• Tour de Georgia 2008 photos

  Watch Dave Z zoom by in his Captain America outfit during the Team Time Trial at the Tour de Georgia in this fantastic photo by Ken Conley. Ken Conley got to ride the media motorcycle yesterday and captured several excellent photos before, during and after yesterday's stage at the Tour de Georgia. The TTT event took place, unusually, on the Road Atlanta road track, which features a number of sharp turns and steep hills. I've heard a couple of suggestions that the Tour of California should incorporate a similar event using the Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey, which I think is a splendid idea. James T posted about his fun at the TTT to his Bicycle Design blog and I just noticed that he uploaded his Tour de Georgia photos to a Flickr TdG set. Frank Steele (of TdFBlog) is an east coast guy and he also has his Tour de Georgia photo set on Flickr. Remember, you can always visit Steephill.TV for a good collection of links to more media, race results and coverage. Steven there is currently covering Tour de Georgia Stage 5 which is now in progress. You can also watch live video of the Tour de Georgia on WCSN.com (free registration required). Posted Apr 25 2008, 01:16 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: pro cycling

• Princeton Tec Swerve bicycle tail light

  The new Princeton Tec Swerve is my new favorite bicycle tail light. It features 2 half watt super bright LEDs, a multitude of mounting options, and a great big toggle switch for easy on/off operation. Princeton Tec introduced the Swerve light at the Sea Otter Classic last weekend. My biggest grip about most bike lights is lack of flexibility in mounting them. Princeton Tec has solved that problem with the Swerve, which has the best mountain system of any light I've seen, with a clip, brackets and multiple bands allowing you to mount the Swerve to just about any surface on your bike, your bag or your helmet. Princeton Tec even wants your photos of your unique mounting technique at the Swerve Your Bike website. With a pair of half watt LEDs (either flashing or persistent), the Swerve is brighter than the Planet Bike Superflash, which has a single half watt LED along with smaller flashing LEDs. According to Princeton Tec, one of the keys to the Swerve's effectiveness and visibility is that the LED's have different collimators (lens) - one is diffused, while the other is focused. This creates two different beams patterns that the viewing eye has to juggle. Enough light diffuses through the transparent red case to provide effective side lighting, also. The LEDs are bright enough to catch the eye even in daylight and through fog. A nice usability feature is the large toggle switch, which is very easily accessible and easy to operate while on the go. You can even flip the lens around to move the toggle from left to right if you want. I started my ride home from Monterey last Friday evening in daylight, but as dusk approached I reached around my seatpost and my fingers quickly found the toggle switch. My only gripe -- and it's fairly minor -- is the relatively slow flash rate compared to most modern LED tail lights. I really like the super fast flash on the Planet Bike Superflash, for example. The Princeton Tec Swerve will be available from outdoor and sports retail shops as well as bike dealers beginning in June for $29.95. Learn more at Swerve Your Bike and at Princeton Tec's blog. See also my review of the Princeton Tec Switchback headlight. Posted Apr 24 2008, 05:33 PM by Cyclelicious Filed under: review, light