Bikemobile!

OMG, guess what the public library in Victoria is doing now? They've got a Bikemobile touring the streets and attending local events.
http://gvpl.ca/about-the-library/our-community/bikemobile/

Places You Can't Ride Bikes

Check out the blog at terratrike.com! Someone's posted a list of five places where you can't ride a bicycle.

New Linear Trail!

Just got a press release from the Capital Regional District (CRD) here in greater Victoria. Looks like the CRD is trying to pick a new name for the new linear park. It's a trail that mostly follows the route of the E & N railway from downtown Victoria through to the western communities. The trail will be used by bicycles and pedestrians, much like the existing bike trails in the Victoria area.
The need for this trail has been obvious to anyone riding on the Galloping Goose trail in summer. The Goose has become a crowded commuter route! With any luck, the new trail will take some of the bike traffic along a convenient route. Here's the press release:

Media Release
For Immediate Release June 2, 20112
Be A Part of History: Name the CRD’s Next Regional Trail!
Victoria, BC – The Capital Regional District, in partnership with CFAX 1070, is launching a community contest to name its next regional trail. You can be a part of history by giving it a name!
This new commuter cycling and recreation trail will be built largely within the E & N rail corridor in Victoria, Esquimalt, View Royal and Langford.
“This next regional trail will be an important multi-use transportation link between Victoria and the Westshore,” said CRD Regional Parks Committee Christopher Causton. “With construction of the trail underway, it is an opportune time to create awwareness, enthusiasm and support for it through a naming coontest. The working name E & N Rail Trail is also a candidate.”
The contest is open to everyone. Make it memorable. Make it relevant. Make it fun. But enter a name before the contest closes on July 14th.
A jury will help to select a name. Final decision will rest with the CRD Regional Parks Committe and CRD Board.
For contest details and entry form visit sustainableu.ca/namethattrail.
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For further information please contact:
Laurie Sthamann, Communications Coordinator, Regional Parks
Capital Regional District
Tel: 250.360.3332 Cell: 2500.889.8030

Tour de Victoria

The first Tour de Victoria took place today, and I had a great time without even getting on my bike. I was a volunteer marshal, one of over 400 volunteers for the bike event. In a perfect world, I would have ridden my bike to the spot I was assigned, but Bernie dropped me off as he took Karl & Stephanie's car to go bird-sitting.
It was a thrilling day! I got to see the host for the ride, Ryder Hesjedal as he rode past my location. I'm sure that one of those hard-bodied speed demons in the lead peloton was Ryder. They all looked muscular, and focused. Lemme tell ya, after a hundred and twenty klicks with a few hills along the way, fifty guys all wearing Lycra and a layer of sweat & road dust look a lot like Ryder. And that's the way it should be.
There's a reason I participated in the Tour as a volunteer rather than a rider. The route was 140 km long, and people were expected to complete it in less than six hours. There was an alternate route only 90 km long. And for those shrieking "ONLY?" there was also a Family Ride around Beacon Hill Park with Silken Laumann, which was a very inclusive alternative.
Out of the twelve hundred or so riders I applauded, there were three odd bikes on the course. One was a recumbent, another a tandem, and I spotted a folding bike's tiny wheels. One woman wore a helmet cover that looked like a yellow puffer fish -- very sporty! But my vote for Biker of the Day goes to the man riding next to a woman as their peloton of friends approached the hill on King George Terrace. He stretched out his arm and put one hand at the base of her spine, giving her a little boost as they took that first curving slope on the double-slope hill. Good man.

My sexy new ride: Norco Heart

Just picked this up yesterday. I was looking for something inexpensive for noodling around town as I get a little paranoid leaving my Salsa Fargo locked up by itself. Sticker price on this bike is $390 Canadian (I could buy 5 or 6 of these for what the Fargo is worth).

It's a single-speed bike, the rear hub is a "flip-flop" which will let you run it freewheel or "fixie" for old-school riding (just turn the wheel around, there are cogs on both sides). I added the white pedals to go with the white wheels and white chain. And got a nice looking white cable lock to finish the look.

Another shout-out to the guys at Oak Bay Bikes, they gave me a great deal on an already inexpensive ride. Specs: http://www.norco.com/bikes/urban/suit/heart/

Back to the Future part whatever...

The Victorians built them. There are still collectors looking for them and paying premium prices. Have a look at a Bamboo Bike being built.

Bikes. They're Not Just For Bikes Anymore.

Hackable. Open-source. Not usually phrases attached to bikes. But this is the age of Velosynth. Coming from EFFALO, a maker collective (EFFALO was chartered to synthesize, modulate, and deploy multimodal interaction environments that promote expressive feedback between humans, nature and technology)out of Portland, Velosynth is a bike gear add-on that  converts multiple inputs from your cycling experience into data read by a synthesizer. As John Lennon said; "Strange days indeed."
There's an excellent short article at the synthgear website, and the velosynth preview video should be embedded below.


velosynth release#001 from velosynth on Vimeo.

Bicycle Kitchen for Walker Repairs

Bicycle Kitchens Rock!
Well, we knew that. We knew that for certain when a Bike Kitchen was set up at the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria. We've been on the UVic campus, scooting around with a friend and her kids on bikes, and made darn sure to get everybody over to the SUB. There's the Bike Kitchen, with clamps and pressurized air, and all sorts of tools tethered to the posts.
Today we found another use for the Bike Kitchen: doing maintenance on a walker. Nope, not a pedestrian -- the wheeling frame that some people use for support when walking. Celu's walker had developed an annoying squeak in the front wheels after the December snowfall. When she mentioned it, Bernie's talents at tuning up bicycles got mentioned also. Could he possibly oil the squeak? He turned up on campus to meet her for tea, with some tools and a couple kinds of bike chain oil (I'm not sure what all was in his knapsack).
It was great, to see him take each of the four wheels off Celu's walker, clean them, lube them, and put them back. Who would have thought that walkers could get maintenance as simply as bikes? Hot damn! Three cheers for human powered transportation, in yet another form!

2010 Norco CCX-SL - A preview of what is to come! on Twitpic

Uh oh.

Must. Resist. Temptation.

Bendable bike

Bike uses a ratchet system to maintain rigidity while riding. When you go to lock it up you can wrap the whole bike around a post!

http://news.discovery.com/tech/bendable-bike-wraps-around-post.html

Two-Wheel Triumph!

From the Guardian:

Armed with a netbook, medical supplies and a bicycle, Bangladesh's InfoLadies are giving millions of poor people access to crucial information on their doorsteps that will improve their chances in life.

Seriously, check out the article.

The Controversy!

Here we see the American cycling team in black Lyrca bike shorts:

And here we see the Polish (I believe) team in red Lycra:

(Images thanks to eatn!neghost)

So the controversy continues--can anything other than black Lycra bike shorts ever look good? 

Playgrounds for Seniors: A Fun and Practical Idea Gets the Elderly in Motion

This isn't about cycling, but it is about fitness. Since most people can ride a bike well into their senior years, I figure anything else on fitness is worth posting here. Plus this is a great way to use playgrounds that might otherwise be little utilized. Even playgrounds that are shared, imagine grandma taking her grandchildren to play while she gets some exercise in too.

Playgrounds for Seniors: A Fun and Practical Idea Gets the Elderly in Motion

Yike!

Well, back in August, I posted the teaser video for the new Yike Bike. Well, it's here. A radical re-design of two-wheel transport, and costing about $5,000 apparently.





I have to say that I love the way it folds into a shoulder bag. Looks really interesting--I'd love to try one.

Iron Curtain Ride

Just when I was feeling kinda cutting-edge smug about being on top of things, reality jumps up and once again shows me up as an unimaginative person. The latest reality bite is a 3,600 kilometre bike route that follows the old Iron Curtain. OMG, what a ride that would be. Check out an article and some photos here from Paul Kaye's ride. Talk about taking the lane!

Getting Girls on Bikes

The Guardian today posted a link to its bike blog, lamenting a dismal statistic. In the UK, teenage girls cycle an average of 24 miles a year, compared with 138 miles travelled by boys on bikes.
How to get more girls on bikes? The issue is discussed pretty quickly, covering in particular the problem that many bikers have of arriving somewhere dirty and/or sweaty. Maybe girls don't want to be tousled and grubby, is the suggestion.
Two more sensible suggestions come from the blog posts after the article. One blogger points out with whimsy that based on his associates' fawning over pink sparkly tvs and technology, well, pink sparkly bikes would have more appeal to some girls. But the best suggestion comes from the blogger who points out that there is a perfectly good cycling infrastructure in most towns and cities in the UK (and probably most urban areas in Western countries) -- it's just clogged with rude MOTOR VEHICLE drivers. Thin out the vehicle traffic and it just might be safe enough to ride around a lot more.

More Stupid Bike Lanes

Courtesy of SlateV...

Crap Bike Lanes

You think the bicycle lanes in your city are bad? Check these out. The Guardian has posted an album with the fitting title of "Crap Bike Lanes," a collection and unsafe and just plan ridiculous bike lanes, like this one with a lamp post in it every 100 feet. But wait -- there's more! They even have a flickr group! Check it out, then hang your head in disbelief.

Winter is coming

And it's time to prep you and your bike. Check out this checklist from the Guardian newspaper in Britain. Here's the first two on the list. Oh, and check out some of the cool gear links-- like Dashing Tweeds.

1. Winterproof your bike

To help your steed cope with gritted roads and grimy puddles, you need to prepare it for the horrors ahead. Clean it properly and then apply an all-weather lubricant to the chain and any other parts where metal meets metal. Don't go mad. The oil should not drip and must under no circumstances must it touch your brake pads or wheel rims.

2. Get lights

With the rapidly decreasing number of daylight hours, a good set of lights is more important than ever. Any brand will do, just check the running time and avoid any that use expensive, awkwardly shaped batteries. Knog lights are very popular, and clip straight onto most bikes without fiddly brackets (knog.com.au). You can also get flashing pedals such as those made by Pedalite (pedalite.com).

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Mes nouveaux vélos

I promised the gang a report from Montréal on the subject of Bixi, the new public bicycle system, which I joined just in time for Anticipation, the 2009 World SF Convention, and here it is. No pictures - keep forgetting to go out and snap some bikes at their stands. But my effort may be redundant.

I signed up and paid my initial subscription on-line while still in Victoria - $28 for a month, which covers any number of 30 minute trips (as long as they're at least 5 minutes apart) during the month. Any number, not one per day. When I arrived back from Victoria, helmet in holdall, my package was waiting, including a shiny red plastic key with an identifying number and embedded chip-that-tells-all, and a small foldout map indicating stations and coverage and bicycle routes. The only complaint I have about the latter is it doesn't show the direction of these bicycle routes. I had to log in to the website to activate the key, and on Wednesday August 5, I was ready for my maiden voyage, down to the Convention Centre to help set up.

So, out to the stand nearest where I lived, put the key into the slot by the bicycle. Yes! Green light. Tug at bike. Nothing happens. Tug a little harder at bike. Nothing happens. Try another bike. Oops, red light. Back to original bike, insert key, get green light. Tug firmly, bike releases. Magnetized holder.

OK, I haz bike. It's a solid, sit-up-and-beg design, dull silver finish, broad black plastic handlebars. Cradle with a bungee cord in front to function as a carrier. Helmet on, adjust seat, hop on, wobble into bike lane. Haven't done this for a while. After a couple of blocks I discover first a second and then a third gear, accessed by twisting a ring medial to the right handlebar. By then the wobble has evened out considerably, and I'm picking up speed in the bike lane heading down St Urbain, dodging the cracks, the manhole covers and the potholes.

That first run was straight down St Urbain to the Convention Centre, the only hazard some construction that narrowed the street down uncomfortably. I missed having a handlebar mirror - my neck ain't made of rubber no more. It took 13 minutes, according to my trip record on Bixi Space. There was a stand with vacant spaces just outside the Convention Centre, so I cruised to a stop, lifted the bike into place, pushed, green light went on, all done.

Getting home proved to be more of a challenge, since by the time I left the Convention Centre, my straight route through the centre was blocked off due to a street festival. I worked my way east and west and eventually found myself going up Saint-Laurent with all the diverted night traffic, jousting with a bus and dodging parallel-parkers. Trip home, 29 minutes, one shy of the 30 minute free limit. Based on that experience, the next home trip I did, I caught the metro past the centre of town, and then picked up a bike.

The longest trip I've done so far was a 33 minute run to the limits of the service at Jean-Talon. For that I will have incurred a $1.50 fare. That was the first bike I reported as having problems, having discovered after I started out that not only was one of the brake levers broken in half, but the gears were slipping - I suspect a previous rider had tried to force 10 gears out of 3. Every time I hit a bump, it would spontaneously drop a gear. Mind you, that was to be preferred to the Millennium Sparrow's (my 1980 Nishiki, aka the Spuggie) trick of gearing up in cold weather, particularly on hills. Reporting in consisted simply of pushing a button on the station. The only other problem I've encountered is a bike that refused to check in at the first 2 stands I tried, but I requested an extension on my time, went round the block and it checked in fine. It would be an advantage to have a cellphone for such occasions, and it would be best to make allowances in timing for not getting the bike into the first station.

The one-way deal is wonderful. It frees me up to, for instance, bike in daylight and take the Metro back late at night (the bike is, however, equipped with reflectors and a flashing head-light), or bike to the market with empty bags and take the Metro back with 5 lbs of tomatoes and 3 lbs each of apples and pears (I go a little crazy in the market). I get the impression the bikes are well used: I see quite a number of them during commuting hours along the main cycling thoroughfares, pedalled by people in business suits, and I see them by ones and twos in the side streets off hours, pedalled by tourists. The same rack, completely full in the morning, will be completely empty in the early evening. There are iPhone apps for tracking availability.

Bixi announced recently that it will be moving into London and to Boston, and I see they are doing a trial run in Ottawa-Gatineau. Hmm, I wonder if my key would work ...?