Category: Biking Elsewhere

Governor Glendening addresses the conference attendees in Albuquerque after receiving his lifetime achievement award.
Governor Parris Glendening, who serves SGA as the President of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, received a few notable recognitions earlier in 2009.
In January Gov. Glendening received a lifetime achievement award at the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico in recognition of his years of tireless service to advance the ideas of smart growth — first in Maryland as an elected leader, and across the country in the years hence. The New Partners Conference honored his work as governor of Maryland and with the Smart Growth Leadership Institute.
Continue reading “Governor Glendening recognized for a lifetime of work”

You have been riding for a few months now, and you are looking to make a simple upgrade to your bike that could augment your on the bike performance. Ultimately, a newbie’s upgrade decision ought to focus on this inquiry: what equipment upgrade is going to prove the most worthwhile over time, and foster the greatest improvement in my performance? Lighter wheels are always a nice upgrade. And, high end competition or race wheels will definitely cut weight from your bike, and thereby deliver you a bit more
speed. Yet, perhaps the best initial equipment upgrade a newbie can make is the purchase of a clipless pedal system.

Clipless pedals offer riders a number of advantages. Most importantly, clipless pedals cultivate a more efficient and powerful pedal stroke. Notably, these systems permit you to better access your hamstrings and gluteus muscles during your upstroke. Accessing the hamstring and gluteus muscles on the upstroke in turn enables you to deliver a greater power transfer to the crank, and that increased power transfer produces a greater speed. Indeed, a
rider generates far more power using a clipless pedal system than he or she would produce employing a (now almost) obsolete toe clip systems.

Continue reading “THE NEWBIE CORNER: THE INESTIMABLE VALUE OF GOING CLIPLESS”

The most interesting part of the planner to me was the survey results showing that cyclists’ primary concern in selecting a route was to find one with low air pollution. It’s possible I read/viewed that incorrectly, but if true, that would seem to be an important factor in cycle route planning that I never even once considered as being important to us cyclists.
As best I can tell, Vancouver seems to be the Portland of Canada — fairly progressive biking policies, relatively speaking. Maybe that’s why Vancouver was just ranked 4th best city in the world for livability.
Continue reading “Vancouver Cycling Route Planner”

From the April 19th Times Record in Brunswick Maine:
A School Street man was charged with driving to endanger after brushing a bicyclist with his SUV Sunday morning on Maine St.
[Name retracted], 47, was summonsed after two bicyclists said he struck one of them in the arm with his vehicle as they rode northbound on Maine St, Brunswick Police Cmdr. Marc Hagan said Wednesday.
According to the statements, [Name retracted] then pulled over an exchanged words with the bicyclists, telling them they weren’t supposed to be in the roadway, Hagan said. The bicyclists reported [Name retracted] license plate number, and police charged him on Monday.
The incident wasn’t necessarily an accident, Hagan said, because it occurred because of the way he was driving. He was operating in such a way to create a danger. You?re supposed to give a bicycle rider three feet of room. Mr. [Name retracted] felt they shouldn’t have been in the roadway, but the fact is that bicyclists do have a right to be in the road, and if a car is coming the other way, (drivers) are supposed to wait (to pass).?
[Name retracted] also received a summons for failure to use care when passing a bicyclist.
Hagan said drivers should try to be more patient with bicyclists, but that bicyclists must also stay as far to the right as possible. [Note that the police have this bit of the law wrong.]
Continue reading “DRIVER CITED FOR BUMPING CYCLIST”

Streetfilms‘ Clarence Eckerson was in Portland recently for Filmed by Bike. While he was here, he teamed up with Dan Kaufman from Crank My Chain CycleTV to put together a new, 3-plus minute film that takes a look at “Bike Rush Hour” on Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge.
20% of the traffic on Hawthorn bridge is bike/ped that utilizes less then 10% of the space.
Continue reading “New from Streetfilms: Bike Rush Hour on the Hawthorne Bridge”

-> "As many as 56 percent of deadly crashes involve one or more unsafe driving behaviors typically associated with aggressive driving."
— "Aggressive Driving: Research Update;" April, 2009; AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
https://tinyurl.com/csoeev
-> "In the AAA Foundation’s 2008 Traffic Safety Culture Index, 78 percent of respondents rated aggressive drivers as a serious or extremely serious traffic safety problem, yet nearly half of these same people reported exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph on major highways in the past 30 days. Substantial numbers also admitted accelerating to try to beat traffic lights, honking at other drivers, tailgating and pressuring other drivers to speed up, illustrating the AAA Foundation’s "Do as I say, not as I do" critique of the prevailing driving culture."
— "Aggressive Driving: Research Update;" April, 2009; AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
https://tinyurl.com/csoeev

Information bulletins have been developed for professionals and community members who want to build a case for active transportation in their community. Academic, government and non-government sources are used to build a strong case for implementing active transportation opportunities at the local level. Canadian sources are used whenever available. All bulletins are available in English and French.

Each bulletin includes evidence that supports the investment of time and resources for active transportation opportunities at the local level. They focus on designing communities for moving people and not cars. Recommended actions to increase and strengthen collaborative partnerships for active transportation are also included.

Making the Case for Active Transportation:

• # 1 – Health Benefits (download now)

• # 2 – Barriers to Active Transportation (download now)

• # 3 – Economic Benefits (coming soon)

• # 4 – Environmental Benefits (coming soon)

• # 5 – Built Infrastructure (coming soon)

• # 6 – Safety (coming soon)

• # 7 – Increasing Social Capital (download now)

• # 8 – Role for Municipal Decision Makers (download now)

Continue reading “Welcome to “Making the Case for Active Transportation””

…Portland police, however, have quickly come through with training videos exhibiting the less-than-polite, profanity-ridden responses that traffic cops get from some drivers they ticketed last year.
"I don’t see why you have to pick on a bus driver," one operator caught blowing through a red light tells Officer Josh Ladd before grabbing the citation from the cop’s hand, saying "give me that ****ing thing."
Ladd videotaped these two stops last year while patrolling Portland in an unmarked car designed to catch aggressive drivers. In this week’s column, Ladd insisted that the frequency of TriMet buses blowing through red lights has become "absolutely appalling."
Judging from this video, the same could be said about the way some bus drivers treat officers who catch them committing violations that clearly put other drivers on the road at risk.
Continue reading “Bus drivers gone wild: The greatest hits”

At the first Delaware Bike Summit last Friday, March 24, Governor Jack Markell signed a Complete Streets Executive Order. The Delaware DOT now will be required, whenever possible, to incorporate all transportation modes into road design and maintenance.
"We can agree, certainly, that bicycles are inexpensive and environmentally friendly, but there’s also no escaping the reality that the vast majority of our transportation infrastructure is designed for cars and trucks," said Markell.
The 275 attendees also heard from Complete Streets advocate and friend Michael Ronkin, whose keynote speech emphasized the need road diets to slow traffic and make room for bicyclists and pedestrians. "We need to make changes because roads are extremely inefficient when used only by one mode of transportation," Ronkin said. "We can significantly raise the capacity of our roads by including other forms of transportation."
Continue reading “Complete Streets in Delaware”