A new service for Northern Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania cyclists, the Mobile Wrench is here to provide the ultimate in personal and professional bicycle service at your home or office, at a price you can’t beat!
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Look how far we have come in 72 years
"If the sociologist wrinkles his brow over the why of this new interest in pushing the pedal instead of the accelerator, his furrows are as nothing compared to those of park and safety commissioners.
In Europe, where bicycles are economically important as a means of transportation, special cycle lanes have long been in use. In the Victorian heyday of the American bike, the "high-wheeler" or "safety" could turn down any lane at no greater risk than frightening a horse and arousing the blasphemy of its driver.
But America’s billion-dollar highways, many of them barely wide enough to accommodate two lanes of two-ton machines hurtling at 40 to 60 mph in either direction, are death traps to the cyclists. Pedestrians don’t want bicycles on the sidewalks; they are barred in many parks.
Where then, ask 4 or 5 million young Americans, can we ride? Build cycle paths of gravel or rolled-grass on the shoulders of highways, say the growing number of adult cyclists. We bought our children bicycles, say parents, because riding is a healthful sport. But approximately 700 cyclists were killed by automobiles in 1937, 300 of them between the ages of 5 and 14. More than 35,000 riders were injured in 1937. Construct bicycle paths in public parks!
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Walkscore innovators turn to improving public transportation
Front Seat, the civic software company responsible for the massively popular Walkscore service, launched a new project today aimed at encouraging public transportation ridership. The project makes transit agency schedule data available, accessible, and open to developers so they can create applications to make it easier to ride. CityGoRound.org is a new portal where you can find the many applications developers have created to ease and increase the convenience of riding transit. Their mission, outlined on a newly launched site today, is very simple:
Our mission is to help make public transit more convenient. For example, an app that lets you know when your bus will arrive is way better than standing outside waiting for 20 minutes. If we can make public transit more convenient, more people will ride public transit. More people riding public transit equals less driving. Less driving equals a healthier planet.
To accomplish that, they’re doing three things: cataloging the hundreds of smartphone/web applications people have created to make riding public transit easier, putting pressure on agencies across the country that have not released their public data, and raising awareness of the need for government agencies to open up their data.
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"Million Car Challenge Campaign"
December 15, 2009 we begin the “Million Car Challenge Campaign”.
Campaign Stickers will be available to order at that time.
BIKE CAUCUS MEMBERS IN THE 111TH CONGRESS
[Trimmed just for MD members]
| MEMBER | PHONE | STAFF | |
| 11. | Bartlett, Roscoe R-MD | 52721 | Faye Powers |
| 35. | Cummings, Elijah E. D-MD | 54741 | Nikki Jones |
| 135. | Ruppersberger, Dutch D-MD | 53061 | Deborah Casteel |
| 166. | Van Hollen, Chris D-MD | 55341 | Bill Parsons |
| 195. | Edwards, Donna D-MD | 58699 | Terra Sabag |
If your member isn’t on the list, contact them!
Drive Me Crazy
Non-cyclists are forever saying that bike riders should be held to the same standards as motorists. Agreed, but turnabout is fair play. Motorists should have to abide by the same behavior expected of cyclists. For instance:
* When drivers arrive at a stop sign or red light, they must open the door and put one foot on the ground to prove they have made a full stop.
* Cyclists who momentarily leave the bike lane to avoid an obstacle always suffer the wrath of motorists. Similarly, cars should not be permitted to change lanes in order to avoid mattresses, ladders, pedestrians and the like.
* Group rides get hassled. So should large groups of motor vehicles. Find yourself driving in a long line of cars on the highway? You’re disrupting traffic for everyone behind. The cops should be able to pull you over and even confiscate your vehicle. (Might be hard to get your car in the back seat of the cruiser, but that’s a detail to be worked out later.)
* Who always gets blamed in a car-bike crash? You got it. Similarly, if a larger vehicle like a dump truck collides with a car, it must be the car’s fault. Because they’re operating a smaller class of vehicle, car drivers de facto don’t know what they’re doing and must be punished.
* Cyclists are constantly being told they don’t belong on the road because they don’t "pay taxes" by buying gas, paying tolls, etc., even though many riders also drive — just not at this moment. Likewise, motorists shouldn’t have access to public services like police protection on the road unless they are actually paying their taxes while driving.
Which, unfortunately, many drivers probably do.
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If New York can make an appeal for better biking then why can’t we?
At the Biking Rules PSA Film Festival, Daniel Leeb premiered a video of T.A.’s Executive Director Paul Steely White talking about what it takes to make New York City better for biking, walking and public transit. We thought you might enjoy watching it
City press release: Mountain Biking at City Reservoirs
DC Bike Commuting Documentary
Pedal Power Final Cut from Mike Kurec on Vimeo.
Off-road bikers have rangers on watch
By Candus Thomson – Baltimore Sun
Ribbons of hard-packed dirt with nicknames like Sam’s Grave, Seminary Loop and Ewok stitch the woods around Loch Raven Reservoir, a training ground for world-champion mountain bikers and urban warriors for more than a decade.
But city officials want to halt off-road use by bikers and others trying to reach the water’s edge, saying the activity increases erosion and runoff into the reservoir and makes water treatment more expensive.
Six watershed rangers have been hired this year with seven more on the way whose duties include enforcing a 10-year-old policy that requires bikers to stay on maintained fire roads. Rangers have issued several $100 tickets for late-night riding as well as countless warnings, which, in turn, have generated hundreds of protest e-mails to City Hall.
"It’s an outdated management plan that they’re trying to enforce," said Eric Crawford, a spokesman for the 600-member Mid Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts (MORE). "It’s a little obsessive and a little bit off the mark. They’ve never revisited it, and they should."
Today, 10 City Council members will request a public hearing for early next year to start talks between officials, members of MORE and the International Mountain Biking Association that could lead to a compromise on access. Meanwhile, preliminary discussions between the riders and city officials have been scheduled for Monday.
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