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Biller’s Bikes Memorial Day Bash!


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Biller’s Bikes Grand Re-Opening/3rd Annual Memorial Day Party w/ The Hula Monsters

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 Come to Biller’s Bikes on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day) for the Grand Re-Opening/3rd Annual Party at the new shop and showroom in downtown Havre de Grace, MD. All friends, family and customers are eagerly invited!
 
We’re hosting The Hula Monsters (featuring friend Mark Noone of Slickee Boys and Rhodes Tavern Troubadours fame) on the cool new SUN stage. Special guest star band The Rowdy Boys will play, and expect guest appearances by the fabulous Singing Sisters, too.

 
Bring your bike and enjoy beer and beverage, BBQ and top-notch bands on Biller’s Bikes delicious new SUN stage RAIN OR SHINE.
 
Ten dollars donation per adult requested (kids are free). Donation includes all the B’s above, and a chance to win sets of tickets to see the Aberdeen Ironbirds (Baltimore Orioles Minor League) from first-base dugout seats at charming Ripken Stadium.
 
Call 443-502-2377 for additional info, or see www.billersbikes.com/events.
 
 See you Monday, May 25, from 1 to 9 pm, at Biller’ Bikes! Big party!

Continue reading “Biller’s Bikes Memorial Day Bash!”

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Woodrow Wilson Bridge Ride

Be among the first to pedal across this new Potomac River crossing after 1 pm on Saturday, June 6, National Trails Day
The Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trail will open for public use after 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 6. This 1.1 mile, 12-foot wide multi-use trail will allow bikers and pedestrians to travel between Alexandria, Va. and Prince George’s County, Md. The trail will not be open prior to this date and time!
The trail includes three “bump-out” areas with informational displays and telescopes for taking in unique views of Old Towne Alexandria, National Harbor and Washington D.C. and is barrier separated from vehicular traffic traveling the bridge on the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway (Interstate 95/495 South).
In Maryland, the trail ties into the Potomac Waterfront Community Park and Potomac Heritage Trail. Included in the Community Park is a landscaped deck over the Capital Beltway with more information displays and viewing locations. From there, the trail leads to adjacent National Harbor and to Oxon Hill Road.
Join a “community convoy”
The Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club, Washington Area Bicyclist Association, City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission and Arlington County are making plans for convoys of cyclists to converge on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trail on National Trails Day!
The Oxon Hill Convoy
A convoy of Maryland cyclists will leave the Oxon Hill Park and Ride Lot at 12:45 pm. At 1:00 pm we will be among the first to bike across the bridge from Maryland to Virginia. Other convoys will be cycling from Virginia into Maryland. More details will be posted next week at www.ohbike.org and www.waba.org.

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Put Up or Shut Up!

by Freemason Cyclist
This is for anyone who thinks cyclists should never ride on public roadways and should only be confined to sidewalks and trails. This is for anyone who constantly says to cyclists get off of the roadways and on the sidewalks and paths. This is light of the recent vulgar, threatening, rude, crude and bad comments made on certain newspaper web sites about cyclists who were hit and injured by drivers.
First I’m going to say; put up or shut up!
Now let me explain that. Anyone with this attitude loves to run their mouths with all kinds of B.S. rhetoric, yet take no action to resolve the problem. Here is an opportunity to put your money where your mouths are.
Do I have a deal for you!
If you want me and other cyclists off of the public roadways then do more then just spout your B.S. rhetoric. Here is how you can do that. Push for and get legislation passed that will provide funding at the local, county, state and federal levels to provide for every piece and bit of infrastructure needed to provide for cyclists nationwide. Provide for wide sidewalks paths that will accommodate cyclists and pedestrians in every neighborhood. Provide for crossings with smooth transitions were the paths cross the roadways. Provide for traffic light controlled intersections that work well enough to allow the path users to safely cross, whether they be pedestrians or cyclists.
Continue reading “Put Up or Shut Up!”

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Kelly Ave Speed Enforcement

[An excerpt from a community list serve to the police:]

Greetings,

Please, Please come back. Even with "Your Speed" sign, cars are whizzing at 40 + in a 25 zone
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MTA BUSES are guilty with every passing in both direction.

Suggest you make personal visit in unmarked car and observe.

Don’t get out of your car. You might get hit by a bus !

Pedestrian & Bike traffic sharing the road is UP.

SAFETY FIRST,

Will look forward to seeing the officers.

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My bike

[Combine: a lot of people ask about my bike and the following request from Xtracycle and you get this post.]
Experience the practical and magical on an Xtracycle

A Humble Request

We here at Xtracycle are proud of all the changes we’ve seen in the last year – for our company, our community, our country. But sometimes that pride gets in the way of being true to the fact that we are still a company that has employees, an office, and a warehouse full of stuff (even a forklift!) – and all of these wonderful things cost money.

The recent economic slowdown has affected our distributors, our retailers, and in the last few months we’ve felt it as well. We are proud, but we should be honest too. We need your support. We need your business, and we need it now. We are committed to make it through tough times stronger, more resilient, and focused on the goal of building bikes that change lives. And we also have to pay the bills. Purchasing Xtracycle products, right now, will keep all of us healthy and strong.

Help us sell 100 Xtracycles by the end of may – we all know someone who will benefit from becoming an Xtracycle owner. We’ll keep you posted on our progress each day – check our blog for updates.

We are grateful for the opportunity to serve you.

We are grateful for the opportunity to serve you.

Xtracycle – The Original Longtail Company
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Study: Walkable Communities Lead to Increased Physical Activity

The results of an eight-year study examining whether physical attributes of a community contribute to physical activity have been published in the April 2009 volume of Social Science and Medicine. Researcher Jim Sallis, funded by the National Institutes of Health, evaluated 32 communities in the Seattle WA and Baltimore MD regions and found those who lived in walkable neighborhoods got substantially more exercise each week than those living in low-walkable areas. Residents of walkable communities were also less likely to be overweight or obese. USA Today provides more details on the study. The findings are available to purchase online.

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LaHood to Streetsblog: No, I’m Not Changing the Name of My Blog

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* Though you don’t really get the sense that LaHood lives and breathes transportation policy like, say, New York City’s Janette Sadik-Khan, a lot of the right words are coming out of his mouth these days. Yesterday’s talk wasn’t limited to roads, bridges and zillion dollar mega-projects. The Obama Administration, he said, is committed to a transportation policy that will "enhance mobility, support a cleaner environment and help make our communities more livable." LaHood is clearly making the connection between transportation policy and urban development. He said (and I’m condensing this a little bit): "What we’re trying to do is take some of the resources we have on the transit side and connect them with what Secretary Donovan wants to do. We want to create livable communities. Portland is really the model for it. We want to create housing opportunities so that people can walk out their front doors and go wherever they want to go without getting into an automobile. That’s really the goal."

Amen, Secretary.

After the talk I introduced myself and Streetsblog to LaHood and told him that we’d like to sit down with him for a Q&A in Washington D.C. some time soon. LaHood said that he had his own blog too, The Fast Lane. Had I seen it?

"Of course," I said. "Streetsblog readers are big fans. But what do you think about changing the name of your blog to The Fast Track?"

Someone in the background, I think one of his staffers, laughed. LaHood stopped walking and gave me what I took to be a who-is-this-insane-person kind of look.

"We think Fast Lane works pretty well," he said, and headed off to a medal ceremony for the ferry crew members who rescued US Air Flight 1549 in the Hudson River last winter.

All I’m saying is think about it, Ray. Think about it.

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Chairmen Rockefeller and Lautenberg Introduce National Surface Transportation Policy Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller, IV (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, introduced The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009. This important legislation establishes a comprehensive and unifying mission for the nation’s surface transportation system.
“The United States’ population is projected to rise to 420 million people by 2050, a 50 percent increase from the year 2000. This growth will only exacerbate the congestion and mobility challenges that plague our national surface transportation system today. We need to establish a blueprint for a 21st century surface transportation system,” said Chairman Rockefeller. “This bill does just that. I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues on this blueprint as we move forward on reauthorizing and reforming the surface transportation programs.”
“A national surface transportation policy for our country is long overdue,” Senator Lautenberg said. “We need a transportation policy that reestablishes our leadership throughout the world when it comes to transportation – and meets our country’s transportation demands for generations to come. This legislation will establish a national policy that improves safety, reduces congestion, creates jobs, and protects our environment.”
BACKGROUND
The surface transportation programs authorized under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) enacted in 2005 will expire at the end of this September. The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission created by SAFETEA-LU and other transportation policy experts have called for the creation of a cohesive national policy with performance-based outcomes, and a fundamental restructuring of the federal surface transportation programs. The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009 establishes the foundation for making these reforms.
This introduction of The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009 follows President Obama’s proclamation of the week of May 10th as National Transportation Week in recognition of the importance of the transportation infrastructure to our nation’s economy and security.
Summary of The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009
The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009 would lay out a strategic, integrated plan that will address the challenges to our national infrastructure and federal programs.
Major Goals of The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009
• Reduce national per capita motor vehicle miles traveled on an annual basis;
• Reduce national motor vehicle-related fatalities by 50 percent by 2030;
• Reduce national surface transportation-generated carbon dioxide levels by 40 percent by 2030;
• Reduce national surface transportation delays per capita on an annual basis;
• Increase the percentage of system-critical surface transportation assets that are in a state of good repair by 20 percent by 2030;
• Increase the total usage of public transportation, intercity passenger rail services, and non-motorized transportation on an annual basis;
• Increase the proportion of national freight transportation provided by non-highway or multimodal services by 10 percent by 2020; and
• Reduce passenger and freight transportation delays and congestion at international points of entry on an annual basis.
Continue reading “Chairmen Rockefeller and Lautenberg Introduce National Surface Transportation Policy Bill”

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Bike to Work Day attracts record number of riders

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Several riders, who met at City Hall for a rally this morning to mark the day, said the city has made progress in marking lanes and installing bike racks. They credit Mayor Sheila Dixon, who rides two or three days a week, with starting to transition from an all-car culture.

"There have been a lot of changes," Shoken said. "It’s great to have a mayor who rides a bike."

The mayor also did some riding this morning and attended the rally for Bike to Work Day, sponsored by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, a coalition of the region’s elected officials. Stephanie Yanovitz, a senior transportation planner for the council, said 1,016 people registered for the ride in Baltimore and five surrounding counties – a record number. About 800 registered last year.

Yanovitz said the group would do a follow-up survey with riders to see how many plan to continue commuting by bike and how their trip today went. The group has information about biking on its Web site, baltometro.org, and has regular riders who can offer advice on routes, riding in traffic and how to handle logistics such as what to do about work clothes.
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His advice to new riders: scout a route in your car, incorporating your comfort level with traffic; consider riding just a day or two at first rather than all five work days; keep some work clothes at work so you don’t have to carry them; and have a positive attitude. Also, wear bright colored clothes and keep yourself visible. More people get into sticky situations because drivers don’t see them, he said.

And, support the cause. "Events like this [Bike to Work Day] increases awareness people are doing this. The city is supporting it, businesses are supporting it. And more and more employers are finding places for people to put their bikes. We’re all better off."
Continue reading “Bike to Work Day attracts record number of riders”