Advanced Bicycle Maintenance Class Jan.25-26
To start the new year, I will be offering a 2-day Advanced Bicycle Maintenance Class.
Date: Tuesday, January 25 and Wednesday, January 26.
Time: 6:30pm-9:30pm.
Session 1(Tuesday): fundamentals of a bike, what tools are good to have, basic maintenance tips, full drive train cleaning and repair assessment.
Session 2 (Wednesday): brake adjustment, derailleur adjustment, bottom bracket, hub and headset adjustment and the replacement/repair of any simple repair needed on your bike.
Students are encouraged to bring and work on their own bike. The cost is $125 which includes a copy of "The Haynes Bicycle Book" – my favorite repair manual. 🙂
Class is limited to 8 students. Come join us. Everyone learns a lot and it’s great fun. Please call the shop at 301-441-2928 to reserve your spot.
Here’s to a great new year!
Jill DiMauro
email: jill@proteusbicycles.com
web: https://www.proteusbicycles.com
Will smart growth or sprawl win in 2011?
Another great article from Greater Greater Washington which I will highlight:
"Our pick for the top threat of 2011: Location decisions made in a vacuum, as highlighted in this Post story. These decisions include BRAC, Science City, and other government, corporate, university and hospital location decisions that lack adequate transit, increase traffic, and are simply unaffordable and unsustainable. Couple this with the push in Maryland and Virginia to spend billions more on highways that don’t reduce congestion, and we have a recipe for more sprawl."
https://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=8674
And a highlight from the Post Story:
"1. BRAC, the Base Relocation and Closure process. "I think it’s the worst land-use decision the federal government has ever made, at least in this region. They’ve taken 20,000 to 30,000 jobs out of the core of the region, away from transit-accessible locations, and put them in non-transit-accessible locations at Fort Meade, Andrews, Belvoir, Quantico and Charlottesville. They’ve created billions of dollars of transportation infrastructure demand that we don’t have funding for. The state and local governments in this region are going to spend years trying to fix the problems created by this BRAC move.""
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/11/AR2010061105756.html
I encourage all of you to keep an eye out for local road projects this upcoming year and make sure our current bike friendly roads stay that way and new improvements include being bike friendly. Just because mass transit is getting the shaft in planning does not mean bicycles should too. It should mean that making sure the needs of bicyclists in transportation projects is even more important.
Having transportation options is critical for the quality of life. Bicycles can turn a congested road into one with free flowing traffic (at least for the cyclists.) Bicycles can extend, enhance any mass transit system. Destinations just over a mile from a transit stop? That’s 5 minutes on a bike, turning something that was generally not assessable by mass transit into being accessible.
The State can cut corners on a lot of things but in light of what’s mentioned in these referenced articles bicycling should not be one of them. Accommodating bicycling is cheep and usually offers ancillary benefits to motoring traffic (why do you think the interstates have extra width in shoulders while bicyclists are prohibited?)
House of Delegates committee assignments are in
Our bicycling related bills generally go through one of these two committees in the House. The following are the new committee assignments, if you happen to know if any of these delegates are sympathetic to bicycling related issues please post a comment or drop us a line on who they might be.
*******************************************************
ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS COMMITTEE Delegate James W. Gilchrist (Delegate 17) Delegate-elect Patrick Hogan (Delegate 3A) Delegate-elect Jay Jacobs (District 36) Delegate-elect Herb McMillan (District 30) Delegate-elect Charles Otto (District 38A) Delegate-elect Shane Robinson (District 39) Delegate-elect Cathy Vitale (District 33) Delegate-elect C.T. Wilson (District 28)
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE Delegate-elect Tiffany Alston (District 24) Delegate-elect Sam Arora (District 19) Delegate-elect Luke Clippinger (District 46) Delegate-elect John Cluster (District 8) Delegate-elect Michael McDermott (District 38B) Delegate-elect Keiffer Mitchell (District 44) Delegate-elect Neil Parrott (District 2B) Delegate-elect Geraldine Valentino-Smith (District 23A)
Continue reading “House of Delegates committee assignments are in”
Texting While Driving – It can wait [video]
Vallario to return as House Judiciary Committee Chairman
by Michael Dresser
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr., who last year incurred the wrath of the General Assembly’s women’s caucus over his panel’s treatment of witnesses, will return to his post for the session that starts next month, according to a source close to the Democratic leadership.
Vallario, a Prince George’s County Democrat and a defense attorney, has long been viewed as the chief obstacle to passage of tough drunk-driving legislation in Maryland. He was first elected in 1974 and has headed the committee since 1993, earning a reputation as a dogged advocate of defendants’ rights on a panel that deals with many tough-on-crime proposals.
According to the source, House Speaker Michael E. Busch has decided to reappoint the veteran legislator along with all other incumbent House committee chairs. But in a gesture toward women legislators, he will name Del. Kathleen M. Dumais of Montgomery County as vice chairwoman of the committee. The former vice chairman, Del. Sandy Rosenberg of Baltimore, will move to the No. 2 spot on the Ways and Means Committee under Del. Sheila Hixson of Montgomery County.
…
The Women Legislators of Maryland sent a protest to Busch last March over what it’s chairwoman called Vallario’s "tyrannical leadership" of the committee. Del. Sue Kullen, D-Calvert, who has since been defeated for re-election, said the committee’s "rude behavior" toward witnesses on sensitive topics "relects poorly on all of us."
Vallario hhas also been the subject of criticism from law enforcement offiicials and advocates for drunk driving laws. Last year, he effectively blocked passage of Senate-approved legislation that would have required all convicted drunk drivers to have devices installed on their vehicles to prevent them from being started if the operators had been drinking alcohol. Vallario held out for a bill that would have applied to only repeat offenders and those with blood-alcohol readings far above the legal limit. The so-called ignition interlock bill died without a formal vote in his committee after advocates rejected the compromise.
At the time, some Vallario opponents hoped he would be vulnerable to a challenge iin the Democratic primary. But Vallario won his contest easily.
Continue reading “Vallario to return as House Judiciary Committee Chairman”
Ports America Chesapeake New Year’s Eve Spectacular 2010
Note: Stuff to bring kids too on New Years is listed here.
 |
Ports America Chesapeake New Year’s Eve Spectacular 2010
December 31, 2010
9:00PM
9:00PM
Inner Harbor
Ring in 2011 alongside family and friends with music and fireworks at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor!
Inner Harbor Entertainment
Visitors can enjoy soul and oldies music by The Motorettes, dubbed Baltimore’s premiere Motown Sound, starting at 9pm at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater, located at Pratt and Light streets.
Fireworks
The fireworks display is the largest in the region- turning the sky over the Inner Harbor into a multitude of colors. The choreographed fireworks show starts at the stroke of midnight, 12am.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will be on hand to ring in the New Year with a countdown at midnight.
Photo credit: Leslie Furlong
For more information call 1-877-BALTIMORE.
Take the MTA!
Relax and enjoy the sights! Take the MTA to the New Year’s Eve Spectacular. For more information on Metro Subway, Light Rail and Bus services, please visit https://www.mtamaryland.com/.
For sponsorship opportunities click here.
Title Sponsor:
Supporting Sponsors:
Media Sponsor:
Special Thanks to:
Continue reading “Ports America Chesapeake New Year’s Eve Spectacular 2010”
Eight Solutions for Riding a Bike in the Snow
There is no doubt that there is something about bicycling that brings out the scrooge in some of us. So for all you DIY cyclists here are some ways to make your bike suitable for riding on snow and ice. And if it all sounds too complicated the last link is where you can buy specialty tires.
[Note the first option (zip ties) is not for bikes with rim brakes.]
https://www.bikehacks.com/bikehacks/2010/12/st.html
Only "protester" to 15th Street Bike Lane is actually not protesting
I love stuff like this: A over zealous search by the Examiner to find a business, any business in opposition to the new bike lanes in DC led to misquote by the Examiner and the business is requesting a formal retraction and is offering cyclists a 10% discount. Which is a really cool reaction IMHO.
"Hayley Peterson was sent out to find merchants who were opposed bike lanes and apparently didn’t find them and used a informal inquiry to speak with me (the owner who was not available) into an opportunity to take her comment that metered parking was more of a deterrent to our customers than bike lanes to a grossly published misquote stating that bike lanes was even more of a deterrent for shoppers."
Continue reading “Only "protester" to 15th Street Bike Lane is actually not protesting”
New Years Eve Party
| Time |
Friday at 8:00pm – Saturday at 4:00am
|
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Location | Miraculous 34th Street
723 W 34th Street
Baltimore, MD
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| More Info | Help us and hundreds of strangers bring in the new year as 34th street forgoes open container laws and turns into a giant block party complete with ball drop.
We'll have live music, and drinks & snacks, but feel free to bring more. |