This is from today’s entry by Bike Snob NYC:

The New York Times also points out that in particular the number of cyclists crossing the Williamsburg Bridge has quadrupled from 2000 to 2008. This particular statistic is an excellent example of how important semantics are when it comes to interpreting data. While at first glance you’d take this to mean that more people are cycling, it’s also possible that the same number of people are cycling but that they’ve only been able to successfully cross the bridge since the city finished renovating the bike path in 2002. Before that, crossing the Williamsburg Bridge was like crossing a rope bridge in the Himalayas. So it wouldn’t suprise me if just as many people set out on their bikes to cross it before 2000, only to either give up and choose another bridge or plummet into the East River below.

How can you top that? Answer: You can’t.

Now head over there and read the rest.

A couple weeks ago I rented a car and drove up to Portsmouth, NH for the 8th annual New Hampshire Film Festival. My thesis film Glarg and Fritz was accepted and I was invited to come take part in the festivities. And of course I brought a bike and my camera. (and as always more pics and full sizes on my flickr page)

Portsmouth, as seen from the municipal parking lot south of Mill Pond.

I would park the rental car here in the municipal parking (about a mile away from downtown) and then ride everywhere around town.

It looks like I have a huge butt, but it’s just my backpack, I swear.

Just one of the many great vegetarian meals i had all weekend…

I like a town that gets into Halloween.

Parked real close to the Music Hall, main stage for the Festival events.

After all the films and VIP parties on Friday night, I rode down to Prescott Park on the harbor. That’s the bridge to Maine in the background.

The same view of town from the parking lot at night.

A nice little town to bike around. I might have to make a return trip with a bigger bike for more long distance riding.

Of course, getting home was another story:

My personal Hell, caught in stop-and-go traffic on the Mass Pike. I hate cars.

A few of a us guys who met on the ride in August wanted to get together and cruise again while the weather was still nice.

We got together for an impromptu ride on a Saturday night a few weeks ago. Here are some pics, as always more and full size versions on my flickr page.

There was a street festival going on with a terrible cover band playing… we didn’t stick around here long.

Riding to Dinner

After dinner at Black Eyed Sally’s

Posing on the bridge

Inside the Federal Cafe

Outside the Federal Cafe

And check out Ian’s Epic Skid at the end of the night:

points for distance

Good times, good riding, good night.

Ice around the edge of a puddle. First time I’ve seen that this season.
Horizontal sunlight hitting a tree on the Sage campus, lighting it up like brass.
My steaming breath, looking into the sunlight at the intersection of Myrtle and Delaware.

If you’re an iPhone user and you like mapping out your rides, you may want to check out iMapMyRide. It’s linked to MapMyRide and uses the GPS feature on the iPhone.

Wow, I just realized I had forgotten to post this. Sorry RocBike readers, I’ve been holding out on you!

This happened in the end of August, to commemorate the annual Bike Swap Meet, held at the New England Muscle Bike Museum (I was unable to attend so I don’t have pics of that).

Here are some pics from the ride, as usual more pics and full size versions on my flickr page.

Meeting at Bushnell Park

Riding through the arch

Making dinner reservations at Black Eyed Sally’s

Having a couple pints outside Vaughan’s

Hard to tell from this photo, but the Butterfly Girl was up on stilts.

Hanging out down on the Connecticut River

Tri-unicycle? This guy was great.

Hartford Sunset

All the bikes posed at the fountain

It was a good time, I met some new friends and had a lot of fun.

I shot video too which I will eventually cut and post.

More pics from the next ride soon!

This was on the Albany Bicycle Coalition mailing list today:

I wanted to update you on the progress of the Friends of the Rail Trail group I’ve been helping to get organized. Jack Madden and I have been working with the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy (MHLC) to get a Friends Group started. So at least for the short term, the Friends group, which will most likely be called the Friends of the Hudson-Helderberg Rail Trail (FOHHRT is the acronym I like; calling it “fort” for short), has been created as a committee of the MHLC.

We can really use more volunteers who want to help with the friends group, especially folks who live in Albany and Voorheesville or New Scotland areas; most of our current volunteers are Bethlehem residents.

We are looking for a couple of people who would be willing to take on leadership roles, and lots of people who are willing to help out with less of a time committment. Even though the trail is about 2 years from being completed according to the county, we can use help starting soon.

We’re considering the following committees: Membership and Fundraising, Community Outreach and Publicity, Engineering and Maintenance, Safety and Security, and perhaps a Volunteer committee as well (though volunteers would serve on each committe really).

Here’s what volunteers would be helping with:

• Working with Albany County officials and members of the public to advise on the trail’s design and construction.
• Raising public awareness of the trail’s existence, and promoting it’s use.
• Calming concerns of local residents about trail safety, security, costs, etc.
• Helping establish proper signage for the trail (including visibility and directional signage, and related business oriented signage—such as bike shops, local eateries and cultural opportunities, and more), brochures, maps and other resources.
• Coordinating volunteer efforts for the trail such as garbage cleanup, planning events, etc.
• Encouraging bicycle awareness, safety, and maintenance among community members (as well as that of other non-motorized wheeled transit—i.e. rollerblades, skateboards, strollers, etc.)
• Working toward linking the trail with other rail trails, pedestrian paths, and community assets.
• Partnering with local community groups, businesses, or other entities.
• Working toward establishment of adequate and safe access to the trail, auto parking, and other infrastructure and services necessary for full use of the trail.
• Helping raise funds as needed for ongoing maintenance or security costs, signage, interpretive brochures for trail users, etc.
• Working with law enforcement officials and members of each of the communities along the trail to assure appropriate patrolling and safety of the trail for users, and prevention of motorized vehicle use along the trail

Anyone who can help with any of this or would like to join this group, please email me at raindan33@gmail.com.

Thanks very much!

Dan Rain, co-chair, Friends of the Hudson-Helderberg Rail Trail Committee, MHLC

Currently no bids, about $900. That’s a pretty awesome bike, right?
Swiss Army Bikes on eBay, via Dinosaurs and Robots.

A ‘crumble shoulder’ may be on a road shoulder near you soon.

Beware of a proposed paving technique by the NYS DOT that may be tested on NYS roads next year. Currently it is being called a ‘crumble shoulder.’

A portion of the shoulder to the right of the shoulder stripping is paved just like the roadway while the remainder of the shoulder is paved using a rough finish, similar to ‘chip seal’ paving.

New York Bicycle Coalition (NYBC) has many questions and concerns about the adoption of this new technique.

The proposed use of this course asphalt concerns NYBC because its widespread use by NYSDOT would compromise the quality of riding surfaces on hundreds of miles of some of our best roads for bicycling in the country.

Safety – use of this material will reduce the effective width of the shoulder, possibly forcing cyclists to ride in or near the vehicle travel lane.

Tourism – NYS has some of the best road shoulders in the country, an asset to promote bicycle tourism. Use of this material may be a step backwards in that regard.

NYBC will be corresponding with NYS DOT as they move forward with testing.

If you spot a test area let me know.

Richard DeSarra
rdscomm@rochester.rr.com.
Board member RBC & NYBC

We write about it often here at RocBike, but that’s because it’s such a treasure. You must get out to the Genesee Valley Greenway, if you live anywhere in western New York. These scenes are from portions of the Greenway between Rochester and Scottsvills.

On a separate trip, we took Zoe, who loves the Greenway, because she gets to run for miles.