A discussion to help reduce your carbon footprint sponsored by
the Sierra Club, the Rochester Bicycling Club and
presented by the Monroe County Office of Traffic Safety

Free & Open to the Public

Thursday – March 19, 2009 7:00pm

Brighton Town Auditorium
2300 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, NY 14618

This discussion will provide information on the vehicle and traffic laws of NYS and how they apply to new or experienced bicyclists.

We will cover:
common collision scenarios and how to avoid them.
safe riding techniques to keep bicyclists safe on the streets.
useful information on riding safely and legally in traffic.
preparing new or experienced bicyclists for an understanding of vehicular cycling.

Questions? Please contact:
Jean Triest (585) 753-3016 jtriest@monroecounty.gov |
Frank Regan (585) 224-9075 frankregan@rochesterenvironment.com

This two-wheeled journey begins with a single pedal
By Casey Seiler

If you’re an urban cyclist, you haven’t lived until you’ve been to Portland, Ore. The city’s elaborate bike lanes are broad and logically arranged, its bike racks are plentiful and sturdy, and downtown commuters on two human-powered wheels are accepted as a regular part of the traffic flow, not as potential suicides.

It was with Portland in mind that I arrived at the main branch of the Albany Public Library on Wednesday night for the first public meeting to discuss the city’s Bicycle Master Plan. Almost 200 people turned out — but you would have been able to predict that even before entering the building: Every available sign and stachion on the sidewalk had a bike locked to it.

Read the rest of the article.

This came from the Albany Bicycle Coalition mailing list:

League of American Bicyclist Traffic Skills 101

• March 27,28, 2009 TBD Saratoga Springs NY
• May 1 and 2, 2009 SUNY Albany (May 1 Friday evening 6:00-9:00PM / May 2 Sat. 10:00-4:00PM)
  

League of American Bicyclist LC1 Seminar (I believe for those who have passed the traffic Skills 101)

• May 29, 30 and 31, 2009 (Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday at Draper Hall, SUNY Albany Downtown Campus)

For any of these dates or for more information please contact Claire Nolan or Bert Schou.

This? Looks awesome. Via BikeHacks.

I found this essay by Albany cyclist Nathaniel Ward via Ron Silliman’s blog:

In many ways I feel like I didn’t really know the area in which I live until I started riding bikes seriously. Things are both much nearer and much farther than I had imagined them to be, more accessible and less, too. The immediacy of the Self to art, to politics, to society at large, as experience by the pedestrian is what de Certeau is getting at. From the perspective of the cyclist, though, it is different yet again in that the physiological transformation that equates to greater fitness allows spatial relationships between geographic points to become diminished. So my world is larger as a competitive cyclist in that I can ride my bike from Albany, NY to visit my brother in Northampton, MA, for instance–a ride of roughly 85 miles–and at the same time it is smaller. Smaller in the sense that an average day’s training ride has the potential to bridge a social and emotional distance, and larger because what this amounts to is a choice. And choice amounts to social mobility.

Read the rest of the article.

Poet Nikki Giovanni was on Bill Moyers’ Journal last week talking about her new book of poetry, Bicycles. She also talks about bicycles as a metaphor for life and reads her poem, “Bicycles.”

Watch the show.

And smile: Around The Block

A guy I work with, who does the triathlon and is training for a double century, just told me that he’s “really envious” of my ability to keep riding in the cold. He’s having trouble getting out to train with the cold and the wind, so I told him to hang in there.

Anybody say anything nice to you lately?

This image was featured today at one of my favorite blogs, BAGnewsNotes. Head over there for details and discussion.

There’s proof that I got my bike out in the last couple of months, and I’ve even ridden it a couple of times, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. For one, I don’t have studded tires, and we have had an extremely icy winter. Jack and Adam have both written before about the joys of studded tires, and next year I may finally take the plunge.

But there’s another reason I haven’t ridden, and it’s got me coming up with the counter-intuitive notion that bike commuting is actually a form of privilege. Hang with me here…not for many people, of course, I know that. Many people cannot afford cars, and while Rochester’s public bus system isn’t as awful as I thought it would be, it’s often not very convenient or time-efficient.

So I’ll own my privilege…I am solidly middle-class, and I could afford a reasonably nice car if I were willing to go into debt for one (which I’m not…my current car is 13 years old, has 135,000 miles on it, and is literally rotting/rusting away.) But I do have other trappings of a middle-class lifestyle–professional job, kids with multiple commitments, and pursuing a higher degree to boot.

In this kind of weather, when it comes to bike commuting, the sad truth is partly that I just haven’t had the time. When I have to work all day, then pick up my daughter and deposit her somewhere, then head to class for the evening…not to mention fitting in necessities such as purchasing and eating food along the way…there’s not a lot of leeway in the schedule.

Which is what got me thinking of bike commuting as a form of privilege. There are lots of women with a similar schedule to mine–for them, it might be working in a low-wage service job, picking up the kids from day care, then coming to class at the community college. Different details…same challenges. Honestly, I can’t imagine trying to convince any of them that bike commuting is a practical alternative.

It would be great if we lived in a society where it were more practical. In my mind, such a society would pay a living wage, would provide free or very inexpensive education at least up through the bachelor’s degree, free child care, and a public transportation system that was multi-modal and had multiple routes.

But we don’t live in that society. And thus I am reminded not to get high and mighty about being a bike commuter (when I am, indeed, such a person, which is not lately!).

Pardon me while I dork it up a bit…

BikeHacks has a bit about the Fibre Flare, which looks like a light saber for your bike.

(Nick Kurczewski for The New York Times)

PARIS — The Velib bike rental system has been hailed by Parisians and tourists alike for its convenience, as well as being a “green” alternative to getting around the French capital via taxicab, bus or metro. But the high cost of fixing, maintaining and, in many cases, replacing the fleet of about 20,000 bikes is proving too much for JCDecaux, the company that runs the program.

• Vandalism Vexes Paris Bike-Rental System – Wheels Blog – NYTimes.com

Sunny, thirty four.
Clear streets, and traffic seemed light.
I pedal my bliss.

My new favorite blog, via Cyclelicious: Bikes For The Rest Of Us.

I don’t like to get too judgmental about how people cycle – as long as they’re predictable enough to not endanger me, they’re free to ride helmetless, unlit, and unaware of the road to their heart’s content. There is, in fact, a continuum of safety, and a range that each of us bicycle users fall within depending on the day and our mood. One person may not use a helmet on good hair days, while another is willing to ride in a snowstorm.

I find that complaining that someone isn’t safe enough rarely does any good, whether it’s directed at the person or the general blog audience. But last month I saw two feats of cycling so reckless I have to share them here, dear readers.

1. Winter TV Haulin’ 

 
Don’t sneeze! 

I got stuck behind this fellow on my way to a friend’s house. I was in the bit of a rush, but I didn’t dare try to pass him as he weaved back and forth along poorly plowed back roads, television set delicately balanced on his handlebars. He nearly wiped out about three times as I followed him, and had to stop at one point when he hit an incline. I took that opportunity to pass him, say “Hello,” and not look back.

2. Drunken Cycling 

John 2:12 

I saw this bike outside a bicycle-themed restaurant/bar in Chicago and wanted to tell the woman who rode in on the bike that her sticker was interesting. She replied with slurred speech and breath thick with the smell of alcohol. In fact, I rarely see people this drunk in public, and can’t say that I’ve ever seen a cyclist so intoxicated. As we were leaving, she was having trouble strapping something onto the back of her bike.

Let’s here some of your recklessness cyclist stories in the comments.

People tell me I’m nuts when I say I look for black ice to ride on with my studded tires. But it makes perfect sense, in a kind of loony way. The studs grip the ice perfectly – though you still; have to ride conservatively, especially when descending a steep hill or taking a hard turn. But smooth ice provides a very quiet, pleasant ride, one made more pleasant by the fact that the motor vehicles are either going more slowly than usual or staying off the streets altogether. There’s a rub, of course, or actually a harder form of potential contact: cars and trucks slippin’ and slidin’ and maybe plowin’ into you. So make sure you give them lots of space. Even get up over the curb, if necessary, until the coast is clear.

And while you’re standing there in the snowbank, pause to pity the poor pedestrian. I keep telling people not to shower sympathy on winter cyclists but on the winter walkers who have to negotiate unshovelled sidewalks and perilous mini-glaciers at many corners. Residents, homeowners and businesses mostly do a lousy job of clearing their walks, and the municipalities do an even lousier job of educating and policing. It should be obvious that many folks become in effect housebound by the conditions. And many others struggle: the other day in my neighborhood, I saw a young woman trying to push a double kid stroller over a mass of crusty snow between her and a crosswalk. Amundsen never had it so bad. And I frequently see people operating wheelchairs in the street because the walks are impassable. I think we bikers need to organize some kind of solidarity with our transportation cousins. I guess we can always call City Hall… and then wait for spring like everybody else.