We make much of the efficiency and low carbon foot-print of cycling, but really that has nothing to do with why I ride. Take the Lane has a nice personal essay on riding.–Corrie
Freewheeling freedom
You can talk about multi-modal transportation, the reduced environmental footprint, the health benefits and all that BS, but the Number One El Primo reason for cycling has got to be the freedom of it.
30 million people on bicycles is one thing but 30 million more automobiles?
China Eats the World: How America Learned To Bike And China Learned To Drive
Published June 13, 2008 by the Huffington Post
By Alex PasternackThe alarming environmental news out of China this week: according to a report issued by the World Wildlife Federation, the country now uses more than double the resources that its land and water can support. The report (here in PDF) says that the individual Chinese resident has an Ecological Footprint of 3.9 global acres.
Velib means cycle-free. That’s what they are calling the free bicycle program in Paris. This New York Times article gives the report. It is funded by an advertising model, sort of like most websites. The bikes are free, but they are placed at stands that are essentially billboards. So the French are trading auto-poluttion for signage.
PARIS — They’re clunky, heavy and ugly, but they have become modish — and they are not this season’s platform shoes.
Skip to next paragraph
Ed Alcock for The New York TimesA system for renting Vélib’ bicycles has become hugely popular in Paris, where about 20,600 of the bikes are in service.
Ed Alcock for The New York TimesSelf-service rental stations are ubiquitous in Paris.
A year after the introduction of the sturdy gray bicycles known as Vélib’s, they are being used all over Paris. The bikes are cheap to rent because they are subsidized by advertising, and other major cities, including American ones, are exploring similar projects.
Read the rest of the story with a free-registration at the NYTImes.
Part two of the NBC news segments. This one is on increased longevity.
Apparently somebody at NBC News is discovery the benefits of cycling. Some of the statistics they sight in this piece are pretty startling as far as increasing longevity by biking.
I’ve been working at B&L putting together new bikes, watching as Sean, or Tim, or Steve, or Scott demonstrates for the hundredth time with patience and good will just how to adjust that front brake.
I’m learning but I’m also pickin up on other tidbits as well. These guys like bikes. I like to ride bikes. These guys like bikes and bike parts. Steve’s selling the mountain bike his doctors won’t let him ride any longer but now hie is buying new wheels from Tim who is experiementing with going tubeless.
And there is Felix who basically lives at the shop. Hard to tell if he’s working or haning out or just tweaking some component on the bike he is building for himself. Sean says Felix works Saturdays. I just think he lives at the shop.
These guys ride bikes, but I think it is that extra few ounces saved on a new wheel set or the geometry of a new frame that really excites them.
Bicycle popularity is growing around the world, but it will take the kind of love these guys show for their machines to keep ‘em all rolling.
Bicycling it isn’t always easy. Busy streets, honking horns, and inadequate city funding for bike lanes and paths can make bicycling an uphill battle. However, with green in the news, the economy in a slump, and summer on its way, it’s getting easier to find reasons why there are some 1.4 billion bicycles and only about 400 million cars in the world today.
This week, EcoWorldly authors from six continents contributed articles on bicycling in their country. With exerpts from those articles and others in the blogosphere, here are seventeen very good reasons to bicycle no matter where you live. Click the headings as you go to read more.
Lots of interest in bicycling as transportation but when the most bike-friendly community in the US, Portland, OR, has only 6 per cent ridership, that still doesn’t seem like much.
The NBC Nightly News featured this video coverage last night, highlighting the strides being taken by U.S. cities to promote bicycling. Washington DC’s bike sharing program also gets a mention. Nothing about our fair city, however. Maybe Denver is cycling’s best-kept secret?
This is Part one. Part two is on longevity
Some cyclists are all about looking good. A mirror, oh, no. Geeky. Helmet, if I have to. Shaved legs, tiny or non-existent seat post bag. But for those of us who long since gave up any pretense of looking good, this may seem silly but the article offers some excellent tips for commuters who worry cycling may mess their coiffures and make them smell. Maybe you should read it. 
Corrie
Published July 8, 2008 by Men’s Style Examiner
With rising gas prices, this month’s Tour de France, and the fact that riding is just, well, stylish… most men decide to pedal their way to work at some point or another.
Even British clothier Paul Smith was once a cyclist. A good one. But a serious accident — and the subsequent meeting a certain woman — caused him to become a fashion designer. However, he never lost his love for cycling, even going so far as designing both a track (fixed-gear), and touring bicycle for Mercian (a hand-made English bicycle company).
You see, there’s a fascination between men’s style and transportation. From fast sports cars of today all the way back to the beginning of transportation, there’s been a distinct link between looking good and going fast. What started with the golden age of the Tour with their wool sweaters and cycling hats, has continued to this day, and for good reason: on a commute to work you can show off your style, tie waving in the breeze, trousers cuffed to show off your brilliant socks, and the speed to go with it.
So the question remains: How do you look good while riding to work?
Here’s a blog I like. Actually I like the name best of all but check it out. –Corrie
Hello! Welcome to An Adventure Called Bicycling. This is a blog about the everyday adventures to be had aboard a bicycle. Whether it’s trying to get lost for 10 hours on a road bike, picking up groceries on an Xtracycle or moving out of an apartment by bicycle trailer.. it’s all an adventure.
This blog tries to serve two purposes: One is to journal about my personal everyday adventures which hopefully inspire and Two is to provide information and news for those looking to try bicycle adventuring (particularly commuting). If you’re new to bikes, try clicking around the menu to the right to find some helpful tips or links. And please do leave comments, I quite enjoy them.
Check out the rest of this entry and see the video on Too Few Options.
Gene comes through with this list of four. I’ve actually read the fiction piece.–Corrie
The ubiquitous “they” are always saying that summer is a great time to read books. I guess that’s advice for people who vacation at the beach or need relaxation between weed-pulling efforts in the garden.
For a bicycling enthusiast who splits his time between watching the Tour de France, preparing for the next bike ride, riding, and keeping the family happy, summer seems like a more difficult season to find reading time.
Here are four bicycling books that I should make some time to read. They’re suggestions from the Seattle Public Library in the Shelf Talk blog, and honestly I’ve never heard of any of them.
I’m sure you’re at least keeping one eye on this year’s tour. Much of the excitement is gone for me with no American’s in play and under the doping shadow. Not much interested in racing in general, but you might be so here is a former professional racer talking about his life as a racer.–corrie
Google product manager Dylan Casey raced professionally for five years for the U.S. Postal Service Team. In this one hour “Google Tech Talk,” he talks about the life of a professional cyclist racing in Europe. The video is an hour long so set some time aside to watch this.
