as listed by Twitter users. As you might expect, they’re not real movies, but enjoy them anyway. Gene Bisbee did.–Corrie

Twitter’s list of best bike movies never made

by Gene Bisbee at 09:57AM (PST) on November 4, 2009  |  Permanent Link |  Cosmos

We all know that Twitter is a great resource for social networking, and it’s the one place where you’ll always be able to find out what Lance Armstrong is up to on a daily, in not hourly, basis.

55 Free Bike Route Mapping Tools

I’ve created a page for Journals and another for Mapping tools but they are both more out of date than the page at Bike Hacks listed above.  I suspect that some of the sites listed there have gone commercial which means while the may have a free component, you’ll have to pay to get the full benefit.

That’s what’s happened to Map My Ride. That was long my favorite site because it allowed me to track my equipment and increment mileage on each by simply telling the program which bike I rode.

But then a friend from an OBR tour told me about Sports Tracks from ZoneFive. It does everything faster and better with a direct import from my GPS. Yes, Map My Ride had the funcionality but it was clumsy and still required you to enter much of the info by hand. Fair warning SportsTracks is share ware and has a learning curve and more features than you could possibly want.

Now when I want a map I don’t use MapMyRide because unless you are a premium user you can’t download what you create. It requires points and I have some, but they never seem to apply.

The internet just keeps changing. Fortunately on a bike about all I have to do is to keep turning the pedals. That never seems to change no matter how fancy a bike Sean sells me.

Corrie

Posted using ShareThis

Yeah, it’s Google Maps for the bicyclist. Works best if you live in the handful of cities that have been added to their database. Seattle is the latest. –Corrie

Bicyclists in Seattle should feel fortunate that the creators of Ride the City chose their town as the latest addition to the online bike-route mapping tool.

Read More about Ride the City at Bikingbis.com

You can’t really say I’m either a bike geek or a computer geek. My eyes glaze over when we start talking gear ratios and a bike pretty much looks like a bike to me. I just like to ride. The same with technology. There was a time when I was considered pretty geeky but now I’m just a user as befuddled as most by my PCs idiosyncracies.

But I do love both bikes and the promise of the internet. That’s why I spend so much time as a bicycle advocate and paying attention to issues such as net neutrality.

Recently Congress passed legislation that will require bloggers to reveal the free-products they receive when they write about them. That applies to bicycling products too.

And of course you’ve heard about the trouble newspapers are having now that there content can be gotten on the internet for free. Is that any way to run a business? But are you willing to subscribe on line?

You’ve also heard about Google’s profits from content-related advertising. Everyone is trying to find another model that will work for them on the internt. How to turn all those page-view into money?

YouTube hasn’t figured it out yet despite there being the host for most of the viral-videos–you know the ones that everyone is talking about. This is the power of word-of-mouth at an industrial scale. But how do you insure your product goes viral?

Specialized is selling a new line of bikes designed for town=riding. They are heavier, less agressive and better for commuting than a road bike. The market is those folks who rode a bike as a kid, but probably haven’t been on one since. Can we move these former cyclists back onto the bike path and maybe into commuting? Bike Rumor has pics!

Doing so would improve the safety of cycling for all of us, improve health, lower health-care cost, reduce our carbon foot-print and genearlly make planet-earth a better place, right?

As much as I agree with all of that, I can’t help but see the Global Experience Project as just a big advertsing campain. Specialized has given Globe bikes to bloggers from around the world in return for those bloggers to write about their experiences on bikes.

So, it is a soft-sell. Specialized doesn’t expect rave-reviews aor technical reviews at all. They hope these bloggers will reproduce the “going viral” experience and drive more people to cycling and sell more bikes whether Globe branded or not.

I can’t even object to that. But I do note that it is an experiment as much as an experience. How do we get the power of word-of-mouth to take off virally? That’s the real question we are looking at.

If Globe bikes sell well, we’ll probably see lots more products offered to bloggers for free.–Corrie

Around the Globe: Follow the Globe Experience Project

November 4th, 2009 by Matt · No Comments

What do London, Hawaii, North Carolina, Los Angeles, Georgia, Portland, the Netherlands, Colorado, San Francisco, Ontario, Australia, Seattle, Texas, and New York City all have in common? All of these locations are a part of the Globe Experience Project.

Read more from one of the Globe bloggers at BikeHacks.com

With no racks, my Pilot’s not much for carrying anything. That’s the way I like it. But I do pick up club mail on a ride and often do the banking by bike, so ocassionally I have a few envelopes to carry. Putting them in the back of my jersey usually means they get soaked with sweat. Yeah, I’m not Sean but I sweat.

So I use a 1 gallon Zip Loc bag. Works great and has the advantage of protecting, say a rolled up bicycling magazine, even thought the magazine will stick out the top.

Still the Jersey Bin looks good. Ed Pavelka of roadbikerider.com reviews the jersey bin.–Corrie

JerseyBin

By Ed Pavelka

www.jerseybin.com

Price: $5.50 for 2 Trim Bins; $8 for 2 Big Bins (plus first-class shipping)

Source: website

Sizes: Trim Bin, 3.75×7 in. (9.5×17.8 cm); Big Bin, 4.75×7 in. (12.1×17.8 cm)

Material: 8-gauge vinyl

Made in: U.S.

Features: zip-lock closure, transparent, waterproof, durable, recyclable, custom graphics available

RBR advertiser: yes

Tested: 338 hrs. (Trim Bin); 53 hrs. (Big Bin)

I really like this Cyclelicious post on the ER doctor found guilty of injuring a pair of cyclists.–corrie

Doctor in Cuffs: What’s the Lesson?

The attitude and ignorance of Dr. Christopher Thompson is all too familiar for most bicyclists, exemplified by the fact that he admitted to police at the scene that he slammed on his brakes “to teach them a lesson”. Now who is receiving the lesson? And what is the lesson?

Amidst all the discussions of materials and gear ratios and training routines, we sometimes miss the ride itself. Bill Strickland of Bicycling Magazine captures one ride on one day. Kind of makes you want to stay in bed, though.–Corrie

The Kick

by Bill Strickland

Right at the first hint of rise Yozell happened to be on the front so he just stayed there tapping it out, steady and not yet hard, and Pearson was, I think, sort of floating off the side bobbing from front to middle and talking about something to someone. I didn’t want to be anywhere near them.

I haven’t been able to climb at all since I got back into town at the end of July. I covered the Giro and the Tour this year — doing it right with wine and long dinners — and before that I was following Lance around the world, with neither my bike nor the time to ride. For months I’ve been the last one up almost every hill every ride.

Read the rest of the story

Mandeville Canyon Road has garnered a good deal of attention recently. An ER doctor frustrated by cyclists on his commute home passed a pair and slammed on his brakes. The cyclists may have indeed yelled obscenities at the motorist but probably didn’t deserve assault with an deadly weapon–the car. The doctor has been found guilty and is awaiting sentencing in jail.

If you want to see what the route looks like and learn how to ride it correctly, take a look at this video made by LAB instructors.

Here is an account from cicle.org of the event:

Bikes and cars: Can we share the road?

Published November 2, 2009 by LA Times
By Christie Aschwanden

Mandeville Canyon Road is a two-lane, dead-end road that twists and climbs for six miles through a quiet Brentwood neighborhood. “It’s perfect for bicycling — like honey to bears,” says Jeffrey Courion, former public policy director for Velo Club La Grange, a bicycle touring and racing club.

But with just one lane in each direction and limited visibility in some places, the road has also become a flash point for conflicts between motorists and cyclists. “It’s a problem of people competing for space,” Courion says.

That competition turned ugly in July 2008. Brentwood doctor Christopher Thomas Thompson is currently facing trial in the L.A. County Superior Court, charged with four felony counts related to a collision with two bicyclists in Mandeville Canyon. The injured cyclists allege that Thompson deliberately pulled in front of them, then slammed on his brakes, intending to hurt them. Thompson’s attorney argues that the cyclists had yelled profanities at Thompson and were to blame for the accident.

Read More

I doubt a brake light in daylight would be visible on a bike. How about at night? Doubt anyone would recognize what that blinking light meant as opposed to the blinker you’re already running.–Corrie

A Brake Light for Your Bicycle : The Spooklight

by Bike Shop Girl

A wireless brake light for your bike, is it possible?  With technology from various industries touching the cycling world now it is exciting to see what new inventions will come about.

Dogs and Bikes just don’t mix. It’s bad enough that some owners think there animals are so well behaved that leash laws don’t apply to them or those 20ft leashes that provide no control what so ever. But ocassionally some smart guy thinks its a good idea to walk his dog by tieing the leash to his bike. Sounds like a good idea until the dog decides to chase a squirrel. I was almost garroted a few years ago by a nearly invisble leash right at throat height. Fortunately the leash hit the stem.

My neighbor likes to give his dog a nice run at the end of a leash while he rides his bicycle. I cringe a little bit when I see them take off like this, but they always return in one piece.

Read More

I don’t usually follow all the stories about bike-car collisions. Mostly cyclists have been disatisfied with the sentences. This one might be more appropriate. Read about it at BikingBis.com.–Corrie

Woman gets 20 years for DUI hit & run in bicyclist’s death

by Gene Bisbee at 08:14AM (PDT) on October 29, 2009  |  Permanent Link |  Cosmos

A 32-year-old Florida woman with a history of alcohol abuse was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the death of a Pensacola man who was riding his bicycle to his night shift job in June.

Michael Steele, 25, was killed when the woman driving a GMC Yukon hit his bike from behind while she texted on her cellphone. Police said he rolled over the hood and landed about 40 feet away.

He was riding his bike to his job stocking shelves at the local Winn-Dixie so his wife could use the couple’s only car to drive to her job in the morning.

Read More

A new study out of Colorado suggests that the severity and number of cycling related injuries has increased with the number of cyclists. This contradicts what numberous studies in America and Euroepe have shown–there is safety in numbers.

The problem seems to be with the commuters. As gas prices climbed more folks turned to the bicycle for their commute to work. Not all of these were competent cyclists. Yes, they know how to ride, but they do not necessarily understand how to ride as vehicles in traffic.

Riding a bike in traffic is always going to be risky but knowing how to behave, having a few simple skills, and understadng the law as it applies to bikes in your community can help manage that risk.

Education is the key. But how do we convince that wrong-way cyclist that riding against traffic is not safe? How do we get him to take a class in vehicular cycling?

One solution is to build separate facilities like the new one on Scenic Drive. But these actually discourage vehicular cycling by reinforcing the attitude that bikes do not belong ont he road and by putting cyclists in unnecessary danger at intersection and transitions to and from the streets to the paths. Bike lanes do the same.

I had the privilege of doing a drive around the Port of Clarkston and Evans Road with Wand Keifer, Port Manager in late October. The good news? Public officials responsible for planning infrastructure and development like Wanda are thinking about bicycle/pedestrian access. The bad news is scarce dollars may be spent on expensive infrastructure that isn’t necessary. Do we really need more than smooth, wide shoulders out to Chief Timothy? I don’t think so. Compare the cost to putting up some signs, and repaving those shoulders so that they are smoothe and then sweeing them regularly to building a separated facility from Walla Walla CC in Clarkston to Timothy!

So, while those charged with planning for development and for improving healt encourage more commuting by bicycle, studies such as this one out of Colorado may push us toward expensive infrastructure and discourage more commuters from taking up the bicycle. The Chipman and Latah Trails are wonderful facilities and clearly better than the roadways they parallel if you are a cyclist. But that doesn’t mean cyclists should stick to thiese trails exclusively. What is really needed is more community support for education of both motorists and cyclists. And a penny-wise use of infrastructure dollars that make the public roads safer for people on foot and bike. –corrie

Good article

Phys Ed: Do More Bicyclists Lead to More Injuries?

As you know Boise took the deaths of three cyclists in a short period last summer pretty seriously. A task force for cycling safety has just released its recommendations for Boise. They are based on the LAB’s 5 E’s and are pretty intersting. One controversy exists over the recommended three-foot passing law which says “where possible.” That’s a pretty good loophole. Read more about it from the Bike Nazi.–Corrie

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Will the Task Force result in improved Cycling Safety?

[This one's pretty big, so here's the "Executive Summary": The Cycling Safety Task Force released a report with recommendations on how to improve cycling safety here in Boise. I like their recommendations, but question whether there's the "political will" among those who can make a difference, to do more than give it "lip service."]

The city’s ad-hoc Cycling Safety Task Force has just released its final report.

It can be seen and/or downloaded HERE. (NOTE! It’s pretty big – 71 pages, 4+mb PDF file. In traditional government fashion, I counted 19 pages that are essentially blank.)

Read More

Only the segment of the Camas Rail Line from Reubens down to CuldeSac can properly be called the Breakheart Trail, I suppose. That’s the part with all the dizzying trestles and dim tunnels that were featured in the Charles Bronson Film of the 60s.

But officials from the State of Idaho, Nez Perce County, Lewis County as well as the Nez Perce Tribe are talking about 66 miles of bike trail between Grangeville and Spalding Park. Bill Mannschreck is something of a driving force behind this effort and spearheads activities in Lewistion.

But it is the presence of the State of Idaho in the figures of Leo Hennessy and Joe Stegner that gives this discussion an air of possibility.

Leo Hennessy, Idaho Dept. of Parks and Recreation Non-motorized Trail Manager, held a meeting at the Nez Perce County Commissioners’ Office on Oct. 29, 2009.  He has looked done some research on the legal questions involved in acquiring the line. Apparently the line’s owner has both filed for abandonment and for rail banking. Neither process has been completed.

Deanna English of Grangeville has been working on the trail segment from Cottonwood to Grangeville for two years. She says if they could get the go ahead from the owners, that segment would be ready in a short time. She’d like pavement but recognizes that a gravel surface is likely to be the first stage. She notes that there is resistance to the idea from landowners along the trail. Fears of vandalism always arise in these Rails-to-Trails efforts. Leo says nationally those fears are seldom realized. Nevertheless, the Idaho County Commissioners are taking a neutral posture on the trail at this time.

Lynn Moss of Lewiston Parks and Rec promotes the idea of a letter of understanding from the counties, cities and the stae to take responsibility for maintenance of the trail should it be successfully railbanked.

State Senator Joe Stegner suggested that the proper way to approach this is to protect the entire corridor from Garngeville to Spalding as one entity. In light of that he argued that it should be the state that files for Railbanking. Stegner points out that the purpose of the railbanking law is to preserve right-0f-way for national security.

Leo Hennessey will pursue the possibility of his office filing for railbankikng. English continued to point out that it all depends upon bringing the owner “to the table.”

It’s pretty exciting to see people in a position to actually make this happen take an interest. The club’s involvement right now is pretty much just to be a public group advocacy group.

Read More about the Reubens-CuldeSac section and railbanking here.

You see the BMXer’s hoping up on rails and standing dead still, but why would a roady like me need to be able to stand still on a bike? This skill is not just for show offs. It takes practice but every time you ride on city streets, you get multiple opportunities to practice the track stand.

If you live in Idaho it is even more relevant. Roll up to that stop light slowly anticipating the light changing to green and as it does you are in perfect position to put pressure to the pedal and keep rolling.

But what if the light doesn’t turn? the law generally says you must put your foot down. That means when the light does change you are perhaps int he wrong gear, wobbly getting started, and distracted while trying to click back in. In Idaho, of course, you needn’t do all of that. If you’re at a stop sign, you must stop, check both directions and you may proceed. At a stoplight, you must make a full stop before proceeding.

But how about a track stand? I can’t really do that, but a roll to the stoplight and a momentary track stand might be enough time for the light to change.

Any way, here are a couple of tips in this short video.–Corrie

All summer long I have to juggle getting the lawn mowed around opportunities to ride my bike. While this might look like a solution, I’ve actually mowed lawns with these rotator models. You’ve got to start with short grass to begin with and then there’s still a lot of push-pull to using ‘em.

Found: Bicycle Powered Lawnmower

I spotted this on bikerumor

Slate Magazine’s Christopher Beam weighs in on bikes and traffic laws. He’s an advocate of the Idaho Stop and does a nice job of laying out the argument between Vechiclarists and Facilitators. Maybe you didn’t know the cycling world was so divided?

In our four cities we tend to use facilities when they are available and ride the streets the rest of the time.

Asotin County just finished a new bike/pedestrian facility. The is a lighted multiuse trail running from the top of Scenic Way to the bottom. The purpose is to provide easier access for kids to get back and forth to the Aquatic Center.

I served on the Community Action Committee which helped plan this facility. The county closed the road, put new pavement across the entire thing and set up jersey barriers to create the new trail.

For the downhill direction it should work pretty well. At the bottom it opens into an intersection. Cyclists will be dumped out onto the street, especially if they want to make a left a block later to go to the Aquatic Center. Or, they might ride the sidewalk to that intersection and then behave as pedestrians at the stop light.

But for those going back to the Heights, there’re two problems. The facility is on the wrong side of the road. It is intended to be bi-directional and is plenty wide, but how do I get there assuming I’m biking from the Aquatic center? Cross at the stop light and ride the sidewalk going the wrong direction? It isn’t wide enough for passing traffic. Or, do I ride the street and attempt to cross both traffic lanes to access the trail? Cars travel pretty fast here, faster than they should and it is uphill. A cyclist is going to have trouble make the lane changes even though there is a left turn bay.

At the top, the trail disappears and becomes a sidewalk at the first intersection. Once again the sidewalk is inadequate for two-way bicycling. At some point the cyclist has to stop, look for an opportunity to cross two lanes of traffic to take his place on the right hand side of the travel lane or once again choose to ride ona sidewalk. I might feel safer just riding the shoulder up the hill so that I will be where I belong on top.

A facility has these inherent problems–intersections, access, and egress. I support the county’s attempt to provide better access between the Heights and the Aquatic Center. I’m looking forward to discovering how it is actaully used.

In the meantime read the Slate Article Stop Means Stop.

Corrie

Not only is it closed but likely to remain so for as long as five years. The trail is being forced into duty as a flood control device. It is temporary but “temporary” is pretty relative. If you plan a bike ride through Kent and Tukwilla, you’ll need to use the Interurban Trail instead.–Corrie

Green River Trail will be closed to bikes for 3 to 5 years

by Gene Bisbee at 11:30AM (PDT) on October 21, 2009  |  Permanent Link |  Cosmos

Any plans you had for bicycling the Green River Trail in the next few years are being sandbagged.

Crews are racing to erect a 3- to 4-foot high sandbag wall (above) along the trail to help contain expected floodwaters in Kent and Tukwila, Washington, if heavy rains strike the area this winter.

Read More

I confess, I rarely stretch before I ride and never do a cool down for its own sake. I just swing off the bike and head into the house or often spend 15 minutes cleaning my bike. Now I really should stretch a bit more–I don’t think that ride down Critchfield warms me up. But this article from the New York Times says its okay for me to skip the cool down. Thanks to RoadBikeRider.com for the link.

Is Exercise Cool-Down Really Necessary?

The problem, says Hirofumi Tanaka, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas, Austin, is that there is pretty much no science behind the cool-down advice.

The cool-down, Dr. Tanaka said, “is an understudied topic.”

”Everyone thinks it’s an established fact,” he added, “so they don’t study it.”

These girls are from Walla Walla. There blog is “An Adventrue called Bicycling.” Sure enough they had an adventure. The video is worth the watching. Then read more about there trip here.