Anyhow, it’s an enjoyable and enlightening documentary. Many of us in the United States mistakenly believe that most European cities, on the whole, embrace bicycles as a valid form of transportation. Alas, some cities are getting it right and too many others are only developing infrastructure for more cars. It’s an uphill battle for a number of heavily-populated EU cities…luckily, there are plenty of good examples nearby (Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam) of cities who took back the streets for ALL users. Let’s hope the planners and politicians in Brussels’ 19 municipalities can get together and figure out a plan that benefits everyone, reduces gridlock and makes the city a healthier and safer place to live.

The video is about 20 minutes long, so pour yourself another cup of coffee and settle in — work can wait!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Oh yes, more ukuleles for Safer Streets in Hawaii!

• Farmer’s Insurance sponsors May as Bike Safety Month – Take the PLEDGE! Click this link and sign the pledge for safer roads in Hawaii.  For each signature, Farmer’s Hawaii will donate $1 to Hawaii Bicycling League.
• Ride of Silence May 19, 2012 at 4pm –  Informally hosted by Nick Blank, former HBL Volunteer of the year, this will be Honolulu’s first Ride of Silence.  Here is a note from Nick on the ride:

Yes we can. On Saturday the 19th, at 4 PM, meet at the Hawaii State Capitol Building.

It will be a short one, about 6 miles, and on a different day than the rest of the planet, but hey, this is Hawaii.

ROS Honolulu Map May 2012 - click to enlarge

We plan to ride Beretania to Bishop, turn left, down to King, turn left and take it to University. There we will have a moment to honor the location of a fatal cycling crash on University, just below King Street. (If more locations of fatalities come forth, we will honor those as well.) We will then return to the Capitol on Beretania.

WE WILL follow the rules of the ride, wear helmets, obey traffic laws, and have a discussion of bicycling safety before departing.

If this is beyond your personal boundaries, please respectfully decline to ride with us and reconsider your choices.

There will be release forms to sign to participate.

This is to be a slow, silent, funeral ride. Please wear a black armband to carry the thoughts of one who was killed and a red one for one who was injured.

( An old sock is good for this, if you make one for your self, please make extras for sockless others. ) Feel free to attach a photo or name to yourself, or your bike, of the person(s) you are honoring.

Be Safe.   It is a funeral ride, but please wear bright clothing to be seen. Blinky lights are always encouraged.

Be Respectful.  Of yourselves, the fallen, the public, and the rules of the road.

Be Silent.   This is a ride for reflection of those who have fallen, and thoughts of how we can make Hawaii safer to ride in.

Much Aloha to those who can make it, and those who cannot yet would like to.

More about the ride here, please take a few moments to review it.

http://www.rideofsilence.org/main.php

• Bike To Work Week May 14th-18th, 2012 – contact Chad Taniguchi at chad(at)hbl.org  or 808-255-8271 if you want to help make this year the best ever for bike commuting on Oahu.  Get your workplace involved by encouraging more commuter mentors and by publicizing this week.
• Bike to School Challenge Tuesday May 15th!  - The Green Machines are hosting an event in honor of Bike To School Day.  Here’s the scoop:

Please come join Green Machines in a celebration of healthy alternatives to petroleum-dependent vehicles for getting around. We attract lots of bicycles of all types, but also want to showcase walking, Electric Vehicles, and more. If you can come, please email Jonathan Lott at lottj001@hawaii.rr.com or call at 561-9020:

This poster is hilarious.... anyway, grab the teens and hit up Farrington High if you're into it!

Green Machines is holding this on the same day as the “Bike to School Challenge.” Friday of the same week is National Bike to Work Day (BTW). On Thursday evening, the Eve of BTW, there will be a big gathering for the Thursday Nite Cruise Ride to Waikiki, so please join us for that too (details still being worked out). We will have a sound system, live music and prizes, and informational booths at the show in the center of Farrington’s campus. Visitors will need to check in at the front office for an ID badge.

• Need A Bike, On a Budget, Check out KVIBE!

If you’re all spirit and smiles but still lacking a working set of two wheels to help you enjoy the lovely Bike to Work Month festivities in Honolulu, check out KVIBE –  ”Kalihi Valley Instructional Bicycle Exchange is a nonprofit bicycle education program/shop that promotes bicycle-related activities for the youth of Kalihi Valley. KVIBE provides the community’s children with positive pursuits, mentoring, and role models. Ride a Bicycle.”  Their shop is open the following days and times: Wednesday, 12 – 5pm; Friday, 12pm – 5pm; Saturday, 10am – 3pm.  KVIBE is located at 1638 Kamehameha IV Road Honolulu Hawaii 96819.  You can make a suggested donation for a used bike or, if you have a lot of time on your hands, work to complete your own bicycling with the help of the KVIBE instructors and volunteers.  Check out their website to learn more.

Get out there on your steeds and enjoy Hawaii’s Bike to Work Week/Month/Year activities!! Questions? More events? Post ‘em in the comments, Cycle Peoples.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Don’t let the picture deceive you…these were both badly delaminating despite multiple coats of marine varnish, and I had enough wooden splinters jammed into my ankles and calves to last me a lifetime. It was time for a replacement, but with what? I had fantasized about getting a sheet-metal place make me a pair out of aluminum diamond plate, until I started pricing the raw materials and cost of fabrication. Holy crap, that was no good…a few hundred dollars?!? Then, I thought I might just replace them with another set directly from Xtracycle…but I don’t make a lot of money and a replacement set was (to me) absurdly expensive. Besides, I was hoping Xtra had started making their footsies out of the excellent recycled plastic material their decks were available in, but alas…only wooden ones are available.

What to do? I needed something cheap, something weatherproof and something easy to work with. One day, I was wandering around in the kitchen department of a local store, and I saw all these colorful plastic cutting boards. Wait a minute…what if I used THOSE to make footsies? I was onto something…

Materials you will need:

–plastic cutting boards. I used two smaller ones, but if you cut carefully, you might be able to get two footsies out of one big board
–cardboard to make templates
–a saw (power or hand saw…I used a battery-powered circular saw, but a hand saw might actually work better)
–drill and appropriate bits
–Sharpie marker
–ruler
–4mm hex wrench
–screwdriver
–razor blade or sharp knife
–some means to sand the edges (I used a sanding disc in my drill, but you could use a coarse file and some sandpaper)

I had all the tools I needed, so the total cost for me was an hour of labor and less than $10.00 for the cutting boards. Win-win, babies!!!

First, trace your existing footsies onto cardboard and make templates for the right and left sides. I chose straight lines to save myself hassle when cutting:

Don’t forget to mark the holes for the hardware — I reused the bolts and support tubes from my existing footsies which saved me some additional money.

Next, trace your template onto the cutting boards and cut them with your saw. Drill the holes for the hardware:

With the razor blade, scrape off the excess “flashing” from the cut edges…a power saw will sort of melt its way through the plastic material and leave a lot of fuzz on the edges. Next, sand the edges and corners…I put a gentle radius on all the edges and rounded off the corners so they wouldn’t dig into my or my passenger’s legs.

Finally, attach the hardware (support tube and hook-and-loop “keeper”) to the underside:

Now all you have to do is install into the ports on the Freeradical frame and go about your business!

The cutting board material is about the same thickness as the stock wooden footsies, but it flexes a little bit. That’s ok, because my passenger is fairly light. If you were so inclined, you could cut a double thickness of cutting boards and sandwich them together with longer bolts, or find some other way to reinforce them from below (with aluminum strip stock or the like). The cutting boards come with a non-slip surface, so no additional grip tape is needed. And, these boards are strong enough to go through a dishwasher, so rain, salt and snow will be no problem for them. They’re maintenance free, and they add a little bit of colorful dazzle to the back end of my cargo-hauling beast!

We’ve got a handful of other DIY Xtracycle projects in our archive, and we are always eager to hear about projects our readers have come up with. If you are in the sharing mood, just drop your project ideas in the comments below.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Why? Well there’s a few reasons. The biggest one for me was that if I went balls out on the first leg of my commute, I’d find myself getting way too tired before arriving at my destination. That poses as a problem because I would find myself way too tired to keep riding. Which made me stop to rest or have to buy a Redbull or Monster just so I can finish the rest of the ride. Another reason to pace yourself was I got way too sweaty. One of the things I hated was arriving at my destination dripping in sweat. This mattered to me because my work place doesn’t have a shower. If it did, then I’d roll out of bed, get on my bike, ride fast and just take my showers at work.

Now you’re probably wondering, “how do I pace myself?” For me, and this could be an entirely different experience for other riders, but what I do is I find the right cadence while riding. I’m not pushing too hard or going too easy. Basically I’m cruising around 14-17mph an hour.

I do hope that this little tip will help out our new bike commuter friends. Enjoy your ride!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

TAMPA / HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY RIDE OF SILENCE
WHERE: Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa
WHEN: Wednesday, May 16th, 6:30 pm
DISTANCE: 11.1 miles
MAXIMUM PACE: 12 mph

TAMPA, FL (May 10, 2012) — On Wednesday, May 16th, cyclists will take to the streets of Tampa as part of
the worldwide 10th annual Ride of Silence. They’ll ride to remember cyclists who have been killed and injured in
traffic crashes and to raise public awareness about bicycle safety. The ride comes at a very deadly time. From
Dec. 24, 2011 through April 30, 2012 (just 129 days), nine cyclists were killed in crashes in Hillsborough County
— an average of one every 14 days! Seven cyclists were killed in just the first four months of this year, a rate
that could make 2012 the county’s deadliest year for cyclists on record.

The Tampa Ride of Silence will start from Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park (600 N. Ashley Dr., 33602) at 7 pm,
but riders should arrive by 6:30. There is no entry fee to participate. Cyclists are asked to ride silently without
talking. They are also asked to wear armbands — black for cyclists who were killed in traffic crashes or red for
injured cyclists. All riders must wear bike helmets. And since the ride may continue past sunset, bicycles
should be equipped with head lights and tail lights.

Route Map: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/33670864/
Before the ride, the names of these Hillsborough cyclists, killed since the 2011 Ride of Silence, will be read aloud:
1. Morris Taylor, 14
2. Rusty Keen, 40
3. Richard Boone, 50
4. Anthony Penta, 22
5. Jesus Dias, 20
6. Jessy Smith, 29
7. Jessica Wortman, 18
8. Michael Murrell, 41
9. Humberto Saez, 43
10. Kenneth Hamlin, 50
11. Ivan Miller, 78
12. David Jenner, 56

HELP SAVE A LIFE
Many of the Hillsborough cyclists killed in recent months were riding at night without lights. In response, on
March 14th, the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) of the Hillsborough County Metropolitan
Planning Organization (MPO) voted to create a special escrow account for donations to buy bike lights, batteries,
reflective vests, and educational materials for at-risk cyclists. In early April, the full MPO board and the
Hillsborough County Commission approved the creation of this Bicycle Safety Outreach Fund. The County
Commission also voted to allocate $3,000 for the fund. An MPO representative will be at Curtis Hixon Park
before the ride to accept donations for the fund. Even a few dollars could help save a life, but donations are not
required to participate in the ride.

DETAILED TAMPA RIDE DESCRIPTION
The ride will pass Tampa Police Department headquarters, the three county courthouses, the County Center
building, and Tampa City Hall to send a message to our elected officials, our law enforcement agencies, and our
court system that the local cycling community demands safer roads not only for cyclists but for everyone. The
ride will then go past the ghost bike for Admiral LeRoy Collins Jr. at the corner of Hyde Park Ave. and Brorein
St., the ghost bike for Diane Vega at the corner of Himes Ave. and Spruce St., and the site on Dr. Martin Luther
King Blvd. near Tampania Ave. where Peiter Vanvliet was killed on March 19, 2011, then return to the park.

THE RIDE OF SILENCE EVENT
The first Ride of Silence was organized in Dallas, Texas, by Chris Phelan in May 2003 after endurance cyclist
Larry Schwartz was killed by the mirror of a passing bus. Since then the idea has spread around the world with
hundreds of cities and towns holding local rides each year.
The Ride of Silence web site: http://www.rideofsilence.org/main.php
Florida Ride of Silence Locations: http://www.rideofsilence.org/locations-domestic.php?s=FL#FL
__________________________________________________________________________________________
All participants must sign a Ride of Silence release of liability and agree to absolve and hold harmless the Ride
of Silence organization and all organizers, ride leaders, and promoters of this event from and against any
blame or liability for any injury, misadventure, harm, loss, inconvenience, or damage suffered or sustained as a
result of participation in the Ride of Silence. (For participants younger than 18, a parent or guardian must sign
the release of liability.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Detailed list of 26 cyclists who were killed in Hillsborough County traffic crashes from Jan. 1, 2010 through
April 30, 2012:
http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/bike/Hills_Cycl_Fatal.pdf

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY BICYCLE SAFETY STATISTICS
Reported number of cyclists killed in traffic crashes, 1994-2011: 161 (Average: 9/year)
Reported number of cyclists injured in traffic crashes, 1994-2010: 6,656 (Average: 392/year)

FLORIDA BICYCLE SAFETY STATISTICS
Reported number of cyclists killed in traffic crashes, 1994-2010: 1,862 (Average: 110/year)
Reported number of cyclists injured in traffic crashes, 1994-2010: 85,989 (Average: 5,058/year)
Source for 1994-2010 statistics: Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
(http://www.flhsmv.gov/index.html)

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I love my Bike in all the months.

Hello enthusiastic readers – year-round cyclists, beginner cyclists, or future bike commuters!  Like the title above says, next week is Bike to Work Week! May is also the only month where you can cycle to work and get loads of freebies – safety tuneups, swag, blinkie lights, bike maps, and bike buddies.  Check out Jack’s article for handy links. For the bike-commuters-to-be and fledgling velodactyls, the staff writers at Bike Commuters wanted to share some tips, inspiration, and motivation to make May’s Bike to Work Week the best. week. ever. Everyone remembers the first time they rode a bike, and our readers have told us how they got started pedaling to work, and it turns out Bike to Work Week is a great starting point!

Here’s a list of some great articles I call the Rookie Commuter Resources. Hand selected and gleaned by yours truly… and don’t forget to read the comments, sometimes you guys are the ones with the best tips for bike commuting!  Enjoy:

1. Let’s Bike – This year, Elizabeth presented the basics on bike commuting at her job.  She asked our readers to give their advice to newbie commuters.  As Ghost Rider says, “the comments are GOLD” in this one.
2. 10 Bike Commuting Myths Dispelled - Jack’s buddy Alan Snel shines truth on all myths related to bike commuting.
3. My Conversation with a Cop about Bikes, Traffic, and Safety Tips – RL hashes it out with his friend “Officer Ben” to discuss the legal stuff and how to bike commute safely within the law!
4. Out of My Way, Boys! – This article is by Dottie from Let’s Go Ride a Bike.  A funny read for Cycle Ladies getting pumped to tear up the streets!
5. Commuting in Style (Pint-Sized Edition) - Matt gives some tips on how to bike commute with tiny humans (a.k.a. children).
6. Friday Musings – Top 3 Must-Have Bike Commuting Accessories – Readers share their thoughts on their favorite commuter accessories.

We know there are more out there, on our site and others, so please share more links in the comments box for any Rookie Commuter Readers out there getting pumped for Bike to Work Week: May 14th through 18th!  Pedal Forward, Cycle Ladies and Gents!

Lookin' fly, Priscilla! Bike to Work Week with your DOG!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Performance Bicycle® Provides Free Safety Inspections Nationwide

Until May 13, 2012

Helping Cyclists Prepare for National Bike Month

WHO: Performance Bicycle®, the nation’s largest independent cycling retailer, offers free safety inspections to help riders prepare for National Bike Month in May.

WHAT: From May 7-13, 2012 everyone is invited to bring their bikes, no matter the point of purchase, into any of Performance Bicycle’s 100+ nationwide locations to receive a free safety inspection in time for the inaugural Bike to School Day on May 9; Bike to Work Week May 14-18; and Bike to Work Day on May 18.

Cyclists can visit their local Performance Bicycle store during normal business hours to receive a free safety inspection, typically lasting only 2-5 minutes. A Performance Bicycle specialist or Spin Doctor will inspect the main components of each bike to ensure the gears, brakes, tires and wheels are in proper working order.

WHEN: Now- May 13, 2012

PRICE: Free

WHERE: Any of Performance Bicycle’s 100+ nationwide locations

INFORMATION: www.performancebike.com

MEDIA CONTACT: Mandev Khalsa / Blaze PR / 310-395-5050

That’s the deal of the century — ride safe and ride strong throughout Bike Month!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This year 2012 marks the 10th annual Ride of Silence (always the third Wednesday in May).

As the annual Ride of Silence approaches — next Wednesday night, May 16, 2012 for most communities — let’s take a moment now to reflect why we ride in silence and for whom.

We ride in silence on this one night each year in unity with cyclists around the world to silently assert our right to share the road. We make a “loud” statement to motorists in communities worldwide. We also ride to honor the fallen cyclists no longer with us; the Ride of Silence serves as a rally that advocates for the living friends and family of victims, as well as a celebration of those who incorporate the bicycle into their lifestyle. We ride slowly and silently with the hope to end the tragedy on our roads.

Below is a form. Please fill it out if you have lost someone to a cycling crash with a motorist or if you yourself have been injured and are a crash survivor:

I look forward to joining you in spirit, next Wednesday, May 16, 2012, for the Ride of Silence at 7 PM. Please join the Tweet-Up check-in night-of the Ride.

Ride of Silence = Right to Ride.

If you host a blog or know someone who does, I ask all fellow bike bloggers to help us make another “silent” statement before the night of the Ride Of Silence silent procession. Please re-post this exact post on your own blog asking the same of your readership (to fill out this form with the names of bicyclists they honor and remember and to please repost).

Let’s spread the reach of the 2012 Ride of Silence beyond these 2011 stats:
324 locations world wide,
50 U.S. States,
24 countries,
7 continents,
0 words spoken,
A million powerful memories

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

So make sure you head over there and enter!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Want to find out what sort of events are going on in YOUR corner of the U.S.? The League of American Bicyclists has you covered…with their handy event finder. Simply visit the link, type in your city, state or ZIP code and voila…a smorgasbord of events to choose from!

Ride strong and ride safe, and don’t forget to spread the word…two wheels is not only good for you, for your wallet, and for the environment, but it’s also a blast. If you have any special events you’d like to get out the word on, please leave details in the comment box below.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites