Promoting bikes as the means of transportation in Buenos Aires

Bikes in England (Newcastle, London and Beamish)

2011-02-16T18:33:00.000-08:00

Bicing in Buenos Aires

2011-01-10T03:32:00.000-08:00

The Buenos Aires government sure is doing something right aggressively pushing bike use, even against complaining drivers or dumb press campaigns. After creating new bike paths and better conditions for bike parking, they are now officially launching the city's bike sharing system, announced more than two years ago but finally hitting the streets tomorrow.

According to Clarin newspaper, the system will start with 100 bikes in three stations (Retiro, Law Faculty and the Customs park). It's estimated that it will get to 500 bikes in 12 stations in the next three months.

The local Bicing -yes, called the same as the über popular Barcelona system- will be free with previous registration and the bikes will be requested personally with an ID and automatically later on.

Bikes will be available from Monday to Saturday for two hours a time, with an accompanying helmet. Registration will be open from tomorrow on at MejorEnBici.gov.ar.

The quiet launch with only three stations and lots of personal control by government personel aims to avoid vandalism problems that systems like Vélib faced, until they can test how users react to the idea.

Although some problems may come up, the local Bicing will certainly encourage the growing hip wave around bikes Buenos Aires is going through. With hundreds hitting the local Critical Mass every month, events popping up everywhere and the government pushing the vehicle, the city is on its way to become more and more bike-friendly.

This certainly needs to happen if the government wants to put some order to the traffic madness that the soaring car sales have caused in the street.

SOURCE: treehugger.com

Biking to Jauregui, Greater Buenos Aires.

2011-01-03T18:42:00.000-08:00

SRAM

2010-08-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

I have interested in finding out about this new technology available for all of us. I've searched some websites for some knowledgeable reviews and bikeradar.com proved to meet my needs. Below is an extensive review for you:

SRAM Red is the third and highest level road groupset that the American company has released. It's lighter than Shimano Dura-Ace and Campagnolo Record, but also a lot more expensive…

From not so humble beginnings

SRAM made a big splash with its Force and Rival groups and the positive reception was well-earned. Its novel DoubleTap levers proved to be remarkably intuitive, the Exact Actuation geometry really did deliver what is arguably the most precise (and robust) shifting in the road business and weights were roughly on-par with the best offerings from Shimano and Campagnolo.
Even so, all was not perfect with Force when Cyclingnews reviewed it in 2006. We found the brake and shift levers to be a tad short, there was too much drag in the bottom bracket and we were somewhat disappointed that the cassette and front derailleur were wholly shared with Rival (save for the finish in the latter). We also had some niggling gripes with the brake pads and cable routing.
SRAM has apparently taken those previous criticisms to heart in developing the new Red group, though, and try as we might, we have to admit that it's difficult to find fault in this latest round.

Shifters: no slop

Just as with Force and Rival, the DoubleTap levers remain at the heart of the group and the Red version beats noticeably stronger and longer with a number of upgrades. New 'Zero Loss' internals virtually eliminate the shift paddle free play found in Force and Rival, shift and brake levers are now longer, the newly carbon shift paddle is bigger, and both shift and brake levers are independently adjustable for reach. Compared to Force, the Red levers are about 10g lighter per pair and Gore Ride-On coated cables and housings are included (the low-friction kind, not the sealed ones).
Lever throw is roughly half that of Force/Rival (and about 40% of what's required for Dura-Ace) to yield faster and more precise shifts. The new shapes and adjustable reach mean that the controls are easier to manage, especially when in the drops or for riders with smaller hands.
Brake lever adjustments are easily made with an Allen head bolt hiding under the hood but shift lever adjustments aren't quite so simple. SRAM suggests using a pick or other sharp object to simultaneously depress and rotate the small cam located at the lever's base but we had a far easier time just using our fingertips. Either way it's a bit of a pain but thankfully not something you have to do often.
How significant is Zero Loss? Think of it this way: if you were take the amount of lever travel required just to take up the slack in Force and transfer that same movement over to Red, you've already made a shift. More to the point, upshifts on Red requires less than half the lever travel of the current Dura-Ace generation. The only drawback we can think of here is that riders who might regularly swap back and forth between Red and Force or Rival may have some difficulties shifting the intended number of cogs.
The front shifter is now equipped with a outer chainring trim position, although SRAM has curiously eliminated the inner trim position in the process. Admittedly, we've always been able to set up Force/Rival-equipped bikes to run rub-free in the big ring without the trim position in the past as SRAM intended but we can understand that many users could never get used to the idea. Unfortunately, though, now we get cross-chain rub in the inner ring which we can't dial out; can't we have both?
Finally, users now have the option of running the derailleur housing on either the front or back of the handlebar a la all but the earliest versions of Campagnolo Ergopower.

Derailleurs/mechs: strange, but they work

Speaking of front derailleurs, the biggest change with Red is the new titanium cage which drops 30g compared to Force. As with SRAM's other road groups, the Red derailleur can be used with both compact and standard cranksets and seemed to work equally well with both.
Sharp-eyed readers will note from the images that the trailing edge of the cage seems to arc away from the big ring… and you'd be correct. We were assured that it's a feature, not a bug. More alarming, though, is the titanium cage's marked flexiness as compared to comparable steel cages. Cage flex is generally bad as far as front derailleurs go but in spite of that and the odd shape, the bit works as intended, even under power. Go figure.
The rear derailleur remains functionally equivalent to Force in terms of shifting, but drops 31g courtesy of a carbon fibre inner link and more dramatically relieved aluminium outer link. The newly included ceramic bearing-equipped pulleys supposedly spin with less friction than before.

Drivetrain: on a diet

The other notable star of the group is the new OG-1090 'PowerDome' cassette which foregoes alternative materials in its quest for lighter weight in favour of an innovative construction technique. Save for the lockring and backing plate, the new cassette is made of good old-fashioned steel. Instead of usual stack-of-plates arrangement, though, the PowerDome cassette is essentially just a hollowed-out cone with teeth on the outside courtesy of the magic CNC milling machine. A thick aluminium backing plate seals it all up and transfers the power into the freehub body. Weight on our 11-26T sample was a superb 169g (the Force equivalent is 232g).
SRAM uses the same OpenGlide tooth profiling on the new cassette as in previous versions and shift quality was as we expected: excellent but still not quite as smooth as Shimano. In theory, the PowerDome concept should yield a significantly stiffer cassette although we couldn't tell much of a difference given our meagre bike journalist power outputs.
The idea of transferring that torque through a 3mm-thick aluminium plate has caused some concern amongst some. Contrary to popular expectations, we're happy to report that we noticed exactly zero galling (or scuffing for that matter) even on soft aluminium freehub bodies. As such, weight weenies out there will happily note that the unique cassette construction also means that there is now a whole lot of 'unnecessary' freehub body spline that you can happily grind away to your heart's content. Not that we would ever dream of advocating such a practice...
There's no official word on whether or not SRAM will introduce the PowerDome concept on mountain bike cassettes but it seems like a no-brainer to us even with the seemingly diminished benefit of the additional surface area. Sure, there is the issue of mud and/or dirt clogging up the shallow channels in between the cogs but we'd imagine that machining deeper channels or adopting a more open-shelled structure might provide a solution. We'll leave it up to the SRAM engineers to figure that one out.
The new Red crankset shares the carbon-over-aluminium spine construction of Force but bears a sleeker, narrower profile, a new unidirectional finish and standard ceramic bearings in the GXP bottom bracket. A new outer ring adopts a Dura-Ace-like near-solid architecture to improve stiffness, and shift performance. As with Force and Rival, Red is offered in both standard and compact versions; arm lengths range from 165mm up to 180mm. Weight of our standard 172.5mm crankset drops to 639g without the accompanying bottom bracket.

Brakes: adjustability wins

Finally we come to that unsung hero, the brake calliper. The new Red version is more aggressively machined than Force but only slightly lighter at 260g per pair - a modest 13g loss. The more heavily triangulated upper arm adds a bit of rigidity, though, and SRAM has finally managed to fit the Red callipers with proper spring tension and centring adjustments. The aluminium brake pad holders are milled out as well but more importantly, move the fixing bolts from the top to the sides for easier maintenance.
It'd be an utter lie if we said we could actually feel a difference in our hands on the road with the new callipers; we were quite satisfied with the performance of Force and these are certainly easily as good. However, the new adjustments make these far easier to live with than before so we'll consider the 13g weight loss a nice bonus.

Summary

Red is undoubtedly a marked improvement over Force: it's more ergonomic, it works better and it's lighter (by about 150g in all). From a purely functional perspective it's possibly the best out there at the moment and let's face it, some people are also drooling over the bold appearance. The professional ranks have embraced Red as well as it's now found on the bikes of Saunier Duval-Scott, Astana, Agritubel, Bissell and Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast among others.
The big issue is at a MSRP of US$2142/£1399, SRAM Red is substantially more expensive than Shimano Dura-Ace (£756) and about the same as Campagnolo Record (£1397). At 1953g, it's about 200g lighter than Dura-Ace and 75g lighter than Record, so will appeal to weight weenies, but still... And compared to the other SRAM groupsets, Red is roughly 50 percent more expensive than Force, and well over double the cost of Rival.
Is it worth it? That's a tougher question and not one we're going to attempt to answer for you.
We will say, however, that all of the Red bits are fully compatible with Force and Rival. Since the biggest gain comes with the DoubleTap levers, current Force or Rival users might consider just upgrading those to reap most of the benefits. If your tax rebate is burning a hole in your pocket, though, we're certainly not going to try to talk you out of it

SOURCE: WWW.BIKERADAR.COM

Biking in Carlos Keen - Five months later after the first visit

2010-07-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

Bikes in Amsterdam

2010-03-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

My friend Jack Turton kindly sent me these pics from his trip to Amsterdam. It really shows why Amsterdam is so bike friendly. Thanks Jack!

BUENOS AIRES: BIKE FRIENDLY? IN SPANISH

2010-02-13T18:03:00.000-08:00

La Ciudad fomenta el uso de la bicicleta como medio de transporte habitual

El jefe de Gabinete del Gobierno porteño, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, aseguró que la construcción de ciclovías y bicisendas a lo largo de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires alienta a que las bicicletas “se transformen en un verdadero medio de transporte que los vecinos puedan utilizar en forma segura para llegar a sus lugares de trabajo”.

“Es una apuesta grande que hace el Gobierno y que va en línea con lo que están haciendo las grandes ciudades del mundo, porque la bicicleta es un transporte ecológico, que hace al deporte y obviamente también, a la salud de la gente”, puntualizó Rodríguez Larreta.

El jefe de Gabinete formuló estas declaraciones en Lavalle y Bouchard (San Nicolás) durante una inspección a las nuevas ciclovías, que el mes próximo terminarán de unir Plaza Italia y Parque Lezama y que en poco tiempo se conectarán con el circuito turístico de La Boca.

Lo acompañó el Subsecretario de Transporte de la Ciudad, Guillermo Dietrich, quien anticipó que habrá personal del Cuerpo de Agentes de Tránsito y de la Policía Metropolitana garantizando la seguridad de los ciclistas.

Rodríguez Larreta recordó, al respecto, que en las calles las ciclovías están separadas del resto de la calzada por un zócalo para evitar el contacto directo con el resto de los vehículos.

“Nosotros fomentamos la utilización de este medio de transporte porque es una de las formas más eficaces para luchar contra la contaminación y el cambio climático. Y sabemos que requiere un cambio de cultura que va a mejorar la calidad de vida de la gente en la Ciudad”, apuntó.

Invitó a tener en cuenta para el uso de la bicicleta que Buenos Aires “es una Ciudad plana que no tiene temperaturas extremas”.

El Gobierno porteño prevé, también, crear lugares de estacionamiento especiales en la zona del microcentro para que los ciclistas puedan dejar sus rodados en forma segura al momento de ir a trabajar o realizar trámites.

En la Cumbre Mundial contra el Cambio Climático, realizada en Copenhague en diciembre último, el jefe de Gobierno porteño, Mauricio Macri, elevó la postura de la Unión de Ciudades Capitales Iberoamericanas (UCCI) - organismo en el que Buenos Aires ejerce la vicepresidencia de la región Cono Sur - y reivindicó la implementación de políticas de planificación urbana que privilegien el uso de la bicicleta y la peatonalización.

SOURCE: GOBIERNO DE BUENOS AIRES

Delivery bike

2010-02-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

Bike Commuter Goals for 2010

2010-01-27T22:56:00.001-08:00

1. Learn how to properly lock your bike

A requirement in major cities, but often an after thought in small towns or commuters that take their bicycle into buildings. Practice locking your bike frame and both wheels. Having a good lock in your arsenal helps, even if you don’t carry it with you daily.

2. Start a Commuter Challenge

There are many challenges out there, including consecutive days ridden, miles per commute, and so on. Start your own or let us know what you would like and I’ll start one here!

3. Motivate a co-worker to commute by bike

Inspire someone you work with to ride a bike to work, offer to ride with them or possible drive together to work and ride together home.

4. Join your local advocacy group

Join, donate and be as active as possible. The more advocacy we have out there, the more people we may see on bikes.

5. Take photos to inspire others and yourself

Leave for your commute 10 minutes early so that you can slow down and enjoy the view. When you see something worthy, stop and take a photo.

6. Setup a commuter zone

Keep your bike and gear ready to go. Practice plugging in your lights and pumping up your tires as soon as it is needed. This way everything is ready when you are.

7. Practice preventative maintenance

Lube and clean your chain. Watch your tires and brakes for wear. Wipe down the frame and wheels. These things will leave you a happier bike that won’t break down unexpectedly.

8. Invest in your gear

Good gear will last you, it won’t leave you stranded and it normally comes with a great warranty. Buy from companies you trust, not always the one with the best deal.

SOURCE: commutebybike.com

Beauty and the Bike

2010-01-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

Cycling in this amazing town called Carlos Keen in Buenos Aires

2010-01-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

These are some of the pics and the video recored while cycling to Carlos Keen last Sunday. The day was so hot but that was not a spoke on the wheel to cycle 50 km to reach to this town. When cycling into this magnificent I could not help but to notice this is a historical place. Lots of houses dating back to early 1900's. Awesome!

Lance Armstrong's Incredible Short Cut during the Tour de France

2009-12-29T10:20:00.000-08:00

Celebrating my first year as a bike commuter

2009-12-24T18:24:00.000-08:00

When I began writing this post it was twenty-five past eleven; that is thirty five minutes to celebrate Christmas. It has been a hectic year at work but it has not been a year that it will not be forgotten easily. You'll wonder why? The reason is that in the year 2009 I have started commuting for the first time in my life. I have a lot of experiences to tell you after cycling for a year. The feeling and the results have been terrific. I've lost weight, i feel healthier, I'm tanner, I've saved money, etc.. But how all this started? I guess it would be a good idea to start my story right now:

All began in February when teachers come back from the Argentinian summer respite. One of the schools I work at is 7 km away from home. It was then that I thought I should give bike commuting a try. During all these months the feeling of independence is mind-boggling. You get rid of bus schedules, you don't seem to care about about the constant rises in the transport fares. You are only interested in checking the weather forecast before setting off for work.

After a warm summer, autumn and winter came in. All was completely new to me. No experience at all in freezing weather. When i battled freezingly cold days all i had to do was to experience new ways of dressing up. When riding in winter I used to wear double pairs of trousers / socks and gloves. A good jacket was also needed. And of course, no need to mention my woolen scarf/cap. This was basically my garment during our last tough winter.

I don't hold with the idea that riding in winter is not possible. It IS! I only had to cycle for ten minutes to feel perfectly warm. Then the ride is a pleasure. You just need to cycle to reach your destination. Then I'll be posting a new entry giving you some advice on bike commuting, especially in winter. For now I will tell you how positive all this was for me.

2009-12-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

Hi there bike commuters! Apologies as I have not been able to update my blog regularly in the past months due to work responsibilities. As this year is coming to an end and perhaps your bike is getting a noise after so many miles riding to work or wherever, i'd like to introduce you a very useful site that may help you solve some problems with your bike. Check it out..

Bikes and cars: Can we share the road?

2009-11-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

With more bikes on the road, drivers are frustrated -- and cyclists are at risk. Now's the time for changes.

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.

The number of people riding bicycles has exploded in recent years. U.S. census statistics released in September show a 43% increase in bike commuting nationwide between 2000 and 2008, and Courion's bike club, which often rides in Mandeville Canyon, has seen its numbers nearly double to nearly 500 in the last several years.

This surge of new bicycles on the road frustrates some motorists, leading to antagonism and altercations of which the Mandeville Canyon incident is an extreme example. And though data suggest that cycling fatalities have actually fallen nationwide, one new study suggests that the injuries cyclists suffer in traffic accidents are becoming more severe.

The city of Los Angeles is currently updating its own bicycle infrastructure plan. Even as it does so, cycling experts and enthusiasts can't agree on how to make the roads more bicycle-safe. Some advocate for more dedicated infrastructure, such as bike lanes. Others believe that people riding bicycles belong on the roads just as surely as do cars -- and that the key to greater safety is people cycling in a manner that reflects that right.

Safety in numbers

Evidence does suggest that bicycling becomes safer as more people take part. "When motorists start to expect cyclists on the roads and cycling is the norm, that helps with the accident rates," says Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong, a bicycle advocacy group based in Boulder, Colo. "A lot of cities have put more bikes on the roads without a significant rise in injuries."

Between 1998 and 2008, for example, bike commuting in Marin County increased 66% as bicycle crashes declined 34%.

Cycling enthusiasts cite numbers that suggest the benefits of cycling far outweigh the risks. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics, the 716 bicyclist deaths in the U.S. during 2008 represented a 6% drop compared with 1998. The risk of fatality is 1 per 32 million kilometers bicycled, and the average accident rate for commuter cyclists is one accident every 8.7 years, according to Kate Scheider, research coordinator for Bikes Belong.

In a seminal and oft-cited 1992 report -- "Cycling: Towards Health and Safety" -- Mayer Hillman, a senior fellow emeritus of the Policy Studies Institute in the U.K., calculated that bicycling's health benefits -- such as reductions in cancer, heart disease and diabetes -- outweigh its risks by a factor of 20 to 1.

But there are suggestions, too, that the types of injuries cyclists suffer have become increasingly severe. A study conducted at the Rocky Mountain Regional Trauma Center in Colorado measured a threefold increase in the number of abdominal injuries and a 15% rise in the number of chest injuries among cyclists admitted to the regional trauma center over the last 11 years.

"The number of injuries that came in to our trauma center did not increase, and mortality did not increase. What did change is the injury patterns," says Zachary Hartman, a medical student who worked on the research. The exact reasons for the increase in injury severity remain unclear: Hartman speculates that the increased popularity of large vehicles such as SUVs could play a role. Trauma center surgeon Dr. Jeffry Kashuk, who presented the study at the Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons last month, puts some of the blame on Denver city planners.

He'd like to see more money spent on bike lanes and paths. "The city is promoting bicycle commuting without making the infrastructure improvements needed to make bicycles a safe form of transportation," he says.

Still, determining the best way to make biking safer remains controversial, even among bike advocates. Some want an expanded bikeway system, with more separate bike paths and bike lanes. "The future of bicycling in the United States is not on roads that are shared by cars, but on separate facilities," Blumenthal says. He points to cycle tracks -- a kind of bike lane separated from the roadway by a curb or other barrier--as one infrastructure improvement that could encourage more people to ride.

Other bike advocates oppose efforts to move cyclists to separate bikeways and argue instead that bicycles need to reclaim the city streets. "The bikeway system was designed for the convenience of motorists -- the safety arguments are bunkum," says John Forester, a bicycling engineer from Lemon Grove in San Diego County.

Forester is the father of the "vehicular cycling" movement -- a philosophy that views the bicycle as a form of transportation that belongs on the streets alongside cars.

According to Forester and others in the vehicular cycling camp, efforts to push bikes into separate lanes or bike paths reinforce the notion that bicycles don't belong on the street and relegates them to separate and not-quite-equal status. Segregating cyclists to their own paths reinforces motorist resentment toward cyclists and may encourage drivers to view cyclists on the road as scofflaws unworthy of their courtesy, Forester says.

Studies support Forester's contention that bike lanes may make cycling more hazardous. In a study released earlier this fall, Ciaran Meyers from the University of Leeds Institute for Transport Studies in the U.K. found that motorists gave bicycles significantly more room when passing them on a road without a bike lane than they did when the cyclist was riding in a dedicated bike lane.

Bike lanes also tend to abut parking spaces, which can turn the bike lane into a door zone where an opening car door can intrude without warning into a cyclist's path, Forester says. Such "dooring" incidents have killed cyclists in cities across the U.S.

"American bicyclists have been taught to stay to the right or get squashed, but it's actually much safer to ride a bike as you would a car, following all the rules of the road," Forester says.

Claiming the lane

Beverly Hills resident Ron Durgin, who calls himself a "bicycle lifestylist" and has not owned a car for the last 14 years, says when he first began riding, he "was of the mind set to ride in the gutter -- stay as far to the right of traffic as possible." When Durgin rode in that manner, he found that cars came uncomfortably close as they squeezed past.

Then Durgin took a workshop on how to ride a bike in traffic and changed his entire approach. "I drive my bike as if I were driving a car, and I have very few problems now," he says.

He says cyclists can reduce their risk of being hit from the side or run off the road if they obey all traffic laws and claim their space in the road, skills he impresses in bike safety courses he now teaches for the League of American Bicyclists.

Mutual respect is the key to safely coexisting in traffic, Blumenthal says. His group's new slogan, "Bikes are on your side -- we're closer than you think," is intended to create a common identity between motorists and cyclists.

"People on bikes aren't out to get you or slow you down," he says. "We also drive -- and, in fact, we are you."

The city of Los Angeles is currently taking public comments on the newly released draft of the city bicycle plan -- which updates the city's strategy for promoting bicycling in the city via policies, programs and infrastructure improvements.

Among the recommendations in the draft are plans for nearly 400 miles of so-called Bicycle Friendly Streets, which would have signage or traffic-calming measures designed to make them better suited to bikes.

The plan also includes plans for more bike lanes, safety education and bike parking.

Senior project coordinator Michelle Mowery with the city department of transportation calls the draft a big step, but bike advocates criticize the plan for lacking the continuous north-south and east-west bikeways that bicyclists need to navigate the city.

"This plan continues the current mishmash of bike routes," says Aurisha Smolarski, campaign director for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. "Sunset Boulevard has a bike lane, but it doesn't connect to Hollywood. . . . Venice Boulevard has a major gap that's missing a bike lane."

Find out more -- or voice your comments -- at the last of five public workshops on the plan this from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Ramona Hall, 4580 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles. View the plan at www.labikeplan.org, or e-mail public comments to jordann.turner @lacity.org.

And read our accompanying stories for tips on what cyclists -- and motorists -- can do to make city streets safer for the people who ride on two wheels instead of four.

SOURCE: LATIMES.COM

Wants & Desires | Commuter Bike: choosing the bike that best suits you

2009-09-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

Follow the link below and check out the different kinds of bikes you can choose to ride to work.

Source: A continuous lean

More Schools Encourage Commuting by Bike

2009-09-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

The tandem bicycle that Meghan Faux and her 7-year-old daughter Ryan use to get to school got a flat tire last week on the first day of classes. No matter. The next day Ms. Faux arrived at Public School 261 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, with Ryan following closely on a trail-a-bike, a child-size bicycle frame that attaches to the back of her mother’s bicycle.

The 10-minute ride from Fort Greene to Boerum Hill would take at least 30 on public transportation, Ms. Faux said. Forecasts of afternoon rain are not enough to stop them. Nor is the cold — Ryan happily puts on a snowsuit and a mask in the winter. When Ms. Faux cannot ride Ryan to school, her partner, Marie Tatro, tries to. And when one bicycle is out of service, the family has another to rely on.

“We have pretty complicated bike lives,” Ms. Faux said.

There are no estimates about how prevalent bicycle commuting is among parents, students and teachers at New York City’s schools, but a morning spent in front of P.S. 261 gives credibility to Ms. Faux’s claim that she is not an anomaly. P.S. 261, which has about 830 students, is one of 34 schools to have requested that the Department of Transportation install bike racks through the department’s CityRacks program. Last spring, the department installed five bike racks in front of the school, giving parents an alternative to the chain-link fence that they had been using to lock up bicycles to that point.

The school’s principal, Zipporiah Mills, said that the racks had made it easier on parents, and that the popularity of bringing children to school on bicycles had been growing for several years.

Several minutes before Ms. Faux showed up with Ryan in tow last Thursday, Hilda Cohen pedaled up to the school on Pacific Street. Sitting just behind her handlebars, on a custom seat made from a skateboard, was her daughter Esme, 7.

Esme, who has been known to strut through the halls of school with her helmet still on her head, said she preferred riding on her mother’s bicycle to other forms of transportation.

“I don’t like to ride the bus,” she said. “You just sit there.”

Pacific Street slowly filled with young children and their parents. Children jumped from idling cars and climbed out of school buses. One rode by on a Razor scooter. And parents pedaled up on bikes built or rigged to accommodate their elementary-sized passengers, or alongside children who rode their own bicycles. A woman carefully stowed the seat of her daughter’s bicycle in her backpack, rather than leave it to tempt any bike thieves who might walk by during the day, then rode on to work. A man rode past with a young boy and girl riding a seat made for two mounted over his back tire. The bike stopped for less than a minute in front of the school. The boy jumped off and headed inside; father and daughter made a U-Turn and pedaled away to another school nearby.

These commuters described the incentive to get their children to school on bicycles as a combination of convenience and the desire to instill an interest in bicycling and exercise early in life.

“I’m trying to raise two children to be bike riders, so I’m going through all the steps,” said Kim Wiley-Schwartz, the director of Livable Streets Education, an environmental group. She has two children at the school, Nora, 7, and Isaac, 5.

“Some people just attach their kids to their bikes to get them from place to place as fast as they can,” Ms. Wiley-Schwartz said. “That’s also viable.”

For Selina Cardoso, the morning ride from Sunset Park with her daughter Michelle, 7, takes half an hour, about the same time it would take to ride the train. The decision to travel by bicycle, she said, comes with a financial benefit as well.

“It’s exercise, and we don’t have to buy a MetroCard,” she said.

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

Bike commute in London

2009-08-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

Engines off - World Carfree day on!

2009-08-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Chinese Bike Commute

2009-08-21T22:13:00.001-07:00

The Dutch show us the way

2009-08-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Podcasts at usingbikesinbuenosaires

2009-08-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'll be offering another way to communicate with my visitors. From next weekend, usingbikesinbuenosaires.blogspot.com will be uploading weekly podcasts on different topics for you to enjoy this passion called cycling.

Bike to work Victoria, British Columbia

2009-08-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Bumped into this good stuff this morning. The pictures are worth a look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/biketowork/3796347474/in/photostream/

SOURCE: biketowork.ca/victoria

Frustrated Berlin commuters discover pedal power

2009-08-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

"There's a giant explosion of interest," Stark said. "People sitting in a traffic jam see the bikes filing past and it makes them think twice about sitting in their cars."

There are 68 million bikes in Germany, a country with a population of 82 million. The total has risen by 2 million in three years. Bike sales have also remained strong in the past year, defying the economic crisis.

Cycling is a big industry with annual turnover of 1.7 billion euros ($2.40 billion) for cycles and a total of 3.5 billion euros for equipment. It employs about 9,000 people.

In Berlin's government quarter, hundreds of journalists, lobbyists, politicians and businessmen can be seen on bicycles at any time of the day between April and October. There are a growing number of die-hards who ride through mild winters.

Some prominent Germans take advantage of Berlin's bicycle-friendly wide avenues and bike lanes to pedal to work.

Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen and Martin Wansleben, managing director of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce, are regular bike commuters.

"We're always looking for ways to improve the infrastructure for cyclists to make it even a more attractive alternative," Berlin's Economy Senator Harald Wolf said in an interview.

The city spends 3 million euros ($4.24 million) a year improving 600 km of cycle paths and lanes.

"There are several big advantages of getting around by bike in a city like Berlin," Wolf told Reuters. "First of all, it's a cheap way to travel, and secondly it's positive for the environment because there's no CO2 emissions.

"On top of that it's healthy and in cities like Berlin that have so much traffic the average speed falls so far that you're almost as fast on a bike as you would be in a car."

HAPPY COMMUTERS

Rolf Dieter Peschel is another happy cycle commuter. He sold his car and bought a bike two years ago. The 48-year-old, who now rides about 6,000 km per year, reckons it has saved him about 3,000 euros each year.

"I feel a lot fitter than before," said Peschel, who works as an ambulance medical assistant and commutes 17 km each way to work. "I look forward to my bike ride home all day. It's really amazing how much money you can save without a car."

Bettina Krause, 40, paused near the end of her 30-minute, 10-km journey to work at the Technical University at a bike lane traffic light, where 50 cyclists waited for a green light.

"I'd rather take my bike than squeeze into a crowded train," she said. "The thing I like about biking to work is that you can integrate a workout right into your day. I can't stand getting into the train any more."

Thomas Geithner, a 32-year-old IT worker, said he left his car at home most of the time because the bike was faster.

"It's only about four km each way so I'd end up spending more time looking for a place to park than it takes to bike," he said. "There's just too much stress with the car. I'm here on the bike in a few minutes and in a good mood all day."

SOURCE: REUTERS.COM

Cycling to work

2009-08-11T13:55:00.000-07:00