It seems like years ago that I mentioned how much I like the products from Duluth Trading Company. Wait a minute … it was years ago: Doctor’s Orders: Ride Naked! As I said in that ancient article, Duluth makes stuff for real working people, which means they’re very familiar with clothes which will help to…
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before, but just in case I haven’t: I do not commute by bike during the hot summer months in Phoenix, Arizona. The reason is simple: I don’t need to complicate life for either the Phoenix Fire Department EMTs or myself. With nightly temperatures sometimes still above 100°F at 10:00…
I’m a bona fide nerd. I even have the credentials to prove it: a first edition Netware CNE (Certified Novell Engineer) certificate and a Windows NT MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) certificate. In case you don’t know, this means I am not only a Nerd, but am truly an Old Blood Geek. The further proof…
In my last post, I groused about bike lanes that I thought were done poorly; that were actually, in some situations, dangerous to the folks who are supposed to use them. I thought it was only fair to bring attention to some bike lanes in Phoenix which I think are done well. My home town…
What happens when you finally arrive? For decades I’ve been trying to get more people onto bikes in my adopted hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. I’ve tried appealing to their motivation; reminding them that they say that want to ride more. I’ve tried to create more opportunities for folks to bike by working with my local…
FACT: Maricopa County, Arizona, where I call home, is the fastest growing county in the United States. That is not me talking, that is the U.S. Census Bureau. The data says we add an average of 222 people every day. FACT: Arizona has the highest rate of pedestrian deaths in the nation. Again, that ain’t…
I remember the first “portable computer” I had. It was called, appropriately enough, the Compaq Portable. In the vernacular of us computer geeks of the time it was referred to as a “luggable.” It was the size of a portable sewing machine. You laid the thing on its side, unsnapped the keyboard from the bottom…
I’ve been seeing a few Limebike and Ofo bicycles parked around my neighborhood lately. For those who are not familiar with these brightly colored rides, Limebike and Ofo are the two most prevalent dockless bicycle-sharing systems. The two systems work similarly: you download an app to your smartphone, insert the information for a credit or…
In my previous post, I explained why I think the best place to get a ride is a local bike shop (LBS) where you have a one-on-one relationship with a knowledgeable, accommodating vendor. I also said I didn’t think an LBS was the only place to get everything bike related, and we’ll talk about that…
Whenever you start to talk about the “best bike” for anything, you’re venturing into monumentally subjective territory. For commuting in Phoenix, Arizona, the best bike for me is my long wheelbase recumbent. The combination of the flat terrain, warm weather throughout most of the year, and the laidback, comfortable riding position in the chaise lounge…
“Where have you been, man?” I’ve been asked that question a lot in the last few months. Some of my friends actually thought I’d died, but I’ve been able to contact them and tell them “No such luck!” The fact is I’ve been sick. More accurately, I’ve been injured. Last May, I was at work…
3 Questions: Do you ride your bicycle to work? Do you carry a smart phone with you? Are you on social media? If you answered yes to the 3 above questions, you are well qualified to participate in #BikeCommuteAdventure. A few years ago, after I’d moved to a new house here in Tucson, I was…
For this first edition of the Commute by Bike News Roundup, I’ll be presenting the life of the bike commuter chronologically. That takes us back to when our two-wheeled adventures began … The Birth of the Bicycle by Alex Q Arbuckle on August 29, 2015 So we have bicycles, now what are we supposed to…
Hey, I think I passed you on my way home last week, my trumpet master told me, You were riding up the bridge on the bike with all the lights on it, right? Boy, you’re trusting! I’d never ride in the city like that. Trusting? Ive been called many things on my bike, but never…
This will be my last post in this forum, at least for a while. I’ve come to realize that caring for an infant full-time doesn’t leave a lot of extra wiggle room in my day to do much of anything else. The part-time work I’m doing these days from home is squeezed into the often-unpredictable…
A couple Fridays ago, I got a call from a friend in the middle of the day. I thought the timing odd given his busy work schedule, but because I was participating in a webinar, I let the call go to voice mail and sent him a text message asking what was up. The words…
When my husband and I set out to buy our first home together last year, we were pretty shocked to find out just how little we could afford in our rapidly-gentrifying city. Gone are the days in New Orleans where you could find a peeling shotgun for a steal. Despite sluggish economic times elsewhere in…
I’m in Seattle visiting family this week and getting a much-welcomed reprieve from the summer heat back home. It’s been a few years since I last visited the Emerald City, and one of the first changes I spotted upon disembarking from the ferry terminal the other day was the stations filled with lime green Pronto…
I live in Louisiana, a place that carries the ignominious designation of being one of the most dangerous places to walk or bicycle in the country. We’re in good company in the Sun Belt and in the Deep South in particular which, with certain important exceptions, is especially hostile to non-motorized transportation. Part of the…
Most anyone reading these words is well aware of The Netherlands’ reputation as a haven for biking. An estimated 30 percent of people in the country count the bicycle as their primary mode of transportation to work, a staggering figure compared to American standards, even amid recent bicycling gains. In this country, fewer than 1…
I write this in early April, at the dawn of the most pleasant of New Orleans seasons – one filled with festivals, halcyon days of extended sunlight ideal for strolling and chatting with neighbors over beers on front porches and crawfish boils. It’s a time when the cool lingering in the air lends itself to…
And we are back! Big Tex! But all jokes aside, the Burley D’lite is a great trailer for anyone looking to start using a kids trailer.The suspension is a huge plus because it makes the trailer “jar” a little less if you decide to ride on rough roads. One thing I personally love about the…
Ever get those local car sales commercials in your area? You know the super cheesy ones? Ever wonder what it would look like if a bike shop did the same thing? Well, you can stop wondering and watch the video below. You might be disappointed. So I set the bar super low. The Thule Coaster…
“Contagiousness is an unexpected property of all kinds of things, and we have to remember that if we are to recognize and diagnose epidemic change.” -Malcolm Gladwell A couple weeks ago, I had dinner with a woman I hadn’t met before who told me she’d recently started biking to work. My ears perked up at…
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