There’s always room for coffee in the bike bottle cage, but what about putting real fuel in your bike’s tank? Protein shakes, granola bars and bananas! Oh, my! As it warms up here in the great plains, I’m slowly switching over to bike-only commuting mode. By heart rate calculations, my 28+ mile round trip burns…
Commute by Bike
Pain at the pump
From political cartoonist Walt Handelsman.. Regular gasoline is going for $3.65/gallon at the discount places near my home this weekend, and diesel has been over $4/gallon for a couple of weeks now. How much is it where you live?
Check that bike rack
You’ve done your homework and bought the best locks for your bike, you know how to securely lock your bike, and perhaps you’ve even uglified it. But have you ensured the bike rack itself is secure? University of Oregon students Lauren Miller, Hollie Putnam and Lauren Prince discovered all three of their locked bicycles were…
Grinding brakes test nerves and rims
I’ve been using SwissStop all-weather pads on my road bike for a while, but this morning, they started grinding. As it turns out, the temperatures here are still below freezing, and that made the brake pads harder and harsher. Little by little, they started to scour aluminum off of my rims. This made a horrible…
Test your awareness skills
Cyclists in the San Francisco Bay Area are mourning the loss of two world class athletes who died Sunday when a Sheriff’s deputy apparently fell asleep at the wheel and ran head on into a group ride. A few hours later, two other cyclists were seriously injured on Skyline Boulevard in San Mateo County when…
Cyclist tip: Change your patch kit glue
If you carry a patch kit around and don’t use glueless patches, now’s a good time to check the glue in your patch kit. The glue can evaporate even from unopened tubes of glue. The end of the metal glue tubes are usually crimped, and there’s sometimes enough of a gap to allow the glue…
Cyclists Subsidize Motorists
How much are we paying for the roads? If you are primarily a cyclist, too much, according to a paper from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute. They published a paper back in 2004 titled “Whose Roads?: Defining Bicyclists’ and Pedestrians’ Right to Use Public Roadways,” which can be found here. It is an interesting read,…
Motivation
I have been thinking about what motivates me to ride my bike everyday. Sure I enjoy riding my bike and have for the past 15 plus years. I was an avid racer, still do regular training type rides, and an occasional race. That alone is not enough o get me out of bed every morning…
Commuting 101: Learn your local "village"
I personally think that commuting by bike is more than just the to-and-from work daily grind. It’s about cycling for transportation in general: Utility Cycling, if you will. A while ago, Warren introduced us to Clif Bar‘s 2-Mile Challenge. To those of us who live in suburbia and are in the process of reducing our…
Not as slow as you'd think
I ran a whole bunch of errands back to back tonight. It was a pretty low-mileage day, with 3 errands strung together for a grand total just a little over 4 miles. Something interesting happened on the way home. You see, I was on a relatively empty road in the evening. There were no traffic…
New Belgium – Bike More Drive Less
Just came across this great video/ad produced by New Belgium Brewery. They make great beer and put on the Tour de Fat. Which I have yet to make it to but I have heard it is a great time. Check out the video and the Tour de Fat website. If only all of my commutes…
Mobiky Genius folding bike
My friend Maribeth recently picked up a Mobiky Genius folding bike and she let me try it out. The Mobiky Genius is a cute folding bicycle with tiny 12 inch tires that folds up very quickly and fairly compactly. Mobiky seems to market primarily to the general aviation and yachting crowd, who like folding bikes…
Bicycle and commuting humor
I recently ran across Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery, a web comic that most bike commuters and bike shop employees will get a chuckle out of. The author’s only been at it for a little over a month but it’s shaping up to be some daily entertainment for my RSS reader. Some days, there’s…
Bloggers at the National Bike Summit
With over 500 people registered to attend the National Bike Summit this week in Washington DC, it’s no wonder that more a few are bloggers. Here are the ones I’ve found so far. Missouri Bicycle Federation. Wash Cycle. Metro Detroit. Bike Portland. Bike Iowa. Dangerblog from Kansas City, MO. Mean Turtle from Arkansas. Alan Snel…
Trek Encouraging the Midwest to "Go By Bike"
If you commute in the Kansas City, St. Louis or Omaha area you have a wonderful opportunity to encourage some of your friends who have been telling you that they are considering doing the same. There are others in your area that commuting by bike just isn’t feasible, but running short errands would be. Trek…
Multi-Mode Nerds: Handy Transit Schedules
Bikes, Buses and Trains, oh my! My multi-mode commute can get confusing at times. I don’t have one set bus route. There are 3 different bus routes and probably a dozen different stops I will use depending on errands I plan on running, the time I get out of work (road congestion taken into consideration)…
Chrome knickers are babe magnets
Tim reviewed Chrome’s knickers last year and now I’ve finally gotten a pair. I love them! Tim’s already discussed the form and practicality of the pants, but I’ve discovered another function: women can’t keep their hands and eyes off of them! They love the look and feel of the mid weight four way stretch nylon/spandex…
Bike shops for bike commuters
A common refrain on this site and elsewhere is that many bike shops don’t serve the needs of the bike commuter or utility cyclist. Many are interested in the high end, which has been the bread and butter for most of the bike industry over the past thirty years and which continues to provide most…
Baltimore Bicycle Paramedics
Bicycle paramedics. What a cool idea. In 1999, the city of Baltimore had difficulties getting ambulances to people in need at the celebrations at the Inner Harbor, where tens of thousands of people attended the event. In response, the Baltimore Fire Department established a paramedic bicycle team to help out during 11 downtown events. This…
How To Lock Your Bike
Over at Quickrelease.tv, they have a great (definitive?) article on the best ways to lock your bike and foil bike thieves, called “Lock It or Lose It.” The videos showing public apathy are especially eye-opening. Here is one tip from the article: A bottle jack can only be used on a u-lock where there’s space…
Change your view
The St. Louis Regional Bike Federation created a series “Change Your View” public service announcements to promote cycling as transportation. These 30 second spots emphasize the positive aspects of cycling and commuting by bike — you can interact with people, feel the seasons, smell the smells, see the sights. They intentionally avoided a “Share the…
Riding with a badly bent wheel
It eventually happens to the best of us. A pot-hole or storm-drain you didn’t see, a really rough curb hop, or a crash can bend a wheel pretty quickly. Not all hope is lost, however. You can often limp home on a taco wheel. If your bent wheel locks up from rubbing on the brakes,…
Swobo Del Norte seen in the wild
I was up in Sausalito for the Amgen Tour of California and spotted Erin of Swobo riding this hot Del Norte. CBB posted some spy photos of the Del Norte last fall; Erin says this bike will be available in about three weeks. This very sharp looking steel singlespeed is named for the Del Norte…
XYZ Bike — Overview: My Foul Weather Friend
I’ve had several opportunities to ride the XYZ Bikes Men’s Beach Cruiser since my initial ride in late December, and for a $100 bike — I’m happy with the results. It certainly would be an inexpensive way for people to find out if bicycle commuting is for them. First, the down side: There are a…