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NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Bicycle Thread

First BIG news, Goggle has added bicycling directions to their maps! Google announced this today at the American League of Bicyclists Bike Summit in Washington, DC, here is a link to the press release from the Bike League.

Secondly, I finally invested in a commuter bike and plan to begin commuting in the next few weeks. I purchased a 2009 Specialized Globe Vienna Deluxe, here is a link to the specs. I got it $549 from my local bike shop as it was last year's model. I can't wait to get some actual time in the saddle (outside of my neighborhood)
 
Bike to Work Day

I celebrated by leading a small company, four-hour bike ed class. Very glad that I spent the last few days woodshedding on a professional-looking Powerpoint. The eight people seemed like they'd learned something. Left behind my spare Bicycling mags (I get them free, a benefit of membership in bikeleague.org). As a bonus: I arrived in the conference room, and was handed a piece of b-day cake. With Hudsonville ice cream.
(This is something I picked up in May 1980...add that to the "they're so old" thread. Now that I've done this first quickie solo session, I'm considering marketing it further.)
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Rail-trails: have ridden Sugar River, Elroy-Sparta and the Gandy Dancer in Wisconsin. First tandem & trail-a-bike outing with the then-young nieces was on part of the Katy (they lived in St Louis at the time). Locally we have the White Pine, Kent Trails, and others, a fact that I did not know when I picked up and moved here.
One trailhead is 3.6 miles west, just past a pleasant ride through the "0" intersection downtown. Another is 6.3 miles north, and the ride to it is nicer than the first couple of trail miles, next to a highway.
 
Hit & run crashes

One of my Facebook friends is Ohio Bike Lawyer - Steve Magas and he has a Google alert set up for hit-skip incidents. Typically, the distraught driver thinks s/he "hit a deer" or "did not see" the cyclist.

In one instance, a driver (on Prozac, talking to her autistic kid in the back seat) "did not see" the three police officers who were out for a training ride after their shifts. Long straight boulevard highway near a high school.

This incident is pretty amazing. It appears that the local prosecutor decided to not file charges against the motorist (nabbed at a nearby Pizza Hut parking lot where he had stopped to call Mercedes Assistance to report damage to his car...according to one report, when police arrived he was loading a broken side mirror and other broken parts into his car).
However, the prosecutor decided to file felony charges against a couple of mountain bikers who swapped race numbers.
 
JNA said:
HEADLINE: 10 great places to (bike) ride the rails
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/10great/2010-05-20-bike-rail-trails_N.htm

Some long rides listed.

Has anybody experienced a rail-to-trail ?
Do you have in or near your fair community ?
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I've ridden several rails-to-trails. The Prairie Path used to run right through the middle of my hometown and through several other Chicago suburbs. I used to ride it often. I connected up to Fox River Trail that runs along the river north-south from about Crystal Lake to Aurora.

There is an attempt to do a long rail-to-trail across Illinois from Danville to at least past Springfield I beleive.

Here is more info on some of the trails.
http://www.great-trails.com/illinois.shtml
 
Riden the Virginia Creeper Trail a couple of times. It's a 34 mile rail-trail that is excellent. The first half rides down White Top to Damascus through woods and nextt o the stream. The second half rides from Damascus to Abingdon through rolling hills with wonderful views and over some really neat tressels.

I recommend staying at the Alpine Inn in Abingdon. Old style motor court with only 16 huge rooms, very reasonable and very very clean.


We are looking at riding the longer New River trail (another rails-to-trails) in southern Virginia next year.
 
A question: will the powers that be not sell a recumbent bicycle to you if you don't have a beard?

I'm considering a townhouse next to the the East Ithaca Recreation Way. A nice old railroad ROW may be one of the few places to bike in town without going up or down some Frisco-like slope in the process.

For such a hilly city, Ithaca is quite bike-friendly. Lots of bike lanes, trails, "SHARE THE ROAD" signs, and even a few ghost bikes.
 
Anyone who is interested in moving to Hawaii (island of Oahu specifically) and is also a bike lover should know that there isn't a single shop on the island that sells used bikes. Not one. Sounds like an opportunity for an entrepreneur to me.
 
TerraSapient said:
Anyone who is interested in moving to Hawaii (island of Oahu specifically) and is also a bike lover should know that there isn't a single shop on the island that sells used bikes. Not one. Sounds like an opportunity for an entrepreneur to me.
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There's really not many in Chicago either. I can only think of a few off the top of my head. Used bikes aren't hard to find, but not many actual retail stores that carry them.
 
I guess it seems odd to me because I'm so use to having a used bike store nearby. In Hilo we had 2 used bike shops (town of 40,000).
 
Ghostbike

Installed today. The rider was a Facebook buddy and someone I'd see on club rides.

file0108.jpg
 
Gratitude

"Thank you so...much for honoring my Grandpa with a memorial bike. It means more than you know to our family and friends. Thank you again."

(posted to the Facebook wall of the ghostbikes film project)
 
zoo2: My sincere condolences to the family.
Now, are we going to have old, hastily painted white bikes locked to city property, just like crosses all over the highways? Come on- this is NOT necessary.

godspianoboy: zoo2, it seems like you're looking for something to complain about and this really ought not be the issue you choose. If you have somehow been victimized by the sight of this white bike, you should address the offense with the local government. If it isn't that big of a problem for you, then out of your sincere sympathy for Larry's family and friends (of which I am one), please refrain from making a fuss out of something so trivial... Graveyards aren't very classy-looking either, but there's a point to which grief outweighs aesthetics and I think the white bike should, at least for now, fall within that exception. Be merciful and patient with those who grieve - even if you think they're going overboard.

Required zoning reference: it's in the MDOT r-o-w.
 
Family loves it

Lots of additions, including a plaque with a verse about "walking with my grandpa." The fabric is a hat thingie from his team.

ghostbikelarry2.jpg
 
On my way to get new wheels put on my Specialzed Hardrock Sport! $250 later I should be able to ride my bike again. From now on I will suck it up and carry it the three flights of steps each day and lock each wheel and the body individually so that my wheels hopefully do not get stolen again. Oh, and no more cheap locks.


It will be great to start riding again!
 
I dig it Planit! Very cool!
________________________

After dropping my bike off Saturday I received a call from the mechanic who informed me that I have a "critical crack" in the frame of my bike that isn't repairable and the that shop, "won't work on bikes that they feel could kill the rider" :-|
Luckily, a few of my friends who are professional welders volunteered to fix the frame for me if they could. So, I went back to the bike shop to pick up my frame and ask them where the crack was. It was a nice deep vertical crack in the headset. Not sure how long it has been there or how I missed it before. To my dismay it did not look like a weld job could fix it. However, since I am the original owner of the bike of the crack appears to be a manufacturing flaw of sorts, a replacement frame is covered under my warranty! Woot woot! So, the shop is trying to track down my warranty information for me and I should be getting a new frame at no charge! <:D :D Specialized! :loveeyes: :D <:D
 
PlaTerraSapient said:
On my way to get new wheels put on my Specialzed Hardrock Sport! $250 later I should be able to ride my bike again. From now on I will suck it up and carry it the three flights of steps each day and lock each wheel and the body individually so that my wheels hopefully do not get stolen again. Oh, and no more cheap locks.


It will be great to start riding again!
Click to expand...

Stolen bikes or bike parts is the worst. I was in a class once back in college and saw someone pilfering the rack from my bike from ther 3rd story window (though from where I sat, I just thought they were stealing the whole thing). I started hollering out the window and then ran out of the class only to find they were gone by the time I got down there. The whole class was wondering what the hell was wrong with me when I returned, looking surly.

Bikes are probably the item I have had stolen most frequently. I'm back up to two again - one road, one mountain - and I love to ride. Forgot my lock this AM but fortunately, I work in a very quiet, safe area, so it was still there when I went for lunch...

That's great Specialized honored your warranty. I had a similarly surprising experience with a 20 some year old down sleeping bag from North Face. I sent it back for a broken zipper and, after determining they could not adequately clean the down, they filled the entire bag with brand new stuff. They called, apologizing, because they had to charge me $20 for the cleaning regardless. Hmmm, a brand new down North Face sleeping bag for 20 dollars, 20 years after original purchase? Yeah, I guess that would be allright...

Also just got my Sierra Designs tent back - had a tent pole separate and rip through the tent wall during a wind storm. They don't make the tent anymore, but they still repaired it free of charge. Awesome...
 
From the New York Times -
The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread

HIGHLIGHTS:
Cyclists can't carry six bags of groceries; bulk buying is almost nonexistent. Instead of shopping for a week, people stop at the market daily. So the need for processed loaves that will last for days is gone. A result: good bread.

"Back in the 1960s, we were doing the same thing as America, making cities car-friendly," he said. Funnily enough, it was an American, Jane Jacobs, who changed the minds of European urban designers. Her book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" got European planners to shift their focus from car-friendliness to overall livability.
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Yeah what happened to the local bakery ?
 
My 5 year old daughter learned how to ride her bike in the last month. Today was the first day of school and she road to school! She was so proud.
 
wahday said:
My 5 year old daughter learned how to ride her bike in the last month. Today was the first day of school and she road to school! She was so proud.
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I would imagine that is without training wheels? Did she go straight to no wheels or start out with some "help"?
 
Zoning Goddess said:
Or are they just desperate for business? Likely, huh?
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Erm.. not quite. Cyclists' rights vis a vis those of motorists and constant turf wars over street space have become a way of life here over the last 5 years. There is a definite niche that has formed in regard to pedestrian and cyclist-focused cases. This is not borne of desperation.
 
Hink_Planner said:
I would imagine that is without training wheels? Did she go straight to no wheels or start out with some "help"?
Click to expand...

She had a bike with training wheels for some time. Then last year she had me take them off because she thought she was ready. But it was another 6 months before it happened and she refused to let me put them back on - I think it felt like a step backwards. So, we did a lot of work in the driveway, me awkwardly bent over, holding the bike by the back of the seat while she tried to get the hang of it.

Then one day, she just decided she was going to really focus on it and figure it out. She would go outside on her own every day and try, each time getting a litte further before losing balance. And then it happened. Now she is a riding fool. She wants to ride to school every day and also take journeys in the neighborhood. Sunday evening we rode over two miles (which is a lot for her) to an area park and back. Now she has graduated to a slightly larger bike (her brother's leftover from a few years back) and is off to the races.

This all occurred about two weeks after she also learned to swim, so I think she is on a real kick to develop new physical skills. It helps that she has an older brother who she wants to be just like. Today mom is taking them ice skating after school. Tightrope walking can't be far behind...
 
Pac Coast Bike Tour

Don't know why it's taken me so long to share these videos. Some grad school friends and I did a fully loaded bike tour from Seattle to San Diego this summer. The first leg was Seattle-Mt. Rainier-Portland-Santiam-Eugene. We hit the coast around Florence, OR and rode the 101 and the 1 (with a few detours) down to San Diego. It was an incredible experience, and we raised a few thousand dollars for MS research at that!

Anyhoo, here are some video compilations if anyone is interested (not recommended for those susceptible to motion sickness):

Episode 1- Washington and Oregon: http://tinyurl.com/3olbwoz
Episode 2- Northern California: http://tinyurl.com/3w889sd
Episode 3- Central and Southern California: http://tinyurl.com/3r29pap

This was my first bike tour but it certainly won't be the last.
 
Kalimotxo - you're killing me with this! This is a fantasy of mine - an extended bike trip. I even looked up a number of families that have done this in the hopes of convincing my family to try it. I have a training route picked out that is near some land we own in western New Mexico. The Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway is a 30 mile section of all terrain roads that winds its way through a weird moonscape of volcanic cones. We'd do it as a 1 or 2 night ride to test gear and such.

Your helmet cam made me dizzy, but this is so inspiring!

Elsewhere, the organization I now work for is toying with the idea of organizing a bike ride as a fundraiser. Its been fun to do some preliminary planning for it. It would have rides of a few different distances and a big party to follow.

I used to do a lot of extended canoe trips as a teen andinto my early twenties, but now that I live in the desert southwest, I am thinking bike trips are the way to go (since I can't find any water to paddle). Agina, this is totally inspiring - thanks for posting!
 
kalimotxo said:
Don't know why it's taken me so long to share these videos. Some grad school friends and I did a fully loaded bike tour from Seattle to San Diego this summer. The first leg was Seattle-Mt. Rainier-Portland-Santiam-Eugene. We hit the coast around Florence, OR and rode the 101 and the 1 (with a few detours) down to San Diego. It was an incredible experience, and we raised a few thousand dollars for MS research at that!

Anyhoo, here are some video compilations if anyone is interested (not recommended for those susceptible to motion sickness):

Episode 1- Washington and Oregon: http://tinyurl.com/3olbwoz
Episode 2- Northern California: http://tinyurl.com/3w889sd
Episode 3- Central and Southern California: http://tinyurl.com/3r29pap

This was my first bike tour but it certainly won't be the last.
Click to expand...

Very cool. I esp. liked the interpretive dance with the sheet in Episode 1. Are you the camera guy?
 
Veloise said:
I am very proud to have played a small supporting role in this effort.
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As stated in the article, they did this at the Kalamazoo Avenue crossing. I have no idea why they didn't do it here to begin with. The traffic on Byron Center moves so much faster than on Kalamazoo because there are more traffic lights on K-zoo

Unfortunately, because I worked where the K-zoo crossing (which is signalized) is located, I witnessed numerous close calls where auto drivers weren't paying attention and almsot hit bicyclists as they were crossing. Sometimes even signalized crossings don't help when you're dealing with stupid people.
 
Trail planning learning curve

For those following along at home, here's a map of the subject facilities.
http://westmichigantrails.com/library/trailMaps/M6PlasterCreekInterurban_VLS.pdf

On the bike club message board, someone was pushing for a bridge "because they are putting one in at Division, which has less traffic." So that forum has been introduced to the concept of ADT. (I shared the stats on the high schoolers' bicycle prank roadway for an example.)
http://gvmc.ms2soft.com/tcds/tsearch.asp?loc=Gvmc&mod=

Methinks that TPTB are attempting to apply principles of traffic engineering and bicycle safety as they go, trying to make new trail sections safer as they work through the existing built-up urban area. The ghostbike honoree was 69 years old and his family has been very gracious; someone with a good attorney could have cost the jurisdictions much more than $115,000.
 
DetroitPlanner said:
Wow! wow! wow!

I've been an advocate for figuring out a good way for bicycles to help contribute to the system that they use through a user fee of some sorts, after all, drivers pay fuel taxes and transit users pay fares, but this is just downright nutty.
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I was thinking maybe a nominal fee for a bicycle safety certification or something would be reasonable.
 
Ghostbike via social media

As some may know, I am active in the ghostbike movement. (This spring I installed three of them in my area.)

Last week, a horrific hit-skip event in Traverse City. It's a low-traffic residential street (beautiful Victorian houses). She was dragged 1-1/2 blocks, and the vehicle left swerving tire marks on the streets. Almost immediately, a reward was posted.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/07/29-year-old_bicyclist_identifi.html

If ever a scene needed a GB, it would be this one. However, I'm about three hours away, and presently "low on stock." (I sometimes have a future GB stashed in my garage. It takes a few days to locate a junker suitable for the honor.)

So I posted a few comments: Facebooked the local bicycle club, the public safety agency, the local paper. Put an ad on the TC Craigslist, and shared it far and wide.

Local cyclists saw this, stepped up, created a GB to add to the already-established display of flowers and yard ornaments.

Yeah, I'm mentioned in here. Big deal.

And here.

It's especially interesting to read various comments such as, "I was riding in a nearby location last month and was buzzed by a dark SUV, but it's probably not important." Seriously? The reward is up to $50k at this writing. Time to sneak a photo of your neighbor's mysteriously-damaged dark (or maybe silver) SUV-or-pickup and send it off to LEO.
 
United State Bicycle Routes (USBRs)?

In a recent discussion in a road forvm that I follow, the subject of 'United States Bicycle Routes' (USBRs) came up - these are a nascent system of interstate marked trails and other bicycle routes across the USA. From what I am aware of, Michigan just marked a couple of these and Minnesota is right now actively developing several across their state.

These routes are administered by AASHTO (the 'American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials'), the same guys who administer US and interstate highway routing and standards and official route marker signs are in the latest USA federal MUTCD ('Manual of Uniform Transportation Control Devices').

See: http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/us-bicycle-route-system/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Numbered_Bicycle_Routes for more info.

Any thoughts?

Mike
 
Sweet Ride....

Mrs. The One just got a new beach cruiser and we are now riding buddies :D :l: Her main requirement was that it be pink, have a basket and have a bottle opener, so she can drink a Land Shark brew:b: while riding
that is all.....carry on........
 
The One said:
Mrs. The One just got a new beach cruiser and we are now riding buddies :D :l: Her main requirement was that it be pink, have a basket and have a bottle opener, so she can drink a Land Shark brew:b: while riding
that is all.....carry on........
Click to expand...

Awwwwweeeee :)


hey, is it illegal to drink and ride?
 
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