Commute by Bike

Sandy: Mother of a Million Bike Commuters

Sandy: Mother of a Million Bike Commuters

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, where the New York subway system may take weeks to recover, expect a lot of bikes to come out of mothballs. New York City bike advocates Transportation Alternatives are preparing to help erstwhile cyclists make the transition from neglect to success with commuter support stops. The “Bike Ambassadors” will…

Blizzards and Meth Labs and Bears. Oh my!

Blizzards and Meth Labs and Bears. Oh my!

Shanna Ladd is a bike commuter in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley (a.k.a. “The Mat-Su”), north of Anchorage. She’s getting ready to bike commute through her second winter. Her summer/fall commute looks like this: Shanna commented on my post about marketing cycling to women, and told me that what she needed was a fatbike, with or without…

Don't Make It About The Bike

Don't Make It About The Bike

Lately I’ve been walking to work more often than biking. I realized recently that if I just walk our two dogs (Howard and Skully) to work with me, it takes less time than when I walk them first, leave them at home, and then commute by bike. (It’s a 35-minute walk commute vs. a 25-minute…

1979's 'Americathon' Depicted a Bike-Friendly America

I’ve never seen this movie, but 1979’s Americathon depicted a 1998 “future” America where the USA has run out of oil, and Americans have begun riding bicycles for transportation. Yet it’s apparently not a future that the country chose by redesigning and tweaking infrastructure, and consciously changing transportation and energy policies. It seems as though…

Led Astray by the Google Gal

Led Astray by the Google Gal

Over two years ago, Google Maps added bicycling navigation directions to the application for Android smartphones. At first it was pretty buggy, and one of the complaints was it generated more automobile routes than bicycling routes. For that reason, I put off testing it and it just fell off my to-do radar. I used Google…

Automaticity: Not Just for Autos

Automaticity: Not Just for Autos

Tom Bowden added a new word to our bicycling lexicon: Velocapitalist. As a noun, it refers to “One who promotes the activity of cycling for transportation, sport, health or recreation and invests in or encourages public investment in cycling infrastructure and commerce.” Here’s a word I discovered today: automaticity. At first glance, it would seem…

My Feminine Side is Feeling Patronized

My Feminine Side is Feeling Patronized

I’m heading to Interbike 2012. Some of the preliminaries have already begun, such as the Outdoor Demo. I’ve never been to that, but apparently it’s held outdoors and you get to ride a bunch of different bikes. This being my third time to the annual trade show for the American Cycling Industry, I’m getting my…