Bike to Work Week

We are halfway through Bike to Work Week!!!
Still more upcoming events


Bike to Work Week 2014

will start Monday, May 12th and end Saturday, May 17th
2014 INFO & EVENTS:

Monday the 12^th: Kick-Off Ride. We will meet at 7:30am in the Home Depot Parking Lot and ride down Government Way to City Hall, where we will gather for coffee and doughnuts to talk about the upcoming bike events.

Wednesday the 14^th: Moonlight Ride. We will meet at Vertical Earth on Sherman Avenue at 8pm and ride out on the Centennial Trail to Higgins Point and back. We will gather at Moontime afterwards for refreshments. Bring a bike light and wear reflective clothing.

Thursday the 15^th: Beer Tasting and a Movie. We will meet at Pilgrims market for beer tasting and a movie about cycling. Beer tasting starts at 6:00pm and the movie starts at 6:30pm.

Saturday the 17^th: Roots Pursuit & Awards Ceremony. The event begins at the Community Garden on the corner of 10^th and Foster Ave at 10am. After party and awards are from Noon to 2pm. PRIZES AND GIVE-A-WAYS TO PARTIPANTS!!!

 

Bike Enthusiasts Unite!

Imagine waking up, enjoying a cup of coffee and a hearty breakfast, then strapping on a helmet and jumping on your bike for a nice commute to work. The sun is shining as you wave to the shop owners opening up for business. You look at all the disgruntled drivers stopping and going at every light, rushing to work while you pedal along unwittingly invigorating your body for the day ahead. This has been my experience on many occasions but with few options to avoid speeding traffic and the constant worry of being pegged by a texting driver (ashamed to admit I’m guilty) many would-be bicycle commuters defect to gas guzzling, fury invoking, automobile travel.


Well Stuck in North Idaho fans, I am pleased to announce that there is a bike group gaining some momentum in Coeur d’Alene. Their call sign Bike CDA, ringing out like a manifesto to the wellness warriors such as myself. I met with this group on Saturday morning at Calypso’s. The congregation was filled with bikers of all sorts. Mountain bikers, road riders, beach cruisers and pub crawlers. And the person who is bringing everyone together for the cause of making Coeur d’Alene more bike friendly happens to be one of our city’s finest, John Kelly.


I sat down with John at Java Monday and we discussed what it takes for a community to make a social movement, such as alternative transportation, a reality. The idea is connectivity, creating corridors for bikers to commute and then having a place to store your bike safely when you get to your destination. It’s a complex task indeed because of the logistics of connecting say Coeur d’Alene to Hayden. The challenge is getting all the respective cities on the same page. Now to be honest local government is a bit over my head but I believe we can still make a difference just by joining the conversation and being heard.


Coeur d’Alene is my home and I love it here. I can’t help but feel we are on the brink of something really big that will create opportunities for local entrepreneurs, develop safe routes for bikers and reduce the amount of car traffic.  So what I’m really saying is that I endorse Bike CDA and I encourage all Stuck in North Idaho followers to find out more about them whether you are a bike enthusiast or not.

• Kyle

Update: You can check out more information about Bike Cd’A via this Cd’A Press story, on their website or this article from Coeur d’Alene Living Local. 


For the original article with pictures (since blogger isn't letting me upload pictures lately) click here.

MAY IS BIKE TO WORK MONTH!

National Bike Month

May is National Bike Month, sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists and celebrated in communities from coast to coast. Established in 1956, National Bike Month is a chance to showcase the many benefits of bicycling — and encourage more folks to giving biking a try.

Promotional materials for National Bike Month are now available to use! Click here.

Whether you bike to work or school; ride to save money or time; pump those pedals to preserve your health or the environment; or simply to explore your community, National Bike Month is an opportunity to celebrate the unique power of the bicycle and the many reasons we ride.

As a national sponsor, the League provides resources to help you plan an event in your area, and each year the number and diversity of Bike Month celebrations continues to grow, accelerating the momentum around bicycling nationwide.
 
And don’t forget: May is the start of the National Bike Challenge; learn more here.


For the originating page click here

Young people in Indianapolis want low-car lifestyles almost as much as young people in NYC

In the business world, it's called "first mover advantage." It's the head start Apple got in the smartphone market because it invented the device.
The more we learn about young Americans' priorities in where they want to live, the more it's looking like a few cities that happened to start investing in low-car transportation options years ago have been enjoying a big head start in attracting young workers over the last 10 years, even if their local job markets are ho-hum at best.
It's old news by now that young Americans are far more enthusiastic about urban life than their parents were. But a 10-city survey released this week shows something interesting and new: this attitude seems to be nearly as common among young people in Indianapolis or Tampa as it is among those in New York or San Francisco.

Click here for the rest of the story...

Funny! We don't have this problem here, thankfully.

Bike to Work Month is Coming!

Cycling's Catching On In Texas, For A Very Texas Reason

How to Bike to School

Did you ride to school as a kid? Pass the fun to your own children with these tips.
ByChristine Mattheis

 



Teach Your Kids to Bike to School
Do you have fond memories of riding your bike to school as a kid? Chances are, you do—30 years ago, half of all children biked or walked to school regularly. Today, it’s just 13 percent. But biking is making a comeback. First Lady Michelle Obama has advocated biking and walking to school as part of her Let’s Move initiative. And schools and communities across the country are achieving impressive results, using both simple and high-tech methods to get kids back in the saddle.

Use the following tips to bring the joy of biking to school to your own children.

Stock Up on Bike-Safety Essentials
Your children should have these items on each ride to ensure a safe trip to school.

Helmet: A properly fitting bike helmet has been shown to reduce the risk of head injury by up to 85 percent. Bring your kids to your local bike shop with you so they can pick them out—they’ll be more likely to wear them if they helped choose them.

Lights: Front and rear lights will make your child more visible to motorists. Teach your kid to store the lights in his or her backpack during the day—they’re easy to yank off, and you’ll want to make sure you won’t have to replace them.

Bike Lock: To be sure your child’s bike will still be at the rack at the end of the school day, buy a lock. Read Bicycling’s lock reviews to decide what to buy.

Bell: A quick ding of a bell alerts pedestrians that a cyclist is coming their way on a shared-use path.

Arrange a Ride-Pool
Worried about your kid riding to school alone? Arrange a group ride with other children in your neighborhood. Parents can take turns leading the group.

Practice Traffic Skills
Even kids who live too far from school to bike should learn the rules of the road. Teach your children how to signal and how to anticipate possible bike-car collisions.

Let Them Goof Off…Safely
The best way for your kids to learn bike-handling skills? Just let them ride. Take them to a grassy field or BMX park where they can fall without worrying about cars and road rash. They’ll build balance and confidence while having fun.

Make a Route Map
Sometimes, the most direct route to school isn’t the safest. Help your kids plot a route that has bike lanes, wide shoulders, and low traffic.

Ride With Your Kids
The best way to encourage your children to learn to love cycling: Ride with them! If they’re resisting, offer a reward—a 2-mile spin will suddenly seem fun if there’s an ice-cream shop along the route. Bonus: You’ll get fitter, too.

Click here for the original article

Supreme Court Ruling Jeopardizes >1,400 Bike Trails

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court's ruling in an obscure Wyoming land dispute Monday could result in the loss of thousands of miles of bicycle trails or cost the government millions of dollars in compensation.

The justices ruled 8-1 that government easements used for railroad beds over public and private land in the West expired once the railroads went out of business, and the land must revert to its owners.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said the case was decided based on an 1875 act of Congress and a 1942 Supreme Court decision involving Great Northern Railway.

That ruling confirmed that the government merely had received easements without any long-term land rights, he said. The establishment in 1983 of the federal "rails to trails" program didn't change the court's interpretation for easements that expired earlier.

"We're going to stick with that today," Roberts said from the bench.

The decision could jeopardize the "rails to trails" program, responsible for creating more than 1,400 bike and nature trails, many of them built along railroad rights-of-way.

The ruling prompted a lone dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

"The court undermines the legality of thousands of miles of former rights of way that the public now enjoys as means of transportation and recreation," Sotomayor said. "Lawsuits challenging the conversion of former rails to recreational trails alone may well cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars."

The ruling came in a case brought by Wyoming landowner Marvin Brandt, whose 83-acre property is crossed by an old railroad line. Brandt's victory has implications for about 80 other cases involving about 8,000 claimants.

"Thousands of claims pertaining to 1875 Act rights-of-way have been filed," the Justice Department said in its brief to the court. "The United States will be obligated to pay just compensation on many claims in which ownership of the right-of-way is often a determining factor."

The Rails to Trails Conservancy had warned that a loss would block completion of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail that cuts through Brandt's property and would "threaten existing rail trails across America that utilize federally granted rights-of-way." Included are the George S. Mickelson Trail in South Dakota, the Foothills Trail and John Wayne Pioneer trails in Washington, the Weiser River Trail in Idaho and the Rio Grande Trail in Colorado.

The federal government or its state and local counterparts could exercise eminent domain proceedings to keep trails in operation and pay adjacent landowners, said Kevin Mills, senior vice president of policy and trail development for the conservancy. In other cases, trails could be shut down if landowners go to court.

"There probably will be an increase in litigation," Mills said. "At a minimum, it creates uncertainty and/or expense."

During oral arguments in the case in January, justices had a hard time getting information on the overall acreage or miles of trails involved. It "strikes me as pretty unusual that the government doesn't know what it owns," Roberts said at the time. Justice Antonin Scalia, who cast his lot with the landowners early on, called that "incredible."

Justice Stephen Breyer, who has had three bicycling accidents since 1993 — the last of which in April resulted in a shoulder replacement — envisioned a future in which landowners could be besieged by bikers.

"I certainly think bicycle paths are a good idea," he said, but "for all I know, there is some right-of-way that goes through people's houses, you know, and all of a sudden they are going to be living in their house, and suddenly a bicycle will run through it." - USA TODAY
(You'd think a Supreme Court Justice would be more intelligent than that - thinking a bike bath would materialize in your living room....I despair for humanity)

10 Principles for Building Healthy Places

Click here for the complete document

What Snow Tells Us About Creating Better Public Spaces

Here is an awesome article about creating better public spaces. It's too long to recreate so here is a picture and the link. Enjoy...

http://www.thisoldcity.com/advocacy/photos-what-snow-tells-us-about-creating-better-public-spaces-e-passyunk-avenue#.UvLZRvmwKGz

Why You Should Never Bike to Work

I have biked everywhere within 4 miles of my apartment in the past 5 years, including every job I've had -- I've never had to drive to work in Denver. I find riding a bicycle exhilarating, but that's no reason for you to think you should. In fact, here are 9 reasons you shouldn't bike to work. I'm sure you can think of others.

9. It's too dangerous.
Can you imagine being out there on a bicycle with all these crazy drivers flying past you, nothing to protect you except a plastic and styrofoam shell on your head? You could get killed. The absolute best thing is to stay in the protective cage of your car, because no one's ever been killed when they're inside an automobile. Driving is safe.

8. You have to wear a tie to work. Or a suit. Or a skirt.
Not only that, it's important to wear your tie/suit/business casual attire from the moment you leave your house in the morning until the moment you get home. There is no conceivable way you could leave some clothes at your office, and change into them after you ride your bike to work, two or three days a week. Plus, your suit/tie combination is so dialed, you can't just spread your tie collection out over two locations. Where the hell is my cornflower blue tie? I need to see if it looks good with these shoes. And like there's some way to ride a bike in skirt or a dress?

7. You have to go to the gym after/before work.
What, are you supposed to carry all your work materials and your gym clothes in a tiny little backpack on a bike? Please. I mean, what, bike to work, then bike to the gym, then get on the stationary bike for 45 minutes, and bike home? Ridiculous. What are you, Lance Armstrong? I guess you could just ride your real bike, and stop going to the gym, but we're Americans. We work out indoors.

6. You can't show up all sweaty and smelly for your job.
It is a proven fact that once you have sweated from exercise, you can never recover until you get into a shower or bath and rinse it off. Also a fact: Human sweat is comprised of more than 90% fecal particles, which is why you smell like a hog confinement instantly after you start exercising, and afterward, when the people next to you on the Stairmaster are passing out like they've just been chloroformed. It's not like you could take a shower at the office, after all, or use Action Wipes to wipe off when you get to work to mitigate that smell. Your co-workers will be all, "Bob, what the hell did you do, bike to work today? It smells like somebody's gutting a week-old deer carcass in your cubicle."

5. You don't have the right bike for it.
The only bike you own are your Trek Madone, and your single-speed 29er, neither of which will work. You'd have to go out and buy a dedicated commuting bike, which start at, what, $1,200? Ask those day laborer guys who bike to work every day on secondhand Huffys and Magnas -- they're not cheap.

4. You can't be wearing a bike helmet and messing up your hair before work.
Fact: Hair products are not portable, and are not designed for use outside of your home bathroom or a hair salon. And let's face it: Your hairstyle is a work of carefully crafted art, not something that can be rushed in 5, 10 or even 30 minutes in some modern office restroom. You spend a long time on your hair, just like Tony Manero. You can't just throw it all away on a bike ride.

3. The route from your home to your office would be suicide on a bike.
There are no bike lanes, no shoulders, no wide sidewalks, no nothing on the roads from your home to your office. What, are you supposed to find other roads to ride on, like lesser-traveled, lower-speed-limit roads through residential areas? Or detour way out of your way to get on a bike path? No thank you. You don't have time for that.

2. What if it rains?
Yeah, Mr. Hardcore Bike Commuter, what if it rains? You're supposed to just ride a bicycle home from the office through a downpour? What are you supposed to do when you get home, looking like a sewer rat? This is a civilized society. Thanks to umbrellas, sprinting from your car to your office, and sometimes holding a newspaper above your head, you haven't gotten wet outside of your shower since 2007. Next thing, someone's going to tell you that you have to carry a rain jacket in your bike commuting bag -- maybe pants too. What the hell is this, a backpacking trip? You're just trying to get to work on time.

1. You would have to change your routine.
Please. Give up your 45-minute drive into work, the drive that energizes you for the day ahead? Give up interacting with all those other fun, friendly, courteous drivers on the freeway? Sitting in traffic? Road construction? Merging? Not a chance.

Brendan Leonard is an editor, outdoorsman and author of The New American Road Trip Mixtape. He runs the site semi-rad.com.

For the original article click here

Dear Motorist,

Making The Economic Case For Cycling-Friendly Cities With Bikeonomics

A new book puts hard numbers to the intuitive case for more bike-friendly neighborhoods for all.

We all know that cycling is good for us and that it benefits the environment. But if you want to make the case for something, it helps to have numbers to back you up, especially in policy circles.
We've covered a few cycling-economics studies here at Co.Exist. But in Bikenomics: How Cycling Can Save The Economy, the Portland-based activist Elly Blue goes further. Her book is comprehensive account of all the ways cycling can save money, boost revenues, and help the economy broadly and locally.
Here are five key arguments she makes:

Health costs

Health is the biggie. "Bicycle infrastructure makes so much economic sense that it can accurately be described as a health investment," Blue says. Portland says health savings could allow it to recoup spending on cycling by 2015; by 2030, it could save $600 million a year. Blue argues that short trips by bike are a more convenient way for people to get daily exercise (more realistic than going to the gym all the time). Inevitably, she cites Copenhagen, that pre-eminent cycling city. It expects to save $60 million a year in health costs once its network of 26 cycling "superhighways" is completed.

Bike infrastructure is cheap, and creates jobs

On average, urban freeways cost $60 million a mile to build. The best type of protected bike lanes cost between $170,000 and $250,000 per mile and need much less maintenance. "Off-street paths cost less than a freeway project would spend on photocopying in a year," Blue says. Bikeways also create more jobs per dollar than roads, according to one study.

Parking

Blue devotes a lot of her book to ways we subsidize car ownership--for example, in providing free parking downtown. "An astonishing amount of space in most urban cores is dedicated to the publicly subsidized storage of private property," she says. When you throw in roads, many cities give up over half their area to cars: 65% of Houston is paved with asphalt, for example. Cites are losing a lot of potential income, Blue says. "Highways and parking lots represent a massive amount of taxable property that could yield thousands of dollars per lot, per year--representing millions of dollars of lost revenue for cities."

"An astonishing amount of space in most urban cores is dedicated to the publicly subsidized storage of private property."

Local economies

Studies show that bike parking brings in more revenue than car parking--at least on certain streets. Blue cites a project in Fort Worth, Texas, where 160 bike spaces cost $12,000--about the same as a single car space. Bikers are more likely than drivers to stop and spend, and, of course, you can accommodate more people in the same space. There's also a potential "green dividend" when people bike about town, rather than driving to suburban malls. Their cash goes to local businesses, not to oil companies and Middle Eastern sheiks. By driving 20% less than other cities, Portlanders contribute $800 million to the local economy, one study says.

Cars are expensive--particularly for people of low income

The American Automobile Association says driving a sedan costs $9,122 a year on average, not including expenses like parking. Households earning less than $70,000 spend nearly 20% of their income on transport, Blue says. Bikes are much cheaper--just a few hundred dollars a year for maintenance, gear upgrades, and the annualized cost of a bike. She admits people living outside cities face "tremendous" opportunity costs from not driving. But she refutes the stereotypes that cycling need only be for white professionals, Latino laborers, and DUI offenders. Many other people could cycle and benefit from doing so.
In an email, Blue says she wrote the book to give bike advocates stronger arguments than "but bicycling is really healthy and doesn't pollute." "I was watching bicycling enter the national conversation as this sort of goofy stereotypical thing that liberals do, like drink lattes and shop at Whole Foods," she says. "I kept hearing people make economic arguments against bicycling ... but bike advocates didn't have the tools to respond."
While it has a strong point of view, Blue's book is rational, fully footnoted--and, in the main, persuasive. There is a clearly a lot of economic benefit to cycling, particularly in and around cities. That doesn't mean outlawing cars. But it does mean evening up the playing-field in debates. This book should help.

Click here for the original article

Courtesy of NY Times

This week there's been much buzz about a recent story in the NY Times wondering Is It O.K. to Kill Cyclists? --which of course also gets people wondering about the same issue for pedestrians. When Pedestrians injured by cars: whose fault is it? The NYPD seems to think a share of the blame lies with those pesky pedestrians who refuse to take appropriate precautions.Not only should pedestrians wear reflective clothing, NYPD tells them to carry flashlights at night. Never mind that NYC Motorists Killed Three Pedestrians on City Sidewalks Today. Obviously flashlights would have solved that problem. Elsewhere in the country authorities aren't quite so forgiving of vehicles who harm pedestrians, like in Pennsylvania where a Bus driver who ran red light, hit pedestrian can't get jobless benefits, Pa. court says.

Meanwhile other regions are working hard on improving pedestrian safety SANBAG Wins Award for Transit Access Plan for Bicyclists and Pedestrians and Spring Hill hopes to land state grant for pedestrian paths. Unfortunately, as is often the case, it's only After teen's death, Berliners want safer pedestrian crossing

The week has also been full of stories that should be obvious by now. Bike, pedestrian plans should be integrated, official says, and Planning, design plays role in community walkability. And did you know that As people move closer, less need for roads and transit?

Finally this week, here in San Diego Mayoral Candidates Talk About Livable Streets, while elsewhere we contemplate Sesame Street and Children’s Perception of City Life and Suburbia and the American Dream. Hopefully the dream has sidewalks.

Click here for the original article

Many More Miles of Bike Lanes

 
Across the U.S., better bike lanes are hitting the ground. The new designs create dedicated, protected space on streets for people on bikes. The lanes use posts, parked cars, planters or curbs to make bicycling more comfortable for more people.

Momentum for these lanes has been growing: New York City started building them in 2008, Chicago has built 17 miles of protected lanes in the last two years, Atlanta installed its first this year, Memphis has pledged to build 15 miles in the next two years, and Omaha and Lincoln are in a race to be the first city in Nebraska to get one.

Early in 2012, PeopleForBikes launched the Green Lane Project to champion these innovative facilities. Why? Because they turn a busy street into a place where more people are comfortable riding. Protected bike lanes help remove barriers that dissuade people from hopping on a bike to visit friends, get to school or work, or cruise to the neighborhood frozen yogurt place. That's good news for everyone—whether you are seasoned rider or new to bicycling.

Our strategy to promote protected bike lanes has two main components: Raising awareness about them and getting them on the ground. In early 2012, we selected six cities that were poised to make a lot of progress: Austin, Chicago, Memphis, Portland OR, San Francisco and Washington DC. We provided them with grants, technical and strategic support, and a good dose of inspiration. And they’ve made huge progress. About half of the new lanes built in the last two years are in these six cities. The effort worked so well, we’re doing it again. We just opened the application process for Green Lane Project 2. We’ll select six new cities in early 2014, and help them make progress.

Are you hearing about protected bike lanes in your community? Join the conversation on our website or Facebook page. 
-The PeopleForBikes team

      

Click header or footer to go to the People for Bikes Web Site.

Bike Boxes: The Next Cyclist Revolution?

Bike Boxes

A bike box is a colored area at a signalized intersection that allows bicyclists to pull out in front of waiting traffic. Designed to be used only at red lights, the box is intended to reduce car-bike conflicts, increase cyclist visibility and provide bicyclists with a head start when the light turns green.

Of particular concern is the "right hook" collision that can happen when drivers turn right as a bicycle starts straight through an intersection. In the U.S., right hook collisions are implicated in 4.7% of bike crashes, 11% of which are fatal, and 3.6% are Right Turn On Red collisions, of which 6% are fatal. BIke boxes have been shown to be most effective when paired with a brightly colored bike lane that extends through the intersection, to remind motorists that cyclists may be traveling straight. Bike boxes are called "advanced stop lines" in Europe and Asia, where this safety device was first employed. The concept is now gaining popularity in cities in the U.S.A.

History of Bike Box Use

Bike boxes have been in use since the late 1980's in Europe and Asia, and less widely in the U.S. and Canada since 2000. They were officially allowed in Belgium as of 1992 and in the U.K. beginning in 2002. Danish road engineers published one of the first significant studies regarding the use of bike boxes in 1994. 

As of early 2008 at least 60 bike boxes had been installed in New York City. Portland, Oregon was planning 15 bike boxes in 2008, at a total cost of $150,000. A few scattered bike boxes can also be found in San Francisco and Berkeley, California; Eugene, Oregon; Madison, Wisconsin; and Cambridge, Mass. Portland launched its program in 2008 following the deaths of two bicyclists in 2007. Both fatalities resulted from right hook collisions involving large trucks.

Are Bike Boxes a Good Thing?
With nearly 40% of daily commuter trips taken by bike Copenhagen, Denmark is generally considered the world's most bicycle-friendly city. Having been working with bike boxes for nearly 20 years, studies by Danish road engineers and transportation planners have found that bike boxes significantly reduce the number of crashes between right-turning motorists and bicyclists going straight through......

For the original article, click here.

Pedal Power

An infographic by the team at Online Masters In Public Health
For the orginal graphic click here

Cool Bike Racks

Bike racks don't need to be the typical metal loop bolted into the ground. They can instead be more like a sculpture; a work of art that we chain our bikes to. In Coeur d'Alene we've already seen some cool designs, like the fork on 4th Street. So, as we expand and/or revamp our city, keeping these art project bike racks in mind could be a good idea. There is a downside, though. They probably cost more to design and make overall, but I'm sure the benefits outweigh the consequences. Custom bike racks are an easy excuse to make a city or even just the front of a building more interesting. Below are two of my favorite designs, but you can see some more by clicking on the link at the bottom!

 

For the original article, click here.

Not Your Average Bike...

 

All of us know how bikes, look, as well as how they work. There is a seat where we sit, a handlebar to steer with, and pedals of course. A quick look at the following bike would confirm our suspicions, right? Or would it...























You can't tell by looking at it, but this bicycle has built in batteries and a motor. It's an e-bike produced by the German manufacturer Electrolyte. Now you can see why this isn't exactly your average bike! This model has a range from around thirty miles all the way up to sixty-two! I wouldn't say that these bikes are economically priced (the starting price is $5135), but who knows? Maybe if they get popular enough, more companies could start making them and compete for lower prices.

For the full article, click here.