Pitfalls, the avoiding thereof (1)

Cyclists slow down to avoid crater-sized ‘hole’…and swerve into the canal. [twitterer]

Pitfalls, the avoiding thereof (2)

Tips and advice on buying used bikes—Peugeot=no go.

Vulnerable

According to the World Health Organization:

The first global assessment of road safety finds that almost half of the estimated 1.27 million people who die in road traffic crashes every year are pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. While progress has been made towards protecting people in cars, the needs of these vulnerable groups of road users are not being met.

There’s an impressive big report to explain it all: Global status report on road safety

Incentives?

Dave Hill has tried cyclng in London and finds lacking the incentives to cycle:

Even my instructor, undoubtedly a prudent and peaceable road-user, said that at times you have to “be a warrior” out there. I can’t see that changing much, even if, as some in the cycling community say, motorists in London are becoming more mindful of cyclists’ needs. Most of us, I think, don’t want travelling round our city to involve the risks and adrenalin of battle.

Keep your chin up

Too fatigued to hold up his head, Paul Danhaus’s support crew did an extreme bike modification on the Race Across America—never seen an on-bike chin-rest before! [twitterer]

Semaine Fédérale en Australie

Semaine Fédérale is coming to Australia in January. And where else would you choose to ride in January but Bright?

“Well I can’t do it when I’m dead, can I?”

Good attitude: 85yo eyes off Australian cycling record.

Gotta love folding bikes

• From “No go” to “Well, OK then”.

• Popular Mechanics has just reviewed three folders. [twitter]

Bare head = sackable offence

Royal Mail fires helmetless posties:

A Royal Mail decision to sack three postmen in a week for not wearing helmets has been condemned as ‘draconian’.

He’ll be riding alone now

Having vetoed his state’s safe passing bill, methinks Texas Governor Rick Perry might have trouble finding people willing to go riding with him.

Barking about parking

Parking: How to get your own way [twitterer]

Compare and contrast: Cycle parking ‘needs more funds’

MTB looks like fun

I’m keen to do some MTB, but not until I get a helmet cam—wouldn’t want to miss the highlights.

DIY

• Re-cover an old bike seat

• VeloAce: turn your Palm into a bike computer

Bike lanes

• New Oxford cycle lane really does give you the hump! What were they thinking? [twitterer]

• These might make drivers take bike lanes seriously—and they might also cause some serious bike crashes. [twitterer]

Design

The Kenzo is a belt-drive concept bike that will keep your dacks clean.

Pumgo is “the world’s first pedal-powered scooter”:

After sitting all day in the office or at school, step out on the Pumgo Scooter to stretch and strengthen back and core muscles. Instead of leaning forward as on a bicycle, stand up straight and relieve the pressure on your back while achieving an efficient workout. Relive your youth and have fun outdoors. A cool gadget for the whole family!

Not really my cup o’ thingy but the Pumgo Skateboard—whoa! That’s just bonkers!

TopUp Head Protection “for cyclists and walkers is an exploration of the honeycomb pattern and device a protective gear for the head”. Ah, yeah. That’s a folding bike helmet to you and me. [Sydney Bodyart Ride]

A bit dense

Is bicycling bad for your bones? In a word: no.

most recreational cyclists probably don’t need to worry too much about their bones. “The studies to date have looked primarily at racers,” Smathers says. “That’s a very specialized demographic. These guys train for hours at a very high intensity. They sweat a lot. They never go for runs. They don’t usually do much weight-lifting,” to avoid adding bulk. “They’re strange.”

Who hasn’t done this?

Yehuda Moon amused at his own thoughts.

Cycling is the new gardening

Why gardening is more dangerous than cycling.
(Such a good title for an article—I wish I’d thought of it!)

No cars in Sydney CBD?

Clover Moore moves to ban cars from heart of Sydney CBD.

[Photo: Bike in the barn by chad davis on Flickr]

Tags: speedlink, bicycle, cycling, used bike, buying a bike, traffic, vulnerable road users, semaine federale, folding bike, mtb, camera, crash, video, veloace, bike lane, kenzo, pumgo, topup, helmet, sydney, london, uk, texas

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Cycling and the job search

Jeff’s Ten Reasons to Start Biking While Looking for Job

Cycling and the retired footballer

Ex-Wallaby, the gorgeous George Gregan has taken up mountain biking

Bike parking at work?

Commuters and would-be commuters, have a bash at Bicycle Victoria’s bike parking workplace audit 2009.

Two-wheeled paramedics

Paramedics cycle to emergency patients:

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said: “We have increased our use of fast response cars, motorcycles and bicycles to navigate London’s busy roads.”

[twitterer]

Cool and rugged

Can a folder bike be “cool?” Yeah, I think the Dahon Mμ UNO probably counts as cool.

On the other hand, the Montague Paratrooper is “the tactical mountain bike that folds.” Whoa! (There’s also a civilian version.)

Go and ride

Among the rides mentioned by YarraBUG radio, the Mums & Dads on Bikes Rides caught my eye:

Kids in bike seats welcome! Kids in trailers welcome! Kids on training wheels welcome! Kids on tag-a-longs welcome! Kids on own bikes welcome! Want to ride with your rides for fun, exercise and socialising? Join us on one of our easy rides to one of Melbourne’s many child-friendly destinations. Rides take place the first Sunday of every month. Rides leave from Jika Jika Community Centre, Plant Street, Northcote, Contact Kathy kbrunning@bigpond.com.

How cool is that?

It’s a fair cop

The Londoner’s stolen bike double-take

“Mr Fletcher? This is Fulham police station. We think we may have recovered your stolen bicycle.”

Braving a budget bike

Helen Pidd is trialling “Britain’s cheapest new bike”. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

That reminds me of Steve’s Bike of Doom and BT Humble’s Budget Bike.

Gadgets

• B.iCycle: iPhone as cyclometer
• Building a strong flexible bicycle trailer coupler
• I first mentioned the Gyrobike a few years ago and I’m pleased to see that it’s soon to be released for general purchase. This is a good thing.

Get off the grass

What’s stopping the bamboo bike from shooting into the mainstream?

I hypothesise that it’s a lack of a high-profile race winner on such a machine. But if ever there’s a bamboo bike Tour de France winner, it will become the bike material du jour for the ‘new golf’ set.

“Angular, dude”

The Bau Bike provokes some hilarious comments at MetaFilter

Doyle’s dream down the drain

The Lord Mayor of Melbourne had a dream of returning cars to Swanston St. A recent survey of options rejected that idea whole-heartedly, with most respondents preferring Option 6 “Decreased motor vehicle access”.

I’d caution excitable cyclists that this wouldn’t necessarily make Swantson St a pedaller’s paradise—avoiding tangling with pedestrians could become even more a factor than it is now.

World’s biggest, deepest velodrome

Hydroelectric power station Avce - Fixed gear heaven [via A Woman and a Fixed Wheel and Bottles and Chains]

Attitudes?

• Questioning attitudes towards cyclists
• I think this guys is confusing “civil disobedience” with “complete dipshittery” [twitterer]
• How Do You Respond to Bicycle Haters? [twitterer]
• Bike safety public service announcements “Are ads like this counterproductive to cycling advocacy?”

Biggest winners?

Government subsidies for people to lose weight and get fit [twitterer]

Biggest losers?

Connex and Yarra Trams dumped in favour of MTR and Keolis

Tags: speedlink, bicycle, cycling, road rule, penalties, bike parking, george gregan, folding bike, budget bike, b.icycle, bau bike, swanston st, attitudes, perceptions, public transport, melbourne, victoria

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With a huge grin and in all honesty I was able to reply, “Bloody marvellous.” [If someone asks, I’m more than happy to share the bike love.]

With a dubious look my non-cycling questioner observed, “A bit cold though.”

Eh? Confused, I mumbled something like , “Yeah, I suppose it was.”

It only occurred to me later that folks who don’t ride, just don’t get it. They step out of an overheated car or train or tram and get a blast of cold air. Naturally, they think the cyclist is going to be even more chilly.

But my heating comes from inside—and at the end of my commute I’m nice and toasty. Chilly conditions were the last thing on my mind when I was asked about my ride!

And here’s the rub: no-one believes you when you tell them that winter cycling is a joy. But let’s face it, winters in Melbourne are really pretty mild. It’s unusual for overnight low temperatures to get below 4°C, snow never falls in the city, and it hardly ever rains these days (seriously, it never rains). Of course, I reckon autumn is the best time for cycling in Melbourne, but winter has it’s charms too.

Sure there are foggy mornings, but fog just acts like a big blanket—it stops things getting too chilly and (best of all) wind and fog rarely occur together. Visibility issues aside, I like foggy mornings.

As for those gorgeous winter mornings with no wind, blue sky and a gentle sun—sublime! Of course they don’t happen every day but they happen often enough to be rewarding. These are the days on which I seek out sunny patches and bask when stopped at traffic lights.

But enough of all this. What advice have I on commuting by bike in winter? Here are three pearls:

• rug-up,
• light-up, and
• drink-up

1. Rug-up

Of course, you need to dress for the conditions. This means:

• keeping the body’s core warm (ultimately, that’s for survival)
• keeping the extremities warm: toes, fingers, ears and nose—if these are cold, you won’t be comfortable
• layer dressing: allows you to easily adjust your coverage to suit the conditions

Dressing for the conditions needn’t be difficult or expensive. For a climate like Melbourne’s there’s little need to buy fancy specialist gear—some of my best cold-weather kit came from places like Best and Less and Aldi. And what does my kit include? Well, I wear cycling clothes for my commute, so my base layer is just my usual warm weather gear (jersey, knicks, bandana). From there I simply pile-on extra stuff to suit conditions.

Long-sleeve T-shirt or rain jacket
I know the experts say not to wear cotton in cold and wet conditions because it becomes hopelessly clingy and cold when it’s wet. But it has the advantage of being cheap and available everywhere, and for a short run to/from work it makes a perfectly acceptable second layer. If it looks like rain, I’ll pull on the rain jacket instead.

Arm-warmers and headband
The arm-warmers and headband are great for fine-tuning the comfort level. Both are home-made (thanks SuperGran). I rarely wear a headband these days, as I find that pulling my bandana over my ears keeps things warm enough.

Gloves
My thermal gloves are some nice Thinsulate ones that I picked up at Aldi a year or two ago. (And I picked up an extra pair when they went on sale again recently.) Soft and comfortable yet strong, they’re a bit bulky but don’t interfere with handlebar grip or operating brake and gear levers. Oh yeah, and they retain warmth when wet. All for about $10 per pair.

Tights
For the legs, some of those stretchy tights of the type worn by lithe gym-goers—fortunately they do come in generous sizes, for those of us who aren’t particularly lithe. Mine are nothing special, straight from some department store or other. My favourite pair are long enough that I can pull them down below my heels and tuck them into my shoes, which covers the ankles nicely.

Socks
Chilly feet are the worst, I reckon, so socks are important. I’ll admit to lashing out for a few pairs of thermal polypropylene socks, over which I pull an ordinary pair of thin cycling socks. But I have been known to put a freezer bag over each foot, which does the trick for my commute but I wouldn’t pull that trick on a longer ride.

Other stuff
I always wear eye protection when riding, but in winter it’s not so much about keeping critters out and more to stop cold air blasting straight onto my corneas.

I also try to have an extra layer to put on in case I have to make an unexpected stop (e.g. to fix a flat tyre). That’s usually my rain jacket, so it hardly counts as a extra layer if I’m already wearing it…

If you dress to the conditions, winter riding is just as comfortable as any other time of year. In fact, it’s far easier than riding in the height of summer. And if you live close enough to your workplace, it’s perfect for riding to work in your office attire—you certainly won’t get all sweaty.

2. Light-up

Another important consideration in winter is lighting. Of course, it gets dark earlier at this time of year but lights aren’t only for use at night. Gloomy overcast days and fog reduce visibility on the road, so switch on the flashers well before it gets completely dark.

Also consider the drivers’ conditions—frosty mornings may often be bright and clear but car windows will always be icy and steamed. If your lights are on, you are far more likely to be seen through a streaky windscreen.

3. Drink-up

In cooler conditions it’s easy to forget that you’re exercising and you need to keep drinking. A few years ago, Doc Homebrew found that he was getting leg cramps on rides home in mid-winter, an odd time of year for such a problem to crop-up. It turned out to be a hydration issue and he solved it by making sure he drank more on those rides.

So there you have it—my thoughts on bike commuting in mid-winter. But don’t take my word for it: rug-up, light-up, drink-up and discover for yourself that bike fun doesn’t stop when the warm weather does.

Tags: bicycle, cycling, commuting by bike, winter, cold weather

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I noticed recently that wurple has discovered folding bike love:

All I can say… what a fun bike to ride and it’s soooo comfortable. That’s not just due to the Thudbuster. The natural flex of the frame inherent in a folding bike also provides some form of suspension. Sure it’s not as fast and efficient as my road bike, but I think I could ride this bike all day.

Oh yeah, fun is what these contraptions are all about, I reckon. (And everyone seems to be getting into the act and even calling them cool!)

Anyway HYG’s observation reminded me that I have a development to report on an earlier post about buying a folding bike from a supermarket, in which I said:

Of course, critics may claim that cut-price supermarket bikes take business away from small local bike shops. Maybe. But someone who is going to fork out $199 for a supermarket bike probably isn’t ready for what most bike shops have on offer anyway. And although they probably hate working on them, some of these supermarket bikes will end up in bike shops for repair—by which time the owner is a convert and the bike shop has a new sales prospect for accessories or parts or even a whole new bike.

Well I hate to say “I told you so”, but “I told you so”. A few weeks ago, I was riding along with the same commuting cyclist who’d bought the supermarket folding bike last year. And until she mentioned it, I didn’t notice that she was riding a brand new folding bike—which she’d bought from a real local bike shop. In fact, it was her second non-supermarket bike—having bought a hybrid but found that it didn’t suit her, she went right back to her hinged-bike ways.

And why not? Those things are just so much fun!

Tags: bicycle, cycling, folding bike, dahon, fun, local bike shop, commuting by bike

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While I was sitting there, I was able to observe an interesting and sad phenomenon that I wouldn’t have noticed just riding by. At that time of the morning a constant stream of cars pulled-in to the kerb-side parking spots along the street. At first I didn’t pay it much attention. I just assumed that the clock had ticked-over the end of the clearway and the parking spots were naturally filling.

Then I noticed that people weren’t jumping out of their cars and leaving. They were sitting in their cars or just milling about near the ticket machine. Slowly it dawned on me that these people were getting in early: parking before the clearway time had ended so they would get a space for their car and then hanging around until parking time opened so they could buy a parking docket. And all of the parking spaces were full before the ticket machine opened.

For some reason I found it really rather sad that these folks were either making themselves late or arriving unreasonably early for whatever their business was, just so that they could have the privilege of parking their cars conveniently.

Oh well, each to their own. I didn’t let it spoil my day. I was enjoying the sun too much.

Tags: car, street, parking, clearway, tail wagging dog

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