Everyday cycling

I see 30 Days of Biking is back on in September. Ride a bike on 30 consecutive days. C’mon, let’s do it! It’ll be fun.

The smell of burning fat (1)

The myth of ‘The Fat-Burning Zone’:

Some argue that prolonged, moderate-intensity exercise in the “fat-burning zone” is best. Others argue that high-intensity interval training is the best way to shed excess body fat. The truth is, both types of exercise are effective for fat-burning, and a program that combines the two is likely to be more effective than one based on either type alone.

Hmm, what about a program involving neither and heaps of donuts?

The smell of burning fat (2)

AAP reports:

Rising levels of obesity in Australia is putting extra pressure on emergency doctors and other hospital staff.

A review of patients arriving at a Melbourne hospital’s emergency ward has found almost 60 per cent were overweight or obese, posing an array of extra challenges to those providing medical care.

Welcome to the chubby country.

The smell of burning fat (3)

‘This one runs on fat & saves you money’

Everyone’s talking bike share

• London Cycle Hire Status Map [twitterer]
• Helmet law holds key—Vancouver facing the same Helmet Laws vs Bike Share dilemma as Melbourne. [twitterer]
• In a bid to “save” the Melbourne Bike Share scheme from compulsory helmet laws, the RACV will give away free helmets and they are also looking into collapsible helmets. They clearly have it all well thought out.

Debate resurrected

We’ve had compulsory bicycle helmet laws for ages in Australia, and (for better or worse) debate on the topic doesn’t usually raise much interest. So you can’t help but connect the renewed local interest in bike helmet laws with the introduction of bike share in Melbourne:

• Call to repeal law on bicycle helmets
• Scrap bike helmet law, says health expert)
• Heady freedom as judge agrees helmet laws are unnecessary [twitterer]
• Even Andrew Bolt can see the problem.

Tools

What’s In Your Toolbox?

Fixed and fenderless

While watching a handsome couple on a handsome couple of single cog bikes the other day, I found myself wondering this way: I understand the simple, minimalist beauty of the single cog but given that lots of people seem to ride them as much for style, why don’t you often see mudguards on a street fixie/single speed? I mean you can get some very stylish ones and in Melbourne at any time of year, you want to protect your tweeds from road gunk.

Cunning plan

An Australian Vision for Active Transport (PDF, 4M) Now, if only there were an Australian government to present it to…

Lunartic

Lunartic Cycle:

A bike that’s got a really unique combination of different wheel sizes, a toothed belt drive and hub less rear wheel! The USP being the gyroscopic effect of a large wheel aiding speed and more road-surface contact adding stability. The small front wheel saves space and enhances maneuverability.

Design

• Redfish Creative’s concept bicycle speedometer
• “Normal” bike folds up into a leather bag
• LDN And NYC Bicycles: “wishbone shaped one piece carbon fiber frame…and the aluminum framed NYC…with nontraditional carbon fiber belt drive.”
• mad tricycle

[Thanks tom]

Chics and bikes

Elle magazine gets into cycling, chic of course. [twitterer]

G-string?

On a loosely related topic, Pedal Panties Bicycle Lingerie “is a fashionable pantie for women who want to feel as good as they look when they ride.”

Old news

• Bikes: The new fashion accessory
• Rise of the Mamils (middle-aged men in lycra)

None of that really qualifies as “news”, does it?

Making space

Artists Make DIY Bike Lane Along Helsinki Thoroughfare [Thanks tom]

Circumnavigation

“La Vuelta Puerto Rico is the ultimate cycling adventure for serious endurance athletes. Circumnavigate the entire island as part of a fast-paced international peloton on this fully supported, three-day, 375-mile journey.”

Day-dreaming again

The world’s best cycling routes: Isle of Wight, Tassie, France, Cuba, NZ…

The Young American

Get out of the Car: A change in US driving patterns:

Statistical evidence recently released in America indicates that young people are driving less and fewer own a car.

Young people are opting to catch public transport and Richard Florida believes that this shift away from driving is a positive sign of innovative change.

Here’s Florida’s article that prompted this discussion, and the Advertising Age article that he refers to.

Just to labour the point, Florida clearly has a bit of a thing about commuting (by car, presumably). For example, see:

• Commuting Is Very Bad for You
• The World’s Worst Commutes
• Driving Alone – A Quick and Dirty Analysis

I bet he gets at least a metre

Photo: A cyberpunk on a bicycle. [via Doobybrain.com, twitterer]

Laidback

This Strada velomobile is A Vision in Purple.

Very laidback

Bike Race-640

Law=Ass

Streetsblog.net reports Texas judge deems cyclist guilty for riding on the road. Biz-arre.

Tough viewing

Compilation of road safety videos—some of it actual footage, some of it made-for-TV community service announcements—all of it pretty real. [twitterer]

Someone you know and like rides a bike

This public awareness campaign looks good: You Know Me, I Ride a Bike. [via Cyclelicious]

I’ve often wondered about the possibilities of pointing out that just about every driver must know and like someone who rides a bike.

Random human interaction

One more reason to ride a bike.

Bloggage

• She Loves Bicycles
• The Bike Stylist
• The Mind of a Helmet Camera Cyclist

Urban design

Reinventing the City to Combat Climate Change

Duh, is it a pizza shop?

This Bike Shop Sign Ain’t Subtle [thanks Flipsockgrrl and tom]

Monster truck justice (1)

Bike stolen poster advises thief “I hope my bike takes you straight to hell” [twitterer]

Monster truck justice (2)

Carlton Reid observes that “If cyclists detonated on impact, motorists would no longer have any trouble spotting them up ahead and would give them the sort of road space they deserve.” Therefore he suggests clubbing together to buy a Caterpillar 797 monster mining truck.

Ride like a pirate day

This pirate ship bakfiets reminded me of the ol’ boat bakfiets. [twitterer]

Tow ‘em away

Copenhagen’s Bicycle Butlers: Park Illegally and get your chain oiled and tires pumped. So civilised.

World Bike Ride

Tour du Monde:

Everyone’s on bikes, from the pelotons of the Tour de France to the bicycle transporters of Burundi.

[twitterer]

Cargo – car = go

Cargo bikes, more cargo bikes, and a serious cargo trike.

Mountain Envy

Cycling Challenge: “Perhaps the best ride of the year. Certainly the most beautiful. Doreen and I spent the weekend in central Switzerland in Grindelwald – right in front of the famous Eiger north face.”

Check that scenery! Drool. [twitterer]

Bikeshare head cases

Andrew Bolt on bike share and helmet laws. [twitterer]

However, within its own scheme, Monash Uni solves the helmet problem (sort of). [twitterer]

Helmet hair

And while we’re on the topic, apparently mandatory helmets do not discourage cycling. Not touching that one. [twitterer]

On the other hand, wearing helmets in cars “has been proved more effective in preventing serious injury than cycle helmets, but promoting car helmets is likely to meet heavy opposition”. Oh, you reckon? Not touching that one, either. [twitterer]

The Rules (for Beach Road Poseurs)

The Rules

Sexy!

Sexy Dahon—but that’s a tautology, isn’t it? [twitterer]

Weight weenies extreme

When Milliseconds Mean Everything: “In the first-ever Tour de France, Maurice Garin beat second-place finisher Lucien Pothier by two hours, 49 minutes. In the last two decades, the sport has embraced technology—and the gaps have gotten smaller.”

Hmm, technology might not have been the only thing making the gaps smaller…

Shorthand for ‘loser’

Tom Vanderbilt wonders how not having a car became Hollywood shorthand for loser. [twitterer]

Death trap?

bicyclism ponders “Deadly Treadlies”:

He was working up to his point; a verbal victory of wit. The delivery of a decisive score of intellectual perspicacity to be absorbed like water into a dehydrated sponge. His triple chins quivered in excitement. His rotund button-popping belly was thrust outwards towards us along the lines of a peacock’s tail flourish; at least to the delusions of his own mind’s self-attracted eye… His considerable bulk was, somehow, testimony to the weight of his authority.

‘No…you would never get me on one of those death traps…’ ‘Bicycles are the shortest path to suicide’.

I reckon I’ve met that bloke. Although I don’t put much store by the risk estimation of someone who seems to have trouble assessing his own risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema and cirrhosis of the liver.

There are wankers everywhere

On A Hundred and One Wankers:

Wanker #5 had a convertible. Not a huge surprise. He leaned over when driving to shout “Watch me overtake you” which i did, while he drove off laughing. Five minutes later, as he sat in traffic leading up to Kennington Park, I smiled at him and said “Watch me overtake you”. Brilliant.

Bloggage

• Cycle and Style “An Online Women’s Cycling Magazine. For Women. By Women.”
• Cyclized “Devoted to Cycling Culture and Urbanism”
• for the love of bikes

…and this is my bike

Amsterdam houdt van fietsen! [twitterer]

I’ve fallen and I can’t get up

Twitter to the Rescue: Lost, Injured Triathlete Saved by Tweet [twitterer]

Bikes are the problem

Apparently getting people in Denver to ride to work is “part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty”. How do these crazies get air time? [twitterer]

Bikes are not the solution

The Earth Policy Institute says:

The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of the billions of people who cannot afford a car…Few methods of reducing carbon emissions are as effective as substituting a bicycle for a car on short trips.

However, Energy Bulletin makes that the valid point that:

…in a a properly designed Traditional City, most people don’t need bicycles. This is true even today. In cities where people often do not own a car, such as New York or Hong Kong or Paris, these non-car-owning people usually do not own a bicycle either. Or, if they happen to own a bike, they do not use it every day as a transportation device. They get by just fine on foot, and using the transportation options available, especially trains and, if a train is not available, a bus. Occasionally a taxi. A bike is best as a least-desirable option, for those trips that are too long to walk comfortably, and not convenient by either train or bus. Ideally, these would be as few as possible, as a well-designed city should be a place where you can easily walk or ride a train (a bus if you have to) just about everywhere.

Excuse or solution

At Commute by Bike:

Come on now. I know that you think of yourself as a bike commuter. But all too often something gets in the way. As a small business owner who also likes calling himself a bike commuter, I’ve become quite familiar with all of the reasons (excuses) that it often seems much easier to take the car instead.

Just slow the f— down

UK’s Telegraph reports that one of Britain’s most senior police refers to speeding as “middle-class anti-social behaviour” that “all seems OK until something tragic happens, like their child dies because of a road traffic accident”.

But it is her criticism of motorists that is likely to cause controversy. Many motorists who are caught speeding complain that they are “soft” targets used to produce funds — speeding fines raise about £100 million a year — and that the police should be targeting serious criminals instead.

Hmm, there aren’t too many things more serious than placing the lives of random strangers in danger, I would have thought.

[twitterer]

Broads and bikes

No, no, no—The Broads. I remember Griff Rhys Jones talking about The Broads on his Rivers series, and I thought that they’d probably have some good cycling around there. Well, apparently they do: The Broads By Bike.

Chicks and bikes

Cyclepassion calendar [twitterer]

Flash mobs are so last year

And Queen’s “Bicycle Race” has been overdone, but still: bike flashmob Central Station Brussels. [twitterer]

Geez, was there anyone left there actually watching that?

This I do not understand

According to Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage the good burghers of that city want to change local laws “to make cyclists liable for accidents if they are hit while crossing a roadway”. What the hell…?

The bike economy

Sydney’s bike economy booms—so is it the beginning of a boom or the peak of a passing fad?

Designs

• Forkless Bicycle Design by Olli Erkkila. Fork me, that’s a cool bike!
• This electic bike is not for your granny—or maybe it is to her taste? [twitterer]
• Ooh, shiny! Cyglo Bike Tires with Embedded LEDs [twitterer]

Driving makes you fat

Does commuting by car make you fat?

It’s a simple equation: Exercise more and lose weight. Still, many people spend most of their time either behind a desk or driving to or from where that desk is located. A few states buck that trend with large cities that allow for more walking, biking, and commuting via public transportation, but are their citizens any more fit?

I dunno about you, but I find that visualisation a little hard to follow…

Let’s get political

Tony Abbott. Not the Man. [via Melbourne Cyclist]

Long-distance relationship

TechNewsDaily reports on the “jogging over distance” system that takes the best interactive elements of computer games to make mere “exercise” more like sports and therefore more fun.

Here are a few of my concerns:

The location

Firstly, the south (in-bound) side of Albert St is probably a reasonably OK candidate for a separated lane, at least alongside the parks and St Pat’s where there are few entry points for vehicles—a long uninterrupted run is a better location for a separated lane.

Albert St showing the new separated bike lane

However, this isn’t the case on the north (out-bound) side where there are many minor entry points (laneways and driveways). The textured green paint helps to cue drivers to stop and look, but it’s not a guarantee that they will. Incidentally, this is on a downhill incline where riders of all abilities will tend to pick up speed.

That aside, like the installation in the upper end of Swanston St, I’m utterly baffled as to why this particular stretch of road needed a separated bike lane at all. Prior to this installation, I always found this to be a pretty safe street—two traffic lanes kept the cars moving, leaving an empty parking lane almost exclusively for bikes during clearway times. And the traffic is not so heavy at other times that I ever felt threatened mixing it up in the main traffic flow.

As if to highlight the questionable need for the Albert St bike lane, I wonder why this lane stops at Gisborne St? The road layout between Gisborne St and Nicholson St is unchanged, but if the bike lane design is so good, why doesn’t it continue all the way to Nicholson St?

Spot the difference: Albert St between Gisborne St and Nicholson St

Conflicts guaranteed

I intensely dislike the way that riders are dumped from behind a line of parked cars into a turning lane. This guarantees conflict by design, and I’ve already seen a few close calls in the turning lanes. Of course, this is seen in other Copenhagen-style lanes—including those in Copenhagen (see this Copenhagen bike lane become a turning lane at about 25 sec):

Just because that’s the way they do it in Copenhagen doesn’t make it right or safe. Interestingly, BV’s own ‘promotional’ video for the new lanes (recorded in June—no lane paint, no poles) mysteriously skips a part of the lane where this conflict occurs, even without the line of parked cars (note jump cut at 39 sec mark as the riders approach the Lansdowne St intersection):

On the flip side, I have seen cars parked beyond the clearway times, and one-lane out from the curb is not where drivers expect to see parked cars. Forget the lines, surface paint and poles—you can’t see that stuff in the dark, and it just looks like cars are parked in the middle of the road. That must be dead scary for drivers coming over the rise near St Pat’s. I’ve seen a few close calls down that hill already—actual collisions seem likely.

And finally, at the risk of sounding churlish, you can’t get away from the possible conflicts with drivers crossing back and forth to the parking ticket machines. Sure it sounds trivial, but it’s a completely avoidable conflict that didn’t exist before these lanes went it. We need to ride carefully, but if someone is struck by a bike in these lanes it will at least partly be because unnecessary pedestrian-bicycle conflict has been designed-in to them.

Smooth moves prevented

Being able to smoothly merge into the right-hand lane in advance of making a right-turn used to be one of the pleasures of using Albert St. This option is now largely cut-off, as a rider is pretty much obliged to take the bike lane and becomes trapped behind a wall of parked cars or (during clearway times) must slalom through the row of flexi-poles and across the rumble-strip to access the main traffic lanes.

Bike lane behind a wall of cars

The alternative is to dart across two traffic lanes where the bike lane ends close to the intersection (the quick and dangerous option) or to make a hook-turn (i.e. right turn from the left) after the change of lights (the safer but considerably slower option).

Hacks

There’s nothing wrong with a good hack—some creative thinking happens when a hack is required. And then there are crappy, ugly hacks—those flexi-poles qualify as one of the latter kind.

I can’t see them on the original plan (or are they those unlabelled dots?) and it seems that they have been installed as a lazy afterthought. I’m sure they help to keep the cars aligned into the parking lane, but I don’t fancy a high-speed (or even moderate-speed) impact with one of them.

Gutter-ball

There are real downsides in forcing bikes right into the gutter lane:

• it’s where all the crap from the road tends to accumulate—to date there’s not much evidence that the Council is doing much about sweeping the lanes, and I doubt that the new poles will make it any easier to keep the lanes clean;
• there’s the lovely heritage bluestone guttering itself, which reduces the effective lane width (OK, not by much);
• but the king-hit is hazards like this (which can also be seen in BV’s video above at 27 sec):

Hazards of riding beside the gutter

How can they paint green textured paint around this and just leave it like that? Sure, I’ve seen worse but it’s not what you expect in something masquerading as a bike lane.

A better option?

By way of contrast, here’s the bike lane in nearby Clarendon St:

Bike lane in Clarendon St

I’m no road engineer but I presume (assuming we need a dedicated bike lane in Abert St at all) that there was a good reason why this model couldn’t have been used. Note the wide traffic lane, wide bike lane (wide enough to minimise exposure to the door zone), and parking space that is not shared with the bike lane.

Of course, there is less traffic flow on Clarendon St but that bike lane feels like a better and safer place to ride.

Clarification

In any case, I notice that the whole schemozzle is up for review and council may reverse its decision to install these lanes—of course, after you’ve installed them is the right time to “attempt to clarify the purpose of the bikes lanes”, isn’t it?

Looks like money well spent, as the whole thing descends into farce.

That said, while many others share my concerns, I’m sure heaps of people are finding the new bike lanes absolutely delightful.

“The Heat is On” from Jim Fryer/BrakeThrough Media on Vimeo
via Suck My Dragster

It’s not about performance anymore

The Get Dirty video. [twitterer]

Bike-shaped object

“Coles are selling bikes, & no one display model is built correctly.” Here’s @simonnix’s favourite example.

Daydreaming

181 Free Articles About Bicycle Touring.

Melbourne, on wheels

Melbourne City Bicycle Rider:

This is a site about cycling in the City of Melbourne. We believe that the benefits of cycling as part of the transport mix are not being fully realised because of poor public policy. Not only are there benefits to riders (better health; faster, more convenient transport; lower cost) but there are major benefits to the City that are not being realised (less congested roads and public transport; less air pollution; lower carbon emissions; lower public health costs; quieter, safer roads and a more pleasant public realm).

Also appears to be the new home of the Bike Fun calendar. [twitterer]

Putting a (skid) lid on bike share

Fewer than 70 trips are being made a day on Melbourne’s 600-bike system and yet thousands register for London’s bike hire scheme. The main difference? Helmet laws.

Just think, it it could be as good as this. [twitterer]

High viz, high fashion

Karl Lagerfeld may have just accepted that if it’s a high viz vest “it’s yellow, it’s ugly, it doesn’t match anything”, but I reckon these guys are making high viz jerseys at least a little less dorky with their Traffic Master Jersey. Informative too.

Slow down

The SMH reports:

Suburban streets could become like 24-hour school zones under a City of Sydney plan to make roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians by dropping the speed limit to 40km/h.

And the NRMA’s response?

“Dropping the speed limit to 40km/h on these roads could make an already congested road network even less efficient, while doing little to encourage more cycling,” a spokesman said.

Bollocks. Who the hell drives at over 40km/h in congested conditions. A total non-argument.

Go wide

How to pass a cyclist: good passes, bad passes, and downright intimidation.

Drivers, take Dave Moulton’s advice: “just go around me and stop making such a big fuss”.

DIY

• how to build a cargo bike
• Bicycle monowheel—oh yeah! [Thanks tom]
• Bike Sweater shows that crochet is cool again. [thanks Flipsockgrrl]
• How to Build a Longtail Cargo Bike

It’s not you, it’s me

Divorcing my almost NEW Giant XTC 2—it gets ugly when there’s a break-up: “even though we were only together for less than a year, you let me ride you maybe 10 times!” (Includes naked pictures!) [twitterer]

MTB

Galérie de Défago. MTB. Switzerland. Sheer drop. Yeah.

BMX

BMXmuseum.com.

Bloggage

• f o o d i e o n a b i k e: about life. riding a bike. eating nice food. written by a foodieonabike.
• Trails of Two Cities
• Audaxing Blog
• Brown Girl in the Lane

That’s close

If a bicycle accidentally leaves the road, the cyclist falls off. If a car accidentally leaves the road, something like this happens. [twitterer]

Design ideas

• Impossible reinvented bikes. What’s the problem? I’d ride ‘em.
• Mail Online reports on a “bike that wraps around a lamp post so it can be locked-up safely – without the need for a lock or chain.” [twitterer]
• Folding metal bicycle freight rack—tested by lugging crates of beer. [Thanks tom]
• Etta Commuter Bicycle Concept—does it make sense to say upright recumbent? [twitterer] tom says, “I wonder how it will go when you brake hard…looks like it would flip easily.”
• I can’t even describe this thing: BigDog Bman 2010 [via Make, thanks tom]

Getting the picture

guardian.co.uk samples the London Transport Museum’s illustration competition.

Pogan walks

NY Daily News reports:

It was the shove seen ’round the Internet – yet the rookie NYPD cop who lied about pushing a Critical Mass cyclist to the ground is getting off with no jail time.

Let’s not be under any illusions here though—this sentencing was about the false report not directly about the shoulder charge, of which he was already cleared.

[via Cyclelicious]

Heavy

Royal Mail fears letters are too heavy for bicycles [twitterer]

Into the mountains

The 1910 Challenge: recreating the first mountains stage of the Tour de France—all 326km and 6000m of it.

The start of something big?

Uh-oh. I sense the start of a disturbing new trend [NSFW]. [twitterer]

Is it going to be warm enough for this sort of behaviour at Geelong in September?

Road toll: “the price we have to pay”?

Do We Tolerate Too Many Traffic Deaths? [twitterer]

Extreme

Extreme toy racing=extremely funny wipeouts.

Total respect

Pete Heal has cycled around Australia in 48-odd days. That’s an average of more than 300km per day. Respect.

Retribution

Every bicycle theft victim’s dream—methinks this video is more dream than reality, but it still makes pleasant viewing.

Helmet

Anecdote ain’t science, but still…This Helmet Saved My Life!

Park it here

Wall Street Journal reports on the cost of bike parking in New York City:

I’m pleased to report that my local garage is also doing its part to protect my life, by making the price of housing a bike there prohibitive…My garage is charging—no joke—$175 plus 8.875% tax. That’s almost $200 a month to stow a bike! You probably won’t be surprised to hear it has no takers. As one attendant observed, “You can buy a new bike” for that amount.

[via How We Drive]

Local government dickheads: 1

Casino city bans riding bikes through town. Words fail me. [twitterer]

Local government dickheads: 2

The Age reports:

A proposed ”no stopping zone” designed to improve bike safety along a stretch of road in bayside Melbourne will again be knocked back by a local council tomorrow night, despite robust support from the Victorian roads minister.

Bloggage

• Tokyo By Bike: “Once you’ve experienced Tokyo by Bicycle you’ll never ride the train again.”
• Randonneur Apprentice: “Learning something new on each and every brevet”
• Lovely Bicycle!

Perils of winter riding

Cold hands whilst riding – a cautionary tale

Proof

This video would seem to support the argument that you don’t need a mountain bike. [via Sydney Body Art Ride]

Inevitably

Following on from the Warrington Cycle Campaign, we now have out very own crap cycle lanes of Melbourne.

Trying to improve on perfection

10 Brilliant Bike Mods and Designs:

The bicycle is the near-perfect vehicle, but that doesn’t stop people from (brilliantly) messing with the design to increase speed, comfort or desirability to commuters.

DamianM: achiever

DamianM got a gong at the Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards—congratulations.

The problem with Albert

I may have more to say on this shortly, but for now: Albert street bike lane a joke?

Imagine what might happen…

…if all those cyclists gave up riding. [via CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum]

Cross

For some odd reason, I’m very pleased that there’s going to be a cyclocross series in Melbourne this year. Should be heaps of fun.

Fleeting glimpses

• Xtracycle-y Goodness outside the Vic Market
• I love riding in fog