Blogs

There's no question that preparations for the Olympics have created transportation havoc for commuters of all ilk in Vancouver, BC. Bike paths and roads are closed, trucks laden with material trundle down streets belching all sorts of emissions into the air. My usually peaceful commute along the seawall is now closed, and will remain so until the end of the games.

So why am I so pleased about the fact that this international sporting event is coming to town?

Well, the simple reason is that it's brought all kinds of advantages as well - not to mention the excitement of seeing brightly colored Olympic banners on my route over the Burrard Street Bridge and passing the Olympic clock downtown that now reads "18" more days to go and however many minutes and seconds.

For starters, there's the fact that we now have the Canada Line, a light rail system that can carry me and my bike, along with other rapid-transiters, from downtown Vancouver to the Vancouver International Airport in Richmond.

The power of the bumper sticker to educate and inform has reached new heights with the “Bicycle Safe Vehicle" stickers developed by the Pedal Pushers Club.

The bicycle clothing company launched the campaign as a way to passively remind motorists and cyclists alike to “pedal and drive safely to reduce accidents.”

“According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration more than 44,000 cyclists are injured in traffic accidents every year, with more than 700 fatalities,” according to a Pedal Pushers Club release. “We at the Pedal Pushers Club would like to make a small effort to help increase safe cycling and safe driving through our "Bicycle Safe Vehicle" Sticker campaign.”

The stickers cost a mere $2 each, which includes postage, and the Pedal Pushers Club is donating 100 per cent of the profits ($1.50 from each sticker) to the US Open Foundation's mission to teach safe cycling to people of all ages.

This is a youtube excerpt from a BBC show called Bang Goes the Theory 

the focus of this episode was on the amount of energy used by a single home.

To give a great visual and kinetic representation, they replaced the coal fired powerplant

by a room full of bicycle fitted with generating stands. They then put a family with two 

children in the home to see what they consumed.

This particular excerpt is when someone takes a shower with an electric hot water tank...

Check out the first broadcast of Bicycle Radio's Escape the Peloton of 2010 featuring - me!

Originally broadcast live Tuesday nights out of Arizona and hosted by Sean Mellor (he's hardcore & commutes 20 miles!)

I was on the show this week - Escape the Peloton broadcast. 01-05-10

http://www.bicycleradio.com/shows.html

They mostly talk racing - but are introducing more everyday cycling into the show. Nice folks!

Rejection is a painful thing, but when it's your bike that's being rejected...

Well, let's just say that this video captures the heartache and vocal frenzy that can occur when one's bike gets stood up.

With the shortest day of the year just behind us, it may be too early to hanker for summer but that won't stop me! Spring may be a few months away and those summertime rolls further still, so in these darker days it's time for a look back at one of my favorite days spent in the city last year.

When the Ginger Ninjas crew pedaled into Vancouver, BC on August 29, 2009 for a stop on the West Coast leg of their Pleasant Revolution Tour it was the start of an epic day of sunshine, music and revelry. A remarkable team of volunteers, musicians and riders came together to create a perfect day of music & cycling.

As reported in Le Monde on January second.

Taiwanese Designer Chiyu Chen who studies at the Royal Collage of Art in the UK has come up with a clever working prototype of a bicycle sharing system that goes one step further.

The idea is that bicycle fitted with a small generator on the front hub could create and store energy that once docked 

at a station could be credited to the user. The design is quite clever with a collapsing handle bar that acts as the docking station lock.

What appeals the most to me about the idea is the possability of a accounting for the energy saved by 

cycling and rewarding it with credits towards other public transit.

In the youtube video Chiyu Chen explains how his prototypes works.

The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (www.vacc.bc.ca) yesterday moved to its new location at 3 West 3rd Ave., Vancouver, BC (on the Ontario Bike Route).

Hoping perhaps to set a bit of an example bikes, trailers and cargo bikes helped with the move on a typically wet January day. While perhaps not entirely satisfying the purists, a pickup truck ( at least from a carsharing group) and a car or two also were used.

But it was a promising start and made good use of the VACC's new (donated) cargo trailer. Yuba Mundo cargo bike provided by Vancouver Longbikes (www.vancouverlongbikes.ca).

With a new, larger location on one of Vancouver's major bike routes the VACC looks forward to contact with more cyclists than ever.

A great message for the holidays from Cycling Santa Claus.

Particularly appropriate for this time of year. 

The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC) is in the throes of the autumn edition of the popular Bike to Work Week campaign. Until this morning, the weather had been blue skies & falling leaves, but the fresh rainfall hasn't stopped the km's from being logged and workplaces throughout the region are challenging each other, regardless of the weather. That's what seasonal riding is all about.

As a show of support and camaraderie in the dark hours of the ride, the VACC hosts Commuter Stations throughout Metro Vancouver, offering refreshments, entertainment, bike mechanics and, on Novemeber 4th, an on-location photo studio sponsored by Momentum Magazine.

It's here! Check out our latest issue:

Momentum Magazine #42
Out on the web, in the stores and in your mailboxes:

– Why yes, it is the answer to the "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything!"

This issue's pages are packed with:

Features

A Profile of Los Angeles by Richard Risemberg

Mia Birk of Alta Planning in Portland (and this issue's charming cover model!)

An article on Project For Public Spaces in New York

Columns

The Adventures of Mitey Miss by Ulrike Rodrigues - A New Kind of Traffic

The Advocate by Kristen Steele - Picture This!

Finally read Stephen Irving's Twitter posts and discovered this nice video - sure it's from a while ago, but that makes no difference to me.

http://tinyurl.com/ydz4ern 

 There is a very good and thought-provoking article at the link above, from Bike Portland.

Well worth a read.   Some may lament the notion of bikes as primarily a 'utility' or 'appliance' but where cycling is 'normal' that is perhaps the reality.

This was brought home to me when I asked an Amsterdam bike shop owner where I might find a cycling map for the city.  His response was that there just wasn't such a thing.  Cyclists ride comfortably everywhere and on all streets in the city.   A total difference in world (or at least city) view from what is the norm for North America.

Read the article, and I would welcome your comments on it.

One of my favorite parts of working at Momentum Magazine is all of the cool people I have met over the past few years.  Every now and then, the really special ones are worth sharing.

This past summer I spent some time with Daniel Penn, an aspiring chef who was looking forward for his shoulder to mend so that he could ride his bike again.

Dan is a creative and motivated Vancouverite, currently taking food science in Copenhagen.  Dan is the producer of two DIY style made-with-love cookbooks: Dan's Good Grub, and the newly released Van Munchies.  Each cookbook has easy to make recipes, complete with graphics, photos, and a CD of Dan's favorite bands.  

At $20 each, these cookbooks make excellent gifts, and you'll be supporting an aspiring artist + biker!

DAN'S TOTALLY NOT FAMOUS CARAMEL POPCORN RECIPE