Roland Tanglao's blog

Obligatory disclaimer: As always, my opinions represent nobody but myself (certainly not Momentum and certainly not the City of Vancouver or Metro Vancouver and certainly not the Vancouver Olympic Committee, but of course thanks to Momentum for letting me blog here)

I'd give Metro Vancouver and the Vancouver Olympic Committee an overall grade of C+ for bicycling during the Olympics. Why so low? Let me count the ways:

My apologies to Neil Armstrong. You'd think by the number of media folks at today's Burrard Street Single Lane Physically Separated Bike Path Trial (up to 3 cyclists per media person today at the peak is my thumb in the air guesstimate) launch, that something monumental had happened. Well by Vancouver bicycling standards yes but by world bicycling standards, definitely NOT (i.e. it's a baby step). More (including exclusive shaky handheld but illustrative video after the jump!

I have already blogged about my view on helmets.

My view on bicycling helmet and other bicycling related "crackdowns" like the one the Vancouver police are currently conducting is that the police should be consistent and rather than gratuitously giving tickets out where it is easy for both them and an easy media opportunity like relatively safe bike lanes, the police should be giving out tickets at places that are actually dangerous (and I am not the first to blog about this see the comments on the this bicycling "crackdown" over at pricetags such as the following (in no particular order):

It's been approximately 2 years (I started June 27, 2007 a few times a week and worked slowly up to daily commuting) since I started commuting from East Vancouver to Gastown Monday to Friday, 5 km each way for a grand total of 10km and here are some reflections:

This will be my first and last post on the controversial subject of bike helmets. Based on my experience of riding without a helmet in Amsterdam, Bremen, Rotterdam, Friedrichshafen and Antwerp where I felt safer riding on the physically separated "no car" commuter bike paths without my helmet than I do with my helmet on the Vancouver commuter bike paths (most of which are shared with cars and therefore only suitable for Peñalosa's "2% kamikazes"), I think helmets should be optional on European (i.e. Dutch and Danish) style physically separated bike paths. And the fact that we don't have physically separated bike paths on popular bike routes here in Vancouver is a large part of why we only have the 2% commuting. As always, David Hembrow and Copenhagenize explain the situation far better than I and point out the research that shows the real "truth" about helmets!

The No Excuse Zone is an interesting idea from that came to my attention via Gordon Price at Price Tags. The No Excuse zone is a zone where healthy person could cycle within half an hour and if a person lives and works within this zone, then he could/should cycle a few days a week. In Vancouver Gordon suggests this would be:

QUOTE

I’ve always thought that the bike works great within a 5 km radius, which for me encloses everything from Commercial Drive to 16th Avenue to the water

END QUOTE

Where would be the best place for a "No Excuse" zone in your city?

Here are two videos of me changing my flat from yesterday.They should make a good gift for bicycle historians :-) because somehow I doubt that if I am bicycling in 20 years I will be changing tubes like I did yesterday:

As I was learning about changing the tube of my second flat tire this month from Niall and Ben, I kept thinking, nothing's changed in 20 years! Bicycles still have tires which still have tubes which still get annoying flats which I still don't enjoy changing today just like I didn't enjoy changing them back then.

Not sure what to make of the news "Cyclists being banned from miles of express routes designed to transport officials and athletes through London in high-speed convoys" during London's 2012 Olympics and for Vancouver 2010 "Some of our existing bicycle routes may have to be temporarily altered during the 2010 Winter Games to accommodate operational and security needs".

In Vancouver's case, I hope this means my bicycle route from East Van to Gastown (Woodland and Adanac/Union) is not affected. Anybody know the real details i.e. which specific routes in London and Vancouver?

I have been inspired by the change of government in the USA and I was preparing myself for the inevitable disillusionment but then I realized how cynical and ridiculous that is. Regardless of where we stand, as avid bicyclists I think we can agree on this: we all can help change and make Canada and the USA better for bicycling in our own way. How are you going to help change our society so that there is more bicycling? Please leave a comment as usual! Oh and if you have any suggestions for me and how I can help best effect change, let me know as well.

Yes we can! North American cities like Vancouver and Toronto can have segregated bicycle paths that feel subjectively safe like small towns in Holland. We have the money, we are not poor, we just need vision and will. (Hat tip to David Hembrow's excellent Assen vs. Maple Ridge. Example of subjective safety differences for inspiring this blog post.)

I am thinking about creating a bicycle game for commuters using mobile devices like Nokia N series phones, iPhones and Blackberries or anything with cellular connectivity that enlivens their commute and informs their commute rather than distracting them. Anybody got an example of a cool bicycle game out there? If so please leave a comment or twitter @rtanglao. Thanks! I'll create a public wiki with what people point me to as well as what I find with my research!

Call me a paranoid old man of 44 years but I really think that wearing headphones while bicycling (or jogging or walking the dog or ...) is dangerous. Why? Because you can't hear approaching bicyclists or cars and you get lulled into a false sense of security. I get the appeal of being immersed in music but since almost getting run over while listening to a Walkman in the 1980s, I am very leery of wearing headphones while outside. Instead, I love listening to street sounds or revel in those rare moments of urban quietness. I realize I am in the minority here so could somebody please enlighten me on how to safely ride while listening to music?

Forgive my "Batavus Blindness" but for commuters I don't understand the appeal of single speed bicycles like the ones that my friend Zack Rosen sells at Mission Bicycle in San Francisco without chain guards or enclosed drive trains or built in lights or built in fenders or a built-in lock.

Sure you can go really fast, but you have to wear really tight trousers or tights or an elastic band over your trousers.

And if it rains, you get water over all over your clothes since of course there are no fenders.

And if it is dark, there are no built in lights so you have to carry lights and worry about batteries running out and losing them or getting them stolen.

And if you have to stop somewhere, there's no built in lock so you have to carry a lock.

I really don't get it :-) ! A few people where I work have single speed and fixie bikes so I see them every day.

A bicycle courier in New York tested seven sets of front and rear lights in the New York Times and recommended the Blackburn Flea lights. Never heard of the Flea lights until now, so I am intrigued by the Flea's magnetic charger that allows it to be charged from any 1.5 V battery (e.g. C cell, D cell, AA Cell etc). Of course the real solution is to have battery-less lights built into all bicycles used off the racetrack and mountain (e.g. hub dynamo lights), as was pointed out on all the bike blogs, something that we in North America need to learn from our European counterparts.