We’re gearing up for a busy five days around our house. We’ll have relatives in for Thanksgiving. The holiday is not until Thursday, but they’ll come in Wednesday and stay until Sunday. My wife has some kind of activities planned every day for her sister, our son and his girlfriend, not to mention her sister’s dog and our dog. We’ll be busy.
So, I don’t expect to post for a few days. In the meantime, since I am a professor, I thought I’d leave you with some outside reading assignments for the holidays.
The first comes courtesy of Bike Noob reader Danny Ashton, who points us to a blog called Sidiergo.com. (Note from the Bike Noob — this is not the corporate blog for Sidi cycling shoes — that’s at sidisport.com. The sidiergo site is registered to Danny, who is in Manchester, UK. I do check the whois listing for unknown sites I am referred to.) He’s got a post there called “Nine Driving Habits That Most Annoy Cyclists.” I think we can all relate.
But most of us are drivers, too, and we know there are two sides to this coin. One of my favorite bike bloggers has been former frame builder Dave Moulton, and his latest post deals with that other side — bikers who just don’t get it. Check out “Stop Handing Them the Stick.”
Finally, there’s a nifty article from Scientific American magazine. Yep, you heard right. They’re wondering how to make cities more bike-friendly, and the solution they come up with is an interesting one: make them more women-friendly. In a nutshell, instead of putting bike lanes and bike routes through parks and along rivers, put them where people can use them for a purpose — heading toward grocery stores and daycare centers. (Attacks on my unintended sexism are welcome in comments.)
So, those should keep you satiated on things bicycle until I get back. It could be as early as Friday, or as late as Sunday. And wherever you are in the world, I hope you have as much to be thankful for as I do. Take care.
These links are incredible timely. Here in Philly, there has been an ongoing debate due to some unfortunate events. Recently there were two incidents where a cyclist hit and killed a pedestrian. As as a result, there has been a huge increase in anger towards cyclists and new legislation being considered. Highlights include:
– Increased fines and enforcement for going through red lights (reminded me of your incident)
– Increased fines for riding on sidewalks or wearing headphones ($300)
– Talk of requiring registration of bicycles (think license plate)
– Talk of banning brake-less bikes… aka track bikes or fixed gears (penalty would be confiscation)
You can follow our bicycle coalition’s (lobbying and education group) blog here: http://blog.bicyclecoalition.org/
Unfortunately, this has come up after our bike-friendly mayor pushed and succeeded in adding new bike lanes in the city.
There’s a logical fallacy in the SciAm article.
A good bike-transit designer will consider paths that are both available as a recreational facility but also allow a person to use them for transit.
Bonus points go to one trail near me that has terminus points near a houses, several clusters of stores, several transit stations, and a park along the San Francisco Bay. Entirely grade-separated.