http://bikeworldiowa.com/

This is a cool bike shop, (the coolest?) in Des Moines. I was in here the other day and they had, not one, not two, but THREE! folding bikes for me to test drive, one new, two used.

Bike Speed Vest

Check out this cool invention: the reflective vest that shows your speed. Some of you may have seen it in action at the Pro Walk Pro Bike conference in Seattle. If you're in the Bay Area on May 30th, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO) is going to be sponsoring a fun ride to display the vest.

The makers say that it:

• Increases awareness of the bicyclist and bicycling as an efficient way of getting around
  
• Educates drivers about overtaking bicyclists safely
  
• Illuminates that an average person can easily bike 10-15 mph (15-25 km/h)
  

Now what I want is a vest with radar that tells drivers when they are speeding.

Shabby Chic

Copenhagen is all the buzz lately in cycling, with their announcement of hosting Velo City 2010, the Copenhagen Cycle City video making the rounds, and lots of attention being given to the Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic blogs. The city of Copenhagen was certainly a big presence at this year's Velo City with a huge booth that was more of a lounge area complete with couches, a coffee bike (free cappucinos all day long) and about 8 staffers from their bike program hanging out. Copenhagen is positioning itself as the most stylish city in cycling, supported by their Cycle Chic blog which is mostly pictures of attractive gals on bikes showing the rest of us how glamorous riding a bike can be.

This whole emphasis on 'cycle chic' and a recent Copenhagenize discussion about this post http://www.heldenmerk.be/ got me thinking though: is positioning cycling as a 'status' item really the direction we need to head to get more people on bikes? I agree that we need to move beyond the lycra crowd to sell the vision of cycling. But are pictures of women cycling with designer hangbags really the key to getting the general public fired up about riding a bike? Corporate tie-ins? Yeah, that Louis Vuitton-branded Brompton just oozes cool. Good grief.

For me it is pictures like this that get me the most excited about the potential for cycling. A family out cycling in the park, making the most of a pleasant spring evening. Nothing really that stylish about them, just average folks. Maybe my photo wouldn't get many hits on a blog, but I think it is closer to the truth of the users we are trying to attract in the US.

How not to get hit by cars

http://bicyclesafe.com/

This is a down to earth explanation of easy ways to get hit by a car and how to avoid such things. We can share this link with our attendees at public meetings and spread the word!

New authors abound

Welcome to our new authors joining up today. I believe I have everyone in Alta as an author. So! Post away! If I missed someone, it was inadvertent, so let me know and I will add them.

Soon, I will be posting pics of my bikes. Stay tuned! Post pics of your bikes!

Copenhagen Chic

http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/
Here is a cool blog with pics of chic cycling ladies! Check it out!

Complete Streets on the front page of NYT

The New York Times seems to have adopted our cause as its own. At least once a week they have a related article on the front of their web addition. And as we know, some of our comrades have been quoted in the paper of record. Lauren should post that link here on the blog, don't you agree?

Anyway here is the latest, http://tinyurl.com/r32op7
Thanks to Kim for the tiny URL hook up.

Where does it all lead?

Sometimes we all get so caught up in the here-and-now that we forget the grand purpose of what we're doing. What's the point of all this? What will these bicycle and pedestrian improvements achieve? Why don't I receive immediate gratification and increased from laying down some markings on a street?

I think this video does a pretty great job of showing us where good planning and effort can take a city:

Copenhagen - City of Cyclists from Colville Andersen on Vimeo.

According to the artist "It took forty years of incremental improvements for the city to attain that level* of bike ridership." *That level is half a million Copenhageners.

Found on Streetsblog.

Door someone and go to Jail

In Wisconsin news, both houses of the state Legislature passed a bill requiring drivers to look before opening their doors. What a fantastic idea! They also eliminated the rule that bikers must stay at least three feet from parked cars. The change, similar to a recent change in Madison ordinances, was prompted by a recent crash in Madison in which the bicyclists who got doored received a ticket from the cops in addition to her cracked vertebra. Nice get well card!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html?_r=1&hp
Bikes on the front page of the NYT. Yeah! Also, just an aside, I just bought Pedaling Revolution by Jeff Mapes. Haven't started reading it yet, but soon baby. After "Nixonland"!

Drive Less. Save More. ad campaign!

The Portland Metro regional government recently put out a call for short videos to promote their Drive Less. Save More. alternative transportation campaign. The resulting ads promote bicycling, walking, carpooling, and public transit as viable alternatives to drive alone trips and are a great way to encourage people to change the way they think about getting around. You can view the top ads online here.

Critical Mass

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/07/cycling-safety-york-calderdale

News from the UK: More cyclists = fewer "accidents" (they meant crashes). So, there is something to critical mass after all. Now, get out and ride!

Moon Walking Bear

I have been using the "moon walking bear" video in my presentations, even in my project interviews, to drive home the point about the education "E". I show the video, without much intro. And then I give short talk about how we educate drivers to look for autos, and not bikes and peds and just as in the video, by simply asking people to watch out for them we can improve safety.

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47LCLoidJh4

Introductions

Hello my fellows at Alta- I have started up this blog for us to use to post things of interest to the group. I started it because I hate to use the "all-staff" email, yet there ARE things I feel I want to share with my fellow staff. I will make all of us "authors" and everyone will be able to post and view the blog. For now I have restricted those who can view it to authors only. We can see if there is a need or desire to broaden our readership as we go on.

If something like this already exists at Alta, for pete's sake! Let me know and I will back down with my blog!

Here is the first thing I wanted to share with my fellows at Alta:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWF4x01MkzE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fbikeportland.org%2F2009%2F04%2F28%2Fpull-over-id-like-to-give-you-a-hug%2F&feature=player_embedded