Category Archives: bigger than here

Check out the New Walk Score Site

I first talked about Walk Score back in September. I’m a big fan of the site and think it’s a great tool for motivating people to get out of their cars and walk (or ride) more. When you see all of those businesses within walking distance of your home, how could you not walk to some of them?

The new version has already been covered by Eric de La Place at Siteline. and Aaron at Streetsblog. I don’t have anything new to add to their insightful posts. Just go check it out for yourself. I will say – it’s much improved over the last version.

Have a great weekend.

– Anne

Is America Turning into Europe Right Before Our Eyes?

Biking to Bottleworks
That headline from the Freakonomics blog caught my eye this morning. While Americans are slowly changing their evil, car–loving ways (mostly because of skyrocketing gas prices), we certainly have a long way to go before we get close to European transportation standards. Continue reading

Val Kleitz interview

Alan of ecovelo posted this wonderful Cargo Bike Pilot interview of Val Kleitz. The video, by the Cargo Bike blog, shows why Val’s a legend around here.

He’s been an inspiration and a huge support of our move toward (and efforts to blog about) family cargo-biking goodness. Since we love the Val and all of his infinite wisdom, we thought it was worth posting here as well.

The group cargo ride images make us lament our late start for the July 4th ride even more. Who would have thought they’d leave close to on time for once! For what it’s worth, the photos from our cargo ride of two+two are up.

– Anne and Tim

The Slow Bicycle Movement

We talked about Slow Cargo Cycling back in February. Tim and I are all about slowness.

Naturally I was thrilled that Mikael of Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic fame has started a new site called The Slow Bicycle Movement.

Go ahead, head on over to the site, leave a comment and join the slow cycling movement.

– Anne

Bike to School Month Wrap Up

Bike to School Day 2008

Bike to School month was a huge success at our local elementary. We averaged about 60 riders every day–the bike racks were full and fence and gate locking was overflowing every day this month. It was certainly a beautiful sight.

A big thanks to Leslie and Clint for leading the effort – you did a great job!

Bike to School Day 2008

Many parents joined their kids and pedaled to and from school all month. I talked to a few who said they were hooked and plan to get to school on two wheels from now on. Right on. Others say “they’ll see” if they can keep it up. I tried to encourage any parent who would listen to keep on riding. It’s so great to see the kids excited about riding and the traffic reduction around school was definitely noticeable. Continue reading

Ride of Silence Today

White Bike Remembering Bryce Lewis

A quick reminder (thanks Janet!) that today is the annual Ride of Silence, Seattle edition. The purpose of the ride is to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while riding on public roads. So far, 285 rides in 17 countries are planned.

Seattle participants should meet at Gas Works Park (by 6:10 pm) to conduct a silent, easy-paced ride through downtown, the U-district, Fremont and other areas. Black (for riders killed) and red (for those injured) armbands are recommended. More rides are planned around the state. For full details, visit the Ride of Silence or Bicycle Alliance site. If you aren’t in Seattle, check the schedule for your nearest ride.

I plan to make at least part of the ride, assuming I can escape the office. Frankly, I’d much rather scramble to make time for the ride than explain white bikes to my children!

Curious about the ride? Check out this short PSA video:

-Tim

Friday is Bike to Work Day (So, go on, … ride)

Full Bike Room at aork

I hope you are all ready for Seattle’s Bike to Work Day. Though I like my nice bike room (above), I’m hoping so many people ride that I’ll have to find my rack space elsewhere tomorrow morning.

It’s a good day to take the bike commute plunge. The weather is supposed to be awesome. Cascade Bikes, Starbucks, Group Health, and others are pulling out the stops—something like 42 Bike to Work Stations will be staffed tomorrow. Expect (possibly less-than-warm but) free Starbucks coffee, Powerbars or equivalent, water bottles, stickers, and some nice bikey camaraderie.

Even though I plan to swing by two or three commute stations conveniently located along my route, I realize it’s not about the stuff. Yeah, swag helps people get out, but the important thing is getting a butt load of riders on the road and in the public eye at least one day a year. Need another reason? Cascade does a count/census on Bike to Work day; consider a ride on Friday a way of “voting for bikes” with your wheels.

Big News: Mayor Greenhouse Gaseous Nichols is supposed to be at the Westlake Park commute rally. One wonders what kind of example he’ll set. I’m sure Greg plans to model a bike during the event, and maybe even roll down from City Hall. I’m doubtful, however, that we’ll see Hizzonor traverse the Swing Bridge and brave the less-than-relaxing trek from West Seattle. I’ve heard a few people say I’m a little hard on our mayor, so I’ll tell you what. If you do see him riding outside the Westlake-City hall radius—say south of Sodo—do let me know (grab a photo, too!). I’ll gladly take (most of) my snarky comments back.

Don’t forget it’s also Bike to School day. We’ve covered school biking events extensively so I’ll just say this: Encouraging your kids to ride to school (and showing by example) is the right thing to do.

Ride tomorrow. To work. To school. For errands. For everything.

Ride.

-Tim

Are Women The Key To A Successful Bike Culture?

Bike and Notre Dame
This morning I was reading Copenhagen Cycle Chic’s report on the véloculture in Paris. It’s so wonderful to read about the success of the Vélib program. Since the program was introduced last summer, biking has exploded in the city of Paris.

When I lived in Paris many years ago, transportation options were limited to

  • Métro (efficient but underground so you can’t enjoy the scenery, also crowded and stinky at times)
  • Bus (also efficient but always crowded)
  • Walking (my preferred method of transport but took a long time to get anywhere)

Biking around Paris would have been so great!

Tim and I were there last July and we missed the installation of the Vélib bikes by one week. We saw the stations all over town, but they were all bikeless. We walked and took the Metro – but would have prefered cruising around Paris on bikes. I guess we’ll have to go back and give Vélib a try.

While Copenhagen Cycle Chic’s post was about biking culture in Paris – my key take away was this quote:

The key to any successful bike culture is to get women onto bikes. They are the group that is most likely to ride and yet least likely to actually do it, especially in urban settings. Continue reading

Seattle’s Got a Whole Lot of Bikin’ Goin’ On

Just a bike commuter in SeattleI had minor knee surgery Thursday. I’m surprisingly mobile, (three laps around the block yesterday!) but not quite up for my normal ride. That meant a trip home from work via Metro bus today. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a very good bus commuter. I resent buses being late and early (and sometimes on time). Mostly it’s my problem because I have time issues. Regardless, I’d rather ride.

One advantage of the bus, I found today, is the ability to check on the state of the Seattle bike commute. On my daily ride, I see a few folks out there but don’t get a sense for numbers. I don’t pass a lot of riders and don’t get passed too much either. Mostly I just roll along alone, occasionally waving toward oncoming riders. Am I alone or just riding in a bike-free bubble? It’s hard to tell.

Continue reading

Bike Rack Capacity: Tokyo vending-machine style

Too many bikes and not enough racks… around here, we’d be happy with with a few more two-bike units. Sorry, that’s way too simple for Japan. There they turn the engineers loose. Visitors to Toyko are frequenty awed by the crazy vending machines: Hot Ramen, socks, umbrellas, eggs, kerosene, and more. One count puts it at one vending machine for every 23 people.

So it only makes sense that bike parking would benefit from this technical vending genius. Understanding Japanese would add to the experience but we managed to get the gist. Combine this baby with the giant bike parking garage we saw in Amsterdam and we’d be in bike-parking dork heaven.

-Tim

via Streetsblog and Gizmodo