While researchers say that risk is a big issue that keeps women off bicycles on the road, a documentary comes to grips with another problem of perception — it's just not cool.
Says one of the subjects in a UK documentary about young women on bikes: “I thought it was just a little kid's thing.”
A study published in Scientific American in October noted that, in general, women are more averse to risk than men. In bicycling, that reluctance is overcome with good bike infrastructure, such as bike lanes, bike paths and a bike friendly atmosphere.
A project in Darlington, UK, finds there's more to it than that in Beauty and the Bike: Why do British girls stop cycling?”
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/06/changing-how-young-women-look-at-bicycling/
UPS is putting bicycles with trailers back on the road along the West Coast to save the cost of increasing its truck fleet during the holiday season.
While UPS experimented with going back to its roots in Washington and Oregon in recent years, now the world's largest package delivery business is expanding the use of bikes to 45 routes throughout Northern California.
The bike-trailer set-ups cost UPS about $700 each. Still, using human-powered delivery saves UPS about $45,000 to $50,000 in fuel and maintenance costs by eliminating the need to rent 20 to 25 trucks ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/05/ups-using-bikes-for-deliveries-again-this-holiday/
When I wrote about Farmington, Missouri, opening a bike hostel in an old jail on the TransAmerica Trail this fall, I wondered how many hostels are primarily devoted to bicycle travelers.
I could name three off the top of my head from my TransAmerica trip 25 years ago — Cookie Lady's Bike House in Afton, Virginia; Elk Garden, Virginia, and Pippa Passes, Kentucky.
We also bunked in hostels in Ordway, Colorado; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Hutchinson, Kansas.
When I started searching for more recently, it didn't take long before I stumbled across several websites with extensive lists of free or low-cost bike hostels …..
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/04/bike-hostels-theyll-leave-the-light-on-for-you/
One of the bicycling world's most articulate travel authors passed away recently on what she said was going to be her last around-the-world bike tour.
Anne Mustoe of Great Britain died in a hospital in Aleppo, Syria, on Nov. 10. She was 76.
The former girl's school headmistress started her around-the-world bicycle travels when she was 54. She circled the globe twice — once in each direction — and wrote 7 books about her adventures.
She got the idea to travel by bike when she saw a man pedaling a bicycle across a desert in northern India. She was riding in a passing train at the time.
She left her job at the girl's school and was given a Condor bicycle as a going away present. She covered about 100,000 miles on that bike before she died. ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/03/bike-travel-author-anne-mustoe-dies-on-bike-tour-in-syria/
One of the books by popular British bike travel author Anne Mustoe.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/03/anne-mustoe/
Bronze level bicycle-friendly Philadelphia is in the throes of a bike-riders vs. everybody-else controversy.
After two pedestrians were struck and killed by bicycle riders in Philadelphia in October, the police launched a crackdown last month against cyclists on sidewalks as well as those who don't make full stops at stop signs or traffic lights. (As you can see in this video at left, [spoiler alert!] most cars, buses, taxis don't stop either.)
Then, a state legislator introduced a bill — HB 2096 — that would require all bikes in Philadelphia to be registered and be equipped with lights and turn signals. A similar law has been proposed by City Council. There's also a proposal that all bikes have brakes, a law that would target fixies.
The piling on doesn't stop at government …..
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/02/city-of-brotherly-love-get-out-of-the-road/
Visitors to the 2010 Winter Olympics based in Vancouver next February should certainly consider riding bicycles as the easiest way to get around town.
Of course, people might want to think twice about riding their bicycles to the mountaintop skiing slopes, but bikes should be an ideal choice for accessing the sports complexes, athlete residences and other Olympic venues in the Vancouver area.
Vancouver is one of North America's most bike-friendly cities with 250 miles of bicycle lanes on city streets. [Interactive bike route planner.]
Some of those routes will be closed or altered during the Olympics because of security around the venues or increased numbers of people on foot. But I agree with the Dutch government that the bicycle will be the best form of transportation during the Winter Games; the Netherlands is sending 450 bikes to Vancouver for use by its citizens and officials …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/02/survivors-guide-to-riding-a-bike-at-the-vancouver-winter-olympics/
Go to Vancouver Bike Route Network to view interactive map.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/02/vancouver-bike-map/
Paco leaves the box atop the Big Dummy to survey the scenery. More at Cycling Gypsies.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/01/paco-stretches-his-legs/
Note: Dawn Lumsden of Canada and Finley Fagan of Australia are on a long-term, around-the-world bike tour with their two SPCA-rescue dogs, Jack and Paco. Right now, they're settled into a Berlin apartment for the time-being and are writing about their ongoing adventures at their Cycling Gypsies blog.
Dawn and Finley, aka Zoa and Fin, were kind enough to offer this story to the Biking Bis website. It tells what prompted them to embark on their bike tour, and how they chose some of the equipment for their unusual entourage.
A bicycle odyssey with dogs: Our customized rides
“Cycling around the world? Ha! Yeah right… Bicycles are for around town, not for around the world.”
But my girlfriend was serious, and a quick Google search proved she was right. Thousands and thousands of cyclists were traversing countries and continents at any given moment. The idea seemed absurd, yet irresistibly epic. Sign me up!
Only one small problem. Well, actually one medium sized problem, and another big, hairy problem. Our two dogs! Can you believe it? Nobody wanted to look after them while we cycled carefree into the horizon …..
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/01/traveling-across-europe-by-bike-with-two-dogs/
Adventure Cycling Association Trail biking Rails to Trails Conservancy League of American Bicyclists
Recent Comments