A petition that asks Google to add bicycle routes in a “Bike There” application for finding directions at Google Maps is gaining a lot of support already.
The idea was broached by an Austin bicyclist at the Google Maps “Bike There” blog less than two weeks ago, and already a petition at PetitionOnline has more than 3,800 signatures.
Several commenters at blogs promoting the idea suggest that Google already is working on this, and plans to roll it out later in 2008 …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/29/bike-there-petition-for-google-maps-gets-support/
Sometimes statistics can be helpful in explaining problems and finding solutions; other times they can only confuse the issues.
The latter is the case in the annual “Measures, Markers and Mileposts” report issued by the Washington state Department of Transportation. The 100-plus page document gives in-depth performance reports for highway maintenance, pavement conditions, environmental control and pedestrian and bicycle safety.
But I found the 2 pages devoted to pedestrian and bicycle safety to be sorely lacking. The two tables of bicycle fatality statistics were drawn from federal and state databases and were offered with little explanation …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/29/bicycle-fatality-stats-in-washington-highways-report/
If you're a veteran and see this guy towing a bike trailer filled with his stuff across the southern US, you might want to stop and say hi.
He's Jerry Nelson, 56, a veteran of 15 years in the Navy and a Vietnam vet. He's pedaling cross-country to find some peace of mind.
After hiking last year from New Mexico to Washington DC, where he camped in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, he's now pedaling his Trek 850 hardtail and pulling a Burley trailer to Oregon. Along the way he's spending nights at American Legion posts and speaking to veterans groups….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/28/vietnam-vet-seeks-peace-of-mind-on-bicycle-tour/
The Maryland House of Delegates is the latest legislature to take up the road safety issue that motorists must give bicycle riders a 3-foot clearance when passing.
Three-foot passing laws are in effect in at least a dozen states. Meanwhile, BIcycle Colorado distributes these nifty window stickers to car owners who purchase “Share the Road” license plates.
The Maryland bill is a top priority of One Less Car, which helped the Maryland Department of Transportation draft. It died in the House Environmental Matters Committee last year, so advocates are asking Maryland residents to contact their delegates, especially those on the committee …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/27/3-foot-passing-battle-for-bicycles-shaping-up-in-maryland/
“Please Do Not Run Me Over” is the title on an essay that Austin Miller of Beaverton, Oregon, wrote for his high school newspaper last year.
It surfaced again this week in Portland media outlets after the 15-year-old sophomore at the Art and Communication Magnet Academy was struck and killed by a bus while pedaling home from school on Feb. 11.
The story by the young bicycling enthusiast tells about a fictional town where the inhabitants abandoned their bicycles for motor vehicles. He later goes on to write about the poor state of motorist-biker relations and the need for bike lanes …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/27/teen-cyclist-killed-in-bus-collision-wrote-prophetic-essay/
Four-legged bane of Trans-American bicycle tourers? Dogs. Four-legged bane of Iditarod snow-bikers? Moose.
The Human-powered Iditarod got underway in 10-degree temperatures on Sunday, and racers snow-biking the route have reported problems with moose along the trail, especially one particularly aggressive female moose.
Meanwhile, Jill Homer, whose Up in Alaska blog is one of the most popular bicycling blogs on the Internet, is posting good enough times to be on pace for a record-setting 350-mile ride into McGrath….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/26/moose-create-hazards-for-iditarod-bicyclists/
The city of Ota in Japan thought it could help people who needed a ride around downtown by setting up a free bicycle loan program using abandoned bikes that had been repainted yellow.
The program started with 30 bicycles in mid-November. Within two months, all but three were missing.
That's an amazing rate of disappearance, but missing bicycles are common in yellow bike programs in the US. Since there's always a ready supply of discarded bicycles, the Austin Yellow Bike Program, for instance, simply puts more bikes on the street …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/26/how-to-deal-with-disappearing-yellow-bikes/
They're going to have to rename this event if there are many more days like Sunday in the future for the Chilly Hilly bike rides.
Check out these cyclists basking in the sun as they ride along Rockaway Beach Road on Bainbridge Island Sunday afternoon. That's downtown Seattle, with the famous Space Needle on the left, across Puget Sound with the snow-capped Cascades in the background. In many previous years, much of these scene would be hidden behind a cloud bank.
The Chilly Hilly bike ride is a 33-mile loop around Bainbridge Island. It has been sponsored for 35 years by the Cascade Bicycle Club, which named it for the usual cold, wet, and windy weather that greets cyclists coming out of their winter hibernation …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/25/2008-chilly-hilly-pictures/
Colin and Julie Angus are two adventurers who are taking a 4,000-mile rowboat and bicycle expedition across Europe that you'll be able to follow online beginning in March.
The two experienced travellers from Canada are rowing down rivers, coastlines and canals from Scotland to Syria. When it's time to portage over passes or around dangerous rapids, they'll use the foldable bicycles and trailers stowed on board to tow their watercraft.
That makes it a completely human-powered expedition on old trade and migration routes from the Scottish highlands to the deserts of the Middle East. The trip also includes a component that enables children in classrooms around the world to interact with the travellers.
Larry Lagarde at the RideThisBike.com website tipped me off about this adventure. He also donated through his website the two full-sized folding mountain bikes the pair will use. Colin Angus will be riding a flat black SwissBike LX; Julie is riding a baby blue Montague CX ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/23/scotland-to-syria-by-rowboats-and-when-necessary-bicycles/
Something you'll be hearing a lot soon is that something “is your new bicycle.” It started with a website called “Barack Obama is your new bicycle” which caught fire and already has a slew of imitators.
The term will probably reach a peak in a few weeks, when advertisers will start using it in their “hip” commercials. That's when we'll quickly get sick of hearing it, and the once-clever term will die out of use.
Here's what Matthew Honan, a San Francisco based writer for Wired magazine, told Eric Zorn at the Chicago Tribune about the website and how it got started….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/fill-in-the-blank-is-your-new-bicycle/
Adventure Cycling Association Trail biking Rails to Trails Conservancy League of American Bicyclists
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