It might look and sound like it in the dark, but this isn't a video of the latest Critical Mass ride by bicyclists.
It's the Monday night performance of a musical composition outside Zipper Hall at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles.
The composition is “Eine Brise: Transient Action by 111 Cyclists” by the late Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel. It's a legit piece of music.
Translated as “A Breeze,” the composition calls for the 111 bicycle riders to ride in an evenly spaced, choreographed 500-foot-long paceline between 1 to 3 cyclists across. At specific times they ring their bells, whistle, sing a high note, make a flutter-tongue sound and close with a whoosh. …..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/24/when-a-bike-ride-becomes-music-eine-brise-in-los-angeles/
Bicycles can make a difference to women who need transportation in far-flung rural towns in Africa.
That's why a nonprofit of professional women is making Bicycles for Humanity (B4H) Colorado the beneficiary of its fund-raising efforts this year.
Boulder, Colorado-based BoldeReach supports organizations that aid women and children in need around the world. B4H meets this mission for women by providing bicycles for transportation and employment in its community-based bike shops in Namibia.
Says B4H Colorado president Joshua Price:
“For people living on $2 per day ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/23/giving-your-old-bicycle-a-new-life/
Fairfax County (VA) Supervisor John Cook:
“I don't believe a bicycle is a transportation device. I think it's a recreation device. The big problem is people don't want to ride their bike in the rain or get sweaty before work.”
— As reported in the Washington Examiner and repeated at Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) and DCStreetsblog.
Like FABB said, Supervisor Cook needs to get out more. I think he's just speaking from his insulated, personal experience ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/22/bicycle-quote-bicycles-are-not-transportation/
The drive to make bicycling safer hit severe roadblocks in three state legislatures last week.
The bad week started in Virginia where a bill to require cars to give bicycles 3 feet of clearance failed on Monday in the House of Delegates by a 54-43 vote.
Then on Tuesday, Washington's state's “vulnerable user” bill died when it failed to meet a Senate deadline for transfer to the House. On Thursday, the South Dakota Senate rejected a 3-foot passing law by a 10-24 vote.
It makes us wonder what bicyclists have to do to protect our safety out on the road. Keep demanding changes in the laws, I suppose ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/21/bicyclists-face-uphill-battle-for-legal-protections/
Some nattily attired bicyclists are planning to take to the streets on Sunday for Seattle's first “tweed bike ride” and they're inviting anyone to join in.
Dapper attire, preferably tweed, is highly encouraged. In fact, the invitation states that lycra is forbidden — “We're trying to be British.”
If you're wondering what to wear, check out the gentleman at left from a recent San Francisco bike ride shot by juicyrai at Flickr.com or other images from the SF Tweed pool.
Attendees are invited to gather at the Cal Anderson Fountain at noon on Sunday for tea, followed by a mellow group ride …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/21/seattle-getting-all-tweedy-for-sunday-bicycle-ride/
Congratulations to Scottish bicycle traveler Mark Beaumont for finishing 13,000 miles of bicycle travel down the length of North and South America.
The 27-year-old left Anchorage in May and finished up at Usuaia in southern Argentina on Thursday. There he is at left celebrating from “the end of the world.” The bike tour took 268 days.
He interrupted his bike travels to climb, by foot, the highest peaks on each continent — Denali in Alaska and Aconcagua in Argentina.
Beaumont's name might already be familiar to you. Two years ago he completed his record-setting around-the-world bicycle trip, covering 18,000 miles in 194 days. His latest bike adventure was accompanied by a BBC blog and a constant stream of Twitters.
It's been interesting tracking Beaumont's progress, especially on his Twitters. Reading thoe posts was a good reminder that not every day of bicycle touring is the best….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/20/scottish-adventurer-completes-pan-american-bike-journey/
You better start practicing your bicycle jousting skills, your two-wheeled balance and your good humor as the New Belgium Brewery's Urban Assault Rides are coming to 13 cities in 2010.
Essentially, a two-person team sets out to visit 11 checkpoints around town to complete a challenge at each location. There's no route. The team to complete all 11 obstacles in the shortest time wins.
Three cities have been added to the Urban Assault Ride tour in 2010. The 13 are:
Tucson — April 18
Berkeley — May 2
Seattle — May 16
Portland — May 23
…..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/19/new-cities-for-2010-urban-assault-rides/
Back in 1899, Charles Minthron Murphy achieved the incredible feat of pedaling his bicycle one mile in a minute by drafting behind a speeding train.
He's probably lucky that he wasn't killed. Since he survived the ordeal, he forever after became known as “Mile-a-Minute” Murphy.
Now the Town of Babylon, on New York's Long Island, would like to commemorate the event that happened there by putting Murphy's track bicycle on display.
The problem is that the bicycle is in storage at the Springfield (Massachusetts) Museums and they won't relinquish it, not even for the offer of $20,000 from Babylon.
At the time, Murphy's feat put Babylon on the map and celebrated human achievement ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/18/long-island-town-cant-get-historic-bike-in-spite-of-20k-offer/
We might not like all the projects that the federal stimulus grants are funding, but it's cool to see some of the money going to build projects for bicycles.
Just today, the US Department of Transportation announced $1.5 billion in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants. About $43 million of that, or 3%, will go directly to bicycle and pedestrian path networks in Philadelphia-Camden and Indianapolis.
In addition, portions of grants to rebuild bridges and create rail-transit hubs in other cities will be used for bicycle facilities. See all the projects.
The biggest TIGER grant to bicycling announced Wednesday was the $23 million that Philadelphia and Camden will share for a 16.3-mile network of biking and hiking paths to connect the two cities. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/17/your-federal-stimulus-dollars-pedaling-to-work/
That family of five that set off last summer from Kentucky on a five-seater bicycle has hit the Pacific Coast. Now they're heading north to their Alaskan destination.
The Harrison family had pedaled nearly 4,000 miles to San Diego. They still have 3,000 miles to go before reaching Fairbanks.
To recap, Bill Harrison and his wife Amarins are traveling with their three girls, Cheyenne, 6, Jasmine, 4, and Robin, 3. They're riding a five-person yellow tandem and carrying their gear in a trailer. You can follow their adventures at Pedouin.com.
Theirs is quite an inspiring story for anyone preparing for a long bike trip. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/02/17/famly-bicycle-5-riders-strong-rolls-north-along-pacific-coast/
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