Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- And Now, Back to Your Local News…Since the weather’s getting better, I’m sure we’re all totally jonesing to get onto the trails, but in general, they’re a mess. It’s a bummer to see nice singletracks get trashed and widened, so like all of you, I’m grinding my teeth in annoyance while I try to be patient. The good news is that you [...] […]
- Downieville, Take ThreeOkay, well, things went pretty haywire in race promotion after the registration debacle. The organizer received so many hateful emails and comments about the mishap that it made him wonder if he should even bother putting the race on. I can’t blame him, really. In his shoes I might do the same thing. It sounds [...] […]
- And Now, Back to Your Local News…
- Edgy Veggie
Happy Winter Bike to Work Day 2012!
It’s Winter Bike to Work Day! Remember to send in your photos and videos and whatever else if you go (I’m dave at biggreenboulder).
Boulder in the winter | flickr user zachd1_618
We’re better off than some for this type of holiday, according to the forecast for a few Winter Bike to Work Day spots:
Chicago: Low 31, high 32. Cloudy.
Wichita: Low 34, high 52. Cloudy.
Boulder: Low 28, high 43. Partly cloudy.
Some of you have been biking all winter — kudos! For me, this is a good reminder that it’s actually not that cold right now. I stopped biking to work when my bike was buried under a foot and a half of snow months ago, and have been taking the bus since. But hey — 43 in the sun isn’t so bad, especially since we’re lucky enough that a lot of the nasty stuff melts off for us between big storms.
Here’s where you can stop for food, if you like:
Applebee’s – 1906 28th St.–eggs, pancakes, bacon & juice
City Municipal Building – 1777 Broadway, sponsored by The Cup, Sprouts and evol burritos
Moe’s Broadway Bagel – 3705 Arapahoe Ave.–bagels
Moe’s Broadway Bagel – 2650 Broadway–bagels
Pedal to Properties – 1949 Pearl St.–Hot coco stop
University of Colorado – 18th Street and Colorado Avenue–bagels, fruit, coffee & water
Need last-second winter biking tips?
How about a Winter Bike to Work Day T-shirt that says you were there?
See you out there!
Winter Bike to Work Day is next Wednesday
The date for Winter Bike to Work Day 2010 is Jan. 20.
Somehow it crept up on me, but I have to get a quick post out — Winter Bike to Work Day is coming right up, and there are Community Cycles winter biking workshops today to help you get prepared.
We’ve also got a small repository of winter biking tips here on the site.
Are you participating? Let us know. We’d love to run your photos.
Winter biking is something that Boulder can really take pride in. Check this out, from the city’s Winter Bike to Work Day site:
One thing you can be sure of, your commute will be safe and convenient because even if it has snowed the City of Boulder keeps its 60 miles of paved multi-use pathways and 76 underpasses plowed so that cyclists can easily use them even during severe snowstorms. The city begins plowing as soon as an inch of snow accumulates and at exactly the same time that crews are plowing the streets! In fact many cyclists report that biking is faster than driving, especially in slow winter traffic!
Bicycle Film Fest organizer on bicycle stereotypes
We’re thinking about bikes this week because it’s sunny again, so here are some quick and sometimes slightly inflammatory* thoughts on bike stereotypes from Bicycle Film Fest organizer Jen Nordhem (cool trailer, Jen!):
Stereotype: Critical Mass is for anarchists
JN: Critical Mass has anarchist roots, as far as it being a take-back-the-streets kind of mentality, but I don’t think it’s necessarily just for anarchists. Politically, I think it’s a great idea, as long as people don’t take it too far and it stays as like, “We’re here. We ride the same streets as you. We are traffic as well.” But it doesn’t go into like, “Now I’m going to U-lock your window.” That’s a bit extreme. I remember when I lived in Chicago, one of my friends told me this story about this father with a little tagalong bike with his daughter on it who rode [Critical Mass] every month, and that was his way of introducing bicycles to his daughter. It’s really just a celebration of bicycles.
via Stereotyping cyclists: A Bicycle Film Fest organizer responds | Features | | A.V. Denver/Boulder.
*Bikes blowing through stop signs is quite inflammatory, and it’s mentioned elsewhere in the A.V. Club post. If you don’t believe me, check out comments on the Camera!
So many bikes, so few parking spaces. Biking numbers blow up in Boulder.
Jason and Shelby Magen lock their bicycles up outside the Boulder Bookstore | Mark Leffingwell
Bike use is up in Boulder — again.
The number of bikes being ridden downtown has grown 14 percent in the last year and 47 percent since 2007. This has environmentalists, lovers of public transportation and city officials all excited. But there’s just one problem: Where to park all those bikes?
Along with the increase in riders, comes a shortage of legal parking, and the number of bikes locked to things other than designated racks has risen 76 percent since 2007.
“In many areas, the demand for bicycle parking exceeds the supply,” according to a city memo on the findings of the annual bicycle count.
The count found that of the 4,088 bicycles that were tallied during a four-day period in August, the number of bikes left unattended downtown ranged from a low of 825 on a Thursday morning to a high of 1,315 on a Friday evening.
About three-quarters were parked on permanent bicycle racks, while the rest were tied to parking meters, trees, railings or fences. About 6 percent of the bikes were left standing without locks.
Read the full story at DailyCamera.com, or learn about local bike paths at BigGreenBoulder.com.
