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
Bike maintenance classes make your bike last longer
This bike is still going!
It was six decades ago that Owen Hook fell in love with the shining bicycle in his local department store window.
But today, the Raleigh push bike is still going strong.
Mr Hook, 72, who paid for the top-of-the-range, three-speed Raleigh bike in 36 monthly installments of just ten shillings (50p) 57 years ago, said yesterday that it showcased British craftsmanship at its best.
Pretty impressive, but surely it didn’t come without a little work. I’ve been tempted to take a class with Community Cycles for just that reason. The next six-week bike mechanics course starts March 3.
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!
Hybrid drivers can still use HOV lanes… for now
Hybrid drivers who’ve been allowed to drive in HOV lanes are on a month-to-month extension, according to the Denver Post:
An occasional HOV lane in Denver | Flickr user Richard Masoner
Federal transportation law allowed for the hybrid-in-HOV option, but that law expired on September 30. After Congress passed a one-month extension of the law, CDOT notified hybrid owners that permission to use HOV lanes as solo drivers had been extended through the end of this month.
To allow hybrid drivers similar access to HOV lanes after this month, “Congress will need to act again on another extension or new bill,” CDOT said in a recent email to hybrid permit owners.
Of course, if you’re carpooling in a hybrid, you’re definitely fine.
And if you carpool on a bike, you’re awesome. Tandems for everybody!
Move by bike: Can it be a new trend?
I will admit that when I moved back to Boulder from Brooklyn, I did not move in a particularly green way.
No, I loaded my stuff into somebody else’s 53-foot truck (along with the belongings of many other people — I don’t have that much stuff), and it was driven here to Boulder. Then I got on a plane and flew here.
That’s why, on this fine #ecomonday, I feel like a green wuss; I didn’t move by bike. Dan at Community Cycles wants it to catch on in Boulder, and the lead story on the Camera’s local page features this big photo of some Boulderites lugging an apartment’s worth of stuff from Boulder to Gunbarrel (seven miles):
Jon Abbott leads the procession during Sunday's seven-mile move from his old apartment to a new one using only bicycles. Photo by Jonathan Castner.
That’s right: they moved by bike. That’s a pretty awesome degree of self-sufficiency. More details and tips on doing it yourself after the jump. Read more
30th Street bike path eminent domain filing
Rebecca Maret and her son Soren ride over the bridge south of Pearl Street intersection on 30th Street. Photo: Joe Rogers For the Camera
The proposed 30th Street bike path that has been causing a bit of a stir in Boulder — some folks are upset that it would require taking down a few trees — has hit a new controversial milestone. The city, unable to buy land for the proposal from a business there, has filed an eminent domain petition.
The Camera has the full story on the bike path eminent domain development, and here’s the quick-hit update: Read more
