Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Time for a TurnaroundWell, my friends, things are finally looking up, and good timing, too, since I’m sure you’re all sick of me bitching. Recent bike build, including wheels… fun! In what feels like a fairly short time, I’ve come from sitting around … Continue reading → […]
- This Raised My PulseHey, baby… wanna ride? I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet. I can still have racy thoughts. Here’s more info. In other news, UBI was an awesome success! I had a blast. I highly recommend it. Overhaul day…. … Continue reading → […]
- Time for a Turnaround
- Edgy Veggie
Winter Bike to Work Day 2011 photos: before the snowstorm
OK, so the photos the official photo guys took are far better. Er, not that those people are better looking … just that … well …
I’m just going to stop while I’m ahead.
Here are a few more shots (obviously taken before yesterday’s snowstorm). Want more info on the event? Read more
Biking in cold weather: It’s that time of year!
Well, the winter has gone and dipped, so it’s time to remind you lovely people that we have plenty of tips for eco living on our resource pages — particularly for biking in the winter.
Get yourself in the habit and you’ll be all keyed up for next year’s Winter Bike to Work Day.
Finally, here’s a great and detailed video with tips on how to dress for winter biking — a major deterrent for some of us! Gotta strike the balance between arriving drenched in sweat and falling over dead on the ride, frozen solid into a bikecicle.
I found the video on the Meetup page for the Boulder & Denver Commuter Cyclists, who have an event next Monday.
RTD’s 2011 rate hikes will hit Boulder, but service cuts won’t
Price hikes and service cuts — a delightful combination. RTD approved ‘em both, and here’s the rundown:
The service cuts include reducing the frequency of some light-rail routes after 9 p.m. on weeknights, and increasing the interval between 16th Street Mall shuttle-bus trips from 6:15 to 8:20 a.m. on weekdays to every 150 seconds from 75 seconds — the current interval.
The mall shuttle handles about 47,000 passenger boardings daily.
RTD staff had proposed that directors eliminate route 63X bus service linking the Littleton Mineral light-rail station with Lockheed Martin’s Waterton complex because of low ridership, but directors chose to retain the route.
Local buses will cost $2.25 and express buses will cost $4.
Um, also, there’s a whole story on the RTD website about a couple who met on the 10 bus and now they have a cake shaped like a bus together or something. I might be missing some details.
Boulder commuting stats: Driving alone still preferred method
Just over half of Boulder commuters drive alone to get to work. Compared to the rest of Colorado, that’s pretty impressive, we’re also built better for it in the city, so we probably should be comparing ourselves to other cities that are bike- and bus-friendly.
The other number that sticks out on this data from the 2009 U.S. Census American Community Survey is our work-from-home number — but we already knew that.
Here’s some of the relevant data:
|
. |
Location | Drive alone | Carpool | Public transportation | Bike | Walk | Work from home | |
|
. |
Boulder | 51.2 | 4.8 | 9.8 | 12.32 | 9.66 | 10.26 | |
|
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Longmont | 80.7 | 6.2 | 3 | 0.7 | 0.59 | 7.15 | |
|
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Boulder County | 64.9 | 7 | 5.3 | 4.77 | 4.33 | 12.05 | |
|
. |
Colorado | 74.3 | 10.1 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 3 | 6.74 |
In Amsterdam, they take more trips by bike than by car. Consider that!
In Portland, bike traffic constitutes 20 percent of the traffic on some roads, leading to bikejams.
Until we’re having bikejams — or until I have to stand up for part of my bus commute — it seems like there’s still a lot of education to be done. (But please don’t cut bus service to artificially make this happen. Here’s a great post from our neighbors to the south on that line of thinking.)
Note: When I lived on the Skip line, I did have to stand up — often.
The ultimate commute: no commute
Business consultant and real estate investor Eric Lipsey supports his daughter Ajna, 10 months, while sitting at his work computer at their Broomfield home in August. | Photo: David Jennings, Broomfield Enterprise
Hey, some of us can get pretty satisfied with our short, carbon-light commutes. At the moment I’ve got a slightly-broken bike and a slightly-mysterious foot injury, so I’m off of two thin wheels and onto four big, fat RTD wheels in the mornings (and, by the way, I’m starting to miss the sun!).
But that’s nothing compared to the people whose commute is… nothing!
Boulder County leads the state in telecommuting, and the percentage of workers here doing their jobs from home doubled over the last decade, according to an analysis of data from the American Community Survey.
Those working from home — or “working from anywhere,” as one business owner put it — say technological changes have made it easier to take a pass on commuting, while worsening traffic has made it more appealing.
The large number of small businesses and high-tech start-ups in Boulder also contributes to more people working at home.
The American Community Survey, an ongoing study of economic and social conditions conducted by the Census Bureau, found that in 2009, the year for which survey data was recently released, slightly more than 12 percent of Boulder County workers worked from home.
Twelve percent! Holy mackerel!
BBC slams Boulder: green, but for all the cars and coal
That frog was right — it’s not easy bein’ green. Boulder knows it and, apparently, so does the BBC, which did a story on Boulder’s efforts to reduce its pollution and poor energy habits — and while it’s very short, it’s not very flattering.
But for all the solar panels arrayed on the roof of the municipal building on the corner of Broadway and Canyon, the roar of traffic tells a different story.
The people of Boulder are just as wedded to their cars as they are anywhere else in America.
Read the rest at the BBC’s site.
Bike to work day 2010 in Boulder is June 23
Bikes on a Boulder bike rack| flickr user niehoff
It’s not too late to get into Boulder Walk and Bike to work Month: Bike to Work Day is June 23.
For those who have already pulled their bikes out of winter storage, or never put them away (or maybe you’re even a practitioner of Winter Bike to Work Day), June 23 is just another Wednesday. For everyone else it marks the day the excuses run out. Leave the car in the garage, pump up your tires and get out onto the many bike paths Boulder has to offer.
Bike to Work Day veterans, remember how great last year was?
Just past 6 a.m. on Wednesday, more than 40 Boulder businesses broke out bagels, fruit, organic breakfast bars and hot meals to serve the thousands of people who were participating in this year’s Bike to Work Day.
The annual event was expected to draw more than 35,000 across the state, with more than 6,300 registered to participate in Boulder.
Not a Bike to Work Day veteran? No worries. Whether or not you’re an experienced cyclist on Boulder’s bike paths and main roads, here’s everything needed to help make Boulder’s 34th annual Bike to Work Day the biggest one yet–and how to get as many perks as possible for your hard-earned sweat.
Get started
If you’ve never biked to work mapping the best route can seem a daunting task. Even for experienced riders there is always a need to find the best way to get where you are going. To help with the task GO Boulder has a MapQuest-style Boulder bike route mapping website specifically designed to get you where you need to go, by bike — and Google Maps now has bike path information and streetview for some bike paths in Boulder.
With your route in hand, hit Boulder’s Bike to Work Day 2010 registration.
Why bother registering for Bike to Work Day? Well, GO Boulder is counting on you. Last year 7,132 people registered for Bike to Work Day, according to the Go Boulder Boulder Bike to Work Day 2009 Wrap Up. If you are not registered, you are not being counted–although you are still reducing the number of cars on the road.
No excuses
The bad weather seems to have finally passed–hopefully there won’t be any June snowstorms. A more likely weather deterrent in June is 90 degree heat. Allay your qualms about arriving with a smell by checking out Jenn Fields’ tips on how to bike to work and not stink, including:
Don’t just keep deodorant in your desk drawer — add a washcloth for warmer rides that require the bathroom-sink mini sponge bath. Also, witch hazel sprizted on the washcloth is a helpful de-funkifier. Ladies, do your make up once you get to work. This could apply to men, too. We don’t judge.
To help you make sure your bike is in working order there will be bike repair stations set up around Boulder. A few are listed below.
Boulder Cycle Sport, 4580 Broadway
Great Harvest Bread Company, 2525 Arapahoe, service provided by Performance Bikes
Whole Foods Market, 2905 Pearl, service provided by Bicycle Village
Don’t forget breakfast
June 23 many restaurants and businesses will be offering breakfast stations for participants. Whichever area of town you are coming from, or headed toward, there is an official breakfast station near you. Below are a few places around town that will be participating. For a complete list of participating businesses check the Community Cycles Website.
Half Fast Subs, 1215 13th Street
Moe’s Bagel on Arapahoe, 3075 Arapahoe
Moe’s Broadway Bagel, 2650 Broadway
Ozo Coffee, 5340 Arapahoe
Celestial Seasonings, 4600 Sleepytime Drive
Boulder Chamber of Commerce, 2440 Pearl
Get involved
Events on Bike to Work Day don’t end when you arrive at work. The CU Environmental Center, along with Community Cycles, is hosting the 4th annual Bike Shorts Film Festival at Old Main on CU’s Boulder campus.
Community Cycles and GO Boulder work year round to help more people find ways to make bicycling more convenient and possible for more people in Boulder and Colorado. To help keep Boulder moving check out volunteer opportunities and how to donate an old bike.
Show your Bike to Work Day pride with the official Walk and Bike to Work Month T-shirt.
Now that you’re in the know, see you on the streets!
-Mikaila Altenbern
FLEX bus: Longmont, Berthoud, Loveland, Ft. Collins get connected
FLEX bus map from RTD
We do like to be useful around here, so we’re glad to see that someone linked to us in trying to solve some commute worries. The case in question involved a Boulder-to-Loveland trip and, as of today, that trip became a one-transfer trip (or maybe two if you’re starting from somewhere difficult in Boulder).
The RTD FLEX bus starts service today. Here’s the FLEX bus schedule (PDF).
A quick picture from the Loveland Reporter-Herald of what a FLEX bus schedule might look like for a commuter (shift the hours back a touch for a “normal” commute):
[Mass-transit advocate Gary] Thomas will depart from the transit center at The Square retail center in Fort Collins at 5 a.m. Monday and arrive at Longmont’s south transit center at Coffman and Eighth streets just after 6 a.m.
There, riders have the option of boarding RTD express buses for Denver or Boulder.
Day festivals in Fort Collins just got a bit closer. And folks who commute along this path are happier now, too, according to a Times-Call story about FLEX bus riders.
“It’s about time,” [Longmont resident Connie] Poole said of the new bus route.
She said she’d been frustrated in the past with the lack of a bus route connecting Longmont to Larimer County.
Bike corrals: on-street bike parking hits San Francisco (and Durango?)
A crowded bike rack | flickr user phlyingpenguin
Recently, my complex doubled the amount of bike parking available on my side of the building. That parking immediately filled up with bikes. My guess is that if they knocked out another car parking spot, yet another 12-24 bikes would materialize and be parked there — bikes that people are currently storing on their balconies or in their kitchens or wherever else.
Think about that as a business. If your business is located somewhere with very limited parking — let’s say, downtown Boulder — would you rather have one car parked outside or 12 bikes? The safe bet is that 12 customers are better than however many fit in that hypothetical car. (Needless to say, you’re making the automobile parking situation just a touch worse by making the switch.)
Maybe that’s why San Francisco is moving ahead with on-street bike parking, according to the Bay Citizen:
What’s got a lighter carbon footprint than a bike?
Unicycle! | Low-quality photo from Dave's phone
Parked at the Boulder Public Library today and chained to a bike rack: one unicycle. I know we’ve got a few unicyclers in Boulder — and mountain unicyclers, too — but it’s still fun to just see one parked.
I’ve thought about trying to unicycle — as has a friend, perhaps a bit more seriously — but I’m pretty sure I’ll stick to the bike for trips to the library.
Library unicyclist, whoever you are, I salute you.
