An eclectic quest for more comfortable bicycling
Thoughts on public policy in biking and active transportation, elected officials and candidates and their stands on bike issues, and opportunities to advocate for a bike-friendlier world
Taking up biking for transportation has given me the same experience that becoming a mother did. No, not endless anxiety, sleepless nights, and sh**—well, at least not too much of the latter—but rather the experience of learning just how much…Continue Reading
The new Martin Luther King, Jr. Way–the name for the extension of Riverside Avenue east of Division–isn’t open yet. So of course no one has ridden a bike on it yet. Hypothetically speaking, the light skiff of snow that fell…Continue Reading
I gave you my “I’m a happy green dot on a bike spreading friendliness!” story in my previous post. This is the rest of the story about why it mattered to me enough to write about it. I didn’t get…Continue Reading
The other day I had the great good fortune to hear a wonderful presentation by Dorothy Edwards on the Green Dot approach to violence prevention. You’ll recognize the visual analogy she scrawled on the board for us. It’s in…Continue Reading
Kudos to the Spokane City Council for the 5-2* vote last night to enact the Complete Streets ordinance. A round of applause and a bouquet of locally grown flowers for Kitty Klitzke of Futurewise, who rallied the troops, circulated the…Continue Reading
When I was younger my shopping values focused with a laser beam on “cheap, cheaper, cheapest.” Some of this I attribute to my dear darling mother, raised during the Great Depression, and her clear message that if it hung on…Continue Reading
The first part of this mini-rant appears in Evolution, not Revolution: All Biking Motives Welcome, Part I. It was inspired by a post entitled Practical Cycling and “Lifestyle” Choices on the BikesideLA blog. I didn’t start riding a bike as a diehard year-round commuter. I…Continue Reading
The question of what constitutes a real cyclist—or bike rider, or person on a bike—seems to come around in various guises again and again on bike blogs (for example, on Kent’s Bike Blog and on Mia Birk’s blog). As I’ve written before, I…Continue Reading
As I mentioned in a previous post, I got to meet Mia Birk in person last Tuesday. I’ve been a Mia fan for quite a while. I don’t know when I first heard about this woman who helped turn Portland…Continue Reading
Some people are asking why we need complete streets. Let’s turn this question on its head: Why would we ever put in place designs, approval processes and funding streams dedicated to making our streets INcomplete? What possible rationale could anyone suggest with…Continue Reading
Alternative titles I considered: Be All You Can Bike. Bikes Away (or Aweigh). Bike–Race–Win. Bike Prepared.* I went in search of things related to veterans and cycling to see what I might find, as a bike-y tribute to all who…Continue Reading