On Election Day Eve, this is your reminder to vote—and to vote for bikes. By that I mean that if you haven’t already done so, you need to determine where local candidates for office stand on funding a complete transportation…Continue Reading
Category: Policy, Politics, & Advocacy
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
The media jumped all over recent findings about how easily the nation could lose a few pounds, save billions of dollars, live longer, and clean the air, by . . . wait for it . . . riding a bike.…Continue Reading
Mia Birk, the author of Joyride: Pedaling Toward A Healthier Planet who will be speaking at WSU Pullman next week, wrote a blog post a while back, “The Bikeway Network Recipe.” She describes several communities, all of which took different routes…Continue Reading
Did anyone promise you driving would be 100% problem-free when you were going through driver’s ed? Nope. They told you that the skills they were teaching you would help make you a safer driver, that’s all. Life, slippery streets, and…Continue Reading
I’m thrilled to see more bikes on the street every day. The signs are everywhere that bikes are big. Local symptoms include: the incredible blow-out success of SpokeFest, the growing turnout every year for Bike to Work Week, the Spokane City Council’s…Continue Reading
I’ve already written about the shift in perspective I’ve experienced that makes me view driving as a nest of factors that cost me time, money and frustration. I thought I’d break down my bike ride into a few more comparisons that come…Continue Reading
Stay with me, people—this makes total sense. Look at the label you will find on many an electric hand dryer in the rest stops of our nation’s highways. Now indulge me in a little creative copy editing. Dryers Bikes help protect the…Continue Reading
Back in 2007-2008 when I worked with a bunch of outstanding volunteers to launch major annual celebration of Bike to Work Week and founded what became Spokane Bikes, I became a highly visible poster girl for biking. (So much so…Continue Reading
You know your bike makes a difference in your life. It gives you a sense of independence or style or a respite from the demands of technology. Think what your bike would mean to you if it represented the only…Continue Reading
One day when brilliant and talented Second Daughter was a little girl, she said something that started with the words, “I assume.” Brilliant and talented Eldest Daughter and I said, practically in unison, “You know what you make when you…Continue Reading
What happened around 1940? That’s when references to the bicycle peaked in books written in English, according to this Ngram created using Google’s search tool that examines book contents, and references to “cycling” started to climb. Could it have something…Continue Reading