Photo of folding bike with bags on back rack parked in front of giant metal sculptures of a banjo. In the background, stairs and escalator in front of glass walls and a high cement ceiling.

Setting My Own Pace

Bicycling offers a unique combination of attributes in the array of transportation modes: The ability to choose your pace while getting places efficiently. This came to mind as I pedaled slowly home from an appointment that I had pedaled toward…Continue Reading

Photo of a man and two children with darker skin walking down a dirt road lined with trees on either side. All 3 are wearing dark shorts and light-colored shirts and the sun is shining. At the bottom, text with a quotation from Ram Dass: We are all just walking each other home.

Why I Walk

This post first ran on my personal blog, BikeWalkBake Barb, where I’ve been chronicling my walking habits. Since I’ve been writing about multimodal transportation here, I thought I’d add the post to these archives as well. Walking, like riding my…Continue Reading

Photo of 2 smiling people on a paved trail. At right, a young white man with long blond-brown dreadlocks wearing a bandana on his head and sitting in a sip and puff power wheelchair. At left, a white woman wearing glasses, a bike helmet, and a fblow, black, and white flowered top.

Wheeling Sea to Sound

I first met Ian Mackay when he made an amazing north to south trip through Washington state. I followed his growing presence as a national voice for more accessible trails and connections for rolling. He then made another cross-state journey…Continue Reading

Web header close-up of bike wheel and pedal, green-tinted background. Free image from https://www.freewebheaders.com/transport/bicycle-headers/

Riding Down Memory Lane: August

Even if August brings the dog days of summer, when we ride we make our own breezes. Reminder of August Bike Events National Bike Challenge continues. Riding Down Memory Lane: Posts from the Dog Days of Augusts Past I don’t…Continue Reading

More Poems on the Bike Rack

“The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets.” — Christopher Morley Those bicycle poems keep showing up. I rounded up a first post and within about two days spotted the next one. I don’t…Continue Reading

Bike Books I Recommend: Policy Edition

For obvious reasons (if you know what my professional life has been since 2012, that is) these types of books take up a fair amount of shelf space at my house and occupy memory on my e-reader. Buy these at…Continue Reading

Drawing of a person on a bicycle, with their body rendered in stars and stripes like the US flag. The head is blue with white stars, body red and white stripes.

Riding Down Memory Lane: July

A wonderful month for riding, whether you head out early to avoid the heat of midday, bike to the local pool (what is this, a triathlon?) or ride down Main Street in a local parade. If you’re a fan of…Continue Reading

Yes, Even More Transportation Poems

Just yesterday at a local bookstore that sells used books and rare first editions I happened across a find: Poems in Motion, 100 Poems from the Subways and Buses, the result of a collaboration between MTA New York City Transit…Continue Reading

Graphic of swirling gray and black curls expressing concept of wind

Riding Thoughts: Privilege Is a Tailwind

I’ve written before about the many ways that privilege I’m not always conscious of underlies my bicycling. Riding my road bike Sweetie and thinking about how that differs from riding my e-bike Zelda gave rise to these thoughts about structural…Continue Reading

Photo of prize ribbons made of chocolate, wth a big 1st prize ribbon in the middle and smaller circles marked 2nd and 3rd on either side.

You know the word as a suffix after some prefix telling you how many events are included (if you remember your ancient Greek prefixes, that is) or something else about the competition: biathlon, duathlon, triathlon, pentathlon, heptathlon, decathlon, aquathlon. Whence…Continue Reading

South Sound Short & Sweet Bike Tour

First, a note about comments: If you’re here because I shared the link in a social media space, your answer over there helps me. Your answer here, in the comment section, helps anyone who may find this post in a…Continue Reading