Mayor Menino vowing to make Boston a bike-friendly city
“Potholes, narrow roads, mean drivers.
Riding a bicycle in Boston is something akin to combat. Cyclists routinely rank the city America’s worst.
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A tip of the hat to Pinch Flat News for this story.
Published by drewwb on September 20th, 2007 tagged As the Wheels Spin, State and Local, Travel and Transportation | Comment now »
Cycling jacket with built-in brake lights and indicators
The cycling jacket with built-in brake lights and indicators:
“It’s every cyclist’s nightmare - it’s dark or getting that way, you have just given a hand signal, but will other road users have seen it?Well, they will now, thanks to an innovative jacket with flashing indicators on the sleeves and brake lights in the back.”
I know what I want for my birthday!
A tip of the hat to CYCLE DOG for this link.
Technorati Tags:
cycling, bicycle, Safety, Bicycle Safety, Bike Safety
Published by drewwb on August 18th, 2007 tagged As the Wheels Spin, Geeky, Travel and Transportation | Comment now »
You Know It’s Hot When…
You know it’s hot when… A 3.4 mile bicycle trip to the post office causes you to break a sweat. It is still steamy out there folks. Jesse is ready to try out her new bicycle for the first time tonight. Let’s hope it cools off a bit by then!
Published by drewwb on August 4th, 2007 tagged As the Wheels Spin | Comment now »
What I Feel Like After a Long Week
If it weren’t for cycling (and my family), I think I would have lost my grip by now…
Published by drewwb on August 3rd, 2007 tagged As the Wheels Spin, Entertainment | Comment now »
Sunday Morning Ride
First, I am officially switching my ride mapping to mapmyride.com. The “out and back” feature saves me a lot of clicking and dragging compared to bikely.com, and I definitely prefer the features for the type of rides I do.
This morning’s ride was a fun one, but I wish I had put the sunscreen on despite the cloudy day.
On the ride back, a couple of roadies who were stopped for a drink saw me coming and hopped out onto the street right in front of me. Maybe they thought they would rather get on the road than have to pass me further on? Regardless, at my normal pace I was hugging the second guy’s rear wheel and having to slow myself. I enjoyed the draft for a couple of miles, and then I blew by them. I thanked them for the lift as I passed. It was fun seeing the looks on their faces watching as I, with my touring bicycle and rear rack trunk, went pumping by.
I have to admit, I have no fondness for most road cyclists out there. The more expensive the bicycle and the fancier their road racing attire, the snottier they seem to act. Why is it that most road cyclists seem to have no trouble holding lengthy conversations with each other during group rides, but acknowledging other, less flashy cyclists with even a nod, seems below them? This certainly isn’t a universal truth, but here on Cape Cod it seems that 80% of the road cyclists out there are too upper crusty for transportation or recreational riders like myself.
A couple of other observations from today’s ride:
1) McDonalds seems to be maintaining its popularity with Cape Cod diners, and the popular mode of disposal seems to be out the car window. McDonalds bags, boxes, french-fry containers and drink cups are EVERYWHERE! Is there something lazier or filthier about McDonalds customers? Why not Burger King or Subway or D’Angelos customers? Maybe it is the hours that they keep? Perhaps late night customers make uniquely late night moves- like throwing things out car windows under cover of darkness.
2) Cape Cod’s beer drinkers need to have their bottle purchasing privileges revoked. Over the last month, the regular route I travel to and from work (and in and out of town) have seen about three new smashed beer bottles appear each morning. It is no wonder that our court reports are so loaded with operating under the influence offenses. They are clearly out there drinking and driving. If the Falmouth Police are interested, I can suggest a couple of places that random late-night stops would net them some habitual offenders. From June until September, the local liquor stores should only be allowed to sell plastic bottles or cans. Or, maybe we could up the bottle deposit on Cape Cod to $1.00 per glass bottle in the summertime? So far, my tires have been lucky.
Technorati Tags:
cycling, bicycle, etiquette