Can you carry bulky loads on your bike? Can you barter with pirate captains? Can you make a raft out of pop bottles, twine and sandwich bags? Get your friends to help and you can all learn about teamwork (or at least win some prizes, eat some free food and watch other people fall into a river).
And while there are a ton of prizes, including free copies of Urban Velo #3 for all participants, the best reason to support the event is that it’s a fundraiser for The Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. Visit www.pghpiratebike.com for more information.
Safe Routes to School is a program designed to encourage and enable more children to safely walk and bike to school. With statistics like the following, combined with the childhood obesity epidemic, you can see why action needs to be taken nationwide:
• In 1969, 42% of children 5 to 18 walked or bicycled to school.
• In 2001, 16% of children 5 to 18 walked or bicycled to school.
• In 1969, 87% of children who lived within one mile of school walked or bicycled to school.
• In 2001, 63% of children who lived within one mile of school walked or bicycled to school.
Visit www.saferoutespartnership.org for more information.
CICLE.org defines “sharrows” as, “Markings painted directly onto the road consisting of a stencil of a bicycle with two chevrons placed above it. They are designed to function as a guide to encourage safe riding and driving behavior from both bicyclists and motorists.”
According to Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl, “Shared Lanes Markings (the Federal Highway Administration asked us not to call them “sharrows”) are one of several good options we are pursuing to improve bicycling in the City.” Ravenstahl continued, “Along with trails, bike lanes and bicycle wayfinder signage, we are improving the bicycle infrastructure to create a truly multimodal commuter transportation system,” indicating that sharrows are just part of the solution.
Continue reading ‘Sharrows—Good or Bad for Cyclists?’
Urban Velo #3’s I Love Riding in the City segment features profiles of cyclists from Greece, Portugal, Scotland and Egypt, as well as all over the United States. Master framebuilder Don Walker tells the truth about track bike geometry. David Hoffman continues his series on starting your own bicycle advocacy organization, providing crucial information attaining non-profit status. In the tech department, Brad Quartuccio explains the finer points of singlespeed chain tensioning, and sheds light on tool-free tire removal. As always, there’s a heaping helping of art and photography, plus a whole lot more. Check back on September 4th to download issue #3 for free.
Last week Urban Velo had a chance to chat with Lane Kagay of Eugene, Oregon about what’s going on at the Center for Appropriate Transport.
“It’s getting exciting as the new school session begins in September. I’m not sure if you know, but CAT acts as a publicly-funded bike-building school for kids. Our students get school credit for learning how to TIG-weld, build wheels, and design and fabricate their own frames.”
Lane added, “The Long-Haul has been getting more popular around here. We’ve got orders up the wa-zoo. We’re a small fabrication shop, so we’ll be busy with those for a long time. And two new bikes are being built for Pedalers Express, our cargo-bike messenger company.”
CAT also helps operate Skinner City Farm, a community garden where the students learn how to grow their own food, as well as a host of other worthwhile programs. Visit www.catoregon.org for more information.
This is awful news so I won’t try to polish it. One of our best friends is dead. And you can say it’s not a human life, but we’ve all lost a friend in Malice.
What an awesome dog. A dog trained to jump into a messenger bag (facing left so she’ll ride with her head facing forward). A dog trained to keep quiet at the bar in hopes of a stray French fry. A dog that could run 20 miles on the singletrack in Frick Park, and still keep up with you at 20mph on the Southside bike path.
The consummate lap dog, if Malice had a fault it was being too damn nice.
Malice got hit by a car. What can you do? It sucks. Life goes on. Make sure it doesn’t happen to you.
Urban Velo now has those funny little cycling caps all the cool kids are wearing. Black with a rainbow championship stripe and the Urban Velo logo on the top and bottom of the brim. These limited-edition caps are hand-screened in our hometown by local artist Casey Lee of Spokepunchers fame.
The caps are made by Pace and feature high-quality cotton construction with an integrated sweatband. And they fit the way a cycling cap should fit. Click here to get your own! Just $15.
UPDATE: The first run of UV hats are SOLD OUT. New hats are on the way with an updated design.
Urban Velo is not alone in this world, and that’s reassuring. Hailing from Canada’s Pacific Northwest is Momentum—The Magazine For Self-Propelled People. And while their magazine is printed in full color and their publisher is taller, smarter and better looking than Urban Velo’s, the two magazines have quite a bit in common. Not only do both publications feature interesting rider profiles, informative tech articles and a great deal of mutual respect for one another, both are available as a free PDF download.
The community and cooperative bike shop movement reared its very cute head during the weekend of August 10-12 for the 4th Annual Bike!Bike! Conference. Bike!Bike! started in New Orleans, and has since traveled to Tucson and Milwaukee. In 2007 it was hosted in Pittsburgh by the Free Ride! bicycle cooperative. The goal of the conference was to gather community and recycled bike shops from around the world to learn, share, and network, helping to make our movement stronger and more organized. According to The Bicycle Collective Network, “Collectively we can improve a bigger wheel as opposed to re-inventing smaller ones.” Over 250 people from more than 70 organizations converged on the Steel City to talk about rusty bikes as a means to social change.
Continue reading ‘Bike!Bike! Recap’
Originally created to soothe and soften the sore udders of dairy cattle, Bag Balm was eventually adopted for use on a number of animals, soothing rough paws, minor cuts and abrasions. Comprised of nearly 100% lanolin, the salve also works amazingly well for the treatment and prevention of saddle sores.
For one reason or another, cycling seems to foster a “can do” attitude. So it’s not surprising that many cyclists have launched their own creative endeavors. Among the most useful and popular are the seamsters and seamstresses, who are far too numerous to keep track of. We still gave it a shot, though. Check out the big list and if you buy something, tell them you heard of them through Urban Velo.
You’ve undoubtedly seen Roger Lootine’s uproarious comics in Urban Velo, but until now you’ve had to deal with a paltry MySpace page if you needed to get an additional fix of Residue. Well, we’re pleased as punch to announce that the internet gods have smiled upon Mr. Lootine, and he now has a full blown website, complete with archives and an online store. Way to go, Roger!
After reading about yet another local bike theft this summer (this time on the Surly blog) it makes me wonder when the Steel City will finally make Kryptonite’s top 10 cities for bike theft… Regardless of where you live, though, you gotta lock that bike and lock it right.
There are so many fascinating people who happen to ride bikes, it’s impossible to keep up. From volunteer firefighters to supermodels, people of all walks of life have an appreciation for life on two-wheels. Take Enci, for example, who was featured in Urban Velo #2. The Hungarian-born Hollywood actress is currently involved in far too many projects to list, but among the most interesting are the films My Silent Sadness, The Anatolian and Running With Scissors.
When she’s not on stage or lighting up the silver screen, Enci can be found behind the camera working as a photographer or knuckled down at her computer designing websites. Visit www.enciperforms.com to learn more about an amazing woman and fellow cyclist.
This Friday, August 10th, a new ghost bike and plaque will be placed at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, NY. The site is passed by countless cyclists everyday, and close to where Bronx Jon was killed. Friends of Jon are encouraged to please join in remembering our fallen brother. The bike will be dedicated around 10pm. Afterwards, participants will move over to Rockstar bar to toast Jon and to celebrate Jon’s memory in a way that would make him proud. (News courtesy of Erin Nicole Brown, photo courtesy of Cicle.org.)
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