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Pave Paradise...

Author: meredith :: Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:46 am Found this image on Kyle Ezell's page: He writes: Quote: The graphic is an aerial of Downtown Columbus, Ohio. Red indicates surface parking lots, at least 40 percent of the city. This means that the 15th largest city in the USA has pavement where hundreds of businesses, restaurants, offices, and especially residences should be. But Columbus is far from being alone. Dozens of Heartland cities are similar parking lots. Just by looking at the ground, it's clear that having a place to park cars is far more more important to local Columbus residents than buildings. After all, most of Columbus' historic buildings were torn down to pave these lots. This simple parking lot example is one of many that suggests that, for most of us, providing a thriving city for people isn't a top priority. (7) Replies

The unofficial bike obstacle course post

Author: batmanwest :: Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 5:06 pm so, after much talk with Giles, much talk with random Tip toper's Jen and others, We/I/Everyone wants to do a bike obstacle course. I was thinking in goodale park. on a weekend, mabe a saturday? and around a month out... ALL of this is open to free debate. Giles has a napkin with alot of good ideas on it for different obstacles, but we would love to get a group together, doent matter who, or when, *sooner rather than later though... * just people with great minds...or operational ones i guess.... we would really like to keep this open to everyone, of all types and levels of riding, and oh yeh....it might kinda be a costume obstacle course event....yeh...... so who is interested. who can meet up, what times and places work best for everyone, i do request though, that where ever we meet, has beer. i dont think i need to say anything else about that..... feedback..................GO! (18) Replies

We should have a wanted/for sale board....

Author: takewrning :: Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:46 am Anyways. I'm looking to start to unload some random parts, so I posted a wheel on Craigslist. It's in awesome shape- had to buy it in a pinch after a wreck, but doesn't match my bikes. So used for about a week. (it's black) here it is Price definitely negotiable, especially if you can swing by and get it tonight or tomorrow. (in Clintonville) (5) Replies

Bikes on Greyhound

Author: pkovacs :: Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:01 pm Has anyone taken a bike on Greyhound? Their website says a bike has to be in a wooden, canvas or other substantial container. If it's more than 62", you have to pay $20-30 extra, which I wouldn't mind paying. What I'd like to do is cycle to the station and just stash the bike in the luggage compartment without a bike carrier. Can I do that? I tried to call their 800 number and was told to ask the Columbus station, but no answer there. Thanks, Tricia (10) Replies

Grocery Shopping

Author: gabe.tippery :: Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:34 am Looking for a bit of advice here. We as a household are attempting to change the way we grocery shop, and sparing the details of our new system, the point of contention right now seems to be... How to transport eggs on a bike? Any of you do this successfully on a regular basis? Any suggestions and pointers? I have three possible carrying methods currently, depending on the size of the intended shopping trip. 1. Really big messenger bag. Good for things that are fairly durable, like boxed items, and beer. 2. Grocery bag panniers attached to rear rack. Open top makes me hesitant to stack too high for fear of items falling out on a corner. 3. Burley trailer. Generally used to transport kids, but has a large rear area that can hold about four paper sacks. Sans kids... can get almost a full car-trunk sized load of groceries. So those are my starting points. I have reservations about buying eggs any way, so I want to make sure that when I do, they ALL make it home. (21) Replies

International Carfree Conference
Author: meredith :: Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 9:26 pm I'm attending this conference this week and I'm excited to report back all I learn. The good news is that you can attend as well, online at the webcast on the conference website. Check it out! (0) Replies

I {heart} Enrique Peñalosa
Author: meredith :: Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:54 pm He's the former Bogota mayor who banned cars in the city. The NYT has an interview here. (2) Replies

New York Times: Bike Lanes Become Traffic Battlegrounds
Author: Doktor Troyer :: Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:34 am Hello All: Something from today's NYT: Bike Lanes, Intended for Safety, Become Traffic Battlegrounds By COLIN MOYNIHAN Newly created bike lanes are routinely ignored by motorists. Bikers have found ways of fighting back. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/nyregion/04bikes.html?th&emc=th -- JT. (4) Replies

Interview with a member of the League of American Wheelman

Author: lifeontwowheels :: Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:02 pm Found this text over at bike forums. Car free seemed to be the best place for it, as the gentleman interviewed was bicycling before cars were invented. The interview was done in the 1930s. One my favorite quotes out of this: Quote: "Great times, great times, on the bicycles. Then the automobiles come along. Of course it was a long time before everybody got to ownin' them too. Most any one could have a bicycle. I remember when they was seventy five of them over in the sheds by the Marine shop every day. Quote: American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 Item 18 of 840 Transportation PUB. Living Lore in New England TITLE..........Connecticut Clockmaker [Botsford] "Living Lore" Series Francis Donovan, Thomaston, Connecticut January 5, 1939 TRANSPORTATION Mr. Botsford has rigged up an ingenious contrivance for his radio. It consists of a long rod attached to the tuning dial by means of which he can sit in his Morris chair and change stations as he pleases without rising, and for his greater convenience he has added a magnifying glass through which the dial numbers are easily discernible. "Know where I got that glass?" he asks. "That's my old bicycle lamp. You can find a use for everything, sooner or later, if you hang on to it. Who'd have thought I'd ever want that old lamp again? But you never can tell. I had a lot of fun on that old bicycle. Guess I told you about some of the trips I took didn't I? When I got through with that bike I sat down and figured up my mileage, and I found out that I'd been clear around the world, if I'd gone in a straight line. "Yessir, I'd been over twenty-five thousand miles. Went over three hundred and sixty-five miles one week. Never did a century run, though I could've, easy as not. Some fellers used to see how many of them they could run up. A great trip was up to Springfield and back. That's fifty miles each way. You were supposed to make it same day, of course. "I got out the shop one day at four o'clock. At twenty-six minutes after, I was down in Dexter's drug store in Waterbury, drinkin' a sody. How's that for scorchin'? "Lots of fellers used to try to make Plymouth hill, that used to be an awful steep hill before the new bridge went in. I remember tryin' it once. They was an Uncle Tom show comin' down, and all the bloodhounds they used to have for chasin' Eliza across the ice was runnin' loose. "Soon's they saw me comin' on the wheel they made a beeline for me. I got off in a hurry. Feller drivin' the wagon says 'Don't worry, they won't hurt you.' Well, they didn't, but how the hell was I to know? They spoiled my try for the hill, anyway. But two or three of them in town used to make it. "There was a feller used to come down from Torrington was one of the best riders I ever see. He'd come down and ride around in circles over by the depot till the evenin' train came in. Then he'd wave at the engineer and say, 'See you in Torrington.' And by God, he would, too. "They used to make the 'Eagle' bicycle up in Torrington. That had the big wheel in back and a small one in front. "Back in ninety-three I was down in Washington, D.C., time they had the convention of the League of American Wheelmen. They was three-four fellers stayin' in the same hotel with me from Springfield, had those Eagle wheels. "One mornin' they got an old tomato can and got out in the street in front of the hotel and batted that thing around with their wheels just like they were playin' polo. Boy, I tell you they was good at it. They'd practiced it to home, you see. They had a crowd of people around watchin' 'em before they got through. "Some people here in town had them Eagles; others had the ones with the big wheel in front. I remember one lad, I'm not goin' to tell you his name. He used to get so drunk he couldn't stand on his feet, but put him on a wheel and he'd ride as straight as you please. "Of course if he hit a bump he was apt to go tail over spindle buggy and when he fell off, he couldn't get up. Somebody had to help him on the wheel again, then he was all right. "I see some of them take some nasty falls. Roads was pretty bad in them days, and it paid to use brakes comin' down a hill. Bidwell's hill was one of the worst. It was sandy as hell at the bottom, and when you hit that sand you was apt to go right over the handle bars. "I come down there with a feller from Naugatuck one time, a new rider, I told him he better use his brake, but he said no, he didn't want to. He hit the sand and off he went tail over spindle buggy. Him and the wheel landed over in the bushes. Front wheel just crumpled up like paper. I pulled him out and he was groanin' and cussin'. Had a busted arm, I got him down to the nearest house and they went for the doctor. "Great times, great times, on the bicycles. Then the automobiles come along. Of course it was a long time before everybody got to ownin' them too. Most any one could have a bicycle. I remember when they was seventy five of them over in the sheds by the Marine shop every day. "But automobiles was a different proposition. Jack Coates used to have a job testin' em for the Pope Hartford Company. He used to ride 'em all over the state. They'd tell him how many miles to go and they didn't care where he went. He'd just rig up an old seat on the chassis and start out, no windshield or nothin', and come back when he got the mileage made up. "That's how I got my first and fastest auto ride. I was goin' to Springfield and I was hikin' along over towards Terryville to get the trolley and Jack come along and I flagged him. I was late. I says, 'Jack, can we make the trolley,' and he says, 'Sure,' and how we did fly. We made it all right. "The different cars they used to be. I used to keep a list of 'em. There was the Pope Hartford, and the Stevens Duryea, and the Locomobile, and the Peerless and the National, and the Saxon, and the Metz--I can't remember them all. "Billy Gilbert, that used to live next to me here, he had a Stanley Steamer. He was an engineer. He's out in Californy now. Spent all his life on the railroads and he swore by steam. Wouldn't have a gasoline engine. "After he moved to Californy he wrote me a letter. Said there was a big hill out there beyond San Francisco nine miles long. Said ten tow cars was kept busy on that hill all the time. But that steamer of his just ate it up. "You'd ought to be able to remember when they used Plymouth Hill for testin' cars. It was quite a trick for a car to go over there in high. Good many of 'em would start off in high, then shift to second, then low, then they'd get stuck. But it's a damn poor car that won't go over in high these days. Man wouldn't buy a car that wouldn't make it in high. "Well, I got to go down town, but I ain't goin' to give you no lift today. I'm not goin' to take the car out, I feel as though the walk will do me good. So you just wait till I put the cat out and fix my fires and we'll walk down together." (4) Replies

Carectomy
Author: meredith :: Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:53 pm Jamie over at the Bike Commuting in Columbus blog just turned me on to a great site: Carectomy --> "removing cars from people". Sweet! Thanks Jamie! (6) Replies

Not so much car free, but car lite...
Author: lifeontwowheels :: Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:10 pm Found this great video on you tube, comparing the carrying capacity of a Smartcar and a Hummer: Makes you think about the true need for cargo space. (0) Replies

Save Traffic!
Author: meredith :: Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:19 pm HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! (2) Replies

The way of the dinosaurs
Author: meredith :: Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:42 pm Source (5) Replies

It's A Car Free Life
Author: meredith :: Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:02 pm I am imagining my subject to the tune of "It's a Hard Knock Life", and I can't help but think I've hit pay dirt! A Cleveland journalist went car free for a month, and here is his report: A Car Free Life Fan-freakin'-tastic!! (1) Replies

Fewer Youths Jump Behind the Wheel at 16

Author: meredith :: Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:45 am Quote: DETROIT — For generations, driver’s licenses have been tickets to freedom for America’s 16-year-olds, prompting many to line up at motor vehicle offices the day they were eligible to apply. No longer. In the last decade, the proportion of 16-year-olds nationwide who hold driver’s licenses has dropped from nearly half to less than one-third, according to statistics from the Federal Highway Administration. Reasons vary, including tighter state laws governing when teenagers can drive, higher insurance costs and a shift from school-run driver education to expensive private driving academies. To that mix, experts also add parents who are willing to chauffeur their children to activities, and pastimes like surfing the Web that keep them indoors and glued to computers. READ MORE (3) Replies