Photo Credit: Mathieu Bouyer
Monday April 19, 2010
Yannick's bike trip blog.
Cross Vermont Trail volunteer crew alumnus Yannick Drangowski writes to let us know he is blogging about his bike trip from France to Istanbul.
Actually what he said was "ola todos suite a notre arriver en turquie, nous commencons a mettre le blogg a jour, jetez y un petit coup d'oeil, n'hésitez pas a ajouter vos commentaires, et a faire passer le lien a qui vous voulez....
a bientot hi everyone, after two weeks biking, we've finally reached istanbul, we've started updating our blog, and there's some picture, (deleted, pardon his french) the french text and go have a look."
Wednesday March 17, 2010
We get - guarantee of multiple uses.
We trade away - the guarantee of speed.
The default mode on a shared trail is "yield." If in doubt, slow down, say hello, stop if needed, pass safely. Downhill yields to uphill, faster yields to slower. I recently had a chance to talk with folks from Gravity Logic. They build mountain bike trails at ski resorts out west. I was really fired up by their stories about using wooden trestle bridges to allow trail building in difficult spots. (More on that later.) I wasn't surprised when they said that, in their business, it makes sense to build single use trails. What really struck me, though, was when they emphasized that they work hard not only to make their trails single use, but also with only one direction of travel! In order to break free of the "yield" trade off, they basically end up building trails that work like bobsled chutes.
Friday January 29, 2010
No Chickens or Donkeys on Multi Use Trails
What I hear people say is - THEY don't mind multi use trails, it's just that they're conerned (and feeling chicken about sharing the trail) because OTHERS might be inconsiderate (and behave like, ahem, "donkeys"). Consider a typical example; this article is titled how to manage multi use trails, but ends up being preoccupied with conflict between users. Now here's the good news. Traffic engineers have been looking at this topic. They find that designing a travel way to be shared (rather than having separate uses in separate lanes that happen to be near each other) actually causes people to behave considerately towards each other. Of course, they get in each others way, too. More on that later.
Monday December 21, 2009
How Things Really Go
I think that the real barrier to using bikes everyday isn't fashion, it's mechanics. At least for me it is. Which you may say is more reflective of my relative style sense, but which I like to think is a demonstration of my personal Pauli Effect. I can't get down the trail without breaking shoe laces, much less anything else. Sure, sure, sure, "velcro sneakers" you say; but that misses the larger point. I say choose fearless celebration of gizmos, like that found in Sheldon Brown's classic bicycle technical articles. (Celebrate is a good word. It means you don't have to be exceptionally good at it to enjoy it.)
Thursday October 15, 2009
Laundry Basket Chic
It's nice to have friends from the country who send in photos of how things really go.
Sunday July 26, 2009
Helmet Chic
One odd thing about the "cycle chic" or "slow bike movement" folks is their strident objection to helmets. They lump helmets in with NASA inspired titanium frames and form fitting special outfits - as barriers to the average person just getting on their bike and going. I disagree. Tires on your rims are common sense. So is a seat on your frame. So is a helmet on your head.
Cheap, too. See the buyers' guide at Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute.
Thursday June 18, 2009
Cycle Chic
Speaking of the great nations of Europe. Get inspired to Copenhagenize the bike culture in your town. Read a blog by the inadvertent founder of the "cycle chic" or "slow bike" movement. His beef: it's ordinary to ride bikes in Copenhagen because, well, it's ordinary. It's not a sport or a hobby or really even a movement. Symbolized by the fact that bike shops in Denmark do not sell clothes, for the same reason car dealerships do not sell clothes. It's assumed you'll just ride your bike wearing whatever it is you're wearing that day.
I notice also that Copenhagen has nicely made bike paths. That helps.
Friday June 12, 2009
The second key to a great blog post.
Is linking to other blogs.
Check out Jon Kaplan's "scan" of the state of the art in Europe during May of 2009. Jon is the bike/ped coordinator at VTrans.
I'm enough of a geek to agree that neat design can head a lot of problems "off at the pass." And more than enough of a geek to like looking at pictures of bike paths, especially when they are called "innovative bike treatments".
Friday June 5, 2009
The key to a great first ever blog entry is the right picture.
And a link: Go Bengals!
