14 Apr 2014 – Week 14 & 15 – Internet Round Up
News
6 Freeway Removals That Changed Their Cities Forever – Fascinating look at 6 freeway removals that changed their cities forever! Gizmodo shows us the before and after effect when a city decides to remove its freeway. The results across the board is a richer community experience. Examples from South Korea to Madrid as well as some of our local places like San Francisco (pictured above) have decided to remove a freeway in favor of open spaces and pro-pedestrian sentiments. .
Planning a Backpacking Trip? Leave These Items at Home – A comprehensive list of items one should leave home when they are on a backpacking trip. This can easily be applied to bikepacking or bike touring trip as we have the same goal to reduce the weight and stuff that we carry that we may not use. This no-nonsense simple list of 11 things is something to keep in mind on your next bike tour. We’re definitely going to think about this list and pack accordingly. The bike can carry more than a back pack but being efficient with our travel and what we really need has always been the name of the game every time we pack for a trip. Its an ever evolving challenge.
Dirtbagonomics: The Cost of Bikepacking – Another fantastic bikepacking blog entry by Jill of All Things Epic blog. In this entry she goes through the cost of riding her bike and humbly (in my opinion) ask for donation for her to live her dream. Her post is great as it goes through what she doesn’t pay for and what she needs to pay for. From the looks of it, she takes the more conservative route in which she calls herself a “dirtbag”. Nothing to derogatory but a way of making fun of herself for being cheap but still need enough to get by to do what she loves, bikepacking. I say go help her out on her dream if you have the funds. I may pitch a few dollars since I may be in the same boat soon.
Detroits Own North American Bicycle Week – Detroit’s got it going on with their own North American Bicycle Week. Jason Hall and Mike MacKool have spearheaded several events like the Slow Roll ride three years ago which have grown exponentially as well as their own Detroit Bike City Expo. Both have seen bicycling grow tremendously in The Motor City. The North American Bicycle Week was actually a 4 day event from March 27th to 30th. More info can be found at detroitbikecity.org.
Cycling ‘on the rise despite lack of safe cycleways’ – Cycling ‘on the rise despite lack of safe cycleways’ in New Zealand. This is very interesting as the National Government of New Zealand have failed to secure any funding to make it safer for cyclists on the road. They are seeing from their last census that more people are riding their bikes. Hopefully this data is enough to spark the need from their government. I would love to visit New Zealand someday and if they get better bicycling infrastructure, it would be the cherry-on-top!
Ciclismo Classico Wins World’s Best Cycling Guide & Top Foodie Destination – Long-time guide, Marcello Bonini, wins the World’s Best Cycling Guide award by Outside magazine. Bonini was a former triathlete who has worked as a personal trainer, masseur, cycling consultant, teacher, and sommelier has piloted over 100 different tours around Italy. Ciclismo Classico’s tour, “Bike Across Belgium” has also won the Best Foodie Destination of 2014. This sounds a like a very solid touring company to travel with if you’re in Europe.
Devil’s Slide: A new trail on a well-worn path – In the famous words of Liz Lemon, “I would like to go to there.” This thorough write-up from SFGate explains the history of the Devil’s Slide Trail in detail. This trail between Pacifica and Montrara has gone through several iterations of vehicle traffic but failures due to mudslides, railroad bankruptcy, and failure to build a freeway has made this trail very popular for hiker and bikers. I hope to check this out the next time I’m in the area on bike.
Amp up your camping experience by ramping down to the basics – Bike Camping overview of Tony Ross of Minnesota. Bike packing S24O (sub-24 hour overnight) overview as well as a great general overview of bike touring is explained in the article. He goes through the gear that you will need for a bike tour like a bike (duh!) and camping gear. Most of these topics are covered in our Bicycle Touring 101 videos but there are some good pointers from Ross.
Spotlight: One of CICLE’s All-Star Volunteers shares their story! – Cicle L.A.‘s April 2014 newsletter graciously featured me as their All-Star Volunteer. I had answered these questions about why I wanted to be a ride leader and why I joined CICLE. Check out the article to find out why. I found it hysterical that they picked a photo with Russ & Laura from The Path Less Pedaled blog.
More bike lanes on way for Chicago – More bike lanes in Chitown! They are planning to put in 20 more miles of bike lanes this Spring and Summer to help improve cycling facility in The Windy City. This will be great for the bike sharing program and tourists who are visiting that city to get around. Chicago has been one of my favorite cities to visit, when it’s not cold.
1st part of 44-mile coastal bike trail opens – Great news! 1st portion of 44-mile coastal bike trail opens in San Diego on April 7, 2014. This was a $2.45MM segment of the Coast Rail Trail which was to provide a safe separated route from Oceanside to San Diego. There’s still 77 more bikeway mileage to be completed in the decade. Let’s hope this gets done.
100 Days of Iconic Posters Relived Through Scrap Bike Parts – Friend of ours, Jenny Beatty (@GraphikDeziner) is doing 100 days of iconic posters relived through scrap bike parts. Amazing stuff! Follow her blog here and see each posters relived in used bike parts. She’s got album covers, movie posters, and iconic logos covered so far.
Save a Bike. Save the World. Sign the petition to help us stop bike theft – Sign the petition to stop bike theft! Mandate serial number disclosure for Craigslist and eBay sales. The petition isn’t live yet but the 529 Garage looks like a good place to record your bike’s record should this become a reality. I’m going to wait until the petition is up before I enter my bike data. Just playing on the safe side.
Videos
Critical Mass Cyclist in Downtown LA Describes Earthquake – Our March Critical Mass ride had an earthquake to shake things up. I did not feel it but here’s a video from a cyclist who did. We were at the Los Angeles Coliseum at the time.
Undercover stings targets drivers endangering bicyclists – Houston law enforcement doing some good for cyclists. Undercover cops are riding on their bikes and are planning to ticket cyclists who are endangering cyclists. Hopefully this will help encourage safety for cyclists in Texas. I’ve always subscribed to the idea that you should treat others like the way you wanted to be treated. I hope others are thinking the same.
Images
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