I was sent this email, which apparently originated with Jeff Roth of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee. Personally I am shocked that Scott Brown (who if you don’t know is a very right wing republican teabagger) is even close in this election. Does Massachusetts really want to have a republican representing them in congress?! Get out on your bikes, and vote for Martha, the future of transportation funding, gay rights, women’s right, abortion rights, health care reform, environmental reform, and a whole host of other issues will be thrown down the drain if Scott Brown wins. That simply can not happen.

From Bike Lexington list:

Hi All – For the US senate election tomorrow, I queried Scott Brown and Martha Coakley to find out their positions or support for bicycle transportation in the Commonwealth and nationwide. I got a response back from Martha Coakley, but not from Scott Brown. I contacted Scott Brown in multiple manners by email and phone, but he neglected to respond with any statement of his support or his position.

The response below is from Martha Coakley’s campaign committee. She even mentioned the Minuteman Bikeway!

From: Issues Issues
To:
Sent: Sat, January 16, 2010 4:18:32 PM
Subject: Re: bicycle transportation: seeking Martha Coakley position for Bay State and nationwide

Dear Mr. Roth,

Thank you for writing into the campaign about this issue. We appreciate hearing from you.

As a person who cares very much about the environment and public health, Martha’s interests and priorities are in line with the Massachusettscycling community. Martha cares deeply about developing alternative forms of energy and about energy conservation, both to promote a healthy environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. (see her energy & environment plan here). She understands that a commitment to protecting the environment and a commitment to alternative forms of transportation certainly go hand-in-hand.

In short, Martha agrees that promoting cycling as a transportation alternative is good for the Commonwealth’s economy, businesses, environment, and public health. She is proud that Massachusetts is home to the most used rail-to-trail bikeway in the country (The Minuteman Trail) and she knows that we need to make main thoroughfares, not just dedicated bikeways, safer for all.

If she is victorious on Tuesday, she looks forward to working with your group and others with similar interests to see what kind of federal support and policies will be productive — for example, you mention wheel friendly draining gates. We admit that is not on our radar screen, which is why dialogue like this is so important.

Also, we agree that having something on the website about this may have been useful, but at this late date with the election so close it won’t be possible to put your suggestion into action. Thanks for it nonetheless.

Thanks again for writing.

Please don’t forget to vote on Jan. 19.

Cordially,

The Martha Coakley for Senate Committee

This from the people over at The Chorus Gallery, looks like a lot of fun, if you are of the art persuasion submit something.

—–

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you a fun bike art event for the whole family.

Spoke Count is a collaborative installation featuring 100+ small works about bikes by various artists. It is estimated that there currently exist over one billion bicycles in the world- this show will attempt to visualize this (growing) mass of our favorite revolutionary transport. We are inviting you, the art and cycling community, to provide us with 100 8 inch x 8 inch drawings of bicycles which we will exhibit during January 2010. Our reception will be on Sat Jan 9th, between 7-10 in the evening at Chorus Gallery in Union Sq.

We will not be picky on media or image. Your submission can be, but is not limited to, a print, photograph, digital image, made out of cut vinyl, or even a drawing. It can be your little sister on a bike, a lug, or painfully accurate drawing of 365 spokes in a pile. All that we ask is that it is of some part of a bicycle and we can mount it to the wall by two map pins.

Spoke count will be a open show for 100 lucky participants. So RSVP ASAP here, and deliver your art work by Thursday January 7th by 5pm (feel free to drop off earlier than that during Open Bicycle’s normal hours).

Simply:

- Unframed– able to be punctured and supported on a wall by a map pin.

- 8 inches x 8 inches.

- Bicycle content.

All works will be for sale and priced at $40. Doesn’t matter if you never draw or have been a finalist for the Venice Biennale, the work will be for sale at $40. Full disclosure, we will be splitting all sold work 30% gallery and 70% artist, as is our standard. But feel free to trade drawings with friends, we don’t mind.

Expect another of our exceptional receptions on the 9th– drinks, dancing, music, and lots of art to look at.

See you soon

Signed,

The management.

more info here

This is a short clip from a longer documentary called Beauty and the Bike which explores why girls in England stop riding their bicycles. I found it pretty awesome. It seems that whenever European cycling is mentioned in America everyone gets in a huff about one of a number of things (helmet use, cycle tracks, etc etc). I am sure that our future is on the bicycle, I am not sure our future is following the European Model (Capitial E Capital M!), but we could learn some things from the Europeans.

Either way great movie.

Thirty Seconds To Mars – Kings + Queens – HD

30 Seconds to Mars | MySpace Video

against all better judgment I actually like this…

Seems the City of Boston is taking a bit more interest in stolen bikes. From their new website

——–

As part of our initiative to make Boston a world-class bicycling city, the Stolen Bike Alert program makes reporting stolen bikes easier and increases the chances of finding your stolen bike by giving you a larger network of search parties.

When you report a stolen bike, we send out an alert to the police, local bike shops, hospital and school security, and everyone who follows us on Twitter or Facebook. All of these people will be on the look-out for your bike and we will instantaneously notify the police as we receive updates on your stolen bike.

Please take a few minutes to register your bike online right now.
Become a bike vigilante by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or email.

For more information, contact Nicole Freedman, Director of Boston Bikes at: Nicole.freedman.bra@cityofboston.gov

617-918-4343

——-

You can find this and more info here. Seems like an interesting idea, not sure how much it will decrease bike theft, but it can’t hurt.

The most interesting part of this website seems to be the ability of people to register and post about stolen bikes. You can then report a stolen bike if you see one. In essence getting lots of people to help you look for your bike. I am guess this will also be used by thieves to know when NOT to post the bike to craigslist. But overall it’s a good start, especially if it becomes popular.

My Mom has this tendency to flip through clothes with a dismissive, almost violent hand. Hangers squeak loudly against poles as she’ll cast aside suits, shirts, and pants, unable to find that perfect, impeccably tailored, designer whatever. Meanwhile I try not to completely lose it as the product of someone’s hard labor is violently shoved aside.

She does the same thing to books. Pages grating against themselves as she tries to find a quote or phrase. The fragile tissues somehow withstanding her abuse but clearly bearing the battle scars of wrinkles and too much wear. It drives me absolutely insane.

Maybe that’s because I love print publications [and yes, clothes]. I prefer print-outs to reading things online, newspapers to the internet, letters to emails. My favorite books, while read and re-read, manage to remain mostly unscathed, the gloss of their covers still largely intact.

So you can imagine why I almost wished I had those made-to-handle-antiques cloth gloves on when I ripped open a package left mysteriously on my front doorstep [delivered by bike, I later discovered, with a $5 bill tucked into its pages for the shipping I had paid for...thanks, James!] and found Volume 3 of Embrocation Cycling Journal. Pulling it out of its envelope with slightly sweaty hands, a surge of goosebumps swept up my back as I ever so gently flipped through its pages.

Taught the importance of font and layout by an extremely critical sister [who happens to be a graphic designer], I ran an eye over it, almost bracing myself for something I wouldn’t like. Something that wouldn’t make sense. Something that would inevitably disappoint. Instead, my eyes feasted. And not just on the layout, which, though beautiful, seems only complementary to the sheer talent behind the magazine itself. Because that’s what sets Embrocation Cycling Journal apart – the realization that that intangible something that all cyclists share managed to somehow collect the best of its members and spilled their gifts out onto its pages.

Due to the fact that I ride a single-speed ‘cross bike, it was only too fitting that my first introduction to Embrocation Cycling Journal came in the form of an issue focused on cyclocross. Between the smorgasbord of stunning pictures, including photos by the incredibly talented Michael R. of Velodramatic, were stories and interviews, cyclists relating their love for racing, fabricating, and training. The pages kept turning as the laptop [and work] got pushed away. Even after owning it for several weeks, it still has that effect.

Which is dangerous. Especially because I now happen to be in possession of Volume 2 as well. Focused more on road racing, there’s that same, strong talent behind every page. Just enough to give a sense of the potential Embrocation can grow to, but not quite done with puberty. And like a really good date with the high-school-nerd-turned-successfully-wealthy-hottie, it doesn’t disappoint, but definitely leaves you wanting more.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be turning back to these issues once Volume 4 comes out. When sad, lonely, and covered in grease and brake dust, I turned to Joshua Gunn’s “Bird Watch,” careful not to blemish the pages with tears and snot [Volume 3]. When lacking artistic inspiration or dreaming of tattoos, Peter Rubijono’s drawings [Volumes 2 and 3]. When fantasizing about custom-built road bikes, “N.A.H.B.S.” [Volume 2].

It’s all there – feelings of victory, disappointment, desire, excitement, fuzzy contentment…all tied together by a shared love of bicycles. The effect? Intellectual and emotional embrocation [the cold weather kind]…without the stickiness.

[Buy yourself a copy here.]

Call Today to Support Bicycling in the Economic Recovery Bill

Support Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects in the Economic Recovery Bill

The House and the Senate have each passed their own version of the Economic Recovery Bill, aimed at creating jobs and stimulating the economy. Both bills include billions for transportation infrastructure, but only the House bill includes funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects in the Transportation Enhancements program. The House bill includes approximately $1.35 billion for Transportation Enhancements of which 50-60% is traditionally spent on bicycle and pedestrian projects. The Senate bill does not explicitly include Transportation Enhancements, so it’s unclear whether this funding will be in the final bill.

We need to make sure Transportation Enhancement funding is in the final bill.

This week there will be a conference committee where several members of the House and several members of the Senate will work together to reconcile the two bills. Conferees need to hear that Transportation Enhancements are important to stimulating the economy, creating green jobs, and moving us towards a sustainable future.

We need you to make three calls today:

1. Call Senator Kennedy (202-224-4543)
2. Call Senator Kerry (202-224-2742)
3. Call your representative (click here to find out who your Congressperson is, then click their name for contact info)

and ask each of them to tell the Conferees to support Transportation Enhancements in the Economic Recovery bill.

Tell them:

• Bicycle and pedestrian projects create jobs at the same or better rate than highway projects.
• These smaller projects can move quickly to hire local businesses and help local economies.
• Providing safe and convenient bicycle and pedestrian access gives families healthier and cheaper transportation options.
• Improving sidewalks and bike lanes can make a downtown a destination further helping the local economy.
• Better biking and walking options also help ensure greater energy independence, less pollution, and a healthier United States!

What happens when you give street space back to people?
Thursday Feb. 5, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
@ Boston Public Library, main branch at Copley [ map... ]
free and open to the public

An accomplished public official, economist and administrator, Enrique Peñalosa completed his three-year term as Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia on December 31, 2000. While mayor, Peñalosa was responsible for numerous radical improvements to the city and its citizens. He promoted a city model giving priority to children and public spaces and restricting private car use, building hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks. After organizing a Car-Free Day in 2000, he was awarded the Stockholm Challenge Award and rewarded by a referendum vote endorsing an annual car-free day. Peñalosa also led efforts to improve Bogotá’s marginal neighborhoods through citizen involvement; planted more than 100,000 trees; created a new, highly successful bus-based transit system; and turned a deteriorated downtown avenue into a dynamic pedestrian public space. He helped transform the city’s attitude from one of negative hopelessness to one of pride and hope, developing a model for urban improvement based on the equal rights of all people to transportation, education, and public spaces.

This event is part of a 4-day series of events sponsored by Livable Streets Alliance and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, in collaboration with WalkBoston, Institute for Human Centered Design, Bikes Not Bombs, Charles River Conservancy, MassBike.

This is a great article about Enrique Peñalosa:
Bogotá’s urban happiness movement: A radical campaign to return streets from cars to people (GlobeAndMail, June 2007)
From living hell to living well: A radical campaign to return streets from cars to people in Colombia’s largest city is now a model for the world. “A city can be friendly to people or it can be friendly to cars, but it can’t be both,” says former Bogotá (Colombia) Mayor Enrique Peñalosa. “Car Free Day is just one of the ways that Mr. Peñalosa helped to transform a city once infamous for narco-terrorism, pollution and chaos into a globally lauded model of livability and urban renewal. His ideas are being adopted in cities across the developing world. They are also being championed by planners and politicians in North America, where Mr. Peñalosa has reinvigorated the debate about public space once championed by Jane Jacobs.”

And a few great StreetFilms:
Click here for a film about car-free streets in Bogota
Click here for a film about bus rapid transit in Bogota
Click here for more information.

Thats right once again our elected leaders have fallen short of their duties when it comes to making biking awesome, so lets go kick some ass!

The below is from MassBike.

Action Alert #1: Bicyclist Safety Bill

This important bill will improve the safety of bicyclists throughout the Commonwealth, but we need your help. The bill, now designated S. 2573 (formerly S. 1414), was passed by the Senate earlier this year thanks to the efforts of retiring Senator Pamela Resor and our other friends in the Legislature. It is now in the House Ways and Means Committee. It needs to get reported favorably by the committee, enacted by both houses of the Legislature, and signed by the Governor before the end of this year. We are making a push to get this done now.

The key provisions of the bill are: police training on bicycle law; clarification of how to safely pass a bicycle; clarification of how to safely make turns in front of bicycles; “dooring” subject to ticket and fine; riding two abreast permitted when it does not impede cars from passing; improved enforcement of bicycle law for both motorists and bicyclists; and additional legal protections for bicyclists who choose to ride to the right of other traffic. The full text of the bill can be found here. For more details about the bill, including links to the affected statutes, see our previous Action Alert,

Here is what you can do:

1. Call or email Representative DeLeo, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, directly and urge him to support bill S. 2573, An Act Relative to Bicyclist Safety. His email is Robert.DeLeo@state.ma.us and his phone number is 617-722-2990.

2. Call or email your own state representative and ask him or her to contact Representative DeLeo in support of the bill.

Your participation counts – don’t assume everyone else will do it!

Click here to find contact information for your State Representative (called “Rep in General Court”)

Action Alert #2: Commuter Benefits for Bicyclists

This just in from the League of American Bicyclists on a federal bill that may benefit bicyclists:
We understand that the United States Senate may vote on an energy legislation package this week, (The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 (pdf) ), which will provide a number of incentives to promote clean energy sources. The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, also includes the bicycle commuter tax benefit provision, previously introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). The provision provides for qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement for such reasonable expenses incurred by an employee for the purchase of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, repair, and storage. The Senate is expected to vote on this legislation as soon as this week! Please take a moment to contact your Senator to urge them to vote “yes” on the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Click here to contact Senators Kennedy and Kerry right now

I’m still on that cheating high where you feel totally awesome because at least one person is sweating you hard enough not to care that you might actually be dating someone else.

Like when you get compliments and looks because of your shiny new bike and you totally forget about your trusty old beater and how you’re not even going to look at that new ride once it starts snowing.

Or like when the cute bike mechanic abandons the bike s/he’s fixing to look at yours. (But come on, like some dude’s mountain bike can really compete with your carbon frame, brakeless, fixed gear with 52/12 gearing, 650 on the front and 700 on the back?)

So I sent this hat out – to a (yet) undisclosed location. Via mail.

My bike probably hates me. But USPS is loving me…right?

I’m letting this one go.

Part of me doesn’t want to. Probably because I’m OCD.

All the future mistakes bother me. The size won’t be right, the shape will look weird on whoever finds it, the fabric’s…kinda shiny, the brim’s bound to tear, the blind hem will come undone, the everything that’s wrong with this.

Yeah, I’m OCD.

But then again, they say perfection’s pretty boring.

So maybe it’ll tear or whoever finds it will throw it out or cover it in pins or patches or abuse/wear it until it falls apart. Whatever happens, it’ll be completely unpredictable. Maybe whoever finds it will even send me a picture of them wearing it. Maybe they’ll even like it. Maybe I’ll stop obsessing. All of which would be awesome.

And (imperfectly) perfect.

Save The Date…
October 14, 2008
Courtyard by Marriott Tremont Hotel
275 Tremont St
Boston, MA

Moving Together 2008. Bicycling and walking are becoming increasingly visible and important across the country as well as across the Commonwealth. The invited keynote speaker, Gabe Rousseau, Ph.D, National Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager for the Federal Highway Administration, will provide his timely perspective on current initiatives and trends. Based in Washington DC, Rousseau draws upon his extensive experience with the Federal government as well as work with the States. Moving Together’s workshops and exhibits feature up-to-date information that help you to improve bicycling and walking conditions locally, regionally and statewide.

The $40 conference registration fee includes a continental breakfast, refreshments, lunch, and conference materials. For registration information contact: Baystate Roads Program, tel: (413) 545-2604, or register on-line. Please note that registration is limited, so register early to secure your place.

More info here.

Come get your art on, WHILE getting your bike on. Broadway is run by some cool cats, and now they have some cool art to prove it.

Thursday the 12th is the Grand Opening of the new Door 3 Gallery at Broadway Bicycle School. A two artist show on the theme of bicycles.

Wine and Cheese will be available 7pm-830pm NOTE: the shop will be open for regular business at this time. Come on people wine AND cheese AND art AND bikes, pure win.

(note: picture only mildly related)

Free Book Reading/Signing/Discussion- May 17th 7pm
Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant-Lot
Gardeners are Inventing the Future Today!
by Chris Carlsson (AK Press)

Lucy Parsons Center
549 Mass Ave.
www.lucyparsons.org

Outlaw bicycling, urban permaculture, biofuels, free software, and even the Burning Man festival are windows into a scarcely visible social transformation that is redefining politics as we know it. As capitalism continues to corral every square inch of the globe into its logic of money and markets, new practices are emerging through which people are taking back their time and technological know-how. In small, under-the-radar ways, they are making life better right now, simultaneously building the foundation—technically and socially—for a genuine movement of liberation from market life.

Nowtopia uncovers the resistance of a slowly recomposing working class in America. Rarely defining themselves by what they do for a living, people from all walks of life are doing incredible amounts of labor in their “non-work” time, creating immediate practical improvements in daily life. The social networks they create, and the practical experience of cooperating outside of economic regulation, become a breeding ground for new strategies to confront the commodification to which capitalism reduces us all.

The practices outlined in Nowtopia embody a deep challenge to the basic underpinnings of modern life, as a new ecologically driven politics emerges from below, reshaping our assumptions about science, technology, and human potential. Chris Carlsson, executive director of the multimedia history project “Shaping San Francisco,” is a writer, publisher, editor, and community organizer. He has edited four collections of political and historical
essays. He helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass, and was the longtime editor of Processed World magazine.

web site: http://www.chriscarlsson.com/

Sure as hell beats the rush hour in Boston. Were some of those people actually having friendly conversation?!? Was that a smile I saw!?! Are those people working out and having fun and commuting home all at the same time!!!

I am pretty sure they are having a good time. You could tell cause you could hear them, you know cause the horn symphony was turned off, and the roar of diesel engines was gone. Someday Boston… someday.

*to be clear, this is not some event, this is every day in this city, thousands of people use the bicycle as their main form of transport.*

Sunday March 2nd 6 to 9:30

BE THERE!

If you missed it the first time, be sure to get out and race at this one!

I am sure this has absolutely nothing to do with drugs, yea about that…

Does the snow/rain mega mix got you down? Tired of pushing your tires through mounds of slush and salt? Forgot what the sun looks like? We have the perfect remedy for your winter blues. INDOOR SPRINTS!

Sunday Feb 17th 5-8pm
All Asia Bar
334 Mass Ave. Cambridge
Go fast, race, win, puke!

This promises to be epic, you know you don’t want to miss it.

Sheldon Brown, known to many as Captn Bike, or the human bicycle encyclopedia has passed away. He will be sorely missed.

Jones Wares expresses this loss much better than I could

For anyone that hasn’t yet heard, the great bike tech guru, Sheldon Brown, passed away last night. He was THE source roadies nationwide turned to for not only bike advice, but general cool info as well. For years he was a fixture at Harris Cyclery in West Newton. His website was a hoot. He did some amazing things with the ol’ bicycle. At 63, he left too soon.

I spoke with him two weeks ago about the wool cycle wear company my sister and I recently launched. We talked about how great it is that the East coast is finally starting to catch up with the West; they returned to wool a few years ago! He had his standard witty lines and told me he still has gear from Jones Cycle Wear (though added it’s getting pretty sad looking)…a business our parents had during the 70s through early 90s. He agreed to try out some of our new Joneswares stuff, if he was able to ride in the spring; his MS was beginning to keep him off the bike. As recently as Friday night I logged on to his site for info about putting a brake on my fixed gear (I’m getting to old to be that scared going down the steep hill I live on).

Our thoughts are with his wife, Harriet, and their two kids of whom he was so proud.

Right on Ride on has posted another fascinating article about the way streets are designed, and how they are mostly put together for cars.

When a street is designed there are studies done, stages of planning and review, lots of referencing to standards guides, and usually after all of that is there any public involvement. (Then, of course the street is constructed with whatever variance, no construction job ever goes 100% to plan.)

The studies are generally car-centric. Traffic numbers, connections, types of vehicles and their purposes, types of streets connected, etc. The result of a study is a report a few inches thick. How much of that for bikes? Nil.

Read the rest here.