Archive for August, 2008

With the good weather lately, feeling all crunchy and wanting to save gas and all that I’ve been riding my bike a bit more. For far too long, I’ve been been too paranoid about not having my bike stolen (I got a bike stolen in high school and another in college) and so I’m ashamed to admit that my bike has spent more time in my shed, rather than on the road.

But I’ve been totally loving hitting the streets again to do errands — I’ve biked a few times now from my house in North Oakland to the North Berkeley library. My gears are a little rusty, and I’m sure that I look a bit strange given that my riding kit is an American-flag emblazoned helmet, Rudy Project cycling glasses, bike gloves, and a pair of Birkenstocks.

Plus, in research for a piece that I’m doing that relates to bikes, I came across this piece from Salon:

Surprisingly, finding room wasn’t a problem. Xtracycle says the FreeRadical is designed to haul 200 pounds of cargo. I was well over that but decided to go for it. I fit four full bags into the expandable vinyl sacks. I figured out how to cinch the straps around the backs to prevent my food from becoming roadkill. But I could feel the weight just lifting those bags onto the bike. Damn liquids.

When I hit the road, pedaling wasn’t a problem. Most mountain bikes have a “granny gear” for this kind of work. Under the extreme weight, the bike frame felt wobbly, causing me to weave a bit. Luckily my route was almost completely on a bike path, rather than the street. I took it slow and easy and soon found myself cruising up my own sidewalk.

Next I wondered how it would feel with my kids on board. Once a week, I take the kids to the local farmers market. My son is about to turn 3. My daughter is almost 7. Combined, they weigh maybe 70 pounds. To make them comfortable, I bought two wooden FreeRadical footrests called “Footsies” from Xtracycle for my daughter. For my son’s short legs, I bolted a piece of wood on the back of the bike frame for his feet. For a handlebar, I put some bike grips on a $5 piece of pipe and fastened it to the back of my bike seat.

and this, from the WSJ:

The policy goal is to have bicycle trips replace many short car trips, which account for 6% of total emissions from cars, according to a document adopted last month by the European Economic and Social Committee, an organization of transportation ministers from EU member countries. Another report published this year by the Dutch Cyclists’ Association found that if all trips shorter than 7.5 kilometers in the Netherlands currently made by car were by bicycle, the country would reduce its carbon-dioxide emissions by 2.4 million tons. That’s about one-eighth of the amount of emissions it would need to reduce to meet the Kyoto Protocol.

Officials from some American cities have made pilgrimages to Amsterdam. But in the U.S., bike commuters face more challenges, including strong opposition from some small businesses, car owners and parking-garage owners to any proposals to remove parking, shrink driving lanes or reduce speed limits. Some argue that limiting car usage would hurt business. “We haven’t made the tough decisions yet,” says Sam Adams, city commissioner of Portland, Ore., who visited Amsterdam in 2005. There has been some movement. Last month, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a proposal to add a congestion charge on cars and increase the number of bicycle paths in the city. It would also require commercial buildings to have indoor parking facilities for bikes.