For the Love of Bikes

Life is better on a bike!

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Bike/Walk Programs in Trouble

February 1, 2012 /

ibike_ivote

If you care about bicycling, or walking in your community for that matter, you need to take action – NOW.

Dedicated funding for bicycling and walking programs is eliminated completely in the new Transportation funding bill, American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act,  currently in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The time to act is now:

If one of your representatives is on the Committee (Oklahoma Representative James Lankford is) please contact them immediately. An easy way to do that has been provided here by the League of American Bicyclists.

To find out if your congressman is on the transportation committee go here and follow the process using your zip code. Even if your rep is not on the committee you should still contact them to voice your support.

The committee votes tomorrow, Thursday February 2, 2012. Yep, on Groundhog Day. That’s not a coincidence is it.

Restoring a Dumpster Bike

January 30, 2012 /

From Instructables.com is a handy step-by-step guide on how to restore an old bicycle.

The rebuild guide includes a list of tools and equipment you’ll need and pictures of each step.

I’ve never been lucky enough to find a discarded bike in the trash or a cheap one at a garage sale but I know people who have and they end up with a nice machine at very little cost.

Not a bad way to roll.

Check out the full article: Restoring a Vintage Dumpster Bike.

January 29, 2012 /

Day 29

Me and my shadow… We fought the wind the whole ride but here we are 29 miles later.  🙂

Bike = Lifesaver

January 28, 2012 /

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it’s almost Sunday so I figure what the heck – preach away.

In reality it’s more like me spreading the gospel – the gospel of biking.

I read something today that I want to share with you about one of our favorite subjects, biking and its many benefits.

The article,This Bike Could Save Your Life: An Infographic On The Massive Benefits Of Bicycling, written by Morgan Clendaniel is from Co.Exist.

This is an excerpt, I encourage you to read the entire article.

If it hasn’t yet been pounded into your head that biking is good for you and good for society, you’re either not reading enough or incredibly stubborn. The evidence for biking abounds: It’s good for you, without being too high impact (unless that impact is a car). More bikers make cities more pleasant to live in.

And instead of spending a lot of money on fuel, bikers put that cash to better use, like buying more food to quell an enormous appetite after a long bike ride to work. A new infographic does a great job of making the case for biking in terms of dollars, health, and liveability. If you’re not convinced after this, you may never be.

If biking does such wonders, why aren’t the benefits more apparent? Shouldn’t we be a nation of lithe and fit bikers? We’re not because almost no one is biking. Just .6% of all trips are taken by bike; 90% are taken by car. No one even considers taking their bike down the street to the store, let alone to work. Increase that tiny sliver, though, and the societal benefits might end up being enormous.

In a study about what would happen if people in 11 midwestern cities (not some hippie city like Portland) spent four months a year doing half their errands by bikes, the results were staggering. In terms of health costs alone, the switch would result in $3.8 billion in savings, which is to say nothing of the resulting $3.5 billion worth of clean air. But forget money; it would also save lives. The resulting lack of car accidents would prevent enough accidents and health problems to keep 1,100 people alive over the course of a year.

But let’s be less heavy–literally. Biking is really good exercise and it makes you skinnier. The average person who starts biking to work loses 13 pounds over the next year, an exceptional health benefit. And you can see this result by comparing biking cities with nonbiking cities.

Surely, there are some dangerous correlation-equals-causation problems with these comparative stats. There is a lot about life in Holland and Germany that makes their populations less obese, not just how much they’re biking. But there is a more clear example. Portland, Oregon–yes, the aforementioned hippie city, but stick with me–has poured money into making the city a more pleasant place to bike, in an effort to get more people cycling. Now, 6% of its commuters bike.

It’s not because the city thinks it will be more fun with more bikers, it’s because it wants to realize the cost savings associated with a biking population. And this year, the city will save about $75 million. By 2040, that number will be $400 million. All for what it costs to paint some bike lanes.

Read on, here.

Bike and Ped Funding

January 26, 2012 /
I sent a letter to my representative on the committee, I hope you’ll consider doing so too. –Susan

Copied and reposted in its entirety from the Alliance for Biking and Walking:

By Carolyn Szczepanski on January 26, 2012

By Mary Lauran Hall, Communications Coordinator, America Bikes

For the past 20 years, the federal transportation program has included dedicated funding for biking and walking. Over the course of twenty years and three federal transportation laws, federal support for bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure projects has slowly ticked upwards. As a result, more and more communities feature safe roads for people who travel on foot or by bicycle.

In 1992, Congress passed ISTEA, the first federal transportation bill to include funding for transit, biking, and walking. As each consecutive transportation bill passed and continued dedicated funding for biking and walking, funding increased from $23 million for 50 new projects in 1992 to $297 million for 971 projects in 2000, to a record $1.2 billion for 3,010 projects in 2009.

But now a new transportation bill threatens to eliminate dedicated federal funding for biking and walking.

Next Thursday, February 2, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will vote on the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, a bill that eliminates crucial funds for biking and walking. Representatives on the T&I Committee are in a key position to save dedicated funding for biking and walking. If you live in the district of a T&I committee member (click here for a list), please take action today. Click here to send a message directly to your Representative through the League of American Bicyclists’ Action Center.

The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, the long awaited multi-year transportation bill, eliminates the two largest programs that fund biking and walking infrastructure — Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. Without these programs, communities across the country will lose resources to build the sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways that make biking and walking safer and more accessible.

We can’t let that happen.

Biking and walking are essential aspects of everyday transportation in the US, and turning off federal funding for projects that keep Americans safe would represent a significant step backwards.

Federal funding for biking and walking keeps people safe. Two out of three pedestrian deaths take place on roads built with federal funding, and new sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways help end preventable deaths and make roads safer for everyone. Moreover, biking and walking make up 12 percent of all trips and 14 percent of road fatalities, but only 1.5 percent of all federal transportation funding.

We at America Bikes are working with our partners to introduce an amendment that will preserve funding for biking and walking. During Thursday’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee vote in the House, Representatives will have the opportunity to pass this amendment to save biking and walking. If you live in the district of a T&I Committee member, please take action today!

To learn more about this issue and keep up-to-date as the bill moves forward, visit http://americabikes.org/.

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