For the Love of Bikes

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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/.

Getting and Staying Fit

January 21, 2012 /

Interesting, here’s the science to back up what many of us know and see based on ourselves. As we age we have to keep pedaling, swimming, running, walking – moving.

From EverymanTRI.com:

At 74-years old…these are your legs on triathlon & these are your legs without triathlon:

40-year-old Triathlete

49tri

A new study called, "Chronic Exercise Preserves Lean Muscle Mass in Masters Athletes," which you can read HERE graphically illustrates what happens to your muscles (with and without) the type of regular and beneficial exercise that the sport of triathlon provides.

The image above is a cross section of a 40-year-old triathletes legs and the associated muscle. But the two images below are the really interesting and telling ones.

74-year-old Sedentary Man

74sed

74-year-old Triathlete

74tri

As you can tell, the 74-year-old masters triathletes legs are not unlike that of the 40-year-old triathletes legs. The study’s authors go on to write:

"It is commonly believed that with aging comes an inevitable decline from vitality to frailty. This includes feeling weak and often the loss of independence. These declines may have more to do with lifestyle choices, including sedentary living and poor nutrition, than the absolute potential of musculoskeletal aging.

In this study, we sought to eliminate the confounding variables of sedentary living and muscle disuse, and answer the question of what really happens to our muscles as we age if we are chronically active. This study and those discussed here show that we are capable of preserving both muscle mass and strength with lifelong physical activity."

They conclude by writing:

"The loss of lean muscle mass and the resulting subjective and objective weakness experienced with sedentary aging imposes significant but modifiable personal, societal, and economic burdens. As sports medicine clinicians, we must encourage people to become or remain active at all ages. This study, and those reviewed here, document the possibility to maintain muscle mass and strength across the ages via simple lifestyle changes."

1991 Motorola

January 20, 2012 /

Featuring the Motorola team of 1991 (previously 7-eleven), part one of a five part series. Narrated by none other than Phil Liggett.

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