This weekend our daughter’s school hosted their annual pancake breakfast. What’s cool is that for the past few years that we’ve been going to this event, my wife, kids and I would normally ride our bikes there. But what’s sad is that there are way too many parents that drive their kids to school every day as well as to this event. I say that it’s sad because most of these families live no further than 2 miles from the school. I’ve seen one parent who is literally 100 yards away from the school but I’ll often see them getting in their Nissan Armada, (an SUV that gets about 12-15mpg) then driving to the school…ah I just don’t get it.
Back to the pancake breakfast. So we got there and fortunately there were a few families that actually rode bikes, cool! But if you check out the parking lot, as usual, bicyclists are minorities.
Here’s something that was kinda funny…check out the lock job on this. The dude’s wife had asked him if he should redo the way he locked the bikes to better protect them and all he said was…”eh, it should be fine…”
We have the worst hosting service in the world. We’ve been going up and down for the longest time and we’re finally moving to a new and hopefully more reliable hosting service. But in the mean time watch one of my favorite videos…
Well right now I can only wish to see as many bikes on the streets as the above picture but I was pleasantly surprised at the increase of commuters I saw out on the streets today. I am not a big fan of the gas price increases but I have to say that I am happy to see more people riding their bikes because of it. On my short commute to work today I saw four other people on bikes today. That is a a new record for my commutes!
I was even happier to see another parent riding alongside their son to school on a bike today. I can only hope that the more often we ride with our kids that it will inspire other parents to leave their car in the garage and take a ride with the offspring.
Paying for gas sucks, and it sure is nice to see others catching on! I last heard gas prices will be in the realm of about $7 a gallon by end of the year and I am looking forward to seeing my streets filled with bicyclists! I am keeping hope alive!!! =D
Our friend Gerard Boisse of Jax Bicycles told me about a fundraiser ride that they are organizing for Saturday - May 17, 2008 to benefit Project 999.
Here’s some info about the ride:
Each year a group of bicycle riders representing Police Agencies through out Orange County join together to commemorate the lives of those Orange County Police Officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice - they’ve given their lives in the line of duty. The riders do this by cycling 630 miles from Sacramento to Orange County to raise money for Project 999.
Jax Bicycle Center honors their incredible effort by hosting their
own one day 80-mile bike ride. At exactly 8:00 am, May 17th, both groups of riders will roll out simultaneously.
One in Sacramento California, the other in Claremont California.
While most us will never cycle 630 miles in 4 days, we certainly can come out for one great day of riding and
It sure is nice to see more and more companies catering to the commuter women. Some time back Zoic sent me a little ensemble from their Streetside collection to test out on the roads. I had to wait for it to warm up a bit around here, but sunny days are back and so are my skirts! Yea! I was really blown away when I heard about this company. I love the whole earth friendly clothing line they have here. Zoic has been known for their mountain biking clothing lines, but now make clothing for the ladies that commute or just love to ride their bikes everywhere!
I cannot express enough how GOooodd this feels on the skin. Immediately I was impressed with the feel and loose fit of this hoody. Very comfy. I have received lots of compliments on this hoody. And my favorite part about this hoody is the materials it’s made from. 62% poly, 12% spandex and 26% Bamboo charcoal. How cool is that? Bamboo!!!
This is a really functional tee that pairs well with the damsel skirt and hoody. Perfect for a casual ride and trip to the store.
And last but not least, some sweet socks:
The womens Dazzle Socks!
These are super cute and let me just say one thing: arch support. It’s a beautiful thing!
I love how nice everything coordinated together and am looking forward to getting some wear out of these items! I’ll have my full review up in a couple of weeks. In the meantime check out some of their other adorable pieces at Zoic.com.
This Sunday I’m participating in one of my favorite charity rides, The City Of Angels Fun ride. I’m riding the ‘advanced riders’ ride which is 47 miles long with 3 climbs, one being a steep uphill in Griffith Park. How did I train for this ride? Riding my bike to work, of course! (Benefit #1103) See, one of the reasons why I don’t mind riding a heavy bike to work is because once I switch to a light road bike, I practically fly on it.
So today I rode my newly acquired Bianchi Via Nirone 7 to work. This was its maiden voyage and all I can say is that I shaved 20 minutes (round trip) off my commute by riding it at the same intensity that I ride my other bikes. I guess you can say that this would be the equivalent of riding the ‘Sunday sports car’ to work.
I was a little concerned about leaving this bike outside, so I was lucky that I was able to leave it in my cubicle. Here’s the interesting part, when my co-workers saw my bike, they ooh’d and aah’d and began to ask questions about my commute. I also mentioned that May is bike to work day and they should give it a try. Well, I’m a pleased to say that I have one co-worker that is seriously considering riding a bike to work. He lives about 1/4 of a mile from my starting point so I offered to show him the ropes. I’m hoping that if he follows through, my other co-workers will get inspired.
With gas prices going sky high, there are a lot of suggestions on how to save gas on the news. Yesterday I read an article on something called “Hypermiling”
Some of the stuff that ‘Hypermilers’ do are outright dangerous and stupid like ‘drafting’ behind a big rig with the engine off and taking turns at 50 mph.
So this post is aimed at those who are considering the technique of hypermiling or want to know how to get more miles per gallon out of your car. The answer is quite simple, ride a bike.
Consider the following scenario: The Toyota Prius’ EPA MPG estimate is about 46mpg, my commute for the week is 150 miles, and if I would drive 75 miles and ride 75 miles the theoretical MPG* of the Prius would be 96MPG!. Obviously, the more you ride the better MPG you get. Of course, this method of Hypermiling also comes with the benefits of bike commuting, you know, better health, zero emissions, double the fun factor of driving a Prius and the only drafting you’ll do is sucking the wheel of another bike commuter (although they are hard to find).
*Theoretical MPG was obtained using the calculator from our tools page.
April 30th, 2008 by Jack "Ghost Rider" Sweeney · 37 Comments
Well, I’m really thinking hard about selling my vehicle and going unofficially car-free, but I need some advice…
I don’t drive my vehicle much at all, and the money I can get for it will help offset bills and other financial obligations (and allow me to add an Xtracycle to my fleet). I will still have access to another car a couple days a week, so I won’t be totally car-free. The advice I could use from you readers out there who have chosen to free yourselves from the bonds of vehicle ownership is this:
1) What was the decision-making process you used to “let go”?
2) Any potential pitfalls I should think about?
3) What else do I need to know before making this step?
Any insight, personal experiences and other useful information will be greatly appreciated. I guess that technically, I don’t really need advice, per se, but more of a reassuring chat that suggests I’m ready to take this step in my life. So, any help you could provide would be just fantastic! Just leave your thoughts in the comment area, and again, I thank you.
I consider myself lucky that Florence Avenue is pretty wide. It is wide enough to accommodate 3 lanes, the thing is; there’s only two. But that doesn’t stop the douche bag drivers from driving illegally on the right hand side to pass 3 or 4 cars.
The City of Santa Fe Springs must have gotten plenty of complaints because they felt compelled to install the following traffic dividers:
I don’t really understand these drivers, today a dude driving a BMW was right on my ass driving illegally on the right hand side and when he merged and passed me he gave me a nasty look! But payback’s a bitch… Florence becomes really congested where the traffic dividers are installed (I guess they sort of work) and I caught up to this dumb ass and gave him a friendly hand wave.
I think that Florence Avenue is a prime candidate for a Bike Lane. So I did some research, the amount of Red Tape that I would have to go through to request a bike lane is insane.
Bike to Work Day 2008 - For Immediate Release
Contact: Russ Roca 562-331-1705 lbcyclists@gmail.com
Long Beach, CA - May 15th is Bike to Work Day, a national event where people from around the country are encouraged to replace their car trip with a bicycle for that one day. The movement has swept across the nation with rising gas prices and as people are re-discovering the health and environmental benefits of bicycling. The Long Beach Cyclists (LBC), the cityʼs only bicycle advocacy group, promotes cycling as a fun, valued and sustainable transportation choice in Long Beach through community, advocacy and education. LBC in cooperation with the City of Long Beach, Bikestation, Los Angeles Metro, Bikecommuters.com, KHS Bicycles and Jones Bicycle are organizing this yearʼs Bike to Work Day festivities.
There will be two simultaneous pitstops on Bike to Work Day in Long Beach, one at City Hall and another at Belmont Shore Pier. Bike commuters will be greeted with fresh apples and oranges from the farmerʼs market, bottled water, coffee and pastries from local businesses and free patch-kits and goodie bags from LA Metro.
In addition, riders that pass by the Belmont Pier stop, will also be treated to some live music, a free bike inspection courtesy of Bikestation and giveaways. Participants will have a chance to win a Dutch-inspired 3-speed bicycle from KHS Bicycles and Bikecommuters.com. Other prizes include lights from PlanetBike and cycling caps from popular Walzcaps.
The event is free and open to all community members (on two-wheels or not). The Long Beach Cyclists invites everyone to participate, even if theyʼre not riding to work. “We want the event to be a celebration of the bicycle,” says Russ Roca an LBC member.“One of the goals of the Long Beach Cyclists is to create real sense of community of cyclists in Long Beach. So, even if youʼre not commuting to work, come out and meet other cyclists and get involved in making Long Beach a more bicycling friendly city!”
