Last Thursday morning, I biked down to the capitol building in Albany where this year’s “Bike Summit” was to take place.

It was supposed to take place outdoors, at the foot of the magnificent Capitol, where, in past years, we gathered before diving into the dungeons of the Legislative Office Building for our meetings. So, the NYBC staff thought, this year, we should simply hold the event outside in the beautiful burst of springtime. Not this year. This ws the week of deadly storms from the Canadian border down to Alabama, where hundreds of people died in tornadoes and other storm events. Read the rest of this entry »

Eugene, Oregon, will be instituting a program for cyclists caught breaking the law: instead of fines, learn to do better!

Current diversion programs allow automobile drivers guilty of some types of violations to take safety or other programs in lieu of paying fines. Under the plan, people cited for bicycle-related traffic offenses could avoid fines by attending a three-hour safety course offered monthly by GEARs.

The complete article: Plan Promotes Safer Cycling

No, bicycle tracks aren’t just the marks that tires leave on the living room floor. Bicycle tracks are the special bike travel lanes that are separated from motor traffic by some kind of barrier. The cycling theoreticians in this part of the world have long dismissed such things as dangerous, but there’s an emerging body of research and enthusiasm.

An article on grist.com sums up recent thinking (excerpt below):
Cyclists shouldn’t ‘share the road,’ they should have their own

“Montreal, the focus of the recent study, has an unusually large number of cycle tracks Read the rest of this entry »

There was only a sliver of ice along the edge of the parking area and the temperature was rising from 45.

It became evident about 24 hours previously that New Year’s Eve day would be a special one — temperatures were rising and the various storm systems that have been harrying travelers all over the continent were still avoiding the vicinity of our sheltered city. In the morning, it was 40 degrees by 9:00 am with blue skies. In short, a day for a bike ride.

About a dozen cyclists assembled behind Gaia, the turtle in Cass Park for a ride through and around Ithaca. From the Waterfront Trail at State Street we wound around Brindley Street, past Wegmans across Meadow Street and made our way to the end of Spencer Road at Buttermilk Falls State Park. After a break to look at the ice-covered falls and pose for a group photo, we headed back along Spencer Road and Albany Street and a jog to Cayuga Street.

Posing for the group shot at Buttermilk Falls

We were headed for the Lincoln Street Diner, a place I had never visited but which had a wonderful reputation as a friendly, neighborhood eatery. And so it was — most of us had a good lunch of breakfast food and coffee.

After the lunch stop, we continued north past Ithaca Falls (truly spectacular with ice and lots of water) to the head of the Cayuga Waterfront Trail by the visitors’ bureau on East Shore Drive. The new trail through Stewart Park was beautiful, swooping along the lakefront and passing over the new bridge structures toward the municipal golf course, and eventually to the Farmers’ Market. At our stop at the (temporary) end of the Waterfront Trail, a few riders split off  and the rest of us continued into the city via Third Street. On Cayuga Street, several other riders split off for home and three of us followed Buffalo Street back to Cass Park.

Approximate route

It really was a gift of a day — the temperature reached 50 and there was almost no wind. Of course, there will be winter days when we’d rather not be biking; but, still, it’s a city where days like this come at least a few times through the cold seasons, days when we can remind ourselves of what a beautiful place we live in.

– until the next such day!

Andrejs

This is a request from a friend of a friend of a friend — if you ride your bike for everyday purposes or are thinking about it, please help out by taking part in the short survey. Go to SURVEY Read the rest of this entry »

The county will be holding a second public meeting about the proposed project to improve bike and pedestrian safety along Judd Falls Rd., between East Hill Plaza and Rt. 366. The meeting will be on Monday, December 20 at 5:45, at Trinity Lutheran Church on Honness Lane. Read the rest of this entry »

Please check out the info and, then, make sure your government representatives and planners know you are interested. If, as I expect, you would like to be able to bring your bike with you when you take a vacation rail trip, you have to act now — or else the facilities for loading that bike will not be included in the plan. (printable PDF: Bike-Train Action Alert)
Andrejs

Action Alert for Bicycle Carriage Facilities on Trains!

NY State DOT Schedules High Speed Rail Initiative Meetings

The New York Bicycling Coalition urges all bicyclists and bicycle club advocacy/government chairs, to attend the forthcoming NYS Dep’t of Transportation High Speed Rail Initiative: Empire Corridor scoping meetings. Bicyclists should attend and speak out at these meetings for improved bicycle carriage on high speed rail and conventional speed rail passenger rail trains and facilities. Bicyclists must present the following requests for better bicycle carriage service in writing (email AND hard copy) even if they attend and speak at the meetings. Read the rest of this entry »

Join us in Ithaca November 18-20 for
MOVING FORWARD – An Active Transportation Symposium

MOVING FORWARD is a three-day opportunity to engage with national experts and fellow students and community members around innovations in bicycle and pedestrian planning, design, research, and advocacy.

MOVING FORWARD: An Active Transportation Symposium
Thursday, Friday and Saturday – November 18-20.
Event locations on Cornell’s campus and in downtown Ithaca
Speakers: Mia Birk, Jennifer Dill, and Joe Kurmaskie

All events are free and open to all in the community – residents, students, faculty, planners, transportation advocates and public officials. Come, learn, and contribute to the discussion.

RSVP online for door prize raffle (Arkel bike bags) and Friday afternoon food (RSVP not required by appreciated)

Read the rest of this entry »

The Alliance for Biking and Walking has issued a new “benchmarking” report, the results of a nationwide survey of bicycling and walking practices, policies, and implications.

As this report shows, where bicycling and walking levels are higher, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes levels are lower. Higher levels of bicycling and walking also coincide with increased bicycle and pedestrian safety and higher levels of physical activity. Increasing bicycling and walking can help solve many of the largest problems facing our nation. As this report indicates, many states and cities are making progress toward promoting safe access for bicyclists and pedestrians, but much more remains to be done.

Check out the report on their website: Benchmarking

Yikes! it’s May already and we need to make plans for the bike month, bike week, and bike-to-work day! A couple years ago, Bikeithaca.org kicked off with a quickly-organized plan. We had groups of people sign up to ride together to common destinations on Bike to Work Day. This was the most successful city-wide event of the kind that we’ve had, so we should try to improve on it this year. I’ll try to get the supporting stuff — maps, chat pages, etc., — ready in a few days so that we can turn to recruiting people and matching them up for the ride.