ATT ride on Durham Bull Pen
Durham Bull Pen, a new Durham blog, has up a photo essay of a January bike ride down the American Tobacco Trail. Take a look.
Free recycling, reuse of bike parts
The good folks at Resource Revival want your old bike parts, and they’ll pay for the shipping to get them.
From their website…
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Recycle your bike chain and freewheels with us!
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Just throw greasy chain and freewheels in a box (no rust please) We take whole freewheels and/or loose freewheel cores & cogs. Sorry, we are not taking cassettes or any other parts at this time. |
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Call or email when the box is full and let us know the actual weight (not an estimate). Boxes should weigh at least 30 lbs and no more than 50 pounds. |
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We send UPS to pick up the box(es) at no cost to you. They’ll even bring the labels! |
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answers@ResourceRevival.com or 1-800-866-8823
All recyclers will get their shop name listed on the Resource Revival website and have a chance to win prizes at the end of the year.
How much easier can they make it?
NY Times: Finding Liberté on Two Wheels
The NYTimes ran a nice point-of-view article by Eric Rayman this weekend about the success of Paris’ new Velib program. It begins –
MY plane landed at Charles de Gaulle airport. I took the RER train into Paris, dropped off my bag and, two hours after landing, I was riding a bicycle down the Boulevard Saint-Germain.
No, I’m not in training for the Tour de France and, no, I do not travel with a bicycle or for that matter any other sports paraphernalia. I was just participating in the latest craze that has swept Paris. I was on a Vélib.
I wonder how long it will take before Mayor Bloomberg makes nice with New York’s cycling community and see that a Velib-like program can help his congestion mitigation planning — even if it means a few city-owned bikes roll in Critical Mass. Bicycle libraries have been tried in the United States before, from Portland to Minneapolis to college campuses. Historically, they haven’t lasted long because of perennial problems with maintenance and theft. The success of the Velib program will ultimately rest on its longevity, but the technology on which it is based gives it a leg up over previous bike library programs.
Vive le Velib!
Two great articles in today’s news
Associated Press
Nov 5, 2007 : 7:17 am ET
South Korea Promotes Bicycles to Ease Traffic
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea is turning to an old-fashioned solution for dealing with its always-clogged roads: encouraging people to ride bicycles.
The Herald-Sun editorial: Welcome accord on new bike path
Nov 5, 2007
We plead guilty to supporting bike lanes, bike trails and pedestrian paths and sidewalks. Read more
innovate or die
Since in my last column I criticized the folks at Google for being short-sighted in their thinking about how to improve transportation, I want to post an update. In “Hybrid car pitch a step backwards,” I implied that the software giant known for creative thinking is selling itself (and us) short by encouraging the development of new plug-in hybrid automobiles. Hybrids, in my opinion, will not only keep us dependent on gasoline longer (by stretching the fuel supply), but keep us dependent on an automobile-based transportation model whose dangerous side-effects (if you can call 40,000 deaths per year side-effects) are not being factored into the race to answer the challenges of climate change.
Fortunately, the hybrid-development contest is not all Google has up its sleeve. Innovate or Die, a contest sponsored by bicycle manufacturer Specialized and Google, is soliciting entries from inventors working on how to improve human-powered vehicles, or transit. The language of the contest organizers clearly suggests an understanding that transit will play a significant role in adapting traffic for a sustainable future.
Hopefully George Bliss or some equally creative unknown inventor will get involve, unveiling the next amazing thing in human-powered movement. Segways need not apply.
THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Durham Parks and Rec plans trip for bikers
Durham Parks and Rec is organizing a road trip for cyclists. See details below.
Come spend a leisurely fall day riding the Virginia Creeper Trail with Durham Parks and Rec Adventure Programs staff. Appropriate for participants ages 10 and up (minors must be accompanied by parent/guardian) this wide, smooth reclaimed rail bed trail offers a scenic tour of Southwest Virginia. After the ride, we’ll take our well-earned appetites to one of the affordable, eclectic restaurants in town and get some rest that night, cross-country cyclist style, in an adventure traveler’s hostel. The next morning we’ll cook a hearty breakfast and spend some time exploring one of the many legendary trails that are in walking distance from our hostel. This is a great opportunity to see Blue Ridge fall colors and stay in “Trail City, USA”.
Program Dates: Saturday-Sunday, October 27-28 (depart on Saturday at 8 a.m. and return on Sunday afternoon). Cost: $130.00 and includes the bike rental, tour, lodging and all meals except Saturday dinner.
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
- Ride the Virginia Creeper Bike Trail
- Stay in an adventure traveler’s hostel
- See the fall colors in a unique way
- No prior mountain biking experience is necessary!
Email: jordan.doctor@durhamnc.gov for information about signing up.
About Durham Parks and Recreation
Durham Parks and Recreation provides opportunities for the Durham community to “Play More.” The department strives to help citizens discover, explore and enjoy life through creative and challenging recreational choices that contribute to their physical, emotional and social health. To learn more about Parks and Recreation, visit http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/parks.
Yogurt vs. Gasoline
The Neistat Brothers produce another provocative film. OK, this time the gimmick is pretty obvious and right away you can guess the outcome. But the demonstration still makes the point.
NYTimes: A Busy City Street Makes Room for Bikes
The New York Times ran an article over the weekend on New York DOT’s plan to road diet Ninth Avenue. A road diet is when transportation officials redesign an existing street by shrinking the number of auto lanes, making room for bicycle and other alt-transit lanes. The idea is that officials can insert new bike lanes without needing to widen a road — a practice useful in areas where roads cannot be widened.
Locally, Durham used the road diet technique on Duke University Dr. to create its new bike lane. (seen at right)
What’s unusual about in this New York example is that it’s what you might call an extreme road diet. From a 70ft-wide street, 18ft are being repurposed. 10ft adjacent to the sidewalk will become a new, broad bike lane. Then, an 8ft buffer zone with planters and bollards will separate the bike lane from a 10ft parking lane. The result is that cyclists will enjoy complete separation from the swift current of automobile traffic flowing down Ninth Ave.
How bikes will negotiate intersections is my only question, but I am assuming that the bike lane will be signaled just as the auto-traffic lanes. It’s an interesting idea and one that works in Europe. We’ll see how well it works in NYC. While we don’t really have streets in Durham wide enough to justify this kind of intervention, I am eager to see how New Yorkers (particularly the folks from Transportation Alternatives) respond to the new lane design.
A Busy City Street Makes Room for Bikes
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: September 23, 2007
Cyclists and pedestrians never quite imagined it this way, but maybe there is a use for all those cars after all. The city is planning to remake seven blocks of Ninth Avenue in Chelsea into what officials are billing enthusiastically, perhaps a bit hyperbolically, as the street of the future.
Construction is not yet complete (neither planters nor structurally significant bollards are in place), but you can get a sense of the design here.
Analysis and diagrams at Streetsblog and Gothamist.
Duke, UNC both offer students collective bikes
Duke
Duke Bikes Grand Opening (from a press release)
Join fellow Duke students, faculty and staff for the grand opening of the new Duke Bikes program this Thursday, August 30th, 4pm on the West Campus Plaza. Snacks, free Duke Bikes t-shirts and other prizes will be given away to the first 100 visitors.
Duke Bikes is a new bike-loan program for Duke undergraduate, graduate and professional students. This collaborate effort provides students with no-cost options for exercise, adventure and campus commuting. It is a tangible example of several of Duke’s efforts to enhance the student experience and promote sustainability.
Duke Bikes works much like checking out a library book. All you need is your DukeCard. The loan period is up to five days, and the bike fleet includes 1-speed and 3-speed Trek Cruisers, equipped with locks, lights, flashers and baskets. Helmets are available, too.
More Info
http://transportation.duke.edu/bikes
(919) 724-6417
Tavey McDaniel Capps
Environmental Sustainability Coordinator
Office of the Executive Vice President
Duke University
tavey.mcdaniel@duke.edu
919-660-1434
Carolina
Blue Urban Bikes (from the SURGE website)
Thursday, 05 April 2007
Blue Urban Bikes is a community bike-loan project serving the Chapel Hill/ Carrboro community and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The mission of Blue Urban Bikes is to provide a reliable, clean, and affordable mode of transportation for our community amidst rising gas prices and growing concerns over global warming.
Background
Blue Urban Bikes ( or “BUB”), a community bicycle loan program, was created through a partnership of the ReCYCLEry and SURGE – Students United for a Responsible Global Environment – after several meetings with local community leaders in 2005 gave rise to the idea. This program is designed to provide a reliable source of clean and affordable sustainable transportation to Chapel Hill/Carrboro residents and visitors, as well as offer a healthy travel alternative and allow citizens to take an active role in lessening the environmental footprint of our community. Chapel Hill and Carrboro are renowned for their bicycle-friendly status, and bicycling proves to be an ideal form of transportation for many community members. Considering the time it often takes to find a parking space, riding a bike simply takes less time and leaves the rider feeling strong, able and healthy. Potential BUB users include Chapel Hill/Carrboro residents, UNC students and staff, commuters, transit and park & ride users, area tourists and visitors, recreational weekend users, and potential new bicycle commuters.
BUB Hub Locations
The BUB program goal is to site “BUB Hubs”, check-out stations for the Blue Urban Bikes, at local businesses throughout Carrboro and Chapel Hill and on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Each BUB Hub will accommodate 5 bikes, or “BUBs.” Bike racks, provided through the BUB program, will be installed at hub locations to secure the BUBs when not in use (each locked to the rack with its own cable lock). The program goal is to locate BUB Hubs along the Franklin Street/Main Street corridor from East Chapel Hill to the western edge of Carrboro, as well as to place some north/south hub locations for member convenience. The Blue Urban Bikes program is seeking partnerships with local businesses for hub locations; the following sites have already been confirmed:
* Skylight Exchange – 405 ½ W Rosemary St, Chapel Hill
* 3Cups Coffeeshop – 431 W Franklin St, Chapel Hill
* Townsend & Bertram - 200 N Greensboro St, Carrboro (in Carr Mill Mall)
* Back Alley Bikes - 108 N Graham St, Chapel Hill (behind the Merch)
* Owens 501 Diner - 1500 N Fordham Blvd, Chapel Hill (near Eastgate Shopping Center)
Contacts
Alison Carpenter, SURGE: 919-960-6886 or alison@surgenetwork.org
Chris Richmond, ReCYCLEry: 919-932-1335 or chris@recyclery.info
More information is available online at www.recyclery.info/blue_urban_bikes
Paris
Paris recently launched its own collective bikes program — one of the most ambitious programs to date. More than 10,000 bikes became available in July, with more than 20,000 slated to be available by the end of the year. You can read more about it here or watch the video below to see some folks take the Parisian velos for a test ride.
E.T. meets Donnie Darko
Seen previously on velorution and Martino’s Bike Lane Diary.
CHANGE
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