News: The League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly States Rankings

Image courtesy of the League
of American Bicyclists

As May and Bike Month draws to a close, the League of American Bicyclists has released its latest ranking of all 50 states by how bike friendly they are. The ranking takes into consideration multiple areas that contribute to bike friendliness, including everything from legislation to infrastructure to education. It should be no surprise that the states containing highly bike friendly cities such as Portland, Minneapolis, and my own Long Beach would easily rank into the top 10 states. Most of these states, such as Washington, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Oregon, exhibit excellent policies, education, and enforcement of legislation, while even the best states still only get middling marks for infrastructure. Those states at the bottom are, unsurprisingly, those that are least densely populated and thus least likely to attract cyclists and their ever-present drumbeat for greater infrastructure and education.

There are a few surprising results, such as how high Delaware scores, even though it is not often recognized as being particularly bike friendly, or how poorly New York State did, even though New York City is considered among the most bike friendly cities in the US. Of course, having biked now in numerous cities across the cities, albeit for rather short periods of time in some cities, it is encouraging to see not only how much infrastructure is being built, but also how cycling is continuing to be adopted by those in urban environments as more than just recreation, but as a means of transit on a regular basis.

Check out how your state did by going to the League of American Bicyclists website and make sure to view the details of your own particular state. Then, take a moment to consider signing up for your local bicycling advocacy organization to help support making cycling safer and more more accessible to everyone!

Editorial: Advancements continue to make cycling more accessible to everyone

Cycling continues to grow in popularity throughout the US, with many major cities seeing a boom to the number of people who are interested in biking not just for recreation, but to use it as a means of daily transit as well. This growth has been in part spurred by major advancements in cycling technology that have made cycling more accessible to a broader audience. Whether it is bikes that make traveling by bike more convenient or systems designed to help cyclists propel themselves more easily over greater distances or even technology that simply makes it easier to protect your bike, they are all making a difference in getting more people to ride. The growth has also been driven by advancing legislation that has swelled the number of miles of bike lanes and dedicated bike paths to provide safer, less frightening conditions for cyclists and rules that are intended to create buffers between cars and cyclists when they interact on the road. All of this adds up to greatly boosting the number of cyclists on America's roads today.

Bike Month: Some of our favorite cycling related posts

With May being Bike Month and this week, in particular, being Bike to Work Week, I thought I would take a moment to reflect upon some of our favorite cycling related posts from the past couple of years.

To start, I want to go back to one of our earliest posts and one of only bike reviews at the moment. West Brother had just acquired a brand new K2 Astral 1.0, an uncomplicated and yet quite capable hybrid bike that would replace a wrongly size Walmart special. Since that review, the K2 has not seen a ton of usage, but recently, West Brother has acquired from me my old Ascent Fluid trainer, which he has been diligently using to get into shape for what should hopefully be a fruitful riding season.

One of my personal favorite pieces and one that was popular with our regular follower was when I talked about how riding a motorcycle actually helped to make me a better cyclist. It is funny that I first took up cycling in large part because I wanted to be in better shape to ride a motorcycle, figuring the similar posture of riding a road bike would help me cope with long hours in the seat of a motorcycle. Of course, the unexpected, but delightfully pleasant, consequence was that once I spent more time on the motorcycle, it also improved my cycling as well since there are many translatable skills that apply to all modes of two-wheeled transportation.

A more recent post detailed the trip that my wife and I took with some friends to the city of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. They French speaking city offered quite the experience and was one of the most bike friendly places I had ever visited with an extensive network of protected bike lanes that allowed one to get just about anywhere in the city on two wheels. Add to that the presence of the ubiquitous Bixi bike share and even as visitors, we were able to trek all over Montreal relying on nothing but two-wheels. Best of all, it gave us a chance to work off those calories from all of the poutine we were eating.

Finally, during our cross country road trip last summer, my wife and I had brought our bikes along to ride in the cities we visited as a way to avoid using the car more than necessary. However, when we got to Moab, Utah, we took the opportunity to put the road bikes away for the day and rented a pair of serious mountain bikes to ride the trails near beautiful Arches National Park. This was the first time that either of us had done any mountain biking and we instantly fell in love with it. The skill required to stay upright through the technical terrain and the rush from bounding down a rocky slope are things that are unique to this kind of riding, but carry with it learned skills that will help me in all of my two-wheeled adventures. It was so much fun, we have decided to commit to acquiring our own mountain bikes in the future so that we can go biking in some of the amazing trails around Southern California.

We hope everyone will take the opportunity this week to bike to work at least one time to experience the freedom that comes with getting away from the car sitting in traffic. Also, do not forget to follow me on Strava to keep tabs on my progress as I try to reach me goal of hitting 2,000 miles ridden before the end of the year. Only a few weeks in and I am already past the 10% mark.

Happy Bike Month!

Celebrate National Bike Month with us!

It is May again and, for many cyclists who do not live where it is warm year-round, it is the start of the cycling season. May is also National Bike Month and an opportunity to celebrate everything that cycling brings into our lives and community. Last year, for National Bike Month, we looked at a number of bike friendly wagons as a way of bridging the cycling and automotive worlds. This year, we want to focus on more cycling specific content so beginning next week we will be taking a look back at some of our two-wheeled, pedal powered adventures and adding some new adventures along the way.

Since returning to Southern California, cycling has grown to be an even bigger part of my life, becoming my primary mode of transit around town. With most days being warm and sunny, there are few excuses for not taking the bicycle instead of the car. As a show of my commitment, I have decided to set a goal to ride 2,000 miles this year on my bikes. Progress will be tracked via Strava, using my phone and my Galaxy Gear Live. The distance is about four to five times what I have ridden in past years, but that was living in places where I was not necessarily able to ride year-round. Since the tracking did not start until this April, I will have to ride an average of 50 miles a week to make the goal. I will post regular updates here on East-West Brothers Garage and you can always follow me on Strava to help me stay on track and motivated.




Hope all my fellow cyclists have a wonderful May and we wish everyone a great National Bike Month.

Editorial: Happy National Bike Month

May is National Bike Month and we here at East-West Brothers Garage encourage everyone to join us in celebrating by using your bikes in place of your car for some of the more mundane tasks in your daily life. If you can safely do so, consider using you bike to commute to work or to go to the store to grab groceries. Grab a ride from someone to get to school? How about riding a bike instead? Heading to a buddy's place to watch the game over some beer and pizza? Actually, consider calling a cab for that one.

The bike is no longer a purely recreational means of transportation. Yes, there are many people who do ride on the weekends, decked out in full kit (I am certainly a part of this group), but there are also lots of people who use their bicycles as a primary means of transportation. In fact, it is likely that many of those people who ride hard on the weekends also ride a bike during the week. Whether that is commuting to work or running errands, many people in cities all over the country have discovered the joy of riding a bicycle. Half the fun is figuring out how you can get everything you need where you need to go without relying on a single drop of gasoline to do it. Best of all, do it enough and you can enjoy the added health benefits as well, such as weight loss, better cardiovascular health, and those rock hard calves that everyone will be envious of.

Of course, please be safe, especially if you do not ride regularly. Make sure to wear a helmet, even if your state technically does not require it for adults and make sure that if you are expecting to ride later in the day to get proper lighting for both the front and rear of your bike. Follow the rules of the road and make sure you share the road with everyone else. For more information on bicycle safety, check out your local bicycle advocacy group. In the Boston area, it is the Boston Cyclists Union.

For this month, we will be making our own effort to take part. We will revisit some of our more bike focused articles and will even be focusing our car reviews around some cars that are popular with cyclists. To kick things off, I have already logged 39 miles this month on the bike and I hope to have the chance to log many more. Throughout the month, I will be updating our Facebook page with my experiences from the road and hope that you too can share yours in the comments below or via Facebook.

Happy National Bike Month and we hope you enjoy the ride!