Yesterday marked the first time that both my wife and I would participate in the LA River Ride, something we learned about early on when we returned to LA nearly two years ago. It was from a woman who happened to be wearing one of the jerseys when she stopped in the grocery store to buy some stuff for her ride. As biking events go, this is one of more interesting ones because no roads are closed to hold the ride. Hosted by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, the ride is intended to give riders a taste of the cycling infrastructure (or lack thereof in some cases) that pervades the city and surrounding areas before connecting to the LA River Bikeway. Riders are encouraged to use their urban riding skills and follow traffic rules with ride marshalls helping to make sure people are riding courteously and safely. Given the potential for chaos when hundreds of cyclists take to the streets, the organization demonstrated for the event is downright impressive.
While the full route is just over 100 miles, I was only able to convince my wife to commit to the 50-mile route. That ride would take us from the Autry Center located on the grounds of Griffith Park in north LA all the way down to Dills Park in Paramount. A good portion of the ride was through the streets, but there were also long portions along the LA River, which varies from bland and unattractive concrete channel to lush green flora with accompanying fauna, depending on where you are.
At the start of this National Bike Month, my wife and I participated in the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure Ship to Shore cycling event in the city of Long Beach. Kicking things off in the shadow of the Queen Mary, the longest route takes a circuitous path around the local area and totals up somewhere around 100 miles. As this was our first time doing the event, and the first charity event that my wife has ever ridden, we opted for a much more manageable 11 mile route. The important thing is that the route allowed us the opportunity to cross the Gerald Desmond and Vincent Thomas bridges. Ever since I had learned last year that there was a chance to do such a preposterous sounding thing, I knew I had to make it happen, even if just once. Of course, experiencing this also got me thinking about just how different, yet still the same our needs are with different modes of transportation.
As an avid cyclist, one of the biggest challenges is finding the right way to travel with my bike. When it is just me, throwing the bike in the back of the car and packing a light day bag is not an issue. However, add in my wife, her bike, her stuff, our dog, and our dog's stuff, things start to get a bit crowded pretty quick. With the Focus, there is adequate space for one person, but definitely not enough for two plus the dog, which means we needed to look for a suitable solution to carry the bikes on the outside of the bike. Having experienced a trunk mounted solution during our cross country road trip, I was not particularly keen on going that route in part because it is not the easiest to put on and take off on short notice. I knew I still did not want a roof mounted solution because of the fuel economy penalty, especially given the already limited range of the EV.
After doing some research, I decided that the best solution was going to be a hitch-mounted rack. Going that route offered all manners of platform options, which was an absolute must because of my carbon fiber bike, but presented the minor hurdle that the Focus EV is not offered with a hitch. More research and digging around on the web resulted in the discovery of a few aftermarket solutions that bolted right on, would not affect the warranty, and could be easily removed before turning the car in at the end of the lease.
A few months worth of research resulted in my decision to go with the EcoHitch from Torklift Central in combination with the Kuat Sherpa hitch mount rack.
I launch away from the stop sign, sprinting hard to race up the short hill. Standing on the pedals, every stroke translating into more speed as I try to beat the cars to the light at the top. The road levels off just before the red light comes into view and I squeeze the brakes gently to bring the bike to a stop. Looking back, I can't help but smile as the first car only just pops into view after I catch my breath.
The Orca continues to prove itself a perfect complement to where I am in my evolution as a rider. It is far and away the lightest bike I have ever ridden, coming in at a scant 18.6 lbs, and that translates into fantastic acceleration. The smoother shifting of the Ultegra components means quicker transitions in cadence and allows me to manage my energy consumption much better as I no longer cringe at the thought of shifting and dealing with the jolt and stutter that I used to get from the components on my old K2. Handling feels fantastic as the bike turns in much more willingly than I ever remember the K2 being and with less weight to move around, I am able to toss it around at will and be confident that I am in complete control. Best of all, despite being stiffer all around, the bike actually delivers a more compliant ride than the aluminum frame it replaced. The layup of the carbon in the seat stays and the use of a carbon seat post seems to damp the ride much better than the aluminum K2.
Of course, one clear thing to keep in mind is that this is a significantly more expensive bike than the one it replaced. It was nearly four times the cost in price paid and over four times the MSRP. It is not hard to see where the extra expense went as the bike is just all around a better ride. While I have not gone out riding nearly as much as I had hoped I would this year, every ride on it proves to me that it was worth every single penny.
As the miles rack up, I expect the bike to reveal ever more of its character to me and to become ever more enjoyable to ride.
I had planned on running an editorial on a different topic, but reading some of the commentary on several recent incidents involving cars and two-wheeled vehicles along with nearly getting run over by cars while crossing the street last week has me more than a little upset at the callous attitude so many drivers exhibit. The most recent incident, shown in the video below, records one of the most unnervingly unsympathetic and completely sociopathic people I have ever seen. Shortly after swerving to cause a motorcycle carrying a passenger to crash, this driver has the gall to stand there and declare, "I don't care" when he is questioned about what he just did. Such disregard for human life is not just a little scary, it is downright run-for-the-hills alarming. Then, to make matters worse, the comments from other people start to pile on and, protected by the anonymity of the Internet, we get to really see what people think of those of us who choose not to get around everywhere surrounded by the metal crash structure of a car.
My own experience this past week has not been significantly better. On one occasion, while crossing at a signal controlled intersection, within the boundaries of the clearly marked crosswalk with a clearly visible walk signal, my dog and I were nearly run down by a livery driver who thought it was entirely appropriate to enter the crosswalk as soon as I had cleared the space he wanted to occupy, barely missing us by inches. Naturally, such a close encounter is going to startle a pedestrian and I immediately spun around to confront the driver of the large black SUV, who threw his hands in the air in exasperation as if he were confounded by why I was upset. Setting aside the fact that he was in clear violation of the law, which requires that drivers refrain from entering a crosswalk until pedestrians have cleared it completely, his lack of any semblance of guilt for the maneuver, compounded by his clear lack of giving a shit for my safety, sent me into a rage, causing an expletive laden diatribe to pour forth from my mouth. The SUV screeched off and I was left upon the side of the road seething in an adrenaline fueled state of anger.
Stories like this are all too common among the cycling community as well. There are countless stories of drivers intentionally making efforts to intimidate riders who are following their legal right to use entire traffic lanes. Some drivers go so far as to knock the rider over, force them off the road, or otherwise cause them bodily harm. When such incidents are reported in the media, the commentary that follows usually devolves into a cesspool of shameless victim blaming with many people voicing the sentiment that the cyclists "got what they deserved" for taking up the whole lane.
I believe this mentality towards anyone not ensconced in the confines of a car seems stem from a few key areas: ignorance, unfairness, and lack of education.
The ignorance comes in many flavors. It could be ignorance of the laws. It could be ignorance of the experience of others. It could just be plain and simple ignorance because of lack of exposure. Whatever, the cause, ignorance can be a tremendously dangerous fuel for dangerous and destructive behaviors. One of the greatest areas of ignorance for many Americans is simply an ignorance of perspective through the eyes of another road user. Most Americans will never ride a motorcycle during their lifetime and most stopped riding bicycles when they became old enough to drive. Since our culture is so dominated by driving, most Americans hardly spend time as pedestrians anymore, aside from the walk from the car door across the parking lot to enter the fast food join where their dinner awaits. Not understanding how the world view is different through the eyes of a pedestrian, cyclist, or motorcyclist leads to a lack of understanding of what is perceived as dangerous. Driving in a car, passing a pedestrian or cyclist with less than a foot of space may seem totally safe to a driver, but is a shockingly close call to someone without any kind of physical protection.
One of the most common arguments against the idea of letting motorcyclists lane split is that it is "unfair" for drivers to have to sit in traffic while motorcyclists get to zoom ahead. A common myth levied against cyclists using traffic lanes is how "unfair" it is that cyclists are allowed on the roads but do not have to pay registration and taxes to help pay for those roads. Both of these try to appeal to a sense of "fairness" that taps into the absurdly selfish belief that road use is somehow a zero sum game. If someone else is getting some kind of advantage, then it must be taking away from you in some way. We have turned road use into a kind of sick reality TV competition where the winner gets a crap prize accompanied by their 15 minutes of Internet fame. This attitude is also what leads to some of the more epic road rage incidents as one entitled person takes out their frustration on another in some misguided belief that this will somehow result in them being happier, but only ends up with them in jail.
As for the lack of education, it is a topic that I often revisit. Our driver education system is so pathetic as to be laughable. Not only do we fail to instill in drivers the rules of how to safely operate two ton weapons on the road, we fail to do any semblance of follow-up to make sure that they remain safe in their operation. Just as we license doctors and require them to re-qualify for their license every few years, drivers should be required to update their qualifications from time to time to ensure that they understand how rules have changed or evolved. On top of that, our driver education testing is atrociously inconsistent and lacking in interactions with other road users that it should be no surprise that most drivers simply have no idea what the laws are that pertain to motorcyclists, cyclists, or pedestrians. Testing criteria should be standardized and much more comprehensive and the standards much more stringent to ensure that the pilot of a two-ton box of metal is fully able to comprehend how serious the task of driving really is. Triggers for automatic failure should include reaching for a phone, hitting anything of any kind, and any moving violation that would normally result in a traffic citation. Of course, these standards are going to be the most difficult to change as legislation to alter driving requirements is often met with opposition that rivals the wrath of Zeus himself. There are certainly many advanced driver education options throughout the country and bless the hearts of those who invest the time and money to take those for their own, and everyone's, sake.
At the end of the day, regardless of how utterly ridiculous the current situation might be, what really needs to happen is that everyone needs to learn a bit of respect for everyone else. Just because someone has made the decision to not drive a car does not make them any less of a person. Do not judge them for their choice and instead, focus on your own.
Choose to be respectful of the rights of all road users.
Choose to educate yourself about the rules of the road and follow them as best as you can.
Choose to leave a little earlier so that you are not in a rush and cause chaos along the way.
Choose to allow a greater margin for error anytime you are behind the wheel.
Most importantly, choose to be aware of your surroundings and realize that your actions have an impact on your environment and take responsibility when you make a mistake. There is no faster way to diffuse a situation than to be genuinely apologetic, own your mistake, and communicate that to the other party.
As for the driver above, who exhibits such an abhorrent disregard for human life, I hope that he is punished to the fullest extent of the law for his actions. At a very minimum, I hope such a driver has his driving privileges revoked for the remainder of his life.
The development of cycling infrastructure is a constant struggle to balance the needs of cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists. Many municipalities continue to turn to third party design firms for new ideas on how to strike the appropriate balance, and one such firm has adapted a concept that is increasingly popular in Europe and put in place a working example in downtown Salt Lake City. Alta Design + Planning, which specializes in active transit planning drew inspiration from similar intersections in the Netherlands and worked with SLC city planners to get it implemented at a heavily trafficked intersection of two cycle tracks.
Image courtesy of Alta Planning + Design
By adding some small concrete islands in strategic locations, the new protected intersection provides clearly demarcated paths for cars, bikes, and pedestrians, extending the separation and protection offered by the cycle tracks. Additionally, by using the concrete traffic islands, a space is created to shelter bikes that need to make a left turn, making it so that cyclists no longer need to maneuver across several car lanes in order to get over to the left turn lane. This makes the entire process of a left turn much less disruptive to the overall flow of traffic and helps to reduce the potential of crashes resulting from right of way violations. As an avid cyclist, I would welcome this kind of intersection anywhere there are protected cycle tracks. The good news is that several other cities are evaluating similar intersections or in various stages of implementation.
Update: As promised, I took the bike out for a ride and ended up doing 36.6. miles.
Next Tuesday, September 22, is World Car Free Day where people from around the world have pledged not to use their car and take alternative forms of transportation instead. Ride your bike or take public transit to work. Walk to the grocery store or to grab your lunch. Take a stroll or bike ride after dinner to enjoy the evening air. This is an opportunity to experience the transportation options that are available to you in your area and gives you a chance to see how others, especially those who do not have access to a car, get around. It is also a chance to see just how much of your day to day driving is truly necessary.
I have the good fortune of having a job that allows me to work from home, which means my commute consists of rolling out of bed and stumbling over to my desk. However, since according to the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics the average American has a one-way 26.4 minute commute with an average distance of 15.3 miles, I am committing to jumping on my bike and riding in solidarity with my fellow commuters. That means over the course of the day, I will need to ride just under 31 miles. As proof, I will track the ride on Strava and share the data.
What about you, dear reader? Will you commit to giving alternative transportation options a chance next Tuesday?
Take the pledge and share with us what you plan to do to celebrate World Car-Free Day.
The modern iteration of the Critical Mass ride is over two decades old and started off as a way for cyclists to gather and assert their rights to use the road. It started out as a small ride in San Francisco but has grown into a rowdy and chaotic protest that takes place worldwide. With no leadership to speak of and no real hierarchy or formal organization, there is little effort to work with proper channels or the authorities to do things in a safe, much less legal, manner. That has caused the rides to become not only controversial for their lack of adherence to traffic laws, but have also resulted in numerous collisions or other traffic incidents where riders were injured.
Mother Nature can be a real pain in the ass, especially if you enjoy activities that are heavily weather dependent. During the days leading up to our trip, I was checking the weather obsessively. The plan was for my wife and I to go skydiving on Saturday morning, but there was a greater than 50% chance of rain that was threatening our chances. As the week proceeded, the probability of rain seemed to drop ever so slightly and by Thursday evening, when I picked up our long-term MDX for the weekend, the forecast was looking promising, with less than 10% chance of rain in the area surrounding our jump zone. Fingers-crossed, I loaded our bikes into the back of the MDX along with our luggage and after work on Friday, we hit the road headed south.
Imagine my surprise when I arrived home on Saturday after hanging out with West Brother to find that the streets right around my home closed off to traffic. There was a vague inkling of local retailers and restaurateurs mentioning that there was some event going on over the weekend, but no one had clearly indicated what that event was. And of course, the last few weeks had been so busy, I had not paid that much attention to the little posters popping up in the shop windows. Once I managed to make my way back to my parking space, it was time to go explore and find out what was going on.
As it would turn out, going on literally steps from my front door was the Long Beach Bike Fest, a celebration of all things two wheeled with vendors hawking their wares, local advocacy groups recruiting for members, and, of course, the obligatory biergarten to satisfy the thirst of the throngs of local cyclists who had come to attend. What was not expected, however, was the presence of a closed course race track on public streets. As a part of the Bike Fest, a square track had been cordoned off for the Wolfpack Hustle Short Line Criterium race. The race was open registration, meaning just about anyone with a bike that could pass inspection, could register to participate in any of the 4 races.
As with any Craigslist purchase, I am more than a little cautious, especially given how eager the seller is. We trade text messages back and forth at a furious pace -- me fishing for more details about the bike and him fishing for a sale. We each manage to get what we are seeking and he extends the offer to bring the bike to me to see in person. I pick a public location just in case and head to bank to pick up a large stack of bills.
My first look at the bike is that it is rather unassuming, the dark color scheme not particularly standing out and bearing more than a passing resemblance to the colors of my K2. But I lift it off the sellers bike rack and the difference is immediately noticeable. This is my first ever ride of a carbon fiber bike. I have been lusting after them for a long time, but never had the justification to even try one until now and I can now fully appreciate why people rave about them. The lightness is downright astounding. Even without it being properly adjusted for me and on cheap plastic platform pedals, I can already feel the dramatic difference. The ride quality is stiff without being harsh, rather similar to the ride of my vintage steel frame Shogun, but the torsional rigidity is off the charts. I stand up and hammer on the pedals for a bit and the bike immediately shoots across the parking lot without so much as a whiff of hesitation. Each request for a shift is answered with a smooth transition from the Ultegra derailleurs and the brakes bring the bike to a strong and drama free stop.
I am in love...
The big stack of cash is handed over to the seller and the Orca is placed into the back of my car.
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!
This bike is long overdue for an introduction. I had been debating whether to even include it, but because it is to me a "forever" bike, one that I will keep as long as I possibly can, it seems like it would be unfair of me to exclude it from the Garage.
My blue Shogun 600 was actually the first bike I purchased as an adult over a decade ago when I took my first job in Washington, DC. At the time, my motivations were two-fold:
1. I wanted to get myself conditioned to the riding position so that I would be comfortable riding motorcycles.
2. The Tour de France had just finished and I had been watching it on TV, inspiring me to get off my ass and get out to see my surroundings.
Purchased for a pittance from a local seller on Craigslist, the bike felt fantastic to me from the first moment I hopped on it, despite it being about two sizes too large for me. With a bit of adjustment and some acclimation, I was still able to ride it in comfort.
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.
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.
As a cyclist, when I am pushing hard, I generally ride solo. It is not that I do not enjoy the company, but that I have typically not found the right group of people to ride with. Either my style is too intense for those seeking a casual ride or I am not quite fast enough for those really serious riders. Now that I am back in Southern California, I have decided that I want to try to find a group that I can ride with consistently in order to build up my skills riding in a pace line as well as improve my general riding skills so that I can continue to get faster. Of course, I cracked open my web browser and pointed it to Google to try to find a group that would suit my needs. As it turns out, in the Long Beach area, there are essentially two groups: the more intensely competitively Velo Allegro and the more casual rider friendly Lightning Velo. When I reached out, Lightning Velo was first to respond so I decided to join them early on a Saturday for my first go at a group ride.
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.
A frequent argument that many cycling detractors use against cyclists is that they do not pay taxes and therefore do not have a right to use the road. While the usual counter argument to this fallacy is that many cyclists are also owners of cars, and thus pay their share that way, there may be a different argument that could have an even greater impact. What if I told you that getting more people to ride bikes could actually have an improvement on the overall US economy?
At first glance, that seems almost too simple so as to be laughable, but hear me out. The Wall Street Journal recently published an article discussing how the US economy was being impacted by the inability to maintain and replace aging infrastructure that forced many US companies to lose efficiency in the name of meeting their obligations to customers. One example they gave was that the amount of congestion in large cities can get so bad that UPS, one of the largest package delivery operations in the world, was forced to place additional trucks on the road to cover the same route just to be able to ensure that they could make all of their deliveries on time. Having those extra trucks on the road not only adds to the congestion that is causing the problem, but also contributes towards pollution, a less visible cost. Those extra trucks also result in greater wear and tear on that aging infrastructure, further accelerating its deterioration.
Take a city like Los Angeles, which is notorious for its traffic congestion and constant road work to maintain a massive network of roads that allow people to make their daily commutes. According to the US Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, there are around 5.5 million commuters in the LA-Long Beach-Santa Ana metro area that commute to work every day and 84% of those commutes are taken by car. Of those commuters, 21.15% of them drive less than 15 minutes in order to get to work. That means there are potentially 1.17 million people who could probably ride a bicycle to work. If we conservatively estimate that we could switch 1 million people from driving to bicycling or other forms of mass transit for their commutes, that would remove close to 1 million cars from the roads during the most congested times, a reduction of nearly 20% in the volume of cars on the road.
Image courtesy of irishcycles.com
If we think about this further, that reduction in congestion would make commerce more efficient and would reduce the amount of money, time, and energy we would need to spend on maintaining and upgrading roads and other infrastructure. At the same time, to accommodate the increased volume in cyclists, new projects could be planned that provide protected cycling infrastructure to help urban and suburban roads handle the extra bike traffic which would be long lasting as bicycles, with their significantly smaller footprint, do not place much wear and tear on roads. Additionally, all of those cars off the road means less gasoline consumed and fewer pollutants released into the air.
An example of the kind of bike infrastructure
that could be built
Now the economic impact comes in a few different ways. One, the consumer spending on cycling and related equipment would provide a boost to the retail segment with many local bike shops as well as big box retailers receiving the bulk of the benefit and hopefully needing to hire more staff to handle the increase in sales. Two, studies show that cyclists are more likely to spend funds locally, which means local economies will likely see a boost in sales from the increased presence of cyclists leading to more sales tax revenue. Three, cyclists tend to be healthier so spending on healthcare will decrease allowing for more disposable income to be spent elsewhere, providing a boost to the retail and restaurant sectors. Four, the projects needed to put in place proper infrastructure to handle the larger volume of cyclists will also create new construction jobs locally that, while temporary, will help put more people to work. A side benefit of this is that cycling is more accessible to people and by improving the infrastructure, it allows more people to go further to seek out job opportunities. Finally, the reduced congestion and fewer cars on the road allows for an opportunity to finally fix all that aging infrastructure and design it properly to accommodate the new traffic demands, leading to yet more construction jobs.
Of course, this is a greatly simplified look at the potential economic impact of increasing cycling, but hopefully one that provides some food for thought. While it is not possible for everyone to do, anyone who drives less than 15 minutes to get to work should take a serious look at cycling as a viable alternative for their commute. By making a minor change, especially in an area where the weather is cooperative year-round like Los Angeles, could have a tremendous impact on the overall quality of life all the residents in the area.
It warms my heart when I see automakers doing things to make cycling safer. As cars and bikes continue to increasingly share space on public roads, the addition of new technologies to allow the two modes of transport to coexist. Many of these technologies simply focus around awareness, making drivers more aware of the presence of bikes in their immediate vicinity or cyclists more aware of upcoming cars. Primarily, Volvo and Jaguar-Land Rover have created new tech that they hope to incorporate into future cars to help drivers and cyclists to be safer together.
Volvo's approach is a two-way communication system that requires both technology in their cars as well as technology in cyclist's helmets. By allowing the helmets to communicate with the cars, it is possible to make drivers aware of the presence of a cyclist, helping to reduce accidents that result from drivers failing to notice a cyclist in their blind spot. Additionally, since the communication happens in both directions, the helmet will also warn the cyclist of the presence of a nearby car. The technology relies on Volvo's cloud network that links their vehicles in order to feed the data to the cars or apps which the smart helmets would be linked to, so it is likely that some kind of subscription may be required. And while this technology sounds like it has great potential, the relatively small number of new Volvo cars on the road today in the US means that we will likely see limited effectiveness of this technology unless other manufacturers also begin to adopt it.
Jaguar and Land Rover, however, are taking a totally different approach. Instead of relying on a two-way communication system, JLR's setup, known as Bike Sense, uses the various sensors already in the car for various existing safety tech and adds a layer of notifications on top specific to cyclists. For instance, if a cyclist is nearby, the car will notify the driver by playing the sound of a bike bell through the audio system. If a cyclist is detected in the blind spot, the car will use the air bladder in the shoulder bolsters to tap the driver on the side that the bike is approaching from. In addition to audio and physical cues, visual cues are incorporated as well using a series of LED lights hidden in the pillars and upper door panels that change color as a a cyclist approaches. And in a stroke of absolute genius, JLR has also incorporated door handles that vibrate if a cyclist is approaching, helping to reduce incidences of dooring. Best of all, the tech is calibrated to work with not only bicycles, but can apply to motorbikes as well.
While this kind of technology is still fairly rare, it is great to see that the automakers are recognizing the importance of their 2-wheeled compatriots on the larger transportation landscape. This kind of technology investment, especially as cars become increasingly aluminum intensive, and thus more costly to repair, should help cyclists be better protected, but should also help car owners to protect their investment as well. Plus, the added bonus of making our roads safer for everyone is a reality that cannot be ignored. As an avid cyclist, I am excited to see how this kind of technology continues to develop and hope that the increased awareness by drivers can lead to even bigger systemic changes in the future.
Click past the jump to read more about these exciting new safety technologies.
The warm autumn air ebbed around us as we set out towards the water. The plan was to ride along the Marvin Braude path into Marina Del Rey and then cross through into Venice where we would be attending a film screening at a community garden for the film Growing Cities, a look at urban agriculture's development across the United States. It was late in the afternoon in the middle of November, but the weather was a balmy 80 degrees and even with the slight sea breeze, it was a comfortable day for a ride.
Cresting the final hill, we descended to the water and picked up the trail, joining the stream of cyclists and other pedestrians enjoying the remnants of the afternoon sunlight. The beach is always a wonderful place to be in Southern California. We pass by families with children building sand castles along the water line, people playing volleyball in Manhattan Beach, and hang gliders taking off near Dockweiler. As we cross the bridge into Marina Del Rey, the sun begins to cast that deep orange glow that signals that it is about to set. Another 30 minutes and we finally arrive to catch our movie, but the real adventure had just begun.
Yesterday marked the first time that both my wife and I would participate in the LA River Ride, something we learned about early on when we returned to LA nearly two years ago. It was from a woman who happened to be wearing one of the jerseys when she stopped in the grocery store to buy some stuff for her ride. As biking events go, this is one of more interesting ones because no roads are closed to hold the ride. Hosted by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, the ride is intended to give riders a taste of the cycling infrastructure (or lack thereof in some cases) that pervades the city and surrounding areas before connecting to the LA River Bikeway. Riders are encouraged to use their urban riding skills and follow traffic rules with ride marshalls helping to make sure people are riding courteously and safely. Given the potential for chaos when hundreds of cyclists take to the streets, the organization demonstrated for the event is downright impressive.
