Jessica and I rode the old English 3 speeds to work today, in honor of Earth Day and our car being out of gas. Hoping it forms a habit. Twas a tad chilly at 37F when we left the house but we had our love of the earth to keep us warm.
Speaking of habit forming, I know a lot of people with high efficiency cars get hooked on hyper-miling—changing their driving behavior to max out every last drop of fuel and/or electricity with the help of the instant feedback mpg readings on their dashboards.
Not my bag.
I could however, get into this:
A dashboard for your house’s fuel efficiency. You can watch the digits change as you unplug stuff. This one’s $99 from Black & Decker. The only question is, what do we call it?
Hyperhousing?
KiloWatching?
Minneapolis is the Top Bike City... Where's St. Paul?
Bicycling magazine recently released its rating of America’s Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities and Minneapolis came out on top displacing a number of other epic bike cultures for which I at least have nothing but respect. So rather than take this opportunity to gloat I’ve got two questions. First, how did this happen? Second, where is the other Twin City? After all many of us regularly cycle from one city to the other. For that matter many of us cycle further afield to Eagan, Minnetonka and other cities. Wouldn’t it be cool if both of the Twin Cities registered on the bike-ability scale. As a transplant to Minnesota I don’t get too bent out of shape that Saint Paul and the surrounding cities gets lumped under the title “Minneapolis” but in this case Saint Paul is woefully behind.
It turns out the answer to both questions is bike advocacy. And the moral of the story is that if you enjoy the bike scene in Minneapolis you owe a pretty huge debt to all the advocates who gave so generously of their time to help make that possible. Pay that forward by getting involved. By helping Saint Paul catch up. The movement is already happening but you can help. There are a few upcoming meetings to push forward efforts for bike-ways in Saint Paul. For instance, Jefferson Ave. from downtown to the river. There is a public hearing coming up on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. at 15 Kellogg blvd (in the City Council chambers) Email me for more info if you are interested in more info. Or just show up so the powers that be can see that the human powered set is passionate about the ride-ability of both cities.
More on other projects coming soon but you can also download the Central Corridor Bike Walk plan and see if you want to get involved with this effort. Coincidentally, the latest issue of Momentum magazine (free at One On One) has an article on bicycle advocacy.
Now doesn’t this feel just like what getting married is like? Off you go together on a grand adventure full of hope and energy. It’s almost Spring and if you are thinking about getting on your bike and/or getting hitched there are a few more fun bicycle wedding photos at Green Wedding Shoes
The posters designed by Jessica and Zara made it onto the cool Portland cycle blog Trackosaurus Rex. Check it out.
Now You Too Can Be Cyclopathic
At last there is a tool that enables cyclists to map their route from point A to point B while preferentially factoring in bike paths and bike lanes – Cyclopath. Now I’ve been to point B quite a few times and know the way but I’ve never gotten there from point C. Cyclopath allows me to map the route, adjust it, get a sense of what I’ll be in for and print directions. You can use any address in the Twin Cities and surrounding region the map covers and even map to points of interest like parks.
Maps can be viewed as street layer or aerial photos and the system indicates distance, allows you to make and save changes to maps, share them and even lets you interpret your route using several filters of special interest to cyclists like “byway type”, rating and even by slope so you can embark on the pleasantly futile task of trying to plan a route that’s down hill both ways.
There are many more features and it seems like a pretty powerful new tool but one with a little bit of a learning curve. Fortunately the folks at Cyclopath have taken this into account as well and are offering a lecture about how to use the system. Not only are the tool and the lecture free they’ll feed you breakfast so stop by as you ride your bike in to work tomorrow (weather should be pretty nice). The lecture is Thursday, November 12 from 8:30 – 9:30 at the UofM. More info available here. Can’t make it to breakfast. View it live online at 8:40am.
Who would take on this heroic and altruistic effort you ask? Well that is the beauty of having a large land-grant, research oriented, university in your town. The University of Minnesota’s Institute for New Media Studies did all the heavy lifting. Now all you have to do is enjoy the ride.
You ride a bike for the love of the ride but appreciate the health benefits too. And I might ad that smiling and fit is a great look on you. To draw a little more well deserved attention to your tail end try attaching these sweet panniers from Queen Bee Creations. Hand made by actual humans in Portland, OR these babies are well designed for artful form and function. Plus they’ll haul as much as a SUV (usually carries) while allowing you to definitively concur the moral high ground.
twin six: busy getting (even more) famous
here’s a great article on ridiculously talented mpls designers and all-around great guys, brent and ryan of twin six.
via allan peters.