or:
Around the World on a Bicycle by Fred A. Birchmore, 2020
This classic, once hard-to-find travelogue recalls one of the very first around-the-world bicycle treks. Filled with rarely matched feats of endurance and determination, Around the World on a Bicycle tells of a young cyclist's ever-changing and maturing worldview as he ventures through forty countries on the eve of World War II.
Have you read this?
A Bike Ride 12,000 miles around the world by Anne Mustoe, 2011
Her epic solo journey took her around the world, through Europe, India, the Far East and the United States. From Thessaloniki to Uttar Pradesh, from Chumphon to Singapore, she faced downpours, blizzards and blistering deserts, political turmoil and amorous waiters - alternated with great kindness from strangers along the way.
Anyone going to the #Philly #Bike Expo? I'm planning on attending today and tomorrow, although I haven't actually left my house yet.
I've found it very helpful in the past. Last time we attended, we discovered helmets with microphones and speakers that network together with Bluetooth, to make it easier to carry on conversations without biking side-by-side. Also fashionable reflective clothing.
Shifter posts excellent videos all about cycling including bikes, cycling tips, city cycling, bike accessories, maintenance, culture, preventing bike theft etc. You can follow at:
They've already posted over 270 videos. If these haven't federated to your server yet, you can browse them all at https://video.canadiancivil.com/a/shifter/videos
unimpressed with a campsite that I am thinking of booking. They forbid cycling on their internal roads including the road to the shop for the safety of other campers, obviously they don't forbid cars or camper vans on those roads because they're safe.
On Thursday, March 27, at 6:30pm, MCDOT will hold a hybrid (online
and in-person
) public hearing to discuss the proposed Cheltenham Drive Bikeway project in #BethesdaMD.
Details
https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=46653&Dept=50
#montgomerycountymd #bikeways #bicycles #mocobikes #bikemoco #transitTooter #meeting #transportation
#DidYouKnow the ' #capitalbikeshare For All' program is #free for #MontgomeryCoMD residents who qualify
'CaBi for All' Members get unlimited 60-minute rides on classic bikes& Ebikes!
Program details https://capitalbikeshare.com/pricing/for-all
#collegestudents #SNAPrecipents #commuters #MDCommuters #qualify #bicycles #transpostation #bikesaretransit
I did the Bicycle Network bicycle commuters count today from 7am to 9am.
I counted 489 people on bicycles.
40% of the riders looked like women.
60% of the riders looked like men.
There were lots of e-bikes but not as many as I expected. 3 bucket cargo bikes, a few long tails with children on the back. A few children riding to school.
The count stopped at 9am but the flow of bicycles didn't.
The western end of the Arden St protected bike lanes is coming along nicely.
They've almost completed the southern side up to Fogarty St which is half way to meeting up with the Laurens St protected bike lane.
Worst bicycle racks ever. At least if you have a U lock. I think these go in the "destroy your front tire" category.
(Update: @woelfisch informs me that this is called a "Felgenbieger" (rim bender) rack, in Germany and I'm going with it! LOL)
Critical Mass Footscray was good.
The ride down Dynon Rd was a bit somber as we let the cars use one lane. But the ride to the rainbow bridge was nice
Lots of fun bicycles. I got a photo of a side-by-side tandem.
We want to government to open to Dynon Rd cycle bridge that replaces the Dynon Rd footpath that has been removed and turned in to a car lane.
The bridge ('Rainbow Bridge') has been largely complete for years but is fenced off.
We also want to Dynon Rd bike path extended west up to Barkley St so people can use it to get to the Footscray shops.
We had 3 councilors from the Maribyrnong council along for the ride which was really great as well as the Green's candidate for Fraser.
Nice! Someone else has done the hard work and made a video of the Queens Ave bike path in Caufield.
3 months later and it looks like they've put the fix in. I'm doubtful that's a real fix for it given the low plastic yellow barrier just past it. But at least it makes the 'this is not a taxi rank' more obvious.
There aren't any taxis in the bike lane at the moment and a bunch of taxis have gone past in the 10mins I've been waiting here. That's a good sign.
But it also might just be not a busy night for taxis so they aren't queuing up as much.
It's also possible that City Of Melbourne sorted out a better place for them to queue.
The local council opposed this bike path and residents in the street complained about it. Alternative plans were put forward for a worse route via Derby Cres, but the residents on that street also complained because it would take away their parking.
There was a campaign to 'save the trees' (you can see protest signs on the trees in July 2022) but very few trees actually needed to be removed and it was mostly small shrubs and bushes.
Eventually the state government just ignored all the objections and had the courage to just build the bike path.
This path provides a safe bicycle connection between GlenHunty station and Caufield station as well as a connection to Monash University
Look how great it is.
Neat! The Google Street View car went down Queens Ave in Caulfield in December last year and caught the works building the separated bike path.
This path is now complete but I haven't had a chance to get over there and have a good at it.
Protected Bike lanes do two important, but often distinct things:
1. They provide protection from dangerous motor vehicles.
2. They prevent motor vehicles from delaying bicycles.
Motorists like to complain about the seconds of delay that waiting to safely overtake a cyclist adds to their journey but never acknowledge the way car traffic can turn a 10min bike ride in to 30mins of trying to work your way through the gaps.
Low speed but high traffic streets aren't exactly dangerous, but they still need protected bike lanes so that cyclists can get places without having to wait because of the poor choices of other road users.
Looks like they've started works on the protected bike lanes on the west end of Arden St.
My partner got an e-bike a 2 months ago and went from someone that rarely rides and only rides with me to someone that rides everywhere on her own. She's ridden 400km since we got the bike in December which is more than she rode in the last decade on her manual bike.
She tried an e-bike 10yrs ago but got really self-conscious about it because she thought other cyclists were looking down on her for being fat and 'cheating' at cycling.
She's now doing an 8.6km commute three days a week to her horticulture course.
She got a Vyron Cumulus (https://vyronelectricbikes.com.au/product/cumulus-step-through-commuter/) from Vyron Electric Bikes on the Upfield Path in Brunswick.
$1530, hub drive with a ~50km range.
Melbourne is really flat. We don't have mountains or hills. We have a flat volcanic plain that has been cut in to by rivers and creeks.
This is the elevation for a bike route that crosses the Merri Creek.
I often think that if we had the resources for cycling that we have for driving a lot of these dips would be flattened out by long bridges.
But it also means that e-bikes are really effective in Melbourne.
葉美華
