May is national bike month, but what does that mean?  It means ad campaigns and bike to work promotions and maybe, just maybe, decent weather.   For me bike month means a lot of people send me links to stories about the car/rider disputes.  Lesson? We all need to practice safe riding and driving.  Only safe riding can help change the perception that cyclists are scofflaws and that drivers hate cyclists.   Allow me to explain.

 A Trek colleague sent me a link to an article in the Atlanta Constitution.    The article was simply titled “Should Bikes Be Allowed on the Road?”  I had a feeling before I read the comments that there would be some not-too-nice comments about bike riders.   The term “blather” doesn’t come close to the 50+ comments that were posted, among them the usual old saws like:

- bike riders don’t follow the rules

- bike riders should stay off the road and on the sidewalk/bike path

- bike riders cause traffic to jam up 

- And my personal favorite: “bikes cause cars to have to go around them on blind hills which is dangerous.”  

 It’s hard to listen to those complaints and not get upset however, good communication requires understanding.  W hat I hear when I read the criticisms is fear, lack of understanding of the rules of the road, and uncertainty about how to work around bikes. 

Example: Why would anyone in a car pass another car on a blind hill? They most likely would not, but for some reason some drivers feel it’s ok to pass a bike on a blind hill….and instead of using common sense they get angry at the bike for being there.  I don’t know how to fix that one.    

Then again why would a cyclist zoom past a line of cars in order to make a right turn and risk being hit by the car already in the turning process?  I’ve seen this happen as I sit in my spot behind the cars in line to turn and watch a rider cruise past us to get to the front.   This is just plain foolish on the rider’s part and earns the angst (rightfully so) of the drivers who see it. 

Let me say that I firmly believe that cyclists are NOT innocent of rule breaking when it comes to riding in traffic.  But neither are drivers.   So all the shouting is getting us nowhere and why don’t we start talking a bit?  If someone starts shouting at you, don’t shout back. Use words.  Calm words.    We need a little Steven Covey here: Seek to understand before you are understood, ok?

Can we cyclists police ourselves better?  Can we be predictable and courteous?  It doesn’t mean that drivers will return it but MOST of them will.   That’s all we can hope for…most drivers are kind to bikes so let’s aim to be good citizens, on and off the bike, in and out of our autos.  

Safe riding all.  And if you haven’t joined your local or state bike advocacy group yet please do.  We need more voices at the table listening and talking.   

I was filling up my car last week and realized that just two years ago my tank took $29 to fill.  It’s now $57 and that extra $28/week is starting to hurt.    I take my bike to work so where the heck am I using the gas?

I’ve decided that the only way I can cut back on using my vehicle is to be very aware of how much I drive.  One way to do that is to ration the gas I buy.  Welcome back to 1940.  

My goal for April is to fill the car with $30 of gas each week.  No more, no less, but the $30 has to last an entire week.   So far my plan is working; I’m choosing differently because of the $30/week limit.  Example?

Last night I really, really, really wanted a glass of wine.  I could feel that my red wine cell count was low but…it would be a 15 mile round trip to get it and it was too dark to ride a bike.   So, I stayed home and had hot chocolate.  You know what? I was ok with that.   It’s funny how challenge creates opportunities to make changes we may have been wanting to make anyway. 

If I gain some fitness and lose some of the winter wine weight while staying under $30/week, I come out ahead.  I double dog dare you to try this…..pick whatever the dollar amount it was two years ago to fill your tank, and make it last a week.  Then write to me and tell me what choices you made to stretch the petrol.   Email me at info@1world2wheels.org.   

 For my part, I have to drive to town for a meeting today and one of the stops I’ll make is to the wine store.  I deserve a treat for not making the extra trip last night.  Yee-haw.

Someone sent me this photo and I’ve no idea if it was a real photo or an altered one.  It doesn’t matter as the message is  timely.  $4 gas, traffic jams, pollution….how many more reasons to we need to “go by bike?” 

It’s time to make a small change in habit; take your bike for short trips.  What is a short trip? It’s the one or two block ride to the gas station for a newspaper.  Or the mile drive to the bank to make a deposit, or the pharmacy to pick up a script.   The two mile drive to the java joint for a latte.  

Can we, collectively as a 1world2wheels community commit to taking these short trips by bike in May? 

What say we give this a try; leave the car and take your bike for short trips.  Then drop me a note and let me know how it’s going.  If you send a photo and brief story I’ll publish it on the site.    We need examples and stories and motivation to get ourselves and our friends out of the car and onto the bike.   Are you ready?  Go! Send me your fun stories about going by bike…info@1world2wheels.org. 

The Washington DC Annual Bike Summit is a cheer-for-all for bikes and bike people.   The Bike Summit is two days of seminars on what is happening around the country where bikes are concerned  and a few receptions in between.

If you’ve never been to the bike summit–or any summit for that matter–but you ride a bike I recommend you take the three days vacation next year and trek to the bike mecca of Washington.  The atmosphere was downright friendly with five or six hundred cyclists from all walks of life coming together around a topic we all love.  There were people in suits and jeans and people in bike jerseys.   It was a small comet of similar interests and the results were nothing short of stellar.

In three days I met people from every state.  They came to learn and to speak to their legislators and in some cases, to learn to speak to their legislator.  

 If you’ve never paid a visit to your congressman/woman it is much easier than one might imagine.  The Longworth building houses a lot of legislators and as soon as you are inside you see that you belong.  Groups of people representing their causes gather outside of legislative offices, waiting to be heard. 

 We elected these people, so they have to listen to us.  How beautiful is that? A group of ten of us from Wisconsin stopped in Congressman Ryan’s office and we laid out our case to the legislative aide that Wisconsin has a vibrant bike industry that contributes $10 billion to the Wisconsin economy and provides thousands of jobs.    We asked for support of upcoming  legislation that can add more funding for bicycle infrastructure.  we asked for bikes to be considered in all transporation bills. 

 My personal request to both Congressmen was that they ride to work.  That got the same raised eyebrow look both times.  I suggested that if Ryan and Kind start riding they could start a “bike pool” with  Congressman Blumenauer (D-Oregon) and James Oberstar (D-Minnesota) .

 That would really be a sign of change, wouldn’t it?

I learned that there are a lot of bike advocates in this country who showed up to speak to their legislators about making sure bikes get their fair share of the transporation pie.  Right now, that slice is mighty small but that means there’s no where to go but up.

I get emails everyday with news of projects that leave me in awe of what the human mind can do. One of the emails I got came with the message that is the headline of this post and it’s so true; turn an artist loose with no limits and cool things happen. Here are two of my favorite bike-turned-into-art projects.

The first is the “Green Hummer Project.” Upon opening the website to the Green Hummber Project I found a “hummer-esque” vehicle that is powered by two humans and rolls around the streets of Savannah, Georgia as a poster vehicle for over-consumption.

The Green Hummer is competitive with the real H2 on many levels and beats the H2 in several categories: gas mileage, weight, load to weight ratio, and cost. It’s also comparable on height, width and seating capacity. Either vehicle will get you around town but you can’t argue with the massive savings in cost and fuel that the Green Hummer offers.

You have to give these students credit for ingenuity. While not a school project, many of the Green Hummer project builders are or were students at the Savannah School of Art and Design. Read more about it: http://greenhummerproject.org/

The next groovy thing is a video clip sent to me by a Trek colleague who said the video would “make Fred Flintstone proud.” I spilled some coffee as I watched it because I was giggling, then laughing at the great spirit behind this pedal powered “car.” As my Trek colleague put it, “My favorite part of the video is the driver talking to the cop. That’s all I’m going to say except enjoy! http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/clips/toronto-cops-dont-like-bicycle-cars-329652.php

There is an old proverb that says “may you live in interesting times.” And I believe we do. For the first time in our nation’s history, the average American child has a shorter life expectancy than his or her parents. Inactivity and obesity are compromising our health. Global warming is threatening our future. Congestion is eroding our patience and our mobility. These are truly interesting times.

Looking at these pressing issues; global warming, escalating obesity, increasing congestion - there is one common answer. The bicycle is a cure to much of what ails us. Its is an elegant, yet simple solution to many complex problems.

When I was young, my Mother taught me many valuable lessons, but none more important than ‘to whom much is given, much is required’. As the president of Trek Bicycles, I believe that I have been given much, but nothing more valuable than this opportunity to Change the World.

Yes, it sounds lofty and perhaps naïve, but with further reflection, the opportunity is not only real, I believe it is within reach.

This summer on a trip from Boulder back to Wisconsin, I asked myself a simple question; Is Trek doing enough to help change the world by making it a more bike friendly place? We have often taken a leadership role in advocacy, but I quickly came to the conclusion that we had a great opportunity and a great responsibility to do more. At Trek we came up One World Two Wheels - our commitment to get more people on bikes more often. Our goal is to increase the number of trips taken in the US by bike from .5 percent to 5.o percent by 2017.

This website is our portal to spreading not only the reasons to ‘go by bike’ but also how to get started. This cause is just like riding a bike - its all about momentum.

- John Burke, President, Trek Bicycles

I’ve accomplished a fair amount in life; college, home ownership, sports achievements, gainful employment…but one area eludes me. That would be using my cloth grocery bag.

I grew up in the ’70s, when there were plenty of grownups around who liked to recall how their mom/dad/grandma saved everything “because they grew up during the depression.” It must have been an awfully bad time because people saved everything from strings to buttons and re-soled their shoes. I heard these things so often that I came to appreciate not wasting food or clothing or buying things I didn’t need.

Then along comes the “green” movement. Waste not, want not redux. Like many people I’ve been reading about how to live with a smaller carbon footprint. I take my bike instead of the car whenever I can, I burn wood from fallen trees and I have a cloth grocery bag.

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