After months of waiting and some light nudging from some dedicated groups, Google has finally released the beta version of the “Go By Bike” feature for Check out any google map directions and click the dropdown menu and select “Bicycling”.
The application is just in beta format right now so feel free to report back to Google with any unmapped bike routes or streets that are not suited for cycling. It already seems pretty dialed as I bike mapped my route to a favorite pub and “the Google” already knew that the main street along the route is part highway and re-routed me to a street I was previously unaware of. Can’t wait to try out the new route.

Many props to the Google peeps today!

Well, Ride the Drive has come and gone, and it was, how shall I say, AWESOME! The weather was absolutely perfect. Not a cloud in the sky. Temperatures were unseasonably cool, which was great. It was a perfect day. And the turn-out was amazing. Walkers. Runners. And of course bikers. Heck, we even had dancers. All enjoying Madison’s great streets in a way that, until today, would have been impossible. I saw families out on the route, little kids riding 12 inch wheel bikes. I saw pull behind bikes. I saw empty-nesters rekindling their romance. Bagpipes under the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace? Yep. Acoustically impressive (can you feel my goose bumps?). Live music sprinkled throughout the six-mile route. Oh, and the high wheelers. How cool was that?!? And, anytime you’ve got the Wienermobile at your event, it’s a good time. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported RTD. And see you next year!

1 World 2 Wheels loves FREIKER. It’s a great program that’s proven to get kids riding, walking, skating, dancing, shuffling, whatever. It gets kids outta the car, into the fresh air, and exercising. If you ask me, that’s a recipe for a brighter future. Teachers. Parents. School Administrators. They agree. Anyway, when we heard about the Bicycle Are McFarland’s Future group at McFarland High School (just a few clicks south east of Madison), FREIKER almost immediately came to mind. The school had already made the commitment and laid the ground work to get students riding. But FREIKER could help make that program an even bigger success. So given our support for FREIKER, we worked really hard to make McFarland the first school in Wisconsin to implement the FREIKER system. What started in the late summer last year with planning and preparation is, I’m happy to say, now a fully implemented and working FREIKOMETER. Way to go McFarland HS! Thanks for making a commitment to non-motorized transportation. Here’s hoping FREIKER spreads throughout the greater Madison area (just like it has in Boulder, CO) and all over Wisconsin!

The first-ever Wisconsin Bike Summit kicks off today. It’s really exciting to think about cyclists from all over the state coming together, getting organized, and having our voices heard by our state legislators. The Bike Fed of Wisconsin is putting on the event, and today advocacy leaders from the League of American Bicycles, Bikes Belong Coalition, and the Bike Fed will talk to Summit-goers to get them fired up about all the good things bicycles can do for their local communities, the state of Wisconsin, and for the country. Traffic congestion. Air pollution. Obesity. The bicycle really can be a simple solution to complex problems.

Tomorrow we head to the Capitol to meet face-to-face with our respective representatives. We have three asks on the docket: 1) a commitment to increase funding for bicycling infrastructure and maintenance from 1.4% to 3.0% of all transportation dollars; 2) support for Complete Streets, which in essences requires that all new road construction takes into account bicycle traffic as part of the road plan; and 3) support the car-dooring legislation currently up for a vote; right now, in Wisconsin, if a motorist opens the door of his parked car and takes out a cyclists, by law, it’s automatically the cyclists fault; this new legislation would remove the automatic culpability from the cyclists and instead allow the investigating authorities to assign the blame where it rightly belongs in each particular instance a cyclist OR motorist.

Are you one of those people who would ride to work IF there was a place to lock up your bike and a place to clean up? Or maybe you’ve begged for a bike rack at work only to get no response? Fear not….you now have a resource to turn to for help.

Our good friends at the Bike League (.org) have launched the Bicycle Friendly Business program.  BFB provides technical assistance to companies and organizations so they may foster a healthier workplace.

The BFB evaluates applicants but just because a company applies doesn’t mean they will earn the designation “bicycle friendly business.”  Still, they just might learn what it is they need to do to become bike friendly.

Send this link to the decision makers in your company:www.bicyclefriendlybusiness.org. You might try putting “how to lower company health care costs” in the subject line. And, if you do work for a Bike Friendly Business, tell me what your company does–I’m interested in knowing what works.

Here at Trek we have showers and a “commuter room” to store our bikes.  In our cafeteria, all the “healthy” food (salads, yogurt, sandwiches) is rather cheap and the less healthy food (chips, fries, soda) cost enough to make it easy to choose the better food.  If you really want that big gulp, it’ll cost you a buck fifty! Milk or juice however, is just .50.  The weight watchers food score is on the menu next to each item so those on the program can select the best choice.

What’s in your lunchbox??

I got an email from the brilliant bike advocate, Tim B. (Bikes Belong.org) who was watching PBS Evening News Hour last night. On the show Professor John Cochran of the University of Chicago singled out the “Bicycle Commuters Benefits Act” which is included in the credit bailout bill that the House will vote on tomorrow, as THE prime example of what’s wrong with the revised bill that the House will consider.

I would have to agree with Tim that extra stuff tacked on to a rescue plan (presumably to broaden the bill’s appeal) isn’t the best light to put bicycling in, especially right now.  But it is politics.  Timing is everything.

Still, an election year is a good time to stay focused on growing the bike piece of the transporation pie. If you ride a bike to work or for exercise there has never been a better time to raise your voice in support of bicycle infrastructure.

When’s the last time you wrote a letter to your local or state lawmakers? Hummm?  If the answer is “more than a year” giddyonup to your desk and google your state legislator’s name and address and start writing . Not sure what to say? Here’s a simple, short message:

Dear ____; I ride bikes and I vote.  What is your plan to increase the safety for bicyclists in (town/state)?

Feel free to ad lib, of course. Then, after you’ve sent your letter you can follow along on who ISN’T supportive of bikes at the Bike League.org.  They’ve got a new page to track trash talking politicians and arms you with data so you can talk back.  That’s courtesy of another brilliant bike advocate, Andy Clarke.  This is good stuff:

http://www.bikeleague.org/action/trashtalk/

I rarely get time to watch TV so when I got an email with the link to the Today Show story on World Bicycle Relief, I just had to pass it on. 

F.K. Day, who founded the WBR group is a featured “Hero” on this very website.   This story is touching and shows the impact that the simple and humble bicycle can have.   Maybe for us a bike is transportation but for some, it’s a lifeline. 

Click here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/26950282#26950282

If you have an beautiful old truck that is not a gas sipper, why not paint it and use it for advertising? You have to admit, it’s eye catching. I haven’t seen that shade of green since I lived in a house that had its original 1930s bathroom.  This beaut belongs to the Trek Store of Columbus and I’m not sure if it’s a delivery truck or just for looks?  Either way, it’s a looker!

Click here to see the coolest bike parking system ever.  It’s in Toyko…and when you view it tell me if it doesn’t remind you of the door factory in Monsters Inc!

The link below points to the blog of a Trek colleague, our Pavement Bike Manager, aka “Hootie.”  Enjoy.

http://trekbikes.typepad.com/rec_and_fitness/2008/04/ah-so.html

A regular 1world2wheel reader sent me something he wrote about a ride he experienced.Like many of us, he attends a regular group ride and, well, you’ll have to read Paul’s short story.The piece is called “His Last Ride” and it’s a lovely take on what one can feel on a ride. Indeed, maybe that is why we ride? To feel things. Whatever the case, enjoy and thanks, Paul, for sending this in.

His last ride

6/29/07Last night was one of those times that almost didn’t happen. I almost missed it. I had left the office late, traffic was backed up and then of course the cats needed to be fed right away. The ride starts at 6pm, sharp, I’ve been late before, and I’ve always caught up but this week, after seven days of not riding; the clouds gray and pregnant along with near 100% humidity I was in no mood to play catch up. Still, I was lucky. I rode into the parking lot, up to the gaggle of riders, eleven of us tonight. Mick, the shop’s leader said that tonight was Scott’s ride. Scott’s ride?, I asked, why? His birthday? What was the occasion. Its his last ride, came the measured reply. Yeah, I’m moving to Boston Saturday morning so this is it for me, explained the man that until that moment I didn’t know his name. From his expression I knew this move was not what he wanted.Scott it turns out is the name of one of the men I have ridden with for two years now. Every Thursday night, from April through October. While most of us miss a week or two, not Scott. Scott’s one of those guys who tries. Really tries. If you met him, you might not guess he’s a bicyclist and yet one look at his legs and you know he’s serious, chiseled calves and shaved legs. It’s the shaved legs that give us all away. What seems to throw things off however is the extra 70 or so pounds that he carries. Yet every week he is there. Every week he is happy, full of enthusiasm, ready and always a smile. Every week we start out and every week he fades off the back of the pack within the first 10 miles. Every week its always the same, he smiles as he waves us forward telling us to go ahead and that he’ll see us at the end; and that if he has to wait too long he warns he’ll head over to the pub to get an early start on the gang. Every week he has enthusiastic compliments, he is ready, he wants it. In fact he may very well want it more than any of us.Not tonight though. Tonight was Scott’s ride. We all agreed that no matter what Scott was not going to get dropped from the pack, no matter what we would hold the pace on the route of his choosing so that tonight he would be there, the place he usually can’t be.So as we rolled out of town west, heading into the muggy summer night, the air clammy and thick with humidity we held our pace, we adjusted to a speed that would ensure that tonight there would be no waving us onward. We snaked along through the hills and fields, through the tunnels of trees, Scott taking his turn leading the pace line, falling into an artificial rhythm that carried him along his favorite roads. We twisted and turned following the roads, roads that for now I took for granted. Roads that he did too but sadly not after last night. He pedaled and we all felt the pang of regret that would visit us too if we knew this was the last time that we would complete this circuit.At one point we passed another group heading in the opposite direction, Hey Scott, nice job! Someone yelled as their wheels whizzed past. See he may not be the fastest yet surely he is one of the riders we can all feel good about. As the ride wore on it was obvious that the pace, despite our efforts was getting the best of him. We adjusted, waited and adjusted again. We were nearing the home stretch, if 8 miles can be called a home stretch. There was a yell from the back of the pace line, rider coming up he yelled as we neared one of the favored descents along the way. Its one of those magical places. The road sweeps gently to the left until it seems to fall away, down, splitting the meadow and the pond to the left. It’s a spot that as you coast down you accelerate like you’re on a roller-coaster. Tonight was Scott’s night as he plunged down the descent, giddy as he led us down the hill like a run away freight train and then part way up the next. Here he fell back, out of breath but unwavering in his commitment. How many of us can claim that; unwavering in our commitment. The final miles sped past and soon we were coming up to the last descent.

As we cleared the turn, instead of someone beginning a sprint, the pace quickening we slowed. We fell back as Scott shot forward. We lined up behind him, three across, filling the lane as he pedaled onward; in his mind it was the final sprint. His moment. We were there with him, as he catapulted ahead we stood our ground, this was his ride. He had worked for it. All those nights of watching someone else rocket ahead of the pack, all those times of not quite keeping pace were vanishing in the blur of his legs. He wanted it. He deserved it. Crossing the tracks and back into the city Mick rode up along side of him, that’s sweat Scott explained as he wiped his cheek, I heard him say from right behind him. Those of us close enough knew better. You didn’t have to do that he called over the whirl of tires, gears and wind. No, we didn’t. But we all understood. It was Scott’s last ride. At least with us. And for all those nights where he waved us on, when he met us with a smile, we wanted him to have the moment that he wanted more than any of us that have had it.

Later, as we walked out of the tavern, the laughs fading into memories and our well wishes given we all shook his hand, thanking him for being there with us so many times. You could see it in his eyes, he didn’t want to go and yet the choice hadn’t been his to make. But at least he has the memory of his last ride. We should all be so lucky to have such a simple pleasure of riding a bike mean so much.