Come on Irene

The balm before the storm. 14th and U Streets.

Lane-blockers or trail-blazers?

Had a somewhat conflicted moment when driving to my daughter's school today.

Two rather charming-looking young women (attractive, wearing normal/chic clothes) were ambling down the road toward me on their humble citizen-cycles (upright, chainguard, basket, you get the picture). They were not going very fast, very leisurely.

They weren't riding single file, they were riding next to each other so they could chat as they went along, basically blocked the single lane of traffic. It was a residential street (5th Street southbound, north of Grant Circle) in a fairly quiet neighborhood (Petworth) but there is some through-traffic along there.

I had a double-reaction. First thought, as their comrade in the Chainguard Revolution - 'hey, cool, that's my kind of cyclists'.

Followed quickly by 'you know girls, you're going to piss someone off blocking the road like that, and make a bad name for cyclists'. Right on cue, as I got closer, a stressed-out looking woman in her SUV gave them a wide berth with a distinctly irritated look on her face.

I felt a little ashamed chastising the bikers like that, albeit internally. I guess when driving it's hard not to think like a driver.

What do you think, were they inconsiderate or perfectly within their rights? Somewhere in between? Were they creating a positive model of biking, and was the driver just another negative example of North American car-centrism? Or, given the narrow road with no bike lane, should the bikers have made room for cars? Was this a case of citizen cyclists paradoxically claiming the vehicular cycling mantra of 'claim your lane'? How would drivers' reactions (including my own) to them differed in certain bike-friendly European cities? Was I being the ass I strive to oppose, or just being realistic?

14th and T

Radar love

So I'm driving down 14th Street yesterday and my 5-year-old daughter says 'look daddy, that woman is riding a bike with high heels, take a picture!' Plenty of other bikers out and about, yet her radar was tuned to the citizen cyclist.

Tipping point

I read somewhere on the Twittersphere that biking levels in DC have seemed to be at a tipping point as spring weather breaks out, with cyclists '15 deep' reported at one stop light.

I don't get out enough, but if it's true then three of the factors are in this photo from this morning: 1) normal DC suit figured out that biking is the best way to get to work, and didn't require special gear or an alternative lifestyle; 2) all the new bike lanes; and 3) Capital Bikeshare.

Connecticut Ave

Ah spring. Even the citizen (uni)cyclists were out today. I was thinking, wow, they're so friendly and funky for DC…

Yep, they were from Baltimore.

Kunstler part II

Following up on yesterday's post, my friend Mike sent me this video of James Howard Kunstler's TED talk from 2004. If you don't know Kunstler it's a great intro. If you're already a fan, you'll remember why. A few brilliant laugh out loud lines, woven into his trademark deconstruction of the American Way. At least, our Way of building places and spaces over the last few generations.

What do his urbanism concepts have to do with bikes? I'd argue 'everything'. Bicycling goes hand in hand with the holistic world we create, or more precisely, the world we choose to live in. The world of, say, the pre-1960s naturally gave birth to a cycling mindset that today we might refer to as citizen cycling but then was just cycling.

Today, what North Americans typically think of as normal biking - faster, longer distances, hunched over, often with recreation or sport in mind, wearing specialized clothing and gear - was born of our very different world. People live farther apart, farther from work, in a more fractured and sprawling physical landscape, with time only on the weekends to ride for exercise or sport.

I always say biking is not just about bikes. In fact I actually don't care much about bikes themselves or biking per se as most people think of it these days. I care about cities, and the quality of life that a well-designed built landscape creates. A humane landscape that, incidentally, not only allows for more civilized biking but encourages it. Bikes, like birds or butterflies or good cafes or people walking around in a relaxed way, are a result, a symptom - when you see more bikes around, and people look happy, not grim, riding them, it means your city or town is doing many things right in creating a vibrant and harmonious human environment.

I happen to believe that a massive increase in biking - meaning getting non-bikers to consider getting on a bike - would cure a lot of what ails us. I think promoting the citizen cycling model is a good way to do that.

Better biking > better cities. Better cities > better biking (Copenhagen has a lot of bikes because it's a great city, and is a great city, in part, because it has a lot of bikes).

And no one is more about better cities than James Kunstler.

Aveiro dreaming

Saw this on Copenhagenize, it's just a beautiful, dream-like little film showing bicycling in Aveiro, Portugal.

18th St and Columbia Rd

Yes, another Adams Morgan picture. There's that curved building again in the background. What can I say, I pass that way a lot, and it usually has decent bike traffic, a CaBi station, cool cafes... The area just has a certain gravitational pull. I used to live around there and it still feels like the center of my DC universe.

11th and Irving St

A resolution

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association has an online Resolution to Ride Responsibly that area cyclists can sign:

Please think about how you ride, your responsibility to yourself and other road users, and what you can do to help as a member of the bicycling community.

The pledge itself includes:

• I resolve to be a more responsible bicyclist

• I resolve to better respect the rights of other road users

• I resolve to make a good faith effort to better follow the law

• I resolve to yield to pedestrians

• I resolve to help make bicycling safer and easier for all of us

Sounds reasonable and welcome. I know some are irritated by it for various reasons, but not me. While I think I'm already a responsible rider, I'm signing because I'm all for encouraging a more civic-minded collective biking mentality in DC. We need to always strive to be a positive and collaborative part of the overall transit-scape.

Think of it as good cycling citizen-ship. All of us, to varying degrees, can do even better on these points. This could make the task of cycling advocacy easier during this pivotal time, and help defuse the kind of driver hostility that we know is out there, right or wrong.

No one's saying absolute, strict compliance, just as (for example) none of us stop fully at every stop sign when driving. Just make being a good biking citizen a goal and a habit as best you can. If you're already doing that, great.

Let's seduce with reasonableness, even in the face of irrationality.

18th Street

18th St and Columbia Rd

Pierce Park

If you're heading into Adams Morgan from Calvert Street Bridge, there are perfectly fine bike lanes on Calvert Street. But the walkways through Walter Pierce Park* make for a decent protected cycletrack as well. Call it the scenic route.

(*Or as my daughter calls it, 'Shady Park', since the tree canopy in the playground area makes it great on hot days.)

I should also mention, since it's hard to tell, this pair looked trés chic.

Mo' better

More bicycling means safer streets

When many bicyclists are on the road, cycling safety improves substantially. […] Now comes data from Portland, Oregon, that suggests encouraging bicycle use leads to greater traffic safety in general.

And, it's worth noting:

[Portland's] 300-mile network cost approximately the same as the construction of a mile of urban freeway.

full article

A hopefully rare post about helmets

You may have noticed I didn't point out in the previous post that the woman isn't wearing a helmet. First of all, it's obvious and speaks for itself.

Second, I don't want to be the guy saying 'see, don't wear a helmet'. I do want to be the guy saying 'make choices based on adult powers of risk assessment'.

Third, I don't want to talk much about helmets on this blog, because then the same arguments go around and around. It's boring and no one convinces anyone of anything.

With that said, ok, this is more good and sensible ammo for the next time someone says, 'hey, where's your helmet'?

If you don’t like wearing a bike helmet, you might like to read this

Why does the perception of bicycle safety seem to differ so much with the reality? One reason is this notion that you have to be wearing ’safety gear’ (aka ‘danger gear’ – helmets, fluoro) which any normal person looks at and thinks… “Gee, that MUST be dangerous. I wouldn’t want my husband/wife/child/mother/father doing that. You must be so brave… etc etc”.

I cycle over 5000km per year for commuting and every other trip I would normally take a car for. I haven’t ‘fallen off’ since I was 10 years old. I don’t wear a helmet for 99% of these trips. I’d like to not have to break the law.

full article

A mother knows

To me, this mom-cyclist is one of those quiet, unsung heroes of utility biking in DC. Not because she has the 'right' bike or chic attire. I just like the normal/cool clothes, no special gear, shopping bag in front, funky shoulder bag, kid in tow, a little twirly thing hanging off the back… No nonsense, serene, dignified demeanor, upright posture.

She knew where the not-so-known contraflow bike lane was and used it, unfazed by the trio of Do Not Enter signs. Or by the Brazil-esque (Terry Gilliam film, not the country) ductwork.

That cut-through was a closed road, now given over almost entirely to bikes. More here. It's actually a great back way to cross Adams Morgan north-south without dealing with 18th Street hassles.

City of (seeing the) light

It's not just the Velib bikeahare, Paris is getting the bikescape fundamentals right.

Bicycle facilities in Paris

I can say that Paris is definitely a bicycle city. What does it mean? It means that cyclists, bikes and bicycle facilities are clearly visible on the streets. People bike to work, to shops and cafés, wearing normal everyday clothes. Almost all the bicycles are city bikes. Road bikes are also present while cross-country ones are almost completely absent. A significant part of bicycle traffic is represented by Velib’ cyclists

full article

Let there be color

Normally I prefer black and white photos, as you can probably tell from this blog, or if you happen upon my main photo website. For me there's photography and color photography.

But I don't like to be rigid. And somehow today, despite the sort of dreary light, the photo gods commanded color.

Bike of the Day - Trek Belleville

Normally, I have to say, Trek makes some pretty ugly bikes. Not bad bikes, but if aesthetics is part of it, as it should be, this bike is a welcome surprise. Not quite an upright bike as they advertise, but with the chainguard, fenders, racks, internal hub, etc, the Trek Belleville is another major-brand citizen cycle option for a pretty good price. And eco-friendly to boot.

From their website: 

Inspired by the French porteur bikes of the mid-20th century, Belleville is designed front to back to reduce environmental impact. Fully equipped with steel front and rear racks, generator lights eliminate the need for wasteful batteries and the tires contain regrind and sustainable harvest rubber. The bike is a 3 speed internal but is compatible with single and multi speed derailleur drivetrains.