iaminlikewithmybike: how-to-kiss-distinctly-american: ohhleary: inothernews: ALSO, FEED THE METERS   Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, rolls over a Mercedes Benz parked in a bike lane to express his displeasure with motorists that illegally park their luxury cars. “I’ve had enough of these drivers parking their luxury cars on bike lanes and pedestrian crossings,” he said of the (likely) photo op. “This tank is a good tool to solve the problem of parking in the wrong place.”  I’d vote for mayor Zuokas.  (Photo: SWNS via the Telegraph) Bloomberg: please take note. New life goal I Am In Like With My Tank Want.

iaminlikewithmybike:

how-to-kiss-distinctly-american:

ohhleary:

inothernews:

ALSO, FEED THE METERS   Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, rolls over a Mercedes Benz parked in a bike lane to express his displeasure with motorists that illegally park their luxury cars. “I’ve had enough of these drivers parking their luxury cars on bike lanes and pedestrian crossings,” he said of the (likely) photo op. “This tank is a good tool to solve the problem of parking in the wrong place.”  I’d vote for mayor Zuokas.  (Photo: SWNS via the Telegraph)

Bloomberg: please take note.

New life goal

I Am In Like With My Tank

Want.

Post Ride to Montauk Email

The Westhampton Rest Stop

Last year we ran short of food there, so boy were we ready this year!  We stocked up and then added even more, just to make sure.

And then late Friday night one of our drivers decided to drive the truck holding the Westhampton rest stop supplies on to the Meadowbrook Parkway.  You know, parkway.  Trucks are not allowed on parkways in NY.  (Yes, there are a VERY few exceptions to that rule, but I’d sure hate to be the first person to test the theory).

Crushed the entire top of the truck.  The driver is OK, thank you, but the company that towed the truck refused to let us inside to get our stuff out — they felt that the truck was structurally unsound and could collapse if we tried to open it up.  I’m not sure I agreed, but it was 10 p.m., I was 50 miles away, kinda busy, and not ready to lawyer-up as some suggested.  Many of the staff members you see on the ride are FDNY firefighters helping us out.  They were ready: “Whaddaya mean we can’t get in to the truck?  We can get in to ANYTHING.”  Using the Jaws of Life to rescue peanut butter may have been a bit of a stretch, so we held back. 

This meant a scramble to have ANYTHING to serve at Westhampton, and while the driver and his family scrambled admirably, there’s no way it could match up to our standards.  (There are only so many places you can shop for food for 2,500 people starting at 11 p.m.)  I am truly sorry that in spite of the incredible work from the Westhampton church volunteers, who are wonderful, this stop probably came up lacking and I apologize. 

I am amazed by this. I wonder what the food would have been like but I did have one of the best PB&Js of my life and some great bread from Balthazar (which I wished there was more of). 

“Bikes are New York fringe? Email your friends. Ask how many of them own bikes. Then ask how many of them own cars. If more of them say they own cars, look out the window. You live in Connecticut.”
NYC and Bikes: Rubber Meets Road - WSJ.com (via felixsalmon)

The Biggest, Baddest Bike-Share in the World: Hangzhou China

It’s absolutely impossible to build enough roads for everyone to have a car and so you need to look at alternative methods and those alternative methods are BRT, metro but none of those solve the last mile issue. And that’s where bike sharing comes in.

What happens when you are spotted by the police in Denmark cycling without a helmet.

Just to make things clear: the film was made with real people, real cops and real love.

(Source: youtube.com)

Glen Goldstein’s Ride To Montauk - Routes of 30m, 70m, 100m, and 145m (plus more rides!)

nycsummerofbikes:

Glen’s rides are much loved by local cyclists, and this one - very similar to the 5BBC Montauk Century, but better - is no exception. From their site:

The Best Rest Stops •  No Fundraising Required • Superb Support 

Start in NYC or Long Island — All Routes End in Montauk

Free Hot Showers at the Finish Line • All Ages Welcome

Kids 12 and Younger Ride Free

AND… Free Beer at the Finish Line from our Friends at Blue Point

Many options for routes, including a particularly easy and beautiful 30-mile route. It’s more expensive than the 5BBC MC, but completely worth it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

More info: http://www.ridetomontauk.com/Montauk_2011/Quick_Start_Guide.html

For the rest of Glen’s rides in 2011: http://www.nycbicycleshow.com/Bike_Shows/Home.html

Very excited for this.

UPenn Engineering Students Design The Ultimate High-Tech Bike

First, the frame. Carbon fiber ensured minimum weight (in fact, Alpha weighs less than a standard steel frame bike, even with all the specialty gear they packed into it) and the students fabricated the frame and handlebars on campus using CNC machining, laser sintering, and 3-D printing.

Next, the electronics suite. Alpha’s onboard computer, handlebar-mounted LCD screen and LED lighting all need juice, which is provided courtesy of a drum brake and dynamo on the front wheel hub, as well as two capacitors charged by the spinning wheel. The LCD screen displays real-time data on cadence, distance, speed, and gear status. If you’re into personal datavis, you can pop out an SD card from under the Alpha’s handlebars and download the info onto your PC.

Finally, the SWIFT drivetrain (which stands for Switchable Integrated Free-Fixed Transmission). This is the magic between the pedals that lets the Alpha be all things to all riders: a take-any-grade-in-stride freewheeling geared bike, or a quadricep-punishing fixie. (Or both during the same ride, as your mood or company changes.) I’m not enough of an engineer to understand exactly how this little knot of bronze, steel, and titanium actually pulls off such a feat, but the fact that these students designed it into a package that doesn’t look like a hairball coughed up by Optimus Prime is impressive enough.

Want.