Last Sunday, I hung out at the Hartwells Locks in #Ottawa. I counted over 100 people with a bike crossing the locks in 20 minutes. That is >300 an hour.
Lots of people with e-bikes now and several people struggling getting the bike on to the locks. This definitely needs improvement.
Lots of older folks, clearly touring for the morning or the day, so happy to see that. Our pathways allow for great routes with little interference from car traffic.
I have a theory about why every social media post about either cyclist or biker safety immediately gets swamped by really angry car drivers who want to kill us, and it comes down to ignorance.
Most cyclists and bikers are also car drivers, so we can see both points of view.
Most car drivers are only car drivers, which makes it harder to understand the different points of view. Learning to drive a car should include some time on 2 wheels. #BikeTooter#motorcycle#CarBrain#roadsafety
Hey #ottbike or folks around #ottawa that are interested in the idea of a #cargobike but have never seen one up close or ridden one. I’m not an organizer but found this on instagram and will probably try and make it out for the show and tell with our two e-cargo bikes. More people need to see them everyday in all the places, in all the situations, for all the reasons people need to move around and live. Please share and come out! #biketooter
1: the swivel wheel works! and pretty well. It's DEFINITELY VERY NOISY, but not comedically so.
2: the bungee cord solution is both quieter and handles over any weight this thing should be carrying anyway, BUT!
3: if we're in a situation where we need to cargo something actually kinda heavy (like over 40kg/90lbs, which is more than the thing was built to carry anyway), then it's worth having the wheel. Maybe build a reinforcement plate to stick in that'll firm up the cargo bed a bit, since it's just plastic.
But in all other cases, using a bungee cord to transition some of the load to the far side of the cargo structure is a clear winner.
So yeah basically I think that's a wrap for this project? I have a bike cargo carrier now, the best I can do for the time being. It can carry a pretty good load - more than we ever get just stopping by the grocery, and from that first trial we know it's more than enough to use for dedicated grocery runs.
With the either bungee solution or the wheel solution, I'm not putting any visible (and therefore any meaningful) torsion on the frame, which means my hitch adapter works and is safe to use, so I can be pretty confident I'm not doing any harm to my bike with it.
Which was, of course, by far the most important question.
So yeah, I guess it's finished! I've put the third wheel into the bike accessories drawer, I've put the cargo cover I sewed onto the higher-accessibility accessories shelf (first order retrieval is my friend), and ...
yeah! I guess we're done!
(Well... other than maybe sewing a reflector onto the cargo cover. It's pretty damn visible with that safety orange cover, but... just to be sure. xD )
Today, I was riding on a multi use path, on a segment that is right next to (and level with) a road - this stretch is basically a really wide bike lane. Ahead of me, a city employee came up, pulled off the road and on to the path and parked. The only option to go around him involved riding on the road, in the opposite direction of traffic. Thankfully, no one was coming, so I did just that.
As I passed the worker, I mentioned “hey man, that’s not a parking spot”. And he shot back “hey man, did you see what’s on the side of the car?”, as if being a city employee gives him the right to park in a way that forces people to either take a massive detour or risk their lives to go around your vehicle? As if being a public worker means you aren’t held to a high standard?
I didn’t respond further or get a photo (I had places to be). What a frustrating interaction.
Little improvements like this make such a big difference. I think this is my favourite new little link in the Hamilton cycling network. Nothing fancy. Just a short extension to the well-used Cootes Drive multi-use path to get you into downtown Dundas. #cycling#BikeTooter
The no-parking areas being imposed on cities by the bike-sharing companies and city councils seem intended to destroy and ridicule the notion that rental e-bikes are a ‘last mile solution.’
I just had to drop a bike 1.8km from my house, after a 7.6km journey home.
Needless to say, countless private cars parked on public pavements in the 1.8km in between.
"Study Shows Majority Would Opt for Active Transportation with Dedicated Bike Lanes"
"Notably, 68% of respondents indicated that their frequency of bike trips would increase if dedicated infrastructure were available, while 62% pointed out the lack of safe infrastructure for active transportation in their cities."
City of Thousand Oaks: Happy National Biking Month
Did you know May is National Bike Month? ✨🚴♂️ Celebrate this month by planning a safe bike route with your neighbors to get your children to and from school. Learn more by visiting http://walk2schoolto.org/bikes!
one note on the map that I did think about: the lowest-grade red and green lines are distinguishable in black and white. the red lines use dashes, the green are dots with narrower spacing between.
the legend in this version didn’t make that super clear but I’ve revised the source to fix that.
Today's roundup of news from many places from Biking In LA. (Instead of "blind", read "many drivers have extreme cognitive dissonance as to how badly drivers drive"):
This Saturday, myself and almost 40 other wonderful folks are setting off on our 400 mile journey by bike from #Boston to #Montreal. #Bostreal is a fundraiser for the Boston Cyclists Union which funds their ongoing advocacy efforts to build a safe, connected, all-ages and abilities bike network in Boston.