Things got a little hectic in the lead-up to tour this September. I forget exactly how it happened, but I ended up sitting on a comfy couch in Provo, Utah, while our friendly hosts and their 3 year old daughter helped me hand-number and mail out an impromptu, photocopied edition of 160 of the Bikenomics […]
Archive | November, 2011
Let's talk about labia
Posted onA sample page from the zine. Click to read! I’m particularly excited about one of the essays in my forthcoming zine, Our Bodies, Our Bikes. It’s a friendly, approachable, no-nonsense guide to crotch comfort and health for women who ride bikes, co-written with my friend Caroline, a nurse, seamstress, and hardcore mountain biker. (Word to […]
Our bodies, our bikes -- what's inside
Posted onOur Bodies, Our Bikes is at the printer. Copies should be available at the beginning of December. You can pre-order the zine via Kickstarter or directly from me and I might have a few copies available at BikeCraft on December 2nd and 3rd. This will be the fifth volume of Taking the Lane’s printed counterpart […]
Why I type funny
Posted onBefore someone uses my computer to look up a bus schedule or check their email, I try to remember to switch it back to normal. But often I don’t catch them until they’ve begun to type and are staring at the gibberish on the screen in baffled frustration. “Your keyboard is broken,” they sometimes say. […]
Bikes on the base
Posted onPhoto courtesy of Minnesota Air National Guard Earlier this month, I wrote a short column about the historical use of bicycling in the military. While I was researching it, I chatted with Justin Haugens, who is the only person he knows who commutes by bike to the military base in Charlotte, North Carolina where he […]
Kickstarting the zine engine again
Posted onWant the upcoming Our Bodies, Our Bikes issue of Taking the Lane? Or thinking about picking up a bunch of back issues for yourself or as a gift? Want to renew your subscription? Or nab one of the last copies of the elusive and out of print Volume 1? My current Kickstarter campaign is a […]
Randonnerdery
Posted onDavid, Elly, and April. Photo by Theo Elliott Yesterday, this happened after spending six and a half hours riding a hundred kilometers through beautiful back roads. This photo was taken just before we found out we’d made it in three minutes before the cut-off. I was just happy that the cold, wet day of riding […]
Parking and the percents
Posted onFree parking and one of its not-so-hidden costs – induced demand. From an Atlantic Cities interview with a city planner who’s trying to help cities wean themselves from free parking, as good as an explanation as I’ve ever seen of the class divide underlying the economics of transportation – and what we can do about […]
A scary Halloween bike route review
Posted onAxl on the ego ramp (Photo by rogeriotomazjr) Here’s a new rock n roll bike route review (Division is a crappy bike route, and I partook while on foot, but sometimes you have to just follow your muse. Want to read the rest? They live here. I’m thinking of giving this feature a proper title: […]
The battle of the yield
Posted onA guy on a bike stopping at a yield sign. (Photo © Elly Blue) My column last week at Grist was about the discourse around bikes at stop signs, and how the way we talk about bikes is different, in this case, than what actually happens on the road. The response has been interesting, and […]