Municipal leaders, advocates, and engineers in cities from Toronto to Tulsa, take note: The absurd debate about whether or not investing in bicycle-friendly streets is good for cyclists (and everyone else) is over. Done. Kaput. No longer deserving of a moment of your attention. This debate has divided and distracted bicycle advocates for decades. I […]
Archive | Commentary
RSS feed for this sectionFraming the debate.
Women on Bikes Mean Business: Heading to...
Posted onDespite years of immersion in all things bicycle, I have yet to partake in the annual circus known as the National Bike Summit. This year, that’s changing. Next week I head out to DC, a trail of giant carbon footprints in my wake, to join the fun. The NBS is a festival of wonkery, consisting […]
Biking with Kids in the Snow
Posted onThe whys and hows of bicycling Seattle’s hills in the snow with two young kids in tow.
Learning to ride: Joining the Street Rid...
Posted onThis is the third post of three outtakes from Volume 8 of the quarterly Taking the Lane series, Childhood. (Read the first one here and the second one here). This story is by Brigette Brown. Sweat drips down my forehead, tears of exasperation well up in my eyes. I struggle under the hot afternoon sun. […]
Femibici and Insolente: The Mexican chic...
Posted onThe language barrier being what it was, I still don’t know exactly why I was invited to be a keynote speaker at the 5th National Urban Cycling Congress that took place in Oaxaca, Mexico, at the end of September, though I’m extremely glad I went. It was hard to figure out what I was being […]
Paradise is as bicycle-friendly as you m...
Posted onPainting a new bike lane in Oaxaca City Imagine Critical Mass – but you’ve raised money to pay the police to escort the ride – and hundreds of people show up, including whole families – and everyone is singing and chanting and having a grand time – and it happens twice a week. That’s how […]
The case for equal prize money in bike r...
Posted onGetting ready to jump over a hurdle at a 2009 ‘cross race. Cyclocross season is well underway. It’s something of a local pastime here in Portland, with serious road racers enjoying a chance to eat waffles and get muddy (well, this year it’s more like dusty) in a cheery, open environment. Many everyday, regular, jeans-and-a-t-shirt […]
Bikes and the Presidency
Posted onIt’s safe to say that bicycling is not an important issue in this year’s race for the U.S. presidency, nor is it likely to be an issue very much on the winners’ radar in the next four years. But, while half-paying attention to Obama and Romney debate earlier this week, I couldn’t help finding myself […]
Putting the Bike Test to the test
Posted onOn Monday afternoon, I posted about the Bike Test, an analytical tool to help the people in the bicycle industry, advocacy, and media to determine if an image or situation is sexist. There’s been quite a response; loads of people coming to read the article, tons of discussion and debate in online forums and social […]
Giving up the SUV in style: Emily Finch'...
Posted onOne of the highlights of last week’s National Women’s Bicycling Summit was the touching and often hilarious video presentation of Emily Finch, subject of the all-time highest-traffic story over on BikePortland (yes, this one was even bigger than the one about the beer bike that broke the site when I was an editor there). Here’s […]
Is this thing sexist? Introducing the "B...
Posted onThe Bike Test is a three part analytical tool for determining whether or not something like an advertisement or event is sexist. It was developed for use in the bicycle industry and advocacy world, but can be applied to any field, and can also work for race, class, sexuality, or other category beyond gender.
Sharrows, a mini-review
Posted onIn the vein of my as-if-they-were-rock-albums bike route mini-reviews of last year, here is a general and biased, yet heartfelt, review of sharrows. Sharrows are the Jordan Catalano of bike infrastructure. Remember how you gazed at them across the classroom for hours, drawn to them, longing for them? And then it turned out that they […]
Bike news for your amusement
Posted onWhile I share a lot of links on Twitter – it’s a great way to work out my aggregative feelings – sometimes there’s just a lot of cool, empowering, interesting bike news. This month has been one of those months, so here’s a selection. Some old news, some new news, all high quality infotainment to […]
Fundraising for Marilyn Hayward's recove...
Posted onUpdate (11/23/12): I removed this promotion when switching to my new shop software. But if you send me a receipt of your donation to Marilyn’s medical bills and your mailing address, I’ll send you one of these as long as I’ve still got copies. The theme of the third issue of Taking the Lane was […]