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Framing the debate.

Able to ride

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Cyndi Sutter on her cargo trike. My latest column on Grist, up today, is about bicycling with disabilities. As always, when interviewing people for a story, a heartbreaking amount gets cut for the final version. In this case, I particularly wanted to share some of the practical tips people offered for other folks with disabilities […]

Carmageddon -- Bring it on

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Dream freeway. In Los Angeles, where apparently they haven’t yet been briefed about the reality of induced demand, they’re spending a billion dollars on widening an eleven mile stretch of freeway across town, the overwhelmingly congested I-405. This weekend they’ll be shutting it down to traffic entirely, and savvy city officials have dubbed the event […]

That big bike race in Europe this week.....

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The biggest international bike race of the year is happening right now. No, I don’t mean the Tour de France. I mean the Giro Donne. Never heard of it? You’re not alone.

Bicycles and spinning wheels

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My latest column is up at Grist – it’s the tenth and last in the “Bikenomics” series I’ve been writing for them. Many of the columns are about how bicycling creates wealth for individuals, employers, and the government, whereas relying on private automobiles makes a few people and institutions very rich and systematically screws the […]

Car-freedom, purity, and guilt

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A year ago I decided to start a blog called “Going Carfree” about just that. It never got off the ground but I thought a lot about it and wrote some test content. This essay is the one piece I didn’t want to let go. Rereading it now, it makes me think of the spreading […]

What would get you on a bike more often?

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That’s one of the questions the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals asked women last year. Everyday riders, racers, and non-bicyclists alike were asked open ended questions; answers were categorized and tabulated. They’ve compiled, categorized, and released answers to three of the survey questions, which you can download from the front page of their site. […]

What's behind the gender gap in bicyclin...

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My latest column on Grist went up yesterday. In it I take on a topic that’s been on my mind for a while – the gender gap in bicycling. Young bicyclist.(Photo by Elly Blue) That gap is getting wider, and the usual line up of explanations and assumptions doesn’t really do it for me. Yes, […]

Women of Portland, in business and on bi...

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It’s been a year since Ellee Thalheimer and I co-founded the Portland Society, a business alliance for bicycling women. In that year, we’ve grown to about 35 members (plus another dozen or so people who are more loosely involved), earned some nice words from the local news media, had amazing monthly meetings, given away $1,000 […]

On Bicycles

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The small but growing collection of thoughtful books about bicycle transportation is about to have one new member – Amy Walker’s forthcoming On Bicycles: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture Can Change Your Life. It’s a volume of 50 essays from various contributors. I wrote two, one on the Safety in Numbers effect, and one […]

Elements of the grammar wars

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A couple years ago I was at odds and ends and decided to start a blog documenting instances of creative grammar. It was intended as a response to those blogs that make fun of people for misusing apostrophes. I didn’t ever find much time for it, but here’s one of the posts, a mini review […]

Why this blog is pink

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I’ve been resisting the color pink for most of my life. Until now. Various forces have been conspiring to erode my resistance for a while now. For one thing, my boyfriend wears pink. Hot pink. And I’m envious.