The gender gap in cycling is alive and well, both in transportation and sports (I may have mentioned this a time or two in the past). Fortunately, there are always plenty of inspiring people ready to disregard the obstacles, tear up the stats, and bridge that gap. Two such stories broke this morning. The first […]
Tag Archives: Culture
Bike-Sexuality -- a call for submissions
Posted onUpdate: BikeSexuality exists! You can buy a copy here. “Bike-sexual” panel from TTL5(click to make bigger) The seed of this idea started while the submissions for Our Bodies, Our Bikes were rolling in. The first several entries were also the most frankly sexual, and their writers, even the ones who chose to remain anonymous, ended […]
Unplanned time off
Posted onWell, after over 20 years of spending hours a day at a computer keyboard (albeit a more ergonomic one), it’s all finally caught up to me. This week, out of nowhere. Typing, or doing most anything, has become painful and I need to give my arms a rest for a bit. How long? I have […]
Looking back at the year in bikes
Posted onIn January, 2011, I made some predictions about what was in store for the year ahead in bikes. Now that those 12 months have gone by, I thought it would be interesting to look back and see what actually came to pass. Bike sharing I predicted that 2011 would be the year that “bike sharing […]
Hey bike industry, we aren't Barbie doll...
Posted onAn excellent post on the excellent blog Sociological Images today pointed out a number of spot-on examples of ways companies assume that men are their standard market, but label products marketed to women as such. For example, you can often choose between a small t-shirt or a women’s small t-shirt; at my long-ago high school, […]
What do conservatives want (from bicycli...
Posted onEarlier this week I attempted to make “the conservative case for bicycle transportation.” Before writing it I spent some time thinking about political discourse in the U.S. and trying to put myself in conservative shoes. And responses have been mixed — completely all over the map, actually. Two people wrote comments in right off the […]
The conservative case for bicycling
Posted onBicycle transportation is a truly bipartisan issue, or should be. Back in 1971, it was Republican politicians in Oregon who passed our landmark “Bicycle Bill” which is partly responsible for funding the infrastructure that has allowed bike culture to flourish in Corvallis, Eugene, Portland, and around the state. Today’s the bicycle caucus in Congress is […]
Twitter and the grammar of the Occupatio...
Posted on“Bike check!” is how you know the mic check is for the bike swarm. One of the reporters for our local daily has recently started using Twitter, mostly in live reporting Occupy events. Two things were immediately clear: First, that he didn’t really get Twitter (he learned fast) and second that he really didn’t get […]
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 […]
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 […]
More Portland bike route mini-reviews
Posted onWhat, more Portland bike route mini-reviews already??? You asked: And I am easily distracted from other work. Here are two more:
Portland bike route mini-reviews
Posted onThe northbound MLK experience: A lost classic in experimental thrash riding I’ve been reading Our Band Could Be Your Life, a history of the U.S. indie music that I didn’t listen to in the 80s. The author clearly honed his catchy style writing record reviews and I was inspired to attempt a similar treatment for […]