Building Tall Bikes

the full set of photos can be found here.

Calgary Critical Mass Organizer Pulls the Plug

long time critical mass organizer, grant neufeld, is finished with organizing this ride. you can read his blog post explaining his reasons by clicking on the title of this post. you can also get more info on this ride by checking this out.

ending are also beginnings.

does calgary have enough "bike culture" to support a monthly advocacy ride?

is there a need for an advocacy ride at all?

could calgary cyclists raise bike-awareness with a different ride? maybe a ride that is more focused on having fun and less on agitating motorists? i think so.

maybe the end of critical mass with birth a new monthly fun ride? i could support that.

Haultain and 1st Urban Festival

what are doing on sunday the 13th? nothing? perfect. why not check out this cool little event.

my understanding is that the organizer is encouraging people to bring their bikes down for a show-and-shine, trackstand comp and freakbike showcase.

got a cargo bike? bring it.

got a freaky tall bike? bring it.

got a beautiful cruiser? those are cool too!

a few of us are (hopefully!) going to build some tall bikes this weekend and we are talking about bringing them down to the show-and-shine.

i cant wait to swing my leg (way!) over my very own tall bike - stay tuned for pics if it is indeed built.

Bow River Flow

this sunday, from 10am-4pm the two eastbound lanes of memorial drive near kensignton will be closed for a one-day trial of a "ciclovia" type event for the first time in calgary's history.

the initial idea floated by ald. farrell was to hold the event on 4 consecutive sundays in august - however, after a huge amount of critisism from other aldermen and some media in the city, the event has been reduced to one day this year. if all goes well there is a chance that this type of event could expand to include a longer route and more days. i say - BRAVO!

calgary's love affair with cars has been allowed to go unchecked for long enough. the time has come to take back some of the streets for a few hours a week for people, bikes, and the community in general. fighting car culture will be hard, but with events like this, we may begin to have a chance to show car-loving calgarians what this city can be in the future - if we just get out of our cars once and awhile.

all of us who love this city and want to see a more sustainable, ped/bike friendly community need to support this event and events like it.

streets are for people too! see you out there!

Hypocracy on the Pathways?

the calgary herald has an article in the paper today about speed enforcement on the pathways.

why hypocracy?

simple. the city has been actively encouraging calgarians to get out of their cars and to try and find other ways to commute to work - including cycling - and invariably, many of these cycle commuters end up on the regional pathway network because calgary lacks a connected network of crosstown, on-street bikeways that are safe, well signed, and maintained.

the problem is that the speed limit on the pathways is 20kph - and 10kph in many other areas - and any reasonably fit person can cycle at 25-35kph without much difficulty - possibly resulting in a speeding ticket from bylaw bill.

so, from the saddle of this guys bike, calgary bylaws seem to unfairly targeting cyclists on the pathways. i have never seen an irresponsible dog owner or clueless pedestrian receiving a ticket, or even a warning - yet bylaws feels that cyclists are the user-group that needs to be punished more than any other.

i guess what i am getting at is this - bylaw bill would not need to worry so much about speeding cyclists on the pathways if there was a well signed and maintained city-wide network of on-street bikeways (pained bike lanes) with route-finding signage. if we had such a network, people could travel from all over the city on a direct road network and maybe never need to be on the recreational pathways during their commute.

less cyclists on the pathway = less conflicts with slower user-groups.

what is this city waiting for?

calgary has arguably the biggest "network" (term used loosely) of pathways (and some on-street bikeways) in north america yet this "network" is not yet connected to itself in so many places, making use of this "network" becomes an exercise in route-finding, map-reading, and urban exploration. all of that is fine on the weekend, not so fine when you are trying to get to work on time.

PathwayPedalPotluck - August 15

everyone is welcome to join us!

hope to see you there!