Monthly Archives: February 2011

by Christopher | February 15, 2011 · 1:00 pm

One For All The Parents

Alright, you caught me. I am not a parent. Father or not I can still pass on advice from actual parents. Kathleen McDade, mother of many, is just such a parent, and she has eight reasons for cycling with here children. My favorite?

It’s fun. Mostly. Yes, sometimes it’s rainy and windy and we don’t wanna. But other times, we cycle through the raindrops singing “If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what a rain that would be!” Or we breeze along in the sun, soaking up the vitamin D

To check out the rest follow the link:

8 Reasons To Bike Commute With Your Kids

Written by Chris Belsole

Lube It Or Lose It

This one comes from About.com. I like their bicycling site because you can always count on them for a very bike post. They always have nice tips and product reviews to help you out.

The latest one is about where to lubricate your bike. This is great info especially in the winter time when salt and dirt get everywhere. At ABR just last Wednesday I was lubing up a stuck break arm so I can tell you just how important a little lube is.

Written by Chris Belsole

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Filed under Winter Cycling

by Christopher | February 13, 2011 · 1:00 pm

More Bicycles Leads to Fewer Accidents

This seems pretty much like another “duh” moment, but it is nice to see it in writing. From the Minneaoplis Star Tribune:

Recently crunched city data show the reported cyclist-motorist accident rate dropping as the number of bike commuters grows. For 2008, the most recent year for which complete data were available, the crash rate was one-quarter that of 10 years earlier. Moreover, a trend line shows a steady decrease in the crash rate even as the number of commuting cyclists more than doubled.

So that’s the solution. More bikers = less need for helmets? I guess you can look at it that way. At any rate it is nice to see the number of cyclists increasing anywhere. Follow the link for the full article:

As bicycle use climbs, rate of crashes with vehicles falls

Written by Chris Belsole

The Ride

For anyone that has come to our public meetings you know we have been talking about cycling movies for a while preparing for bike month. The Ride is a documentary about Phil Keoghan, the host from the Amazing Race, in which he bikes from LA to NYC as something of a life goal along with raising money for people with MS. As you can see on the website it premiers in NYC on Feb 18th. Can you say road trip? Anyway here is the trailer:

Written by Chris Belsole

Bike Packing For Backpacking

One of the things I want to do in my life is take a trip on my bike somewhere. I am always looking into package tours and things of that nature and planning where I want to go.

One of the things I haven’t decided on is what to do about a bicycle. Do I pack my bike up and ship it to where it needs to go or check it on the plane, or do I rent/buy a bike at my destination and ride that around Europe or wherever I end up?

Fortunately I found a great article that if I did decide to pack my bike and go it would not be as much of a hassle and I might not have to pay someone to do it. So for all of you would-be travelers here is a helpful tip:

How to Pack a Bike in a Box