Albany Bicycle Coalition

We owe thanks to:

• LL Bean for hosting ABR and giving us the bike trade-ins during their annual bike sale May 13 to 15, 2011.

• Stewart’s Shops for donating money to ABR for the purchase of a limited number of children’s helmets and locks.

• PAL of Albany NY for hosting the kids bicycle rodeo on May 21, 2011 at the boat launch of the Corning Preserve. It was a huge success complete with bicycle roads skills and safety course, games, helmet giveaway, games and food.

• Grand St Community Arts for their Spring Fair at which ABR had a repair stand and educational materials.

• And finally many thanks to the ABR volunteers who participated in all of these events.

Written by Mary Lou Gilliam

May 22nd – 28th

What: East Greenbush Community Enhancement Workshop

When: May 23 Mon. 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: Town Hall, East Greenbush, NY

 

What: Tune Up Your Bike Night

When: May 24 Tue. 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: 15 Trinity Place, Albany

 

What: Pedaling Toward a Healthier Planet

When: May 25 Wed. 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: 807 Union Street, Schenectady, NY

 

What: ABC Community Bicycle Ride #3

When: May 25 Wed. 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Where: Albany Soldiers and Sailors Memorial – Washington Park

 

What: ABC Public Meeting

When: May 26 Thurs. 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: Chapel and Cultural Center, LaSalle School, 391 Western Ave, Albany, NY

 

What: Critical Mass (Community Bicycle Ride)

When: May 27 Thurs. 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Where: Albany Soldiers and Sailors Memorial – Washington Park

 

What: Troy Bike Rescue FundraiserABC Public Meeting

When: May 28 Sat. 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: The Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3361 6th Avenue in North Troy, New York

Comments: Troy Bike Rescue is having a fundraiser at the Sanctuary for Independent Media and we would love for you to be there.  We would also love for you to take a moment to invite any friends who would like to support our work by forwarding this email or spreading the word.

 

What: Bike Month Alley Cat – Bike to China Charity

When: May 28 Sat. 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM

Where: Albany Soldiers and Sailors Memorial – Washington Park

 

May 29th – June 4th

What: Movie Night #4

When: May 30 Mon. 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Where: Upstate Artists Guild, 247 Lark St.

 

What: Tune Up Your Bike Night

When: May 31 Tue. 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: 15 Trinity Place, Albany

 

What: Albany 1st Friday Bike Ride

When: June 3 Fri. 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, Washington Park, Albany, NY

 

What: ABC Camping Trip

When: June 3-6 Fri. – Sun. 

Where: Thompsons Lake State Park 1

Written by Chris Belsole

I came across a running series on StreetFilms today that caught my eye. I love how NYC gets all of this attention in terms of bicycling, and I hope it continues to grow in strength and popularity. In that spirit here is a group of films made from stories of the different riders in NYC.

Sarinya Srisakul

Kimberly White

Marcus Woollen

Lucette Gilbert

This is certainly not the end of the series. So keep an eye out for the last two videos.

Written by Chris Belsole

Do you ever find yourself in this situation?

You need to know something pertaining to bicycles, something specific like the proper foot pounds of tension for a freewheel or the proper chain stay length for the use of panniers, but there is just no one you can ask. Sure we can bug the three or four people we know who understand bikes back and forth, but do they really have enough time and energy to field all of these questions?

Well you are in lunch luck; man I’m hungry. Introducing a site called Bicycles.Stackexchange.com! This site is part of a larger collection of sites that I will go into later. Essentially it is a Q&A website dedicated to bicycles where you can ask questions and get meaningful answers. The thing that makes this site different from let’s say Yahoo.Answers is that both questions and answers get up and down voted based on usefulness and compliance  with the rules of StackExchange. This ensures that good questions and answers float to the top of the list while bad ones sink down. Couple this with a community that cares about giving good meaningful information and you have a recipe for a smart knowledge base for bicycle questions and answers ranging from the difference between full and fingerless gloves to how to properly calculate wheel diameter.

Bicycles.Stackexchange.com is just a small part of a much bigger network. In their words:

“Stack Exchange is a fast-growing network of 51 question and answer sites on diverse topics from software programming to cooking to photography and gaming. We are an expert knowledge exchange: a place where physics researchers can ask each other about quantum entanglement, computer programmers can ask about JavaScript date formats, and photographers can share knowledge about taking great pictures in the snow.”

I encourage you guys to log on and share your knowledge with the world. Who knows, maybe you could teach the next Lance Armstrong what clipless pedals are.

Written by Chris Belsole