Albany Bicycle Coalition

This e-mail is so hot off the presses I needed to wear gloves just to bring it to you. Apparently, because I let other people do the leg work for me (hehe), President Obama released his FY 12 budget which outlined a few changes in the transportation policy for the country. There are a bunch of intresting points and after the jump you can read the entire e-mail, but I just want to point out the biggest one for ABC in terms of getting funding for projects:

“[The budget] Creates a new livability program-$4.1 billion in 2012 and $28 bil­lion over six years-to promote local control and for projects like multi-modal transportation hubs (where different forms of transportation converge) and streets that accom­modate pedestrian, bicycle, and transit access.”

This is huge for future projects that we can do for Albany such as bike lanes and boulevards as well as signage for safe routs to schools and other projects that would make Albany a better place to bike.

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Yes you see correctly, a seat collar bottle opener. Apparently the people at Swarm thought to themselves, “You know what is a hassle on a bike; not having a convenient way to open a beer while riding your bike. We should make something to fix this overwhelming problem.” And the bike bottle opener was born. Am I saying we are not adults who are incapable of making our own decisions? No. Does having a bottle opener on hand make it easier to drink and bike? Yes. From their website:

ELIXIR AND NECTAR SEAT CLAMP WITH BOTTLE OPENER // Seat collars designed to make your bike look gorgeous, hold your seat up, and to open your beer. What more do you want to know?

Written by Chris Belsole

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

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