Albany Bicycle Coalition

You’ll never believe it! I just rode behind a bike cop coming home from the coffee house. In about five minuets here is what I observed:

1. Failure to stop at a stop sign.

2. Failure to signal for a right and a left turn.

3. Riding on the wrong side of the street.

4. Riding in the sidewalk.

Not to mention that he was riding in the door zone the entire time.

Now, as I always say, I am not the paragon of bicycling etiquette that my tone may imply, but if the police can not adhere to bicycle rules how can they expect anyone else to? Sure if they are chasing down a perp and there is a red light I can see them running it to catch him, but he was just doing his rounds like it was any other day. Also I know for a fact that they had to take a biker’s education course because I know the instructor. It’s no wonder that people are so misinformed when it comes to bicycle regulations when the people tasked with enforcing them can not follow them themselves.

Anyway I could not wait to bring this one to you because it was just such a great chance encounter.

Written by Chris Belsole

A friend of mine asked me to post this:

“The Tour de Habitat gives riders a choice of pedaling a 100, 50, 25 or family-friendly 10 mile route to benefit Capital District Habitat for Humanity. All rides start and finish at the Albany Pump Station, with a post-ride reception featuring complimentary food and beer.

The 100 mile ride is a challenging jaunt around the Helderbergs and Alcove reservoir area with a total elevation gain of about 5400 feet. The 50 mile route mimics the century route for the first 35 miles, but avoids the major hills and returns to Albany with about 2000 feet of elevation gain.

The 25 mile route mimics the longer routes for the first 15 miles and then turns back for Albany in the town of Feura Bush. The most challenging hill on this route is State Street in Albany.

All three routes start with a sight-seeing tour of the city of Albany, taking riders past many important landmarks as well as houses built by Habitat for Humanity. There are rest stops with refreshments at approximately 25 mile intervals on the longer routes and one rest stop at the turn-around point of the 25 mile ride.

The 10 mile route is flat and uses city streets for one mile to reach the Corning Preserve Bike Path, which riders will follow to Watervliet before turning back for Albany.

Route maps can be viewed on the Internet at http://www.evansale.com/2010/07/14/tour-de-habitat/.

The ride goes on rain or shine!

The $100 entry fee entitles you to riding a fully supported route, pre- and post-ride meals at the Albany Pump Station, two pints of any Evans beer after the ride and a souvenir T-shirt. Riders sponsored for $500 or more will receive a cycling jersey. Funds are not due until the day of the ride so that you can fundraise for them. Create your fundraising page at http://www.firstgiving.com/cdhfh. Click “Get Started”!

Family and friends are welcome to join you at the post-ride party reception for just $12 per person.

To volunteer for this event, visit our Volunteer Page!

For more information call Capital District Habitat for Humanity at (518) 462-2993.”

On their page there is a sign up sheet and I encourage everyone to raise the money and sign up for this worthy cause.

Written by Chris Belsole

I am seriously in awe of the power. The feeling of companionship and trust that comes when two people share an experience together is staggering. It turns boys to men, conservatives to liberals, and non-cyclists into bicycle riders.

Let me explain, about a week ago I went down to D.C., our nation’s capital, to visit my sister. The thing I most wanted to do down there was ride the paddle boats through the basin. This is something I don’t recommend unless you are a short person because the pedals are way too close for comfort or any sort of efficient paddling.

The next day my sister had a surprise for me. She took me to a bicycle rental place and we rented a tandem bike to ride around the city with. Her in the back and I in the front we did not get more than two feet on our first attempt. After I had explained some of the finer points of bicycling, like you need to push on the pedals to make it go, we were off.

Now, you have to understand something about my sister. She has not ridden a bicycle in a long time; much less in the road. It defiantly took some getting used to, but as we were going she got more and more comfortable. When we were going downhill at twenty miles an hour without pushing on the pedals she took it with a lot more ease then I expected. As an aside, if you are planning to rent a bike make sure it is properly adjusted because the reason we were not pressing on the pedals was not for lack of wanting to go faster. It was because the bike would not shift into its highest gear. So we would just be spinning our wheels. Anyway, we rap up, return the bike, and go on our merry way.

A few days ago I get an IM (instant message) from my sister informing me of her intentions of buying a bicycle to ride to the train station in the mornings and evenings; a commute that used to take here a half an hour to traverse on foot. You have to understand, this is a woman that used to dread the idea of riding a bike due to balancing issues. Now she is coming to me for bicycle recommendations. Well I am happy to report that she purchased here bike and, I hope, having a lot of fun riding it around.

Now that’s the power of a tandem. It turned a woman who had so much trepidation about riding bicycles at first into a bicycle owner, and not just an owner but a commuter. I can’t wait to go down to D.C. again to visit here and go for a ride.

Written by Chris Belsole