New this year will be scheduled meetings with representatives, with scheduling facilitated by BikeMN — probably in response [...]]]>

The second Minnesota Bike Summit has been scheduled for Monday, March 5, in Saint Paul. This event, hosted by BikeMN, brings together people from across the state to talk bicycling amongst themselves, then with state officials and elected representatives.

New this year will be scheduled meetings with representatives, with scheduling facilitated by BikeMN — probably in response to many attendees’ bafflement with the process. (I’m hoping for encouragement for slightly more upscale attire from BikeMN for these meetings as well, but we’ll see. Last year’s crew was occasionally pretty motley, and played right into perceptions of cyclists as a fringe group.)

The 2012 legislative agenda will no doubt be a big part of this event. It’s pretty similar to 2011s, since so little got done last year (in most areas of government, not just bikes!).

I attended last year and provided a lot of coverage of the event. The event is likely to be larger this year, which may serve as a warning to those with claustrophobia — the event site is nice enough, and convenient to the Capitol, but a tight squeeze nonetheless. We had 175 attendees last year. I suspect 200 may require us all to be extra-friendly to one another.

Registration is super-cheap — $10 for BikeMN members, an extra $5 for the unconverted.

I’ll be there. Will you?

Here’s the thing: These are serious issues. We should be concerned about them. But [...]]]>

I’ve been on a wee bit of a spree lately about the continual state of Defcon 11 every time there is federal hiccuping about restricting funds for Transportation Enhancements, or cutting Safe Routes to Schools, or classifying bicycles as vegetables instead of vehicles.

Here’s the thing: These are serious issues. We should be concerned about them. But freaking out every time it happens and having all the bicycle advocates write and call their congresscritters is a cute little bandage on a much larger problem — one that I don’t know that the active transport community is really prepared to deal with as yet.

To wit: The problem isn’t that these programs are under attack. The problem is that they are considered low-hanging fruit because the active transport lobby is considered a fringe segment, a small special interest group who wears funny spandex and don’t shower enough. The problem is that “cutting spending” is a big issue for a lot of people, but “safer biking and walking” is not.

Part of this is just the limitation of advocacy. Part of it is a failure to reach out from the circle of the converted and widen the scope of support. Part of it is that some of the advocates are unwilling to put the issues in a framework that a lot of people can support.

In general, biking and walking are not considered by a lot of people to be valid modes of daily transport. And that’s the problem. And to those people, when the advocacy community is represented by the militant car-free, or people who don’t have to buy diapers by the case, or people who can’t tie a tie and heavens knows don’t have to wear one to work… they get written off by the people who do have all of those issues.

The People For Bikes campaign from Bikes Belong has its heart in the right place — anyone who has ridden a bike should care. But even for P4B, a lot of the outreach has come at big bike races or other specialty events where the attendees are predisposed or already part of the community. Preaching to the converted is easy. This may be why, after launching the site in 2010 to try to get a million people to sign their pledge, they still haven’t hit half the goal.

Becoming sympathetic to people who perceive biking as “nice, but not for me because of time/family/commitment,” and showing them how offering added options helps them in their daily life even if they do not themselves embed their buttocks on banana seats is a lot harder. And it’s not necessarily happening enough.

As a result, TE is going to be on the block every 3-6 months for a long time. Until bicyclists convince Main Street America that bikes and pedestrians matter, that they are not merely a fringe contingent, those programs are easy targets to attack.

So ask yourself, if you support bicycling and walking, how you can help make it sympathetic to the woman working full-time with 2 kids in diapers. How street calming makes sense for an immigrant family who perceive bicycles as something children and poor people ride, and who aspire to join the car culture. How providing options that can increase community cohesion is not about special interests, but about providing freedom of choice as current options force a single modal selection. Can you back off of “bicycles as transportation!!” and expand the circle to emphasize the bicycle as a leisure activity that can and should be accommodated, and that it’s okay to maybe drive to the store for 4 gallons of milk, but bike out for some ice cream with the family — an activity that requires safe routes and traffic calming? And then get out there and try to do it.

It’s not that the lifestyle cyclists are wrong. But if the movement cannot expand and accept a broader base of people who benefit from transportation options and traffic calming, we will never get beyond a state of Save Cycling! Panic! Write your Congressperson Now! If we’re going to be expending all this energy, maybe we should do it fixing the disease, instead of slapping band-aids on gaping head wounds. And at the end of the day, the problem is that the circle isn’t yet big enough.

So go forth, and be friendly. Accept that multiple transport modes work for different situations in different families. Sympathize. And try to bring them into the movement.

Via the grant, MCE is one of 26 organizations to receive a $1,000 grant for a project designed to encourage students and their families to safely walk and [...]]]>

Congratulations are in order to Minneapolis Community Education, who were awarded a coveted Safe Routes to Schools mini-grant for spring 2012 from the National Center for Safe Routes to School.

Via the grant, MCE is one of 26 organizations to receive a $1,000 grant for a project designed to encourage students and their families to safely walk and bicycle to school. The proposed Minneapolis program includes a two-part bicycle repair program for youth. During the winter, 12 students will refurbish bicycles donated by a local shop, as well as be trained in bicycle safety. Upon program graduation, each student will receive a helmet, lock and bicycle. Graduates will also serve as cycling ambassadors in their schools, and provide bicycle repair services to peers during the next National Bike to School week. Additional refurbished bicycles and training will also be offered as part of that event.

Walking or biking to school helps children achieve the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity recommended for health each day. The Safe Routes to School program aims to make bicycling and walking safe, accepted in the community, and fun. Small programs, such as this mini-grant program, can make real differences in community acceptance of cycling to school with a low price tag. This is a perfect example of the kind of program I’ve talked about in the past — one using smaller investment funds to help reach out into new communities or enhance visibility of existing infrastructure, and not an expensive infrastructure program. While $1,000 isn’t chump change, it’s also an achievable funding goal for many organizations even as local governments lack the money to do much more. I look forward to hearing the results of this project!

And once again, the new year highlights that there is a very real differentiator between “bicyclists” and “people who bike.” This differentiator can be fatal, as in the case of Kerry Steven Baker. Mr. Baker was killed pre-dawn on New Year’s morning, [...]]]>

So, here we are. Minneapolis gets recognition and awards for its bike culture. Bicyclists, woo!

And once again, the new year highlights that there is a very real differentiator between “bicyclists” and “people who bike.” This differentiator can be fatal, as in the case of Kerry Steven Baker. Mr. Baker was killed pre-dawn on New Year’s morning, riding northbound in the southbound lanes of the 4700 block of East River Road, near the Anoka County Riverfront Park. He was hit by a plow going southbound in those southbound lanes.

News reports are calling out that he had no lights and no helmet, but not calling out that much like lacking a headlamp in the dark, riding against the flow of traffic is contrary to Minnesota state regulations for bicycle use. Nope, it’s all about the helmet!

Further revelations (via Fridley Patch) indicate that the deceased had a long criminal record featuring many kinds of violations that would preclude driving a car legally, although nothing has outright stated that he lacked a driver’s license.

These sorts of accidents really call out the people who aren’t touched by “bicycle culture!” as is so frequently touted in mags like Bicycling, or on sites like Grist or Streetsblog, which speak to a certain level of audience. These people get lost in things like the annual bicycle counts for the Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program, because they don’t use “commuter” routes, and are often out at irregular times. Often, these people don’t speak great English, use sidewalks, don’t wear helmets, don’t have lights, etc.

There is much to be said that making roads safer for bicyclists also makes it safer for people who bike. But most communities remain stuck on the how of reaching many of the people who bike, because they are so outside of their experience. Some communities don’t even recognize/realize the need.

At the end of the day, the cycling movement really needs to work on empowering people beyond the spandex-clad, the hipsters, the young, and find ways to reach out to people who feel forced to ride, and people who think riding is out of reach, such as many women, people with kids, etc. It’s a hard problem. But the first step is recognizing the need, and not getting too caught up in congratulations, awards, and circle-jerking within the core community of bicyclists — a group who often look down on people who bike, and a group who people who bike often feel no kinship with. We’re all on these roads together.

Edit/Addition: The section of road where this cyclist died is highly bikeable, and there are several off-road routes that overlap, but are unlikely to have been passable immediately post-snow. A lot more of this accident is on wrong-way riding and a lack of lights — both of which can be taught. This accident was by no means a facility issue.

Something that is never mentioned explicitly in the ABC [...]]]>

The League of American Bicyclists teach the ABC quickCheck as though it were a religion. And, to be honest, it’s a good routine. It provides a solid basic bike check that can be customized to be used on nearly every bicycle by every rider, preschool age and up.

Something that is never mentioned explicitly in the ABC quickCheck, but which more riders need to do: Check your seat height.

You can have your seat at a perfect height, and a few rides later, it will sink. The only bike I’ve ever owned where regular readjustment hasn’t been an issue is the bike with a carbon fiber seatpost in a carbon fiber frame — probably something about the construction and relative friction of the material versus the friction of aluminum or steel, which are far more common as seatposts and frame materials.

The seat needs to be high enough so that you fully extend your leg when on the pedal downstroke. Not bent, extended. Not locked, but extended. Full extension is easier on your knees and puts more power into the pedalstroke, helping you go farther faster on the same effort. Having the seat properly adjusted helps you handle your bike more effectively, too.

So check that seat and adjust it, because it is good to do so, and it makes me happy when you do so.

The coverage is pretty reasonable (although they did spell my name wrong online, ooga booga). It hit two of the things I emphasized, although some of the quote was me, some from [...]]]>

Last night’s Good Question on WCCO was about bicycle law. I and a member of the Minneapolis Bicycle Ambassadors spoke to WCCO on the topic.

The coverage is pretty reasonable (although they did spell my name wrong online, ooga booga). It hit two of the things I emphasized, although some of the quote was me, some from the BA, and some from the reporter — bikes are legal on the roads, and the 3-foot-passing rule.

There is also good emphasis on the importance of riding/driving predictably, which is another thing I mentioned in my interview, although that footage was not used.

My classic post on the core Minnesota bicycle statute (169.222) remains accurate today for the legal responsibilities of cyclists. Several additional statutes also apply, but 169.222 hits most of the high points.

And for anyone interested in learning more road skills, the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota offers a variety of educational bicycle courses based on the League of American Bicyclists curriculum, and are a good resource to find other quality courses.

The League also releases a breakdown of where each state ranks in key categories used to evaluate and rank the states. Minnesota’s ranking overall is a B, with breakout categories ranked as follows:

There is plenty of content on this new site, and I’m certain the staff and Board [...]]]>

Congratulations to the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota on the launch of their new web site. Developed by Minnesota Bicycle-Friendly Business Clockwork Active Media Systems, the new site is a solid platform to help drive bicycle advocacy and education in our state.

There is plenty of content on this new site, and I’m certain the staff and Board of BikeMN are planning all sorts of additions to it now that it’s live. Follow them on Twitter or bookmark the site to stay up-to-date on their work for cyclists.