Happy Bike to Work Day! I’m not biking at all today because I’m at Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Cooking for Solutions event — far far away from my bike. But I’m cycling vicariously by reading inspiring — and sometimes disappointing — stories of two-wheeling:

>> Angelenos got on their bikes to celebrate Bike to Work Day and Bike to Campus Week. Those doing the bike-bus combo trip to work got a free ride on the Metro today.

Unfortunately, not all the Metro riders knew about this free deal, leaving some cyclists in the lurch. The transit agency did release its first county-wide bike map, however, which should help cyclists who’ve got the muscle power to avoid the Metro buses and trains altogether.

>> In nearby Pasadena, city officials are trying to encourage its residents to bike on the road, not the sidewalk. As anyone who’s taken a bike safety class knows, cycling on the sidewalk’s much less safe than staying on the road — even if the sidewalk SEEMS safer to newbie riders.

>> Is biking to work an easy green change, or a tough green task? Depending on your personality, personal habits, and neighborhood, your cycling experience will vary widely. Francine Kiefer, a blogger for The Christian Science Monitor, took her bike out for a day but expects it to stay mostly in the garage in the future:

I’m a fair-weather rider, deterred by rain, snow, sleet, and August humidity. More importantly, this morning did little to calm my worries about commuter traffic. Some of the problem is my inexperience, and I’m willing to learn from that. But I can see now that if commuter biking is to really take off, cities and workplaces need to encourage it, from bike lanes (finally, Washington is creating some) to workplace showers.

L.A. Blogger Will Campbell has almost the opposite problem, saying that his recent change from commuting 30 miles by bike every day to telecommuting 15 feet by foot is limiting his two-wheeling fun:

It’s amazing how easy it was for me to bike 30 miles a day to and from the office, and how hard it is to get out at dawn or dusk (or even lunchtime) for a recreational ride.

How was your cycling experience today?

>> Need some extra motivation to keep you cycling after Bike to Work Week? TriplePundit reports on a new app called Green Goose that could help:

Green Goose combines personal fitness with competition in a new way: A wireless bike sensor is attached to the rear axle of your bike, which then transmits that information back to your Green Gateway back home or at your office once in range.

You could simply use it for your own knowledge, setting goals for your activities…. But where it begins to gain traction is that you can broadcast your activity to your Twitter and Facebook networks.

>> At least six cyclists will be two-wheeling furiously after Bike to Work Week ends. Treehugger reports that on Monday, six cyclists will embark on a 7-week cycling trip, pedaling 3,000 kilometers from Vancouver, British Columbia to Tijuana, Mexico with an organization called Global Agents for Change with the goal to raise funds and awareness for global poverty.

2 Comments