I don't ride my bike on the sidewalk (unless it's a designated bike route) so I was a little miffed today when I nearly got hit, not once but twice, by people who were.

The first time was on the 100 block of State Street at around 1:30. Guy was riding RIGHT NEXT TO THE BUILDINGS so I didn't even see him as I stepped out of a doorway. What possible justification is there for riding the sidewalk on State in the middle of the day? There sure as hell isn't any traffic in the street. (It's a mall closed to most traffic.)

Then tonight, I'm walking my bike as I exit the driveway behind the office, young woman on a bike, again hugging the side of the building, misses me by inches. I can understand why, with no lights or helmet, she didn't want to ride the bike lane, but if she'd hit me she would've gotten hurt.

So again, SIDEWALKS are for WALKING.

This new study indicates some dramatic benefits could be obtained by simply making fifty percent of short trips now made in cars by bicycle instead.

Across the study region of approximately 31.3 million people and 37,000 total square miles, mortality would decline by approximately 1,100 deaths/year (95% CI: 856 – 1,346) due to improved air quality and increased exercise. Making 50% of short trips by bicycle would yield savings of approximately $3.8 billion/year from avoided mortality and reduced health care costs (95% CI: $2.7 – $5.0 billion). We estimate that the combined benefits of improved air quality and physical fitness would exceed $7 billion/year.

What will actually happen, of course, is that people will continue to do exactly what they've been doing for years: using the SUV to drive a mile and a-half to pick up a carton of egges and a gallon of milk. Then they'll drive to the health club and wonder why they can't lose any weight. 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/minimonkey/mini-monkey-light-wheel-lights-for-bicycles

On Tuesday I attended the first annual 'Tuning up Communities' fundraisng breakfast for DreamBikes in Madison. DreamBikes is my neighborhood bike shop but as you can find out for yourself here, it's about a lot more than fixing flats and adjusting derailleurs.

And I think you'll enjoy this video about Scraper Town bikes in Oakland.  

and told the missus that my purchase was "helping to create safe havens for women who exist in otherwise male dominated environments" do you suppose she'd let me hang it in my workshop?

http://laughingsquid.com/bicycle-chick-pinup-calendar-by-thought-you-knew/

Tom Held writes in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, about this effort to fund a program which provides basic bikes to people in Africa.

“To millions of people in Africa, a quality, sturdy bike is the difference between getting to school, getting health care, making a living or not. It is a simple, yet powerful tool that can help lift the most in need out of poverty.”

   http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/128413628.html

A proposal to include bicycle and pedestrian accomodations in the renovation of Milwaukee's Hoan Bridge is generating a lot of buzz. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (make sure to read some of the comments) reported on Tuesday night's packed public hearing, as did WUWM.

The Hoan is slated for a large scale reconstruction beginning in 2013. Views from the bridge are spectacular and it's easy to imagine that access for bikes and walkers could be a hit with tourists and residents, at least during fair weather. It will be interesting to see whether or not it gets incorporated into DOT's final plans.

When I was a kid, I had a friend in the neighborhood who was riding a bicycle without a seat (or saddle for you purists.) Richard was a year or two older than me and not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he may really not have been aware of the danger that naked seatpost posed to his privates. Just one slip off a pedal and . . .

My dad, on the other hand, did get it, and the thought horrified him. "I'm afraid that kid's going to ruin himself," he said. So he went and bought a seat from the Salvation Army store (his favorite "scrounging" haunt) and put it on Richard's bike.

Flash forward forty years to this past weekend. I'm walking the dogs, about a half mile from my house, and a kid of 7 or 8 rides by. He must have thought he'd startled either the dogs or me, because he said "sorry." That's when I noticed he was riding without a seat.

By the time I got back to the house I knew it was going to bother me the rest of the weekend if I didn't put a seat on that kid's bike. Fortunately I have some lying around, so I grabbed one, a couple of wrenches, and my floor pump (I'd also noticed he was riding with flat tires), stuffed everything in a backpack and rode over to what I was pretty sure was the correct apartment duplex.

Sure enough the bike was on the grass out in front. I wrang the doorbell and the kid appeared at the door. He obviously didn't recognize me and wasn't going to open up, until I reached into the pack and pulled out the saddle while pointing at the bike.

It turned out to be his older brother's bike. I want ahead and installed the seat, watched by several siblings from the front stoop and a second story window. Aired up the tires and older brother took it for a spin. "Is that better?" I asked. "Yeah and a lot faster too," he said. "Thanks!"    

I made a point of telling my dad the story on the phone the next day.   

Marion, Indiana Mayor Seybold doesn't need me to commend him for the great work he's done in turning around the city's economy and making local government more efficient. But he lost me big time when he explained his rationale for selling or giving away some of the city's 22 parks in order to save costs.

"We have 22 parks in our system. Well, we don't need 22 parks," he says. "[So] we're selling parks."

Selling parks, giving them away, so you won't have to go around and mow all that grass. The goal is five big parks — parks that people drive to.

"Years ago you had to have a different park in every neighborhood because people walked," says Seybold.

Oh dear. Years ago, when people walked. You know, before our nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity. Now we can just pry the kids away from their screens, and drive them to the park, at $4.00 a gallon. They won't need to walk to a neighborhood park, and the senior citizens can drive, too. This divestiture of parks runs counter to everything that makes for liveable, pedestrian freindly neighborhoods in cities of any size. Somebody needs to explain the attractiveness of that for all the potential new employers Mayor Seybold wants to attract. I also can't help wondering who made the decision to cut parks? Were neighborhood residents asked? Was there a vote by the city council?

In Madison, where I live, the extensive network of neighborhood parks is one the city's major selling points. I walk to my neighborhood park several times a week, and it's heavily used by kids and adults alike -- nearly all of whom walk there. And if Mayor Seybold wants to save money, he could try the "no mow" approach that's been used here, where selected areas in some parks are not mowed. Let's hope someone puts the brakes on Mayor Seybold's plans. He might even walk to a park and work off some of those pounds he's added since his Olympic skating career.       

"It's one thing to get some tattoos with the idea that you are artfully expressing something. It's another thing to deploy them around your body parts as though you were slapping decals on a 1989 beater car. These mutts had tattoos on their necks, their boobs, the sides of their heads, their knuckles, their ankles. The idea, apparently, is to make yourself appear as frightening as possible - and I can tell you it is a very successful initiative. Can lady Gaga please write us a new national anthem: America the horror movie."