A few weeks ago a positive cycling article came out in - of all places - Wheels, the Toronto Star's car fetish section. The author, Mark Richardson, rode country roads alongside Eleanor McMahon, founder of the Share the Road coalition. The article is interesting for not only its focus on McMahon's strong push for better cycling infrastructure and her experience working with politicians and policy-makers, but also for the fact that Richardson has had an increasing personal interest in cycling. As he notes in a May article, Cyclists aren't leaving, and add Editor to ranks:

Yes, the editor of Canada’s largest automotive publication also rides a bicycle. I wrote here last summer of how my cruel and unusual wife, a keen cyclist, has been prying me from the broad saddle of my Harley-Davidson and onto the spindly seat of her old Fisher hybrid. My kids bought me Lycra cycling gear for my birthday, and on a pleasant afternoon, the two of us will head out on the country roads near our home in Milton.

And then in July, Richardson's wife convinced him to go on the 730 km Great Waterfront Trail Adventure from Niagara-on-the-Lake to the Quebec border.

TorontoCranks informed me of some anti-bike lane campaigning taking place in Scarborough, Ward 35 - Adrian Heaps' ward. There's no love lost on Heaps by hardcore cycling advocates (including TorontoCranks who considers Heaps an "arrogant jackass") but TC points out that Heaps has done a lot to improve his ward. And at least Heaps has voted for all the bikeway network projects before council in the last 4 years while he was also the chair of the Cycling Committee.

Can an anti-bike lane screed win Michelle Berardinetti this ward? I'm skeptical since I don't believe the issue is front and centre for lots of people who are likely more worried about their jobs. TorontoCranks makes the great point that the bike lanes on Pharmacy, which Ms. Berardinetti complains about so loudly, were installed on what is basically a residential street. Much like the Dundas East bike lanes, the Pharmacy lanes have calmed traffic and made it safer for all the residents. This may be something which the locals have noticed.

I set up camp for a few minutes next to the new bike box at St. George and Harbord in order to get a sense of how people are using them. My conclusion: the bike boxes are not different enough from before to make them stand out to drivers and cyclists as bike-only places at red lights.

Bus creeps into bike box

Watching through a few light cycles it looked like about 50% of the drivers would stay behind the bike box. One of the main reasons for stopping in the bike box was drivers inching forward to make a left turn but hitting a red light. On a busy intersection like Harbord and St. George this happens a lot.

Van parks in bike box

About 1 in 2 cars stopped in the bike box; particularly on St. George.

The confusion is evident in this photo. Not only are the cyclists assuming they have to stay behind the bike box but the cars are actually creeping into the box. Photo by Tino (click on photo to see more). I didn't actually see any cyclists do this, so I'm assuming this is rare. Many cyclists don't like to stick behind the white line (and neither do car drivers).

$6 for the Dandyhorse magazine plus a donation at the door.

Featuring: DJ Triple-X and some nice door prizes (so we've been told). Taking place at Parts & Labour, 1556 Queen St W (in Parkdale).

Despite dandyhorses being mostly useless first-generation machines, pushed by the upperclass men by scooting their feet in a "dandy-like" way, which met a dead-end until someone came up with the idea of pedals and cranks, the Dandyhorse magazine is simply great and this should be a great party.

More of my anti-hobby horse diatribe some other day, but just one last thought. It's interesting to think now how during the time of the dandyhorse, no one could imagine how to make a more efficient machine with even mechanics believing that nothing could be more efficient than a walking man. Little did they know.

As of today, Oct. 6, there are about 780 members of BIXI Toronto. The BIXI Toronto team is hosting a party to celebrate this accomplishment and help push the number over the top.

All Members are invited to bring a non-member to push us over the 1000 mark. So come to the Steam Whistle Brewery to eat great local food, and drink award-winning Steam Whistle beer. The only cost is your membership. Steam Whistle Brewery has kindly donated their venue for this great event.

The event will be at the Steam Whistle Brewery (next to the CN Tower), Monday October 18th, and doors open at 6:30pm. The event is free with a BIXI membership.

Send an RSVP to bixitoronto@toronto.ca Subject: BIXI Party.

By the way, if you see this image on the sidebar, copy it to your own blog or post it as your Facebook profile or Twitter profile. Include a link to toronto.bixi.com so people can find out more and sign up:

The cycling department at the City is putting some effort into educating the public on sharrows and how to use them. I recall this being a request put forward by some in the cycling community, that if we're going to have sharrows, we need to raise awareness of what they mean and how to use them.

Despite that, I believe that the mere existence of sharrows without education still influences the behaviours of drivers and cyclists. Cyclists are more likely to feel they can use more of the lane and drivers are more likely to give way to cyclists. (Not all, but many).

The ads will be appearing on various online newspapers over the next couple months.

If you can't see the Flash goodness above, here's a static graphic of it:

Engineering students and teachers at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies have finally fulfilled Leonardo da Vinci's vision of an ornithopter, an aircraft, powered by a human pilot's muscles, which flies by flapping its wings. Unmanned ornithopters have already been used for practical reasons and by hobbyists, but having a person power the whole contraption was a much higher level of difficulty. The wing span of this ornithopter is said to rival that of a 747.

The story involves pedal-power, Toronto and an interesting video - all things which make for a good story for bike nerds.

From The Register:

The "Snowbird" man-powered ornithopter achieved its history-making flight last month in Ontario, Canada, witnessed by a Canadian official of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) - the body responsible for authenticating aviation records, first flights and the like. The machine was piloted (and flapped) by Todd Reichert, an engineering PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. It flew for 19.3 seconds, and covered a distance of 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour.

Hi Rocco, Rocco and Himy, where are the others? Oh, there you are Joe, in the back.: Photo: Toronto Cyclists Union

Eight mayoral candidates accompanied the bike union on a downtown bike ride on Monday (oops, stale news!). Three of the main candidates didn't go for the ride: Smitherman hoped to arrange a one on one ride; Thomson was probably planning her exit strategy; and Ford was afraid to look like a big hypocrite (he was probably also thinking about lurking nearby with his SUV, the "road shark", ready to pounce). According to the bike union, the half hour ride gave the candidates a full experience of downtown cycling:

...allowed candidates to experience almost the full range of scenarios faced on a daily urban commute by bicycle. The ride took candidates on arterials with bike lanes, without bike lanes, on roads with construction, roads scarred by utility cuts, on minor arterials, and on side streets, though because of time constraints, candidates did not experience the less welcoming suburban cycling environment where traffic speeds are higher and few if any cycling facilities currently exist.

Pantalone, because he never learning to ride, got a nice rickshaw ride by his assistant Mike Smith. (Rickshaw looks like it was provided by Streets are for People).