bike culture

On Bicycles: 50 ways the new bike culture can change your life, edited by co-founder and former creative director of Momentum Magazine, Amy Walker, has high ambitions to be a volume that you can pick up and learn something new about bicycles and how it can fit into your life (if it hasn't already). The book is a collection of 50 essays (hence the title) by 33 contributors that covers the bases from bike style to internally-geared hubs to understanding "fixies" to cycling and Buddha to designing cities for bikes. The book is more about breadth than depth. You'll get a good overview of many topics to help people learn more about cycling and its growth in North America.

In her position at Momentum, Amy has met with a wide range of people involved in cycling in some way or another. I've had the pleasure of sitting down with her and colleagues at Momentum when they came through town and always found Amy - and others at Momentum - to be full of energy and passion for their unique position as both chronicler and driver of cycling "culture". You can see that reflected in this video in her speech on cycling.

Yehuda in 2008 with headwind versus Yehuda in 2011 with tailwind

Rick Smith has laid down his pen indefinitely, and his comic strip, Yehuda Moon & The Kickstand Cyclery, is no more. Smith's comic strip covered the tough-but-rewarding life of bike store owner / cycling activist / tilter-at-windmills Yehuda Moon and other friends, including former owner (but now a ghost) Fred Banks; unibrow co-owner / mechanic Joe King, Amish fixie-rider Sister Sprocket; sometime employee, engineer, mother Thistle Gin and many others. From its start in 2008 until just last month Smith dedicated a lot of free time over three and a half years to making a successful comic, if not financially, at least culturally. Ultimately, however, Smith found it too tough to make the comic financially sustainable, and drawing and writing, in addition to holding down other jobs, became too much.

Yehuda was loved by many people, whether they worked in the bike industry, cycling advocacy or just liked to ride their bike. Having spent time Inside the interesting and imaginative world of the Kickstand Cyclery where an Amish community built exclusive frames for Yehuda's shop, where a ninja existed that threw sharpened chainrings, and where Yehuda instigated many projects of DIY bike lanes, bike share and racks, there were a lot of aspects that rang true to the issues faced by both bike stores and advocates trying to gain a toe-hold for bikes in a continent dominated by automobiles.

50 No-handed bike moves. Favorite: approaching Squid. Thanks to Mark Shouldice for heads-up.

Dandyhorse magazine is celebrating its Food Issue Launch Party, on October 3rd, 8 pm at Parts & Labour, which is located at 1566 Queen Street West. The Food Issue is guest edited by Bob Blumer of the Food Network, "a guy that bikes 1,000 kms in 10 days and calls it a vacation".

In the issue:

• dandyhorse pits Canadian pro rider Ryder Hesjedal against Toronto courier Kevin Barnhorst
• Two of Toronto's best chefs concoct energy bars that actually taste good
• A cyclists' tribute to Jack Layton
• Artwork by Jason van Horne
• Stunning photos by John Lee and Molly Crealock
• Bike Spotting with more cargo bikes than you can shake a tire lever at

The cost is $7 for magazine plus Pay what you can donation ($3 suggested). The event is on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=267992546555792

At the party:

• a special performance by LUxURY Bob!
• two Linus bikes up for grabs, courtesy of Curbside Cycle. Raffle tickets are only $5 each! Draw is at 11 p.m.

Motorists who harass cyclists, by honking, yelling at us, or buzzing us have no excuse. They don't even have the lousy excuse that we hold them up, because we don't. Motorists who harass cyclists do it because they can. They have a steel cage to protect them from the consequences of their behaviour, and an engine to run away. Other people suffer the consequences; often the most vulnerable of road users. To see an example of this, take a look at the accompanying video.

As an idea, you can't argue with it: cyclists shouldn't kill pedestrians. Moreover, cycling culture should take the obligation not to kill pedestrians very seriously indeed, and jurisdictions, from the city to the province, with responsibility for traffic safety should frame a comprehensive strategy to ensure the cyclists who do not understand our shared responsibilities get the message.

So how did the recent Globe and Mail editorial, which tried to make these simple points, do such a bad job? The answer partly lies in the atrocious phrasing the editorial claims cyclists should "know our place". And if we don't, do y'all have a rope, a tree and a bunch of good ole boys to teach us? Some phrases just bring up too many bad memories, and editorial writers should leave such phrases out of their tool boxes. Whoever wrote this particular editorial then added pomposity to their list of rhetorical blunders by writing this: "We do not occupy a planet where cyclist safety trumps all else." I get it: cyclists don't have a right to risk other people's lives to stay safe ourselves.

The Toronto Bicycle Music Festival is taking place September 18th with the first set at Trinity Bellwoods Park at 2 pm (facebook page).

Toronto's second annual pedal-powered, mobile music festival is featuring Jeremy Fisher, The Strumbellas, Lenni Jabour, Abigail Lapell, Amélie & Les Singes Bleus and more!

September 18, 2011 starting at 2 pm at Trinity Bellwoods Park (south end near Queen St.)

They're looking for "bike roadies" to help out at the festival. If you've got a bike trailer or cargo bike and time ping them! All roadies have to do is to help move a musician's instruments and gear from various Toronto locations to one or more west-end parks, and back. All the locations are close together. In exchange there will be food and a small surprise gift.

Contact Adam at adampopper@gmail.com or (416) 476-4806

The Globe, the Star, and 680 news have all reported that the police charged a cyclist with careless driving after a woman suffered a skull fracture from a bicycle vs pedestrian collision Tuesday July 5 at Huron and Dundas. According to the police news release, the accident took place as the woman crossed in the crosswalk with the light.

I hope the woman injured in this tragic incident makes a full recovery. I hope the cyclist behaved more responsibly than the press and police reports make it appear. I hope the public and politicians keep their sense of proportion when discussing cycling issues. I know that I make my share of mistakes as a cyclist, as a driver, and even as a pedestrian. I know how easily a misjudged distance, or a vehicle not seen clearly at night can turn into a crash.

BUT...