It's winter already! Get out the astronaut suit

It's time again for the annual article on tips for winter cycling in one of the mainstream newspapers and once again they go over the top in trying to provide the definitive guide to provide security against every contingency. I admire their earnest attempt to give some advice for those brave souls, but ends up with making the result look more like an astronaut on a wintery moon launch. To be fair last year the Star reported that the key thing for winter cycling are tissues, but this was only because Yvonne had tried to convince them winter cycling is easy:

Winter Astronaut Toronto Star
Toronto Star

But do we really need to start training for NASA to get through the winter? My proposal: think about what you'd wear if you were going for a long winter walk and wear it:
Fri, 02/01/2008 - 15:25 - In Front of La Carrera Cycles on Harbord ©P1040788.JPG
17 years ago ago by Martin Reis.
Look: warm clothes! Practical, but not particularly fashionable. (Photo by Tino)

Tue, 01/19/2010 - 13:56 - www.416cyclestyle.com ©never too old, never too cold
15 years ago ago by 'Xander @416cyclestyle.
This guy has a smart-looking, warm hat. (Photo by Xander)

Every Canadian knows the drill: warm jacket, mitts, boots, long underwear and toque. The only thing I would add as important are lights for the bike. That's it.

Or you can even try to be fashionable (from Xander) though it would be hard to wear long johns under tight jeans:
Wed, 02/03/2010 - 16:20 - www.416cyclestyle.com ©IMG_2102 i'm not cold, i'm Fryslan
15 years ago ago by 'Xander @416cyclestyle.

To be sure there are more things that can go wrong with your bike in the winter, so take a note of the article's advice on keeping your bike functioning and riding safely. In sum, no quick turning or stopping. Keep your chain well oiled.

herb : 14 years 4 months ago
Tags: astronaut, safety, winter, winter cycling

Pink bike peace offering for Cherry's pinko comment

Courtesy of Globe and Mail

This week "pit bull" Don Cherry was invited to Mayor Ford's swearing-in ceremony and made a speech that went like this "blah, blah... wearing pinko for all the pinkos out there that ride bicycles and everything ...blah blah". Ford later claimed not to know what Cherry was going to say. All the same you could see that Ford wanted to give Cherry a big hug.

In response people started producing pinko buttons and t-shirts. And now Toronto bike shop Curbside is offering a custom painted pink Pashley bicycle to Don Cherry - an ironic slight wrapped up in a peace offering package. Velocolour will be doing the custom painting. Cherry will have to come in person to pick up the bicycle so the Curbside crew can have a latte with the brain-addled celebrity.

[img_assist|nid=4219|title=Pink Pashley as imagined|desc=|link=node|align=center|width=500|height=315]

So we’d like to take a little egg off your face and allow you to (literally) do a bit of backpedalling. We’d like to give you a bicycle. In a blushing shade of ironic pink, this bike will be customized to your own remarkable style. The bike will be a Pashley from the United Kingdom, a company that has been producing real city bikes for 80 years, and the details will be custom painted by Noah Rosen of Velocolour. We’re asking the city to choose their favorite Don Cherry pattern (below) whether it be be a Plaid, a floral, or what-have-you.

Go to Curbside's blog to vote for a pattern!

herb : 14 years 4 months ago
Tags: bike culture, pinkgate, politics

Getting bikes into the "Wheels" sections of newspapers

It's a bit of tilting at windmills to try to push newspapers into cover more than just the latest, shiny car or gas-guzzling SUV. Local quixotic advocates (such as former courier Wayne Scott) have been trying to get the media to play fair by pushing for inclusion of even a little bit of cycling in the automobile sections of newspapers (not to mention television or the internet). It would be a big accomplishment, given that our local Toronto Star "Wheels" section is the largest such car fetish read in the country.

Recently the Ride the City folks suggested that the New York Times could dedicate one day a year to a Bicycle section in place of their Automobile section. They even included a mockup of what it might look like. It's all very utopian, but it can be useful for us to dream.

Replace the New York Times Automobiles section with a Bicycling section once a year. That would be just one week devoted to bicycles and bicycling—the remaining 51 weeks would continue to be devoted to cars.

Automobile advertising is the bread and butter of these newspapers. Billions of dollars are spent yearly by automobile companies across all media, building up an entire culture of car fetishism where they try to entice you to start pining for their particular car. During the heydays of the auto sector, they had the #1 advertising budget - post 2009 they have dropped relative to the financial services and telecom sectors but are still in the top 3. Hey, that's capitalism right? Except that it's hard to be a so-called "rational" consumer when your emotions and ego are being shaped.

At least cycling isn't completely absent from the automobile-driven Toronto Star. The editor of the Toronto Star Wheels section, Mark Richardson, has noted how he has joined the ranks of the bicyclists - having been drafted by his wife for a fundraising ride this year. He's since covered cycling issues a handful of times. It's a case where a personal experience can trump all the advertising if only for a moment. We can be grateful to her for this small blessing - a car editor who can also see things from the point of view of a cyclist.

herb : 14 years 5 months ago
Tags: advertising, advocacy, media, money, newspapers