Welcome to the group.

Feel free to discuss your commuting experiences.  We're here to help
each other.

Ask for advice, and passaround ideas to get more people on their bikes.


We try to encourage discussion, but will toss water on flame wars.

Later

--- In urbancyclingmovement@yahoogroups.com, "marty630x"
<marty630x@y...> wrote:
>
> http://www.ardice.com/Sports/Cycling/
> Hello, I found this group at this website.

Bicycle Commuter Act and Conserve By Bicycling Reintroduced in
Congress (Posted 2.25.05)
The bicycling agenda is alive and well in the halls of Congress with
less than three weeks to go before the National Bike Summit® (March
16-18 in Washington, DC). In addition to transportation
reauthorization, bicycling commuter and conserve by bike legislation
are once again being considered in the 109th Congress.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Mark Foley (R-FL) have
reintroduced the Bicycle Commuter Act (H.R. 807). It is anticipated
that Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) will
reintroduce the Senate companion measure prior to the Summit. The
Bicycle Commuter Act would allow an employer to add bicycling to the
definition of transportation fringe benefit in the tax code. The
transportation fringe benefit was added as an incentive to get more
people to use alternative modes of transportation for commuting. The
goal is to reduce traffic congestion, pollution and wear and tear on
the roads. Under H.R. 807, employers could offer monthly cash
reimbursement of up to $100 to an employee who commutes to work by
bicycle, providing a tax benefit to the employer and helping defray
commuting expenses for the bicyclist.

In addition, Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN) has introduced H.R.
722, the Securing Transportation Energy Efficiency for Tomorrow Act
of 2005. This bill also includes language very similar to H.R. 807,
but with a $75 a month cap. Furthermore, H.R. 722 includes conserve
by bicycling language, comparable to the language in last year's
energy bill. This language would provide $10 million to establish a
pilot program with up to 10 geographically dispersed projects to use
education and marketing and provide facilities to convert motor
vehicle trips to bike trips as an energy savings measure. For more
information, visit http://www.bikeleague.org or http://thomas.loc.gov.

http://www.ardice.com/Sports/Cycling/
Hello, I found this group at this website.

In the US, cycle tour facilities are privately owned.  The idea is not
getting citiy governments to agree to them, it's convincing
businessmen that they can make a profit doing them.

After having been in Manilla traffic, I think that a bicycle would be
the fast way of getting around.  The biggest problem for many perople
that visit the developing world probably would be that they feel
insulated in the cars.  This way, they could see the place, but not
feel they are getting any on them.

It's actually a good idea.  One way to do it that I see (off the top
of my head) would be to have a multinational company that can supply
the quality bikes and parts, as well as sales and advertising.  They
then would start marketing to the "Lonely Planet crowd", who tend to
like the more interesting travel experiences.  Then, look to publish a
few books - like travel guides telling how to do it - and some
magazine articles.

It could work, but would definately require a dedicated group of
people to make it happen.

> luismauriciohuaco <luismauriciohuaco@y...> wrote:
>
> Maybe this is not a brand new idea but just to open discussion I
> would like to know your points of view concerning cicletour
> facilities in cities. Many tourists would enjoy better experiencies
> in sighseeing tourist atractions while cicling. Thing is not many
> local authorities get to the point of providing sustainable ways to
> enhance urban tourism in developing countries. We should care to
> promote more usage of NMTs worldwide and tourism like not to appear
> in mind of many local turism operators.

What are NMTs?  What is a cicletour facility?  What is needed from a city to
provide these things?

John O'Neill

luismauriciohuaco <luismauriciohuaco@...> wrote:

Maybe this is not a brand new idea but just to open discussion I
would like to know your points of view concerning cicletour
facilities in cities. Many tourists would enjoy better experiencies
in sighseeing tourist atractions while cicling. Thing is not many
local authorities get to the point of providing sustainable ways to
enhance urban tourism in developing countries. We should care to
promote more usage of NMTs worldwide and tourism like not to appear
in mind of many local turism operators.







Yahoo! Groups Links










---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
  Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

No, I'm not talking about cheezy jazz and
pink:)<br><br>I completed 2000's work year by not driving to
work. I rode my bike almost every day. One day I got a
ride there, but rode back. Another day I got a ride
back, but rode there (flat with no fix with me.) I did
drive my car there once during business hours, but I
rode the same day.<br><br>I basically velocommted for
the entire year. This gave me some time to think, as
I do my best thinking on my bike. I'm not alone in
this - Einstein claimed he conceived relativity while
riding a bike.<br><br>I believe that velocommuting is a
commitment - not reason to "be commited" as some seem to
think. It begins with the decision to ride, regardless
of the annoyances and problems that will crop up. It
is the decision to ride in the rain knowing you will
get wet and that famous vertical stripe because you
don't have fenders on the bike. It is riding knowing
you will get cold because your clothes aren't up to
the weather. It is riding when you know that you will
face oblivious people in their large metal boxes
flying at deadly speeds. It is riding knowing that you
will see the sun rise over marsh lands with low fog,
providing a beauty that the auto commuters will miss. It is
riding knowing that your lungs and legs get stronger
with every stroke.<br><br>In the end, I bought a bit
of stuff (fenders, pumps, a wheel, and tubes.) I
tried different things (backpacks, trailers.) But I
never got out of the saddle. It is a decision I made
over a year ago, and one I confirm every day as I put
on that lycra for that trip to sit in a
cubicle.<br><br>JOKE

Great! Snow & temps in teens & twentys in St.
Louis so I am happy to be retired this winter. I would
have trouble bicycling on this ice! I may start trying
to do short errands pretty soon tho. The main
streets are getting better. <br><br>Please keep us
informed.<br><br>Karl/happycycler

The weather in LA has been warm so far this winter.  I am going to try to ride
to work at least twice this week.<br><br>I will give updates <br><br>greg

anthonyrhodes,<br><br>thanks for that info on
domain names. I've been handling a website for the
bicycle users group I am in and I wanted to get a domain
name set up. However, I think someone, at some stage,
found a way to do it for free. They lost the
information though.<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>Ben

first you pay lots of money to get your doman
name then you need to set it up to forward to a site,
you can have the forwarding done at yahoo i'm not
that swift on computers so it cant be that hard
lol<br>or you can call yahoo at 1-408-731-3300, as for
lighting your bikes, i ride to kent state,ohio and to
akron,ohio to my studios and if you get to kent after night
fall the police will give you a big ticket and/or take
your bikes, the police in kent have found out that
they can have a bike sell at the end of the year and
make a lot of money, so if you ride a nice bike (BE ON
THE LOOK OUT FOR THE POLICE IN KENT OHIO) if you
think there looking at your bike becuse its a nice bike
there not, there probley trying to think of a way to
take it be careful and ride with a lite in ohio.

I mentioned the Melbourne Critical Mass 5th
birthday before. Some photos can be found at this
address<br>uk.y42.photos.yahoo.cpm/cm5n24<br><br>Th CM5N24 stands for Critical
Mass 5 (year) November
24. Its kind of a play on S11, if you know about that
day in Melbourne.<br><br>See yah,<br><br>Ben

anthonyrhodes,<br><br>How did you get that domain name for your site?<br><br>I
noticed it is pointing to a geocities site, how do you do that?<br><br>Ben

I could pretend that I am riding in winter
weather at the moment, but I'm sure to be found out. Down
here, we are coming into summer. Not that winter stops
me from riding anyway.<br><br>In Melbourne we just
had our 5th birthady Critical Mass. We had around 650
cyclists. It was a beuatiful evening and we took the city
by storm. We even managed to split the mass into two
a few times and then meet up in another part of the
city. It is the biggets Critical Mass I've been on,
although I beleive they got around 1200 to one birthday
ride.<br><br>As far as lights go, I mentioned that I sometimes
ride at night without them. However, at one stage my
friends called my bike the 'light fantastic'. This was
because I had a 50 Watt halogen lamp on the front being
powered by a 12V gel cell. It was pretty bright. I prefer
to build my own lights for my bikes. This is mainly
because I used to be an electronics technician, and I
always think that I can do a better job. However, I
usually aim a little high, and the job never quite gets
finished. You know how it is, a mechanics car is usually
always half repaired and a builders house is never
finished, well you should see all the half finished
electronics gear around my house. Anyway, this is becoming
one of those long posts, sorry.<br><br>Happy
cycling,<br><br>Ben

i love a good flame war in the winter,i'm not like the other fair weather riders
in here

Hey, Ben.<br><br>I don't know about the others,
but I'm still around. Maybe we should get a helmet or
stop sign flame war going just to see a few posts
;)<br><br>Now that the days are shorter, I'm riding home with
lights. As an experiment, I'm running two headlights on
my bar. One is the Cateye Micro Halogen. The other
is the Specialized PreviewKE. The Cateye I like
better as a solo light. The Specialized has a wider
pattern. Both together work well, as the Cateye is aimed
further out, and the Specialized closer in.<br><br>Since
both use AA batteries, I have a set of NiMh
rechargables. This makes it cheaper in the long run.<br><br>I
am looking for an upgrade. There are apparently some
problems with the Digital line of Nite Rider. They're on
version 2, and that hasn't been out long enough to know
if they fixed all the problems with rev 1.<br><br>I
may get a Vistalite setup. Some of the older sets are
available at closeout prices. They get good
reviews.<br><br>I'll still keep the other lights around as
backups.<br><br>I'm also looking at building up a wheel based on a
dynohub. Shimano makes one that is low enough in price,
but they don't sell it in the U.S. Apparently they
are afraid of legal problems. Whatever, I did find an
outfit that sells them in the U.S.:
<a href=http://www.PeterWhiteCycles.com.
target=new>http://www.PeterWhiteCycles.com.</a><br><br>JOKE

Sorry to have not posted for a while. I have had
exams, and lots of assignments to hand in. Then I went
away camping for a few days. I will be going away
again in a week or so, for a couple of
weeks.<br><br>Anyway, haven't checked out those other sites yet, but I
will.<br><br>As for the riding at night without lights, I do it
sometimes, but very cautiously. Sometimes you go out, noit
expecting to be riding home in the dark. I think it is
pretty dangerous, but if you ride really carefully and
assume that cars cannot see you, it can be
done?!?<br><br>Well, what I mean is, I dont catch a taxi if I'm in the
position of having to ride without lights, but I try to
avoid doing it if I can.<br><br>Happy (and safe)
cycling,<br><br>Ben

its not much but its ours, you can post on it if you would like to, or lets us
know of a good link

Nice site! I am slightly involved with a program
here "Bicycle Works". It is primarily just the
bicycling recycling/earn a bicycle sort of program. I have
helped with some of the bicycles as well as acted as an
adult leader on their rides including anual overnite
trips to a nearby State Park.<br><br>I also lead
occasional short urban bicycle rides for the local HI (AYH)
group. I commuted for 25/30 years befor I retired &
sometimes go on the monthly CM ride. Nothing very wild as
far as advocacy, but maybe we also help by being an
example when we use the bicycle for "practical" things.

Not mine per se, I have been volunteering with
them and teaching kids fo going on three years. The
bike revolution (hey that sounds wicked corny) takes
many forms. I'm a bike commuter, but still use my car
when I want. Not your typical BNBer but I still feel I
am an advocet for bikes (I also do work with a local
touring club www.nbwclub.org) as well as a sometimes
Masters racer. I don't feel that a movement has to be
particularly political or even noticeable, though modt my BNB
friends disagree. I hope that thing pick up in the yahoo
club, to both broaden my knowlegde and hopefully give
me some stuff to bring to my passive
activism.<br><br>Happy holidays to the US members, be thankful for the
bike.

brucevelo is that your web site ?bikes not bombs?

www.bikesnotbombs.org

It's been quiet around here lately. I'm not sure
why. I might have posted more, but don't like
following myself up. Makes me think I'm talking to
myself.<br><br>I was thinking about posting a helmet rant just to
see some traffic :)<br><br>Honestly, I was looking
into some advocacy in my area, and doing some work to
improve the number and safe practices of the local
velocommuters.<br><br>We have quite a few that don't own cars around here,
but that's due to the living expense. They often ride
at dusk in dark clothes and without lights or
helmets. It's a bit dangerous.<br><br>JOKE

hahaha ha see what i mean

Thank you for your kind words Tony.<br><br>www.bikesnotbombs.org

since i have been comeing here I have seen
nothing to make me beleave that this club has anything to
do with a <br>Cycling Movement of any kind did you
all leave give up sell your bikes ? what
www.psychocycles.org

is anybody out there ?

This morning, I got an early start off to work.
My new commute path includes a ride through the edge
of the San Fransisco Baylands on a bike trail. It's
low traffic, and shorter than the rough road option
around.<br><br>So this morning, as I'm riding along the baylands, I
watch the sun rise over the hills. A low fog was
floating out of the waterways, and a clear patch over some
marshy ground made the picture complete. It was
something so see, and I definetly would not have seen it
had I driven.<br><br>That's not the only reason I
ride to work, but it is a good one.<br><br>JOKE

THE FIRST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH IS CRITICAL MASS DAY IN KENT OHIO ITS GETTING
BIGGER BUT WE STILL NEED HELP THANKS BIGFUN

Great Jo!!<br><br>Congrats. on your record!!  I had only 2 or 3 years where I
was able to bicycle EVERY work day.  It is good to hear that it is working for
you.<br><br>Karl

Well, I moved to be further from
work.<br><br>Actually, I moved due to a rent increase that was beyond
reasonable. However, now I have a more senic commute. Now I
can ride through the baylands on my way to and from
work. It's more relaxing than riding through suburban
sprawl.<br><br>It is far enough, though, that I now need to wear
bike shorts for the ride. I used to be able to do it
in street clothes, but now it's far enough that I
get chafed if I do.<br><br>My record remains, though,
that I have not driven to work this calendar year.
Every work day involves a bike. It looks like I can get
through the end of the year without driving to work. It
feels like a great accomplishment.<br><br>Ride
on,<br>JOKE