since a goodly number of you academic, latte drinking, suv driving types will be spending a fer bit of time in siberia after the revolution anyway, you might want to give this a good close look...

http://www.rctc.ru/gring.html

the revolution is it's own reward.

this very moving documentary of class struggle is an approved piece of racing union thought.  and even though it's oscar season, you won't see the establishment showing these guys any love.  down with the haters.

http://www.mouthrevolution.com/index.html

-sg

on wednesday, i got to do a little bit of outreach with bruce from fairfax advocates for better bicycling.  we headed out to george mason university and talked with students, faculty and staff about commuting on bikes.

the most common questions we got concerned safe routes for riding.  we gave away a lot of maps and highlighted preferred routes.  most people had bikes and wanted to ride, they just were not sure what the safest way to go was.  we plotted routes from as far away as reston, alexandria, seven corners, and fair oaks with a lot of people also coming from the burke/wakefield area.  while these distances aren't notable, we're not talking about hard core cyclists here, we're talking about recreational riders on hybrids who want to give it a shot.  and it looks promising.

people had a variety of other concerns as well.  are there enough bike racks?  where can i shower once i get to campus?  are the bike racks safe and will my bike get stolen?  I'm now more convinced that ever that what is needed is an ambassador program: volunteers who will go to people's houses in the morning, meet up with them and accompany them to where they need to go.  either that or a bike to work day type approach where you designate a few satellites away from campus and then gather a few people and ride in together as a group.  people have bikes and they have a desire to ride them.  what they seem to lack is a knowledge of safe routes and the confidence to just try it out.

another benefit of this event was that we got a chance to talk to some of the facility gurus from gmu.  they are currently planning on putting in more bike racks.  we also discussed with them the idea of adding bike routes to the current cue bus map for the city of fairfax and putting out a guide to commuting by bike or just simply a GMU bike route map for people who were interested.  they were more receptive than I thought they would be which is a positive sign as well.

- - - posted by scott

This guy built a generator powered by a homemade recumbent bike.  It seems to be a mixture of proof-of-concept relating to alternative energy, and a fun way to use up old junk parts.   He manages to get a peak electrical output of 203 Watts @ 550RPM at the generator (my wild-ass guess is the generator is about 40-50% efficient) and decides that 6 or 7 cents per KW/H from the power company is a "fantastic value." 

--posted by roy

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-123treed,0,7408048.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

one part self-loathing, one part insane aggression, three parts selfish indulgence.  mix well with high test. 

incidentally, i didn't get much good advice growing up but one gem was to not write checks with your mouth or actions that your ass can't cash.  you better not be bluffing when you get out of your car to "wrassle" with someone after an accident.  oh and carjacking someone who has stopped, ostensibly to help you: bad form.

- - - posted by scott

from waba but not up on their web site yet:

Act Now: Support HB 1826 for Bicycle Commuting Tax Credits

The Washigton Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and the Virginia Bicycling Federation (VBF) urge all Virginia cyclists to support HB 1826 which is now before the Virginia General Assembly.  HB 1826 would promote bicycle commuting by encouraging employers to provide bicycle commuting accommodations at the workplace and by offering a modest income tax credit of $15/month for employees who commute by bicycle on 10 or more days per month.

HB 1826 proposes two different types of income tax credit for expenditures related to bicycle commuting

1. an employer tax credit up to $5,000 for expenditures to provide employee bicycle parking racks and/or showers at the worksite and
2. an employee tax credit of $15 per month for commuting by bicycle at least ten days in any given month. 

WABA and VBF strongly support both proposed tax credits, but we have suggested expanding the employer credit to include rented as well as purchased facilities, to include all types of suitable bicycle parking facilities (not just racks), and to include employee clothes changing and storage facilities as well as employee showers.

The bill has been referred to the House of Delegates Finance Committee and will reportedly be heard by Finance Subcommittee #3 on Wednesday, Jan. 24 and by the full Finance Committee as early as Monday, Jan. 29.  A favorable fiscal impact statement has already been issued by the Virginia Department of Taxation.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1) Ask your Virginia delegate to co-patron HB 1826 before the bill is heard by the full House Finance Committee.  You can identify and contact your delegate from:

http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

2) Ask your delegate to vote for HB 1826 at every opportunity.  If your delegate (or a nearby delegate) is on the House Finance Committee

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+com+H10

and/or on Finance Subcommittee #3 http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+sub+H10003, ask them NOW to vote for HB 1826 when it comes before Subcommittee #1 (on Jan. 24) and the full House Finance Committee (possibly on Jan. 29).

LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION:

HB 1826 bill history:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+sum+HB1826

HB 1826 text as introduced:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+ful+HB1826

 

 

this just in from kevin:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/070122_technov_nasa_bike.html

this may be an engineering marvel, but it's completely divorced from reality.  this might play on the salt flats somewhere, but seriously, where could you use this thing?  the wheels are 1.62 meters ** apart at their base.  given that most travel lanes of roads are around 3 meters wide, you'll be taking up more than half the lane.  and can you imagine something like this on the capital crescent or wo&d?  it may be a neat idea, but where would one use something like this.  oh, forget it, let's just assume you had a place to use it that was ideal.  where will you store it?  yee gods, this is impractical...

- - - sg

** the union prefers systeme internationale!

damn, bryan finds the best links....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QdzzZCgFbU&mode=related&search

 

kelle posts here and here and does so with class.  kelle, your response was very gracious and is warmly received.  a hearty huzzah! to you, and an extra ration of cloth, potatoes and bulghar wheat as well.

in his official capacity as mabra vice president, will miller posts here and here in response.  what appears to be lost on him though is the irony.  here you are asking clubs to adopt your logo on their jerseys.  in many instances this request will delay orders and/or cost the clubs money to make a late change or a screen modification.  most people would assume mabra would take a "catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" approach.  but instead, will takes this totally unnecessary and gratuitous swipe at the people's cycling team.  hey will, your humorless and undiplomatic response is telling.  the revolution is in full effect.  mabra is visibly agitated and dissembling.  the union message is reaching a crescendo.  we ride a tsunami of revolutionary zeal and are on the cusp of victory. 

will's scurrilous attempt to associate the people's cycling movement with repressive fascists will never succeed.  i want to offer everyone my personal guarantee that will's inevitable indictment against racing union thought and his subsequent voluntary election to spend several winters in an agrarian cycling re-education camp and commune can only be thought of as progress of the highest order.  it will represent a true triumph of racing union thought and a fitting reward for his service to cycling.  bon voyage will.  and lest you think there's nothing waiting for you, it's not as bad as everyone says...

- - - posted by scott.  this post does not reflect the opinions of the racing union, only myself.

the racing union strives to deliver for the working cyclists and citizens.  a vote for the union is a vote for progress.  a vote for the union is a vote for solidarity with your brothers and sisters in cycling.  a vote for the union is a vote against the subtle tyrrany of the status quo. 

many choose to walk through life in somnabulent fashion; unquestioning and satisfied with the pittance they are offered.  they do not ponder why the system makes their daily struggle so difficult.  they lack the curious nature and inquisitiveness that is the hallmark of the intellectual vanguard.  it is as if their eyes, heavily lidded, cannot see the very world around them.  the hated but triumphant four-wheeled hegemon strides like a colossus across a landscape of devastation.  accomodations for those who take a different path are sparse, and their work is often repaid with insults to their character, judgement and patriotism.  no more!

sleepers awake!  see for yourselves what has been wrought.  view your society, your landscape and your daily activities through fresh eyes.  ask not what you see or know now, but what can be.  the promise is boundless.  the potential is astounding.  and the way forward is clear.

it is time to throw off the shackles of the status quo!  it must be every riders aspiration to break the very yoke which has contained you, which forces you into servitude and harnesses your best efforts for purposes which are clearly contrary to any given cyclist's natural goals. 

the union is in ascendency.  it's message is strong, it's members stronger still.  the inversion of the status quo has begun and change will come.  rally to the union banner.  da! union da!

- - - posted by scott

updated below

pete lindeman just sent me a link.  i don't know quite what to say about it.  chris's post earlier today clearly shows that there are misunderstandings between those who consider themselves commuters and those who consider themselves racers.  but the guy who designed this thing?  i think our misunderstandings of each other pale in comparison to this misunderstanding of how bicycles are supposed to work.

link is here

check it.  then check it again.  my top three list of things which leave me baffled.

3) the steering linkage is particularly cryptic.  are both mtb-style bars fixed in place? do both people need to turn in tandem if you'll pardon the pun?

2) the pedal system.  it looks like a bit and brace type system.  i have to assume it's a semi-normal bottom bracket, but if it's a one piece crank, i have to assume it was difficult to get in there.

1) the set post/mount.  either your weight is going to be directly over the bottom bracket or your leg is going to hit that damn pipe affixing the seatpost holder to the frame.  hilarity would ensue.

post your own hit parade in the comments.  pete is, incidentally, leading the year so far with the mostest and the bestest links to weird cycling phenomenon

update: who thinks they have the skill to ride solo on that bike?  i mean, on one saddle with no one and nothing on the other side?

- - - sg

 

The blog WashCycle has this entry today  (http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2007/01/biker_on_biker_.html#trackback):

 

 

Someone sent me a link to this discussion about an incident on the CCT,

Witnessed a biker on biker assault this morning. I was riding up the Capital Crescent Trail (Washington DC) this morning when a saw a fellow commuter approaching me. Then from behind him I saw two riders in racing gear swing out from behind him. The first rider pulls up along side, reaches out, and gives the commuter a hard shove with his hand.

This pushes the commuter off the trail and sends him sprawling down over a 6 foot embankment. I stopped and checked. Fortunately he was all right. Apparently there had been something going on that I hadn't seen, but to deliberately push someone over a 6 foot embankment is just out an out bullying.

I've never seen anything like that. Not even close. It's kind of surprising. Usually these incidents involve a car. I know that I have at times - when cars invade my space (gunning it past me by inches to make it to a red light) - confronted someone driving a car. I quit though. It doesn't do any good, and eventually I was going to confront the wrong person. Plus it just left me angry for hours.

 

 

My commute isn't on the Capital Crescent Trail, and I wasn't there to witness what happened.  It's hard for me to imagine a situation which would justify such behavior.  But what’s interesting to me beyond the actual incident is an underlying tone to this entry (and, often, the comments that are posted on that and other blogs) and what is definitely clear in the original discussion that’s linked, is the notion of commuter versus racer (or commuters versus riders in racing gear, as it’s called here).

 

I like to ride fast at Hains Point.  With Comrade Gibbons' advice, I try my best to treat training with racing in mind.  I’ve only done a few races, and I want to do more.  I wear a team kit.  So, I’m guessing I’d be labeled a racer.  But, I’m also a commuter.  So are a lot of us on Racing Union.  The principles of Racing Union, it seems to me, are about harmony between these two groups.  The revolution against the hegemony of the four-wheeled society will never succeed if we are fighting each other.  There’s obviously a lot of territory to cover here, and clearly a lot of work to be done.

 

-- posted by Chris