Dog guards a bike This little fella is better than a bike lock—he nearly took my arm off when we went to pat him!

Plane vs bike

Bicycles beat commercial airliner—was there ever any doubt?

Get a fix

Bike Fixtation

Bicycles are incredible tools for transportation and recreation. And of course, they're a blast to ride. But sometimes you get a flat tire, forget to bring a snack (beware of the bonk!), or need to make a minor adjustment. That's where Bike Fixtation comes in.

Bike Fixtation offers self-service kiosks on an extended-hours basis for bicyclists in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. You can buy a tube or patch kit, pump up your tires for free, and make simple adjustments using supplied tools.

[Thanks tom]

Urban planning and design

Can bicycle networks create socially sustainable cities?

Can bicycle infrastructure increase the rate of cycling enough to reduce obesity and the costs of health care? Will people develop a new sense of place in their cities, discovering areas they never knew, and spend money in local businesses in the process? And will bicycle infrastructure encourage a new audience to use a bicycle (a vehicle which, despite its affordability, is still mostly used by those with a higher income, and avoided by ethnic minorities)?

[twitterer]

More on the same sort of thing:

DIY

Getting a woody

Custom hand-built bike [twitterer]

Advice

Moths

Should You Flash Motorists? The Moth Effect and The Bicycle:

Should the rear light blink or remain steady?

The debate arises from something dubbed the "moth effect." Studies considering when emergency vehicles should and should not utilize flashing lights at a crash scene have sometimes demonstrated this effect. Like a moth to a flickering flame, a human being behind the wheel will be attracted to a light blinking in the darkness. The implication is that blinking lights on vehicles, and on the back of bicycles, may be more dangerous than steady lights.

My rule: flash and static, front and back.

(And as an aside, I'm astonished that any jurisdiction would allow any vehicle on the road at night without it's own lighting. See my previous thoughts and observations on rear visibility)

Touring

Getting it backwards

Our backwards approach to road safety

Similarly, when a plane crashes, they don't decide to hand out parachutes to all passengers on similar planes just in case people need to jump if something goes wrong mid-flight. They get to the source of the problem and prevent it from happening (by implementing a change to the mechanics or inspection processes for airplanes).

[twitterer]

Meanwhile @CycleAdagio wonders if the author of this Letter to Australian Cyclist thinks that "removing the Dutch & Danes from the gene pool would be a good thing".

Bike share

@CycleAdagio also on a related topic:

What disappoints me so much about the current plight of the Melbourne & Brisbane bike share schemes is the resigned shrugging of the shoulders from our so-called state cycling advocates…

Video

Tour de France insights: crashes

Brooks blog on why are there so many crashes in this year's Tour?

Absence of Hoxton Basket on Front of Most of the Bikes- The Hoxton conveys a subliminal message to those around it. "Hey. Slow down. Don't overtake me. Give me some space here. Thank you!" We're already discussing plans with several teams for 2012.

Tour de France insights: amateur racers

Recommended read of the week is winning with style and honour:

At the amateur level, however, in the racing that you and I partake in on the weekend or during the week, there are no monetary or professional factors at play…Cycling is both beautiful and brutal and we have an obligation to emphasize the former. As such, the burden of fair play and riding like a gentleman is much higher. As such, we would be wise not to follow many of the examples of our professional heroes. We would do well to adopt their style and sang-froid, but not their refrain of ruthless riding.

[via gusk]

Reminded me of Elizabeth Coxhead's quote:

A sport is advanced by the handful of people who do it brilliantly, but it is kept sweet and sane by the great numbers of the mediocre, who do it for fun.

Tour de France insights: science

The science of elite cycling: Tour de France stages 1 to 11 and stages 12 to 21.

Tour de France insights: food

Masterchef meets TdF: feeding riders on the Tour de France. [twitterer]

Or if you want it graphically, how much does a Tour de France cyclist eat in a day?

Or straight from @andy_schleck: our cook put together what each rider in our team eats a day during a day in the TDF .

To your health

OregonLive.com: Cars versus bikes: why medics are choosing to pedal:

There's pretty good evidence that switching from car to bicycle transport produces a net health benefit for the individual – and society.

[twitterer]

Gadgets

Hub-bub

Commute

Your bike commute stories—the good, the bad, and the opossum:

My best commute: Portland, Ore. Surprise snowstorm at 3 p.m. Worst traffic snarl I have ever seen. I left work at 5:30. That night, it took people up to eight hours to get home. Buses were caught off guard without chains and were stuck behind abandoned automobiles.

It took me one hour.

[twitterer]

Warning! Concept bikes ahead!

The best job in the world?

Calling all cyclists - Growler delivery riders wanted in St Kilda—what work could be more satisfying?

[twitterer]