Author Archives: jm

Criteriums

Criteriums are urban races where participants ride their bikes to spin and complete a established round. Such events use to be done at night because of less car traffic and are popular among fixie bike lovers. Racers highlight adrenaline rush as a motivation in these races that are presented in lots of cities.

A special case is Singapore. In 2013, the first criterium took place there thanks to the tenacity of Zul Awad. Eric Khoo Shui Yan helped him and Holy Crit was the race name. They organized eight races up until November 2014 on closed roads or with little traffic. But also without the required permissions. Authorities fined them even if they explained them their unique objective was to increase the number of bikers. They did not receive any payment, nor did they have sponsors.

Ding Jie Ng, a young producer, noticed their troubles with justice and felt the need of telling it to the world. Thus, he made a documentary, Fixied, with little resources and inspired by the criteriums. As a results, he filmed a documentary with the help of Zul at night which is worth it from a cyclist and human perspective.

Sprocket man

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Back in the 70’s, thousands of university students in USA rode their bicycles, without respecting the basic civility in some cases. Then, a new superhero appeared: Sprocket man. His objective was to show how to ride bikes in a respectful way regarding others actors on the streets, including pedestrians. In those years, Stanford was part of the Great American Bike Boom and their students were activists in social movements such as feminism, racial injustices or homosexual discrimination. Moreover, national problems influenced students like the Watergate or the Vietnam war. As a result, the massive cyclist movement debated on the need of biking infrastructures, and allowed publishing historical documents (Bikeway Planning in 1972, Bikeways: State of the art in 1974). Among those, there was Sprocket man.

Sprocket man was a 28-pages, colored cover and black-and-white pages, fresh magazine. Authors were inspired by the Elton John song Rocket man. As you can imagine, he used massive sprockets as a shield. He transmitted a clear message from the first page: The impressive figures of bikes in Stanford show that days in which bicycles were considered just as toys have ended. Or: The anarchy on streets can not be evaded for longer: Here you have some tips and guidelines for survival. It included advises about mechanics, how to drive, avoid thefts, accessories, etc., which persists today. The magazine was published in 1975 thanks to the support of the Stanford Public Security department. Louis H. Saekow was the cartoonist, Julia Molander coordinated it and Vince Darago headed them. Vince has been a dedicated champion of the sustainable movement for ages. He organized classes to teach riding bikes, and coordinated workshops about electric cars creation 40 years ago.

Unfortunately, Sprocket man only saw the light once. Nevertheless, it appeared again in a Seattle council TV ad, and in merchandise issues.

7 tips to diminish heat when riding a bike

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1- Get up early: Starting your ride early in the morning has the advantages of lower temperatures and less road traffic. If you hate it, just give it a try and you will discover it is worth it.

2- Check your bicycle: This tip is useful for every day. Pump up the wheels, lubricate the chain, fit the brakes… In essence, tuned-up your bike. This way pedaling will cost you less effort.

3- Determine your energy: To sweat is necessary to your body. Basically, this natural behavior allows reducing the body temperature. However, if you sweat too much, you can hit the wall as a result of a loss of energy caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles. Ration yourself and take into account your limits. In other words, instead of competing against others, better compete against yourself. Always have in mind that the most important is enjoying.

4- Hydrate: A valid tip not only for cycling, but for whatever physical activity specially in Summer. Drink water before, during and after the exercise. Do not wait until you feel thirsty. A rule of thumb is drink water every 15 minutes. If you drink cold water, do it slowly. How do I determine my hydration state? After riding your bike, the easiest way is looking at your pee. If it is too dark, you should drink more water the next time.

5- Plan your route: In a city, the shorter path does not necessarily means the ideal one. Usually, taking an indirect route on small and quiet streets means taking advantage of shadows produced by buildings. If you plan a mountain route, decide on those which have less slope.

6- Choose appropriate garment: Breathable fabrics are your ally in Summer. Moreover, use light clothing not to attract too much sun. Furthermore, sunglasses improve your eyesight, and avoid blinding and mosquitoes on the eyes.

7- Protect your skin: Sunscreen is basic when riding in Summer months. Select on sunscreen with high sun protection factor, at least 30. If you plan a long route, it is better bringing a small cream jar along, and use it conveniently.

Bicycle architecture biennale

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Architecture is everywhere in human settlements, cities and villages, and has been developing since human beings left caverns according to needs, available resources or their being styles. Regarding bicycles, architecture plays an specific role in easing displacements in bikes. It had to be tortuous riding from one place to another centuries ago, where there should not be proper roads as we know them now. Thanks to architects, engineers and intelligent people infrastructures have been improved and they are still evolving.

Similarly as architectures specialized in buildings or bridges, some of them have decided to redirect their careers into bike infrastructures. They deal with problems such as what road surface is better for bicycles riding on it, bike line on the sidewalk or on the road (better on the road), how to connect two bike lines at different height, and so on. Analogously, bike-specialized architects hold events to share the best projects on this subject. For example, the Bicycle architecture biennale took place in June 2019 by the hand of BYCS (the organizer) as part of the mission 50by30, which aims at reaching 50% of shifts by bike by 2030. On this occasion, improvements on roads were taken into account as well as on buildings. Yes, it can sound like an utopia the fact of allowing entering bikes into a flat from streets with particular improvements having with bikes on mind. But it was also an utopia for cars in the past century. Who knows if it will popularize in this century.

Finally, architects, designers and urban-planners debated about an eternal issue: What is better: functionality or aesthetics?, without coming to an agreement.

Mad boats race

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Although a bicycle could be seen like a static vehicle, one can image a myriad of ways of using it differently just by looking at it closer. A “mad boat race” is a race of DIY kind of boats by using whatever people have on hand. It does not matter whether you utilize rubber rings, airbeds, wood strips and so on. They key point here is to have a good time not only during the building process, but in the race itself. Moreover, participants dress thematically up together with their boats, so a complete combination is reached. Finally, the race takes place usually in a linear or slightly curve trajectory, or in a circuit between two or more buoys.

What does that have to do with bikes? Well, an ingenious way to provide the needed energy to move such boats is through pedaling. One or more bicycles can be implemented in a boat to win the race by easy adjusting them. Here you have an example:

Why we cycle

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Why we cycle is a documentary directed by Arne Gielen and Gertjan Hulsterin which was premiered in 2017. It deals with the healthy habit of cycling in the Netherlands, although not only there. I am sure you know the Netherlands is one of the countries with the highest percentage of riders in the world. It seems they bring bicycling in their DNA the moment they are born. But going a step further, the directors wanted to know the deeper needs of cyclists.

Hence, they interviewed ordinary riders through easy conversations to discover obvious as well as hidden effects of cycling on people, societies and the organization of cities. Thanks to the biker movement, it is subtitled into English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Italian, Hindi and Japanese to spread the word.

Moreover, according to IMBD its score is 7.9 in 10 at the time I am writing this post, thus converting this documentary in appealing that people should watch it even if they are not bikers.

And what should I do to show or broadcast it? Just ask for it. In the webpage, there is the Contact section in which you can seek for it. Indeed, you can also see the endless list of screenings and a world map with all the locations.

Cinecicleta

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Cinecicleta (kind of “bike and cinema”, in English) is a pair of bikeaholic persons who love movies. Why is so special about the Cinecicleta project carried out by Isabel Segura and Carmelo López? Well, they spent two years bringing the magic of movies to remote, small villages in Africa. At their webpage (https://cinecicleta.wordpress.com), you can see a short video to get some idea of their laudable work no matter if you do not know Spanish or French.

They rode 18,000 km (more than 11,184 miles) and made 217 screenings on white blankets in their journey. Best of all, they did so thanks to a portable cinema that carried in a bicycle trailer. Furthermore, they taught local people how to use it, how to produce electricity just by pedaling. So simple, so powerful. As a result, children faces watching a movie for the first time encouraged Isabel and Carmelo to continue with the project.

What’s more, Javier Zabala directed a documentary about their adventure in Africa that was released in April 2019. The method they followed was at least curious. The two adventurers were given three cameras in order to film the ride. As they fulled hard disks with material, they sent them to Spain. Here, Javier did the post-production work. As a result, the TCM channel was so satisfied with the documentary that decided to show it.

When journalists asked the couple what was the first thought when remembering the journey, they did not hesitate in answering: Freedom. And then explained, freedom consists in being lord of one’s time, that is precisely the drug which stimulate to ride again.

Curious sign

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As cities change towards a more human and sustainable perspective, governments include traffic regulations and special traffic signs like the following:

I took the photo in Pamplona, but you can see it in lots of cities. It means no entry streets except for bikes, which do can ride in the two ways. Of course, riders should put extra attention to the vehicles and people they come across when moving against car traffic. In fact, this sign is presented at the beginning of a pedestrian area in which vehicles different from bikes run like fire trucks, police cars, ambulances or delivery vans.

Separators

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Separators in bike lines are needed in some complicated roads, specially those which suffer from excessive car traffic or in which cars circulate at illegal speeds. They constitute a safety element to protect cyclists and give a clear message to drivers: You must not cross this line. Easy and direct. There are a myriad of separators in urban biking ranging from different colors and shapes to incorporated issues. In the following example from Pamplona, they integrate reflective elements (the gray stripes) so that drivers see them even in a close night. The distance between two separators was not chosen so by chance. Technicians optimized it to avoid cars intrusion into the bike line and create the psychological effect like “do not trespass this line” in the driver mind. Besides, their height improves this point in contrast to the ground level separators which can go unnoticed by car drivers.

Pamplona bike line

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Pamplona is one of those cities in the north of Spain full of trees and vegetables thanks to the raining weather they enjoy. Pamplona is also a good place to ride. It has experienced a urban bike development in recent years, partially because of the new bike infrastructures. Here you can see one of these examples:

A bike line in an avenue is shown in the picture. It follows the exact sketch as the car lines, but additional elements are presented. Zebra crossings indicate bikers the pedestrian priority to cross the avenue, go to the trash cans or access the bus stop (the begging starts at the right of the image). Moreover, this effect is reinforced by the yield symbols. These double signals establish without any doubts who has right of way here. Furthermore, the arrow with the bike indicates the direction of travel. By the way, there is a second, one-way bike line opposite to the aforementioned one since this is a two-way avenue. Finally, beyond the trash cans, you can see an open surface which was a car line in the past. Thanks to the urban transformation, pedestrians gain space.

To sum up, intelligent bike infrastructures separate spaces for bikes, pedestrians and the rest of ways of transportation.