Author Archives: jm

Curious sign

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

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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.

30 días en bici

Leave a reply

30 días en bici is the Spanish campaign of 30 days of biking an international, one-month event for promoting the bicycle use. It consists in riding every day in the April month and taking photographs. Participants share images online. The American version, the pioneers, use the hashtag #30daysofbiking.

Founded in 2010, 30 days of biking started in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its power lies in its simplicity. Bikers just need to pledge to bike everyday in April, no matter the weather (indoor photos are welcomed), and share their adventures. An easy and powerful idea as thousands follow it around the world.

Why 30 days? Rumor has it, one of its founders read a paper about developing a yoga habit by practicing it for 30 days. Then he asked himself if 30 days were enough to develop a habit, why do not we use it to promote the bike use? Again, easy and powerful.

Ok, but why April? April was chosen as the ideal month since is the first complete month in Spring and people love it after the Winter. Moreover, daylight hours increase (in the north hemisphere) and hence riding is increased at least for those who appreciate moderate temperatures.

The Spanish version has spread to more than 50 cities. It started in 2013 thanks to a bikeaholic group leaded by Carlos Rodriguez. But they do not limit the activities they do to April. Their ambitious targets tend to generate a social change by promoting the bicycle daily use, inspiring bikes as the main way of transport, educating citizens about the benefits of using the bike regarding health, and transforming cities in human-friendly spaces and caring for the planet.

Puncture: How to repair it

Leave a reply

One of the worst situations in cycling is produced when riding a bike and suffering a puncture without the proper tools to repair it. In that case, the best you can do is calling somebody to help you or walking while pushing your bike. But lets be positive and think about what you can do if experiencing a puncture and do have tools. In such a situation, you need tire levers, a spanner (in case you do not have quick-release wheels), a bike pump and a repair kit. The process has two parts: Dealing with the inner tube and fixing the puncture.

First of all, take a look at the tire and remove whatever object that has caused the puncture like a thorn or a nail. Then, loosen the wheel nuts with a spanner, or undo the quick release bolts if your bike has them, and check that the inner tube is deflated. Continue with grabbing the wheel on the opposite side to the valve. Move the tire around some inches, repeat it with a second lever and repeat this process by using two or three levers. Finish this first part by removing the inner tube and checking its inside to confirm that whatever caused the puncture is gone. This last step is important.

Second, repair the puncture. Find where the puncture is either by listening for air or putting the tube in water and looking for bubbles. It is a good idea to mark the hole with a crayon or a pen. After that, roughen the area around the hole with sandpaper, then stick on the patch from the repair kit. Some patches are pre-glued, while others come with a separate tube of vulcanizing solution or rubber cement so stick them on with. Then, put a small amount of air in the tube, put it back into the wheel and tuck the tire back over the wheel rim. Push the valve back into the hole, seat the tire and pull the valve back through. Finally, pump the tire back up to the correct pressure and put the wheel back on the bicycle.

Due to the fact that it is much easier to just replace the inner tube if you puncture when riding, it is a great idea to carry a spare one while enjoying your bike.

Puncture: Wheels

Leave a reply

There is a fact when riding a bike that is considered a handicap for some people and an opportunity for some others as these last put into practice what they have learned. Traditionally, this issue has been usually presented when riding on a surface clogged with tacks and crystals. Of course, I am referring to punctures.

Punctures constitute a headache for some cyclists. Putting aside how to repair them, which I will talk about in the future, this post is dedicated to wheels that are able to avoid them. You can find two solutions for them in the market: Flat tyre, and gel wheels.

On the one hand, the flat tyre makes impossible to puncture a wheel. The absence of air inside it allows you to ride on tacks without any problem. Moreover, most flat tyres are made with long-lasting materials as they work for thousand of kilometers. On the other hand, the gel wheels incorporate a gel material inside them. This material vulcanizes in contact with air, hence the puncture is automatically repaired. In fact, biker does not usually realize he or she has a puncture after finishing the ride. However, this wheel should be changed after a high number of punctures since the gel quantity reduces after every puncture.

Furiosos ciclistas

Leave a reply

Furiosos ciclistas (https://www.furiosos.cl, in Spanish) is a Chilean bike group that aims at promoting the bicycle use in the urban scenario. Bikeactivists compose it and fight for their legal and cultural recognition, increment in security when riding, teaching other stakeholders in the streets, improving human health, creation of bike infrastructures and crashes reduction.

They propose specific points to reach these targets: Planning, design and engineering, promotion and education. Why have they chosen bicycle as the ideal issue to manage them? Bikes are efficient, economic, environmentally friendly, accessible, allow progress towards human contact, and human health. Back in 1995, this group began as a yield to the dominant abuse of motor-based ways of transport, what they call Imperio Motorizado Sin Freno (Non-brake, motorized empire, in English). Notice the Chilean humor.

You can read posts and watch short videos about different aspects related with urban cyclist on its website. Subjects range from activities and highway education, to the Critical Mass and bike-tourism, including both national and international news as it comes to bikes.

Mujeres bici-bles

Leave a reply

Andrea María Navarrete is the founder of Mujeres Bici-bles, a bike women group with the aim to empower themselves. Mujeres Bici-bles is a Latin American social movement with headquarters in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Their main target is to help women to ride bikes in urban scenarios. Urban biking can be difficult for men, but it is more problematic for women specially in the patriarchal societies. Thanks to the mind of its founder, who is also a university teacher, urban cyclist and touring cyclist, this movement has quickly spread. They support other women who want to start riding a bike. For instance, in the Colombian cities of Bucaramanga and Salta, they have informal schools to teach more women pedaling.

OK, but what if I want to create a Mujeres Bici-bles group in my city? Well you can contact to Andrea María through [email protected] or Twitter (@MujeresBicicles).

She offers a talk, the group creation and, if future bikers want, interesting teachings about how to create the bike school for women in every city she travels. In return, Andrea María asks for help to move to another city and a place to spend a few days. Once the group is created, she proposes talks regarding genre perspective, and pedaling and mechanics workshops.

Bike monuments

Leave a reply

Monuments have been using to honor or commemorate somebody or something for ages. Kings, conquerors or discoverers overcrowd them as it comes to persons. Regarding buildings, there is a myriad of them with different architectures across the world. Thus, we are used to seeing them in most cities.

What is more surprising is to come across with a bike monument. This is a structure in which a bicycle appears alone or as part of a sculptural ensemble. As the bike movement develops, more and more bike monuments are built to express the change that society is experiencing. Similarly to queens and kings sculptures, bike monuments constitute what people gives importance.

Perhaps there are more bikers collecting bike monuments, but I only know one person who is truly doing this. In the Bicimonumentos (in Spanish) webpage one can consult bike monuments in a lot of countries. It is impressive realizing that the love for bikes is so widespread. By the way, if you want to send it some bike monuments photos or locations, you can do it by sending a private message to https://www.facebook.com/LaMujerDelTiemp. Also, the blog http://www.salamancaenbici.es/ could receive bike monuments information but I am not completely sure about this last point.

Less waste grounds

Leave a reply

In some pro-car cities, waste grounds are usually occupied by cars. These empty lands appeared as a result of the house bubble crash or because of numbness politicians. The fact is that these areas can be better places for instance by transforming them into public gardens. This way the neighbors’ life quality increases, children can play without risk of being run over, senior citizens can drift around and everybody can play sports. Thus, everybody benefits.

When brave mayors decide to convert waste grounds into gardens, some car drivers normally claim against it due to the fact of losing free parking lots. The most idiot ones argue that as they lose them, they should pay less car taxes. What they do not see, or do not want to understand, is the problems cars cause because of driving or having them. A car is like a weapon. It has been used in the past by terrorist to cause victims, the poison expels by exhaust pipes kills every year hundreds of thousands of people around the globe, thousands more are killed in car crashes and millions probably die because of global warming. Indeed, driving polluting vehicles is the source of 20% of all US emissions (http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/car-emissions-and-global-warming#.Wa7nNdRLdAg) or 17% of the UK’s total carbon dioxide emissions (https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/impact-of-real-world-driving-emissions/).

So, the more green areas, the better quality of life for citizens.