Author Archives: jm

Fancy Women Bike Ride

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Women and bikes are necessary actors in streets as key factors to diminish machismo and pollution. Following this spirit, a group of girl friends met through social nets in order to pedal the downtown of Izmir, Turkey, in 2013. They opened this event to every woman who wanted to spend some happy time since proposed rules such as participants were dressed up or their bikes being decorated with flowers were compulsory. The event was a success and more than 500 women spent the day laughing and making new friends. Indeed, the Fancy Women Bike Ride took place the September 22nd, the Day Without Cars.

The Fancy Women Bike Ride is an organized group leaded by Pinar and Sema Gür which is supported by local volunteers all around Turkey. Participants ride their bicycles by free on a previously decided two hours route. If you contact to Pinar and Sema, they provide you with banners, flyers and knowledge on how to organize it no matter which city you live on.

The Fancy Women Bike Ride proposed two clear targets: to motivate women to use bikes in cities (and villages) and convince local authorities to create permanent bike infrastructures and services so that pedaling was a more secure activity. All in all, they demand it with a big smile.

In September 19th, 2021 Fancy Women Bike Ride was celebrated in more than 150 cities of 30 countries in which thousands of women claimed for their right to move on bikes in a happy, kind, secure way. Good for you!

Batteries

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One of the main advantages of bicycles over cars is the low environmental impact they produce. However, as it comes to electric bikes (as well as other electric vehicles) there is the issue of the batteries not only in the production step in the whole object life span, but also the end of life. This last stage causes negative environmental impacts when not following individual guides made by some experts in the field.

As time goes by, it seems like the e-bike market is increasing year by year. For instance, 4,5 million of electric bikes were sold just in Europe in 2020. This is a good idea specially when electric bikes substitute pollutant cars or motorcycles. Nevertheless, the traditional bicycle is always better than the electric one at least from the environmental perspective because of the energy it consumes (person-originated vs probably not renewable energy) and the batteries.

At the time of writing this post, there is not an international guide on how to treat batteries from e-bikes at the end of life. Some countries welcome bikers to deposit them in recycling points whereas others make bike stores responsible for the correct treatment of them, usually with agreements with expert firms in the treatment of gadgets batteries. Logic says it is better to trust in such companies due to the fact that they are used to manipulate batteries and extract its components to give them a proper end of life under the most challenging quality and environmental standards. Under no circumstances should you manipulate batteries since they can emit poisoning gas or even get burnt.

Finally, what can I do in order to expand the battery of my e-bike? Here you have some tips:

  • Do not lock your electric bike under the warm sun

  • Keep your battery at medium temperatures when not using

  • Keep it at medium charge (30% – 60%) so that you avoid an important discharge which would seriously deteriorate it

The Goonies

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What have you thought when reading the title of this post: The Goonies? You have probably thought about adventure, freedom, friendliness, risks and nostalgia. The Goonies was an iconic movie in the 80’s which marked a whole generation with other materials by George Lucas, John Carpenter or Stephen King. The four friends plus a three-people group of teenagers faced an impressive quest: To find a treasure of gold and diamonds which was hidden by the pirate One-Eyed Willy. The magical quest starts and finishes with bikes as powerful symbols. Remember some other movies from the 80’s such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, It or BMX Bandits.

Nostalgia is also powerful since we can say that The Goonies is the seed of the series Stranger Things. Besides, nostalgia made Youngbuck to create an internet forum called BMX Musem (https://bmxmuseum.com/) in which he wants to get the necessary accessory to build the four bicycles that appear in The Goonies like the fabulous Wester Flyer Invader Mag of Mickey.

The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, BMX Bandits and some other movies from past decades in which actors and actresses move by pedaling are impossible to make because of cities which have made compulsory bike helmet no matter the biker age. Most of urban bikers have learnt riding a bike without wearing it. Most of us do not pedal like mad people and respect other actors in street, specially the pedestrians. Besides, making it mandatory reduces the number of cyclists as were the cases of Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, in a crash between a bike and a car, the decisive factor in determining whether or not the biker dyes is not the helmet, but the car speed. Numerous studies demonstrate that if the car speed is above 50 km/h (31 mph), most of the time the cyclist dyes. Thus, authorities should focus on preventing too fast cars by using radars, speed bumps or winding car line designs.

Fernando Traverso

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In March 24th, 2001 actual size, black bicycles started appearing in Rosario, Argentina. At the beginning, it was a surprise since nobody knew who had painted them or whether they had a special meaning. Then, one day it was discovered that Fernando Traverso had made them. Fernando Traverso is a plastic artist who militated in the Juventud Peronista in his youth at the same time the bloody dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla took place. Among the abundant crimes it committed such as economic and juridical issues, there was the multiple human rights violations.

Fernando Traverso painted 350 black bicycles and this figure links with one of the darker episodes in the Rosario history. 350 is precisely the number of disappeared people from Rosario under the dictatorship. The Argentinian repression is known first for kidnapping people, then for torturing and finally for disappearing thousands of Argentinian.

There is a red number bellow every black bicycle indicating the number of bike in the series. Not surprisingly, cycles play a central role in this Traverso work. The reason why is that is because an episode in his youth. One day in the grey streets of the dictatorship, he was walking when he came across a friend who was riding a bike. Traverso surprised since he did not say hello to him and after a few minutes he found his friend’s bicycle locked to a tree. The next day, the same bike remained in the very same spot. This detail impressed Fernando Traverso and after some time he determined his friend had been a victim of the dictatorship. He had been murdered.

The project was awarded by the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes Juan B. Castagnino in december of 2003.

Frank Zappa

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Frank Zappa is known for being a musician, songwriter, composer and bandleader. As an exponent of the satire American culture, his work is characterized by nonconformity, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and improvisation. If you are asking yourself what is one relation of Frank Zappa with bicycles, just go on reading.

Do you know that the first TV appearance of Frank Vincent Zappa he played… two bikes as musical instruments? It sounds crazy, but I promise it is true. He appeared on Steve Allen’s syndicate late night show in March 27th, 1963. Precisely, he used a bow borrowed from the band’s bass player and drum sticks. Then, the twenty-three year old musician continued by plucking, banging and bowing the spokes of the bikes. As a result, he produced funny, strange sounds from his innovative instruments. Indeed, he announced he had played bicycles as musical instruments for two weeks at the beginning of the performance, as a clear expression of the humor he showed.

Alireza

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Some bike-fantasies deal with the possible relationships of some historical people no matter whether they enjoyed a bicycle or not. Just imagine how it could have been as it comes to King George, Joan of Arc, Gregor Mendel or Grace Hopper. The Iranian painter Alireza Karini Moghadam fantasizes with Van Gogh.

Van Gogh is known for being an impressive painter as well as for suffering psychological problems. Regarding this, some people thought he was always in bad mood, although this is not true. Alireza knows it and tries to express it in their paintings. Imagination paves the way. Indeed, thanks to his deep studies on Van Gogh, he is convinced that the painter loved life and thus paints him with a smile on the same landscapes and similar paint techniques. Vegetables capture most of attention, similarly to the yellow and blue colors, and of course Van Gogh himself. Moreover, Frida Kahlo, Kanagawa, Leonardo da Vinci and Edvard Munch influence him.

Was it really an accident?

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Media surrounds us and we constantly are informed by it. It has an impressive power to both educate and manipulate people, and we should demand seriousness and rigor. After all, narrating reality should not be so difficult.

Regarding biking, media makes mistakes with the word “accident” often. Take for example a rider runned over by a car. Usually, media expresses it as an “accident” in order to probably show a shocking word to attract reader’s attention. In reality, a reflection is needed to express what is behind the event since the complete piece of news is explained only after the striking headline. It also happens in the TV news.

The Associated Press style book, which is published since 2016, recommends the use of “crash” instead of “accident” in such cases. This way blaming the biker is avoided because “accident” implies the car has had nothing to cause the death while this it not true. Due to the fact that the rider is usually the weaker actor on the road, he typically suffers the injuries. The word “accident” seems to accept that the crash is unpredictable, whereas it could surely have been avoided and prevented. In the end, small changes in media contribute to modify public opinion about biking which in turn will provoke an increment in public pressure to reduce casualties on asphalt.

Target: Garda

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The Garda lake is located in the north of Italy. It connects the regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino. Thousands of Italians enjoy it plus Germans, Swiss and Austrian thanks to its 368 squared kilometers every year. Why does it attract so many people every year? This marvelous lake is surrounded by perfect mountains to practice MTB, impressive landscapes and valleys with vineyards which go deep in history.

In the last years, a bike cycle path is being built by following more or less the Garda lake shore. However, the fact of contacting and coordinating three local administrations has made it difficult. Their promoters explain than it would be perfect if it was finished by 2025, although realistic people postpone it by 2030. Nevertheless, it is going to offer a 140 kilometers bike path which connect to EuroVelo and cost more than 100 million Euros. It could sound an excessive price for such a massive project, but economical studies from some years before determined that every bike tourist just in Trentino spent 77 Euros per day and the mean stay was nine nights. In other words, every bike tourist spent 700 Euros in the region. Considering only Trentino, 110,000 bike tourists enjoyed the area and it gave a yearly financial income of 77 million Euros. Summing up Lombardy and Veneto, the project could be amortized in few years. Moreover, more German bike tourists would visit the Garda lake when connected to the EuroVelo. Take for example that Munich is about four hours from the lake.

The project represents a giant challenge because on the one hand the Lombardy and Veneto zones follow a quite plain path in which building a bike line would not be difficult. On the other hand, there are 20 complicated kilometers which join Saló and Limone, in Veneto, which follows cliffs. In addition, crossing mountains and wider paths are necessary to fulfill the project targets.

In conclusion, we become aware of the defiance the Garda project is and hope it will be a reality soon.

Multi-tool facility

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Over the last decades, a myriad of ideas has been proposed to increase the number of bikers in urban and rural areas, apart from building bike lines. Objects like the one in the photo are being installed in some places where orography plays an essential role. The picture was taken in a hilly zone in which bicycles moves on unsmooth roads and paths, and bikers range from families with small children to professionals.

Bellow you can see an intuitive, bike-oriented facility with all the necessary to solve problems when riding. It counts with tools in order to fix your bike, blow your wheels up or adjust screws. What is more, it is free thanks to visionary bike friends who worried about improving bikers comfort. Moreover, facts like this one attract bike tourists who contribute to the local economy.

Bike lines between city and village

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As it comes to urban cycling, we think about it in terms of moving within the same city most of the time. In addition, we use bikes to visit our beloved park, forest or beach by pedaling few kilometers outside the place we live in. However, cycling is also a good idea in order to transport yourself to a close city or village in which you work, study or go shopping. By the way, remember using panniers if you guess you can carry weight in your trip.

It is believed that such closed cities means one big city attracts people from commuter towns due to the fact of job opportunities, amusement, culture, hospitals, does it ring a bell? And yes, this is true in a lot of cases, but not in every one. A biker can move in opposite direction from city A to village B just because she wants to visit her relatives, enjoy excellent cuisine or discover a bike route that a friend of hers told her yesterday. Thus, the flow of cyclist goes in both ways. Such a reason explains why having and maintaining bike lines which connect two cities, two villages and one city with one village is so important.

To my mind, the aforementioned bike lines should fulfill some points:

  • They should have a physical separation between them and the other lines, even between them and pedestrian lines

  • They should run parallel to the car lines when possible since these were built in order to optimize move time

  • If the previous point can not be meet, bike lines should run through natural, maybe previously abandoned lines with a second life

  • They should avoid unnecessary curves and elevation changes

  • They should be marked with signals and banners so that nobody gets lost