Category Archives: Biking movement

FLOW

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Quite commonly, car drivers and decision makers are afraid of street congestion when politicians announce walking and cycling improvements. In particular, figures show that more than 40% of decision makers think so and this perception increases when dealing with cochistas. Take into account that congestion refers to everybody, independently of the way of transport they use or even without vehicle (i.e. pedestrians).

Reckoning from a higher height, a bike presents a horizontal surface no where near as width as a car. If we consider that the mean number of persons a car moves is 1,3 and that at least 4 bicycles take up the space of a car, then one can see decision makers are wrong. Indeed, documents have been published to demonstrate it. For example, the Civitas Flow project launched the 15 quick facts for cities under the European H2020 program.

This document is divided into four sections with examples from Europe and the U.S.A.:

  • The effect of walking in congestion

  • The effect of cycling on congestion

  • The effect of vehicle access restriction on congestion

  • The potential of walking and cycling to reduce congestion

The specific actions to reduce congestion range from narrowing roads to reduce crossing distance for pedestrians, pedestrians improvements to reduce bus travel time, cycling improvements to reduce car traffic and faster public transport (and commercial revenues), cycle highways reduce time spent in congestion and motor vehicle journeys, bike share programs eases congestion, new bike lanes shorten automobile travel times (thanks to smart traffic engineering) to neighborhood access restrictions lead to less motor vehicle journeys a day, short daily journeys could be walked in less than 10 minutes (or rode in even less time), millions of daily journeys made by motorized modes could be cycled in less than 20 minutes, and school street programs could avoid thousands of cars off the road during peak periods. All the facts presented in the document are real despite the utterly opinion of some people. By the way, pedestrian and bike safety is improved with the implementation of these ideas.

Warmshowers

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I talked about some special bikers who enjoy traveling long distances from country to country. Such adventure lovers need to plan almost everything before beginning the journey. One important issue is where they will sleep at night. Of course, most of them carry with tents and stick them on fields, beaches or wherever. Sometimes they contact local people who show fraternity and humanity as they allow almost unknown cyclists to enter their homes and offer bed, food and a good shower.

As it comes to showers, the Warm Showers webpage is the pioneer tool to contact hosts who will be delightful to share a little of their lives with bikers. Figures are astonishing: With more than 116.000 members and 69.000 hosts, it is spread out to 161 countries in the 5 continents and members, who must be adults, speak up to 17 languages. People who want to offer hospitality must provide contact information and occasionally share great stories and a drink. The members hosting can be even decades in their future. This service is offered to private individuals or even small groups, but above all touring on bicycles is compulsory. Besides, paying for the stay is prohibited.

In 1993, Terry Zmrhal and Geoff Cashman started this service. In 1996, Roger Gravel began maintained the Warm Showers List. Randy Fay turned the list into a good looking database-and-map enabled website in 2005 and eventually assumed the webmaster/register role from Roger when the last retired in 2009. A dedicated group of volunteers manage the site and communication with the members nowadays.

Types of members range from those who are only hosts, hosts plus riders bicycle tours, long term bicycle touring mode and only people who provides information or resources. You can select whether offer lodging and food.

If you are planning a long trip on bike or are opened to share hospitality with bikers, Warm Showers is the ideal place to start with.

Tio Pepe

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Tío Pepe (Oncle Pepe in English) was probably the first bike activist in Valencia, Spain. His personality allowed him to develop one of his passions: To modify bicycles so that they seemed objects and animals completely different to what people have in mind when listening to the word bike. He showed oddness, fun and open-mindedness in every artwork and ride from the last century. But above all, his persistence in making a better world on the base of bicycles is what we appreciate the most. He worked in the workshop called Villa Quita Penas (Villa Shame Removing, notice the good mood) in which he developed his most famous machines like the bike-horse or the bike-boat. Moreover, he used to ride his bikes dressed in extravagant costumes with banners on which everybody could read forceful sentences such as I pollute friendliness, happiness and peace, or Whether it is hot or cold, with a bike you travel better (in Spanish it sounds great).

One of his modified bikes is the bike-horse:

One can see the external structure to represent a horse, including the mane. If you keep your eyes on what is above the front wheel, you will discover an intelligent mechanism to transfer movement to a metallic hammer which hits a plate as the bike rides. Here you have a detail:

Next, the bike-boat:

This colorful boat made children smiling the moment they saw it. Again, you can see the metallic plate to make noise, yellow in this case. Furthermore, this bike has a special movement since the rider goes up and down similarly to waves as she pedals.

Just to illustrate his mood, he built a bike-car and one can read As all my neighbors have cars, I also have one (including the license plate) in the back.

Finally, if you wonder what face had Tío Pepe just check it out:

Now, you understand why Tío Pepe was so cherished by the people in the Cabañal neighborhood and by Valencia itself.

Critical Mass Rides

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The Critical Mass Rides is a worldwide Critical Mass that will take place in a lot of locations on the same day: September 8. here you have the call  (in Spanish). Basically, it works similarly as the Critical Mass, but different groups are preparing special events to make it impressive and funny with aims such as human health, environment, streets for people, etc. The Critical Mass Rides link indicates concepts and tips to make it successful, though you can follow them or not. Moreover, it encourages bikers in places where there is not Critical Mass to join the cause and spread the word. In fact, this event could be the seed of the Critical Mass where it does not exist today thanks to the global impulse.

Bicis para todas

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Bicis para todas (Bikes for everybody, in Spanish) is a project which aims at making life easier to people who can not afford to buy a bicycle. It is developed by bikeaholics from the Valencia area with the goal of making a better world. They accept bikes from donations no matter in which condition and, as expertise in bicycle mechanics, they fix them. After that, they give bikes to people (one per person) who appreciate the present in order to use it for going to work, looking for a job, using the bike to deliver things or gifting it to his/her child. Several groups in urban biking as well as workshops and bike stores collaborate in this project. Regarding the time they spend fixing bikes, the two more important groups are Soterranya from Torrent (a city close to Valencia) and Tándem (which is located at the capital of the Valencian Community). Tándem helps people at risk of social exclusion and show them how to earn a living, whereas Soterranya focuses on minorities with the same target. For instance, Soterranya teaches subjects to children with difficulties at school and manages a library. Both groups constitute the spirit of this project which has made it possible to cheer up more than 500 people as the local government expressed thank to them last September. Good for them!

How many bicycles take up a car park?

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Let’s consider a standard car park, just one of the usually seen in every city. Let’s take into account conventional bikes instead of monster or folding bikes. Sum up inverted U bike racks. And finally, let’s think about putting them perpendicular to the direction a car is parked. As a result of all them, the impressive figure of ten bicycles can be parked in the same surface one car needs to be parked, not considering a two or three floors bike rack, and do considering there is enough space to park and lock each bicycle. If you add a nice, colorful frame, you get this picture:

A solar bike

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Riding a bike is considered as environmentally efficient because energy is produced by the pedals movement. If an electric bicycle is used, then part of it is provided by a normally external battery in order to reduce the effort that cyclists make. Going a step further, the solar bikes highlight since the solar light propels them. But how can I build a solar bike?

There are several ways of doing it. For instance, the solar bike based on a bicycle trailer. Here you need:

  • The proper trailer

  • At least one solar panel

  • One external battery

  • One electrical transformer

  • Wires

  • Of course, a bike

  • Gadgets

In a few words, the electrical installation starts with the solar panel which collects energy from the sun and a wire brings it to the battery. The battery stocks up the energy. Next, energy from the battery goes through another wire to the electrical transformer. The electrical transformer allows to use it. At the exit of this gadget the third wire allows electricity to reach the gadgets we want. It is advisable to secure all the elements with bridles or a horizontal surface like the picture. Also, take into account the extra weight of the whole installation.

By the way, if want to know what is the Zima project, check this web: https://www.zimaproject.org/en/home/

Two people on a bike?

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The bike movement is unstoppable and several factors promote it. We have the concern about the environment, the health promotion, the personal economy, the interest in living better and longer, the need to learn new issues regarding bikes, the attitude to develop relationships or the desire to make a better world. The positive impacts of riding a bike are impressive, although some people oppose them. Special attention is put on the car industry which has been making everything to stop bikes, from aggressive advertisements in order to discredit these vehicles to brainwashing other people and showing cars like a status symbol. Nothing further from the truth. Negative impacts of cars overwhelm positive ones.

Moreover, some politicians bent on putting a spoke in bike’s wheel since they dictate laws in some cases against logic. Take for example the Spanish law. At the time I am writing this post, one can read some points in it which would have been alright in the past century. One of them is the prohibition of carrying more than two people on a bike given that the second person uses a seat. Spain can look a lot of examples of countries which permit riding bicycles with more than two people on them. If only politicians treasure how cyclists go in central and north Europe. This way they would realize the present law is cochista and more suitable of the past century. But let’s think about the benefits of implementing such a law. Nowadays, some Spanish parents drive their children by car until school to distances up to 3 km generating traffic problems like double parking and increasing pollution in the nearness of education centers. Allowing riding bikes by more than two people would make more parents use it and the reduction of the car use.

Bike and genre

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Bicycles can be enjoyed by both, women and men. Nevertheless, the way both genres behave when riding use to be different. Studies say women tend to ride at lower speed without competing between them (at least at no professional level) and appreciate much more landscapes in routes, whereas men tend to be more competitive with more testosterone, ride at higher speed and do not put so much attention to sceneries.

At psychological level, women do not usually speak openly to men regarding common problems they face when biking. On the contrary, they feel more confident to talk about their issues to other women. Moreover, car drivers act differently in arguments with a bike ridden by a woman or a man. If a woman is biking and a dispute with a male car drive takes place, the car driver acts as a beast feeling he has the right to yield or insult the woman even if he is wrong and malicious in his reasoning (supposing he has one since sometimes he has nothing to clutch at straws). In contrast, if a man rides the bike, the male car driver does not show himself so aggressively as he innerly know he could loss in a fight. This animal behavior is another example of the patriarchal society we suffer.

Here I have exposed some reasons because women need women-gender spaces to share ideas and empower themselves. Feminism is a global movement which looks for women to have the same rights as men. Biking is just another field in which come out. As a result of it, changes have been producing. For example, the Iberian Congress was initially opened to both genres, but in the Zaragoza edition they decided to give a space only to women with the creation of the Cyclist Women Meeting. This meeting was repeated in the Valencia edition and it was agreed to differentiate it with an appropriate event by women to women. The Iberian Congress is not expected to count with the Cyclist Women Meeting anymore, which will be an independent event held in a different place and date.