Category Archives: Biking movement

Ciclointegración

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Ciclointegración is the invented Spanish word for the integration of determined ways of transport. In a few words, it means that the weak and sustainable vehicles should be integrated into roads. By this I am referring to bicycles, skates, skateboards, scooters, etc. People who drive these should be treated as drivers since they drive vehicles and thus they should move on roads instead of sidewalks. Sidewalks should only belong to pedestrians.

Compare this idea with what is happening now. The vehicles I am talking about enjoy particular areas or lines sometimes stolen to walkers. So pedestrians feel city surface belonging to them is less and less. And do not forget, we all are pedestrian at first and then drivers. So pedestrian areas should be respected above all. Furthermore, potential crashes are avoided with ciclointegración for example between bicycles and people walking on sidewalks who are looking their mobiles or blind people.

Integration means do not create ghettos for green, cycle vehicles, better integrate them into roads. Moreover, thanks to this integration traffic is calmed as they move slower compared to cars and motorbikes. In turn, quality of life is increased, pollution is reduced and, in the long run, some intelligent people would probably stop driving cars because they would realize cars are not worth it.

Criticona 2019

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Criticona is the annual Critical Mass in Spain. This huge event moves from city to city thanks to the democratic choice made by the participants in the previous year. It is coordinated by cyclists to riders. Urban cycling is motivated through different activities which are adapted to the organizing place. The organization offers free accommodation and cheap food to make it easy for visitors. Hence, the key target constitutes forming a gigantic Critical Mass since it is the country Critical Mass from the cities Critical Masses.

This year the Criticona will take place in Madrid. A fantastic group of bikers has been working on it for months. The programming can be consulted in the organization official blog (in Spanish). Basically, it starts on 25th April and ends on 28th April. The events per day are specified:

– 25th: Non-mixed riding (riding only for women) + The monthly Madrid Critical Mass

– 26th: Cyclist women experiences discussion + Bike-tapas

– 27th: Meloncleta + Picnic + Event to claim for intermodality + Interplanetary Critical Mass + Party

– 28th: Non-mixed riding (riding only for women) + Historic riding + Picnic

It is highly advisable that you fill the official form if you come from a place other than Madrid.

You can not miss it!

The Bike Equity Network

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As in many countries, the USA has a lot of groups which enjoy the bicycle. Among them, there is the Bike League. Its main aim is to “make bicycling safe and comfortable for people of all ages in all communities” with special stress on youth, women and people of color who are underrepresented in many bike efforts and local transportation decisions. And they are right! In too many cases politicians do not take into account the more vulnerable people. If laws are focused on healthy, white, middle age men, they leave other people unprotected. Moreover, the sum of youth, women and people of color (plus senior citizens) makes the majority of USA population. To fulfill this target, they count with an Equity Advisory Council since 2013.

The more people ride bikes, the better the life for everyone. They also establish to strength communities and make them safer and better connected. Cars do not fit in this concepts melting pot and people are in the center. As they affirm, they see bike advocacy as a civic engagement opportunity, and all ways of experiencing biking and streets matter.

History says the League was founded as the League of America Wheelmen back in 1880. Wheelmen were challenged by rutted roads of gravel and dirt and faced antagonism from horsemen, wagon drivers and pedestrians at that time.

They count with key programs such as Bicycle friendly America, Smart cycling, Promoting bicycling or Making biking better throughout which they develop most of its activities.

Ciclocostura

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Ciclostura is the Spanish name of the art of making accessories from parts of bikes. Have you ever dream about a belt made of a tyre and a sprocket, or a backpack which most of its parts come from tyres? It sounds crazy and yet is possible. Each and every part of a bicycle can be recycled. In this case, the world of fashion is enriched with the variety of accessories and styles which are offered by Kaiowa. This Valencian company takes advantage of those bike objects which are rejected as the bicycle gets old. Tyres, inner tubes, bearings, sprockets, chains, trouser clips, you name it, are given a second life in order to allow more people benefit from bike. Usually, bikers have an ecological thinking and try to cooperate shoulder to shoulder with actions to reduce waste, noise and pollution, and improve quality of life.

Ciclosfera

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Ciclosfera is the name of the most important Spanish urban bike magazine. Its name comes from the words ciclo (cycle) and esfera (sphere), remembering the shape of the bike wheels, its movement and symbolically the non-stop evolution of it. It is the most popular one in Spain with around 100 pages. You can find it at bike stores and workshops in more than twenty-seven cities. Adds and subscribers fund it to allow it being totally free. What is it so important? Among the team of good reporters who write exciting articles, there is a wide range of themes which are treated. Security, bike-friendly cities, interviews, thrift stores, the last fashion, good photos, news, architecture, personages, followers interactions, round tables, cartoons, you name it. The last products from bike firms and parts producers are shown as well as bike culture in the broadest sense of its meaning. This quarterly magazine goes down a treat of urban bikers and gives ideas about how to improve a bike, a ride or the next travel. Furthermore, the most exciting bike events come under in a specific section every three months. It is extremely complicated to think about a subject which is not cover by Ciclosfera.

You can check it on www.ciclosfera.com (in Spanish). It is also presented in the social networks.

Open Cycle Map

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Bike lines represent a good and safety infrastructure for cyclists when we want to ride the city and have been an essential part for the boom of environmentally friendly ways of transport. One can be used to riding on them in well-known places. But the problem comes when we want or need to do it in unknown places. There are some tips to face it like asking a friend or relative who lives there or searching the web for specific information. This last point can be tedious specially when you do not have a clear target to focus on and one can abort the search after a fruitless waste of time.

It would be great if all the bike lines in the world would be collected in the sense of having just one website with the whole information. Well, it already exists. Open Cycle Map offers this and much more under a free schema. The accurate world map allows looking for bike lines in whatever country by using the zoom + / – on the left-hand side. Moreover, this impressive web points out bike parking, bike shops, bike rental shops, toilets, cafes, drinking water, hospitals, post boxes, you name it (https://www.opencyclemap.org/docs). If you are planning a bike trip, this is your reference web.

Bicycle-sharing system

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Intelligent mayors are introducing bicycle-sharing systems to improve the use of this ecological way of transport all around the world. Allowing citizens to use them at cheap cost increases the number of bikers on streets who adopt better habits in turn. As a result, cities and villages are benefiting from it as the air inhabitants breath is more convenient from a health perspective and the noise is reduced.

Although bike-share began in Europe in 1965, it was not until the 2000s that a viable format appeared thanks to information technology. Nowadays the public systems include technological advantages about which I will talk in the future. The bikes in the bike-share services varied as bicycles themselves do. There are normal and electrical bicycles, those which works with a card or a mobile app, with solid wheels or full of compressed air, etc. All these differences have impacts on the service. For example, the solid wheels minimize their maintenance since they do not poke, but it is easier to have an accident when raining.

One key element is the anchor system. If two pieces form the anchor, it is more complicated to put the bike on the station. On the other hand, if it only has one, metallic piece the action is facilitated. The bicycles weight is also another point to have in mind. Too heavier bikes discourage people to use them, whereas light ones are better specially if they move on a hilly city. Interconnection is also important mostly when close cities and villages have their own bike-sharing services. There is nothing more inconvenient that the obligation of changing the bike, and hence having for instance two bike cards, the moment you pass from one location to another.

To sum up, bike-sharing is a good way to improve the number of bikes, but before launching it, some issues should be taken into account.