Are you cringing every time you drive past the gas stations these days, like we are?  It’s no surprise that as the gas prices rise, cycling is also on the rise.  We thought that you may enjoy this article from Chicago Now, regarding this topic.  Happy trails!

It happened in 2008.  It’s happening again.

Gas prices are rising.  Rapidly.  Inexplicably.  In an election year, coincidentally.

Unless you are an heir to an oil fortune, an executive at a multinational oil company, or a Wall Street speculator, this is probably not good news for you.  It likely falls somewhere between monkey wrench and economic catastrophe.

When this last happened four years ago, there was a nationwide shortage of 27 X 1 1/4″ bicycle tires.

For the 99% not familiar with bike tire sizes, 27″ tires were last popular in the 1980′s.  Back in ’08, people were dragging old ten-speeds out of sheds, down from attics, up basement stairs, out of garages and into bike shops in record numbers.  The bike boom of the 1970′s had been accurately recreated without terry cloth shorts and striped tube socks…

Read Full Article Here.

Photo via Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop – Austin, Texas.

Every Wednesday on Ditch Your Car we’ll be bringing you just another reason to spend more time on two wheels. Be it a photo, a statistic or an inspirational video, we want to keep reminding you about why riding is great!

Advocacy, Ditch Your Car Chicago Now, RIsing Gas Prices

Ever wondered how much your pocketbook may benefit from you ditching your car? We have and were excited to read this article, originally posted by Out Of Your Rut. We hope that you are inspired to trade the car keys in for your bike lock, next time you need to run an errand.

Read more…

Advocacy, Ditch Your Car bike commuting, bike to work, cars, traffic, travel

Ditch Your Car to provide youth in crime ridden cities an outlet of fun, education, love and life. We first saw “Scrapertown” at last year’s 5Point Film Festival in Carbondale, Co.  Baybe Champ was on the scene to talk about this film and to bring an inner city point of view, to an otherwise very white audience.  As a result, we were all in awe of his story and his grace; overwhelmed with love for what Champ has dedicated his life to and humbled by our own lives.  So today, we wanted to post this film to remind each of you, that there is always an alternative to the life that is seemingly ‘dealt’ to you.

The requirements of becoming a member of the Scraper Bike Team:

“In order to become a member of the Original Scraper Bike Team, you must: Be a resident of Oakland, CA. Be at least 7 years old or older. Retain A 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA), Create your own Scraper Bike…(It Has To Be Amazing, Or Else You Can’t Ride.) A single-file line when riding. After 10 rides The Scraper Bike King and his Captains will decide if your bike is up to standards and if you can follow simple guidelines. After your evaluation we will consider you a member and honor you with an Original Scraper Bike Team Shirt. Only worn when Mobbin’ Stay posted to our website for all upcoming Scraper Bike Rides…” — The Scraper Bike King

A film by Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari

Every Wednesday on Ditch Your Car we’ll be bringing you just another reason to spend more time on two wheels. Be it a photo, a statistic or an inspirational video, we want to keep reminding you about why riding is great!

Advocacy, Ditch Your Car 5Point Film Festival, Baybe Champ, Scrapertown

What’s not to love about ditching the car (or bus) in order to pedal your way to school, alongside your best friends? The Dutch, always taking the lead when it comes to biking.  Someday we hope to see a few of these bike buses grace our streets!

“The Dutch are bicycle fanatics. Almost half of daily travel in the Netherlands is by bicycle, while the country’s bike fleet comfortably outnumbers its 16 million people. Devotees of the national obsession have taken the next logical step by launching what is likely the first bicycle school bus.

Built by Tolkamp Metaalspecials, and sold by the De Cafe Racer company, the bicycle school bus (BCO in Dutch) is powered entirely by children and the one adult driver (although there is an electric motor for tough hills). Its simple design has eight sets of pedals for the kids (ages 4 to 12), a driver seat for the adult, and three bench seats for freeloaders. The top speed is about 10 miles per hour, and features a sound system and canvas awning to ward off rainy days.

Co.Exist spoke with Thomas Tolkamp who built the BCO about its origins and how the idea is catching on around the world for the sets of 11 lucky kids who get to arrive in school pedaling their own school bus.”

“I hope I can sell the bike in the near future to a foreign country and see how people at other countries react on the bike. I think it will work well in other countries, because as more and more people [are] becoming fat and “green living” becomes more important, ideas like this get more popular.” -Thomas Tolkamp

You can read the full interview here.

Photo + Article via: Fast Company contributor, Michael Coren.

Every Wednesday on Ditch Your Car we’ll be bringing you just another reason to spend more time on two wheels. Be it a photo, a statistic or an inspirational video, we want to keep reminding you about why riding is great!

Bike Europe, Ditch Your Car Co.Exist, Fast Company, Thomas Tolkamp

The following is an urgent message from Jim Sayer, executive director of American Cycling Association.

“Today, the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives is releasing its long-term federal transportation bill. Cycling groups expected the bill to be bad news for biking and walking, but we didn’t think it would reverse all progress made in this country in the past twenty years.

The House Transportation Committee will vote Thursday, February 2, on whether to approve this bill or amend it to include biking and walking programs. Find out if your Representative is on the committee by clicking here — and if he or she is, then take action right away.

Why the urgency? House leaders are pushing hard to completely cut bicycling and walking out of transportation. Lawmakers seem to have gone through federal law line-by-line to gut programs that make streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians. They haven’t done this to any other transportation sector. Among many terrible provisions, the House bill:

• Destroys the major bike/walk funding program (Transportation Enhancements);
• Repeals the Safe Routes to School program, which helps create safe ways for kids to walk and ride bicycles to school;
• Allows states to build bridges without safe access for pedestrians and bicycles;
• Eliminates bicycle and pedestrian coordinators in state DOTs; and
• Strips language which ensures that rumble strips “do not adversely affect the safety or mobility of bicyclists, pedestrians, or the disabled.”

But there’s still a chance to save federal bike/walk programs. This week in the House Transportation Committee, Representative Tom Petri (R-WI) plans to offer an amendment to restore dedicated funding for key programs. Please click on the action alert to see if your Representative is on the committee — and if they are, contact them asap and ask them to support Mr. Petri’s amendment.

This is as urgent as it gets. Even if Mr. Petri’s amendment succeeds, there will be a long road ahead. But if we lose here, we risk losing decades of progress for a more bike-friendly America.

Please pass this along to all your local friends and contacts – particularly high-level contacts like mayors, school board members, and business leaders — and ask them to weigh in, too. Thanks so much for your quick action and we’ll keep you posted.

Photo from iStockPhoto.com.

Every Wednesday on Ditch Your Car we’ll be bringing you just another reason to spend more time on two wheels. Be it a photo, a statistic or an inspirational video, we want to keep reminding you about why riding is great!

Advocacy, Ditch Your Car Adventure Cycling Association

We stumbled upon this article by Laura Wells last night and loved the fact that as a fashionable woman with a family, that she too, choose to ditch her car and get on the bike.  The result?  Less stress, no more battling of California traffic, saving on gas, saving the environment, quality time spent with kids on their commute and the list goes on.  Makes you wonder, why more of us don’t choose to DITCH OUR CARS.

“I’ve had such a journey with the cycling. Just a few years ago, the idea that I would become as passionate about cycling as I am now would be simply preposterous. How did I get to this place where I voluntarily ride this crazy-steep hill to work everyday…and I still turn out in the office consistently polished and in a dress, heels, lip gloss and perfume? I am not the type of girl to give up my style. That’s the way I ride!

I just took the boys to their evening Christmas school program last week dressed “fancy” as my first grader advised, in a black satin dress, a marabou vest and over the knee high heeled boots. I’ve also recently stepped out to the theatre in a short, satin cocktail dress. And to the bar in my bandage dress and 4” ankle boots.

And my driver’s license is NOT suspended, thank you. I have a nice Mini Cooper, I’d just rather cycle. It’s pure JOY.

How can something so bloody brilliant not be so obvious to us all? How did it take me so long to realize this?”

*Read more

Photo via: Nate Guimont. Thanks to Momentum Magazine for sharing this story.

Active Lifestyle, Ditch Your Car, Health biking with kids, family biking, Momentum Magazine

What do you love about life? That’s the question, filmmaker Ryan Van Duzer asked everyone he met on his coast to coast ride across the US, from San Diego, California to Tarpon Springs, Florida…

Ditch Your Car, Video united states

We all know it can be difficult to hop on your bike when the weather takes a turn. Rain, snow and icy roads can sometimes deter even the most hardcore riders amongst us. That’s why it’s good to have a few friends to hold you to it… enter the Winter B-icicle Challenge…

As winter settles in across all Northern Hemisphere nations, and the cold wind blows, it’s tempting to put your bike away for hibernation. But as of December 1, we’re asking you to keep on pedalling through all three winter months.

Why are we doing it?

• To see if we can put our money where our mouth is in regards to living a greener life, and not just when weather permits

• A good time to reflect about those people without homes during winter

• We love riding our bikes and don’t want to go three months without it

• We hate traffic jams!

Rules. We will ride to work or school everyday unless:

• The road is so icy we’ll most probably break our necks (read here for alternatives)

• We have a meeting or activity that is more than an hour bike ride away

• We’re so sick with the flu we can’t even be bothered to watch The Wire

What we want from you.

Join us! If you’re heading into the depths of winter.

Learn more here and sign up on Facebook here.

Active Lifestyle, Advocacy, Bikes Around the World, Ditch Your Car, International bike commuting, challenge, winter biking

We all know that it’s better for us and the environment if we hop on our bikes to commute, especially the short trips we have every day, but it’s always awesome to have some solid numbers on our side too. Check it out…

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Active Lifestyle, Advocacy, Bike Europe, Ditch Your Car, Health, International, Pedaling Change bike commuting, co2 emissions, Denmark

What are we most thankful for when we hop on our bike each morning? We’re thankful for our healthy mind and body that makes it possible to pedal every day. We’re thankful that we ride through the sun and the rain and the snow all year long — living and breathing through each and every season. We’re thankful for the freedom that we feel when we’re riding our bikes — having the fresh air whip by our faces and turn our cheeks pink — that’s a pretty wonderful feeling.

We could go on and on about how grateful we are to be on our bikes and for this bicycle movement as a whole, but here’s a word from blogger and bike advocate Elly Blue over via Grist.org:

In last [month]‘s New York Times, columnist Mark Bittman compiled a list of people and things in the food movement he’s thankful for. The bicycle movement deserves its own list. Here’s a start:

1. I’m thankful for the power of bikes to enable people-powered protest movements. Bicycles have been playing a supporting role in the Occupy movement, and seem to be bringing out the best in everyone, whether used byprotesters or police.
2. Free bicycles are on the rise, thanks to an international network of bike collectives. Chances are there’s one near you — find out onthis list — where you can build yourself a bike and learn to do your own repairs. Or, to see an economic multiplier at work, donate money, parts, or time to a bike collective that provides free bicycles to teens or adults with low incomes.
3. Hooray for fenders! Riding through a light drizzle is a secret pleasure of mine, and if I had to choose between a raincoat and fenders, I’d choose fenders every time. After all, the rain is far cleaner coming down than it is when it’s tossed back up by your tires.
4. I love the energy of small cities with big visions. As the giants like New York and Seattle wrangle over relatively small amounts of bike infrastructure, people in smaller cities around the country, from Oklahoma City to Newton, Mass., are seeing the appeal of bicycle transportation — and can have a much quicker road to revising their infrastructure and habits.
5. There is a 325-mile continuous paved trail on which you can bike, hike, or ski between Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. It’s called the Great Allegheny Passage. How cool is that?
6. Let’s hear it for sharrows and bike lanes. Cycling advocates argue fiercely about what kind of bike infrastructure is most effective, but the truth is that every time any kind of bike markings go down it’s a giant, sometimes bright green billboard reminding all of us that bicycles belong on the road.

What are you most thankful about in the bicycle movement?

PHOTO via

Every Wednesday on Ditch Your Car we’ll be bringing you just another reason to spend more time on two wheels. Be it a photo, a statistic or an inspirational video, we want to keep reminding you about why riding is great!

Advocacy, Ditch Your Car grist.org