2012 USA Cycling National Championships
For the second year in a row the USA Cycling Association Cross Country National Championships took place against the beautiful backdrop of Sun Valley, Idaho. Blue skies, warm temperatures, and calm winds greeted racers from around the country who showed up to challenge the best of the best and battle for the coveted national championship jerseys.
Thanks to Loving the Bike’s Facebook Page we came across this video, aptly named Bicycle Sounds.
The short film showcases nearly three minutes of musical entertainment made entirely by bikes. That includes chains, wheels, spokes (and their adornments), bells, wheels and the like. The result is mesmerizing, which is precisely why the film itself took first place in the Bike Shorts Film Festival held this spring in New York.
Take three minutes of your day and check out this film. The real gem is in the sounds it produces but we recommend you watch it as well. Its simple yet sleek camerawork reminds us of an updated yet undeniably old school video you might see on the likes of (and this is not meant as an insult, but rather as the utmost of compliments) retro Sesame Street. All old-school kids shows aside, it’s also very cool to see how the sounds you’re hearing were made by way of a bike and just a few props.
Enjoy.
Stephen Matthews catching the last rays of the day.
I was invited along for a weekend of riding in the Kamloops by a small crew led by Seb Kemp, who was writing a story on the Loops for Dirt Magazine, and Reuben Krabbe, who was capturing the images for the article. I had not been to Kamloops in a long while, focusing my travels on other parts of BC, and more exotic locales in the previous few years. I feel strong ties to that arid part of the province though, having spent many weeks there in the early days of my freeride career, shooting for the New World Disorder movies and getting into the youthful trouble that seemed to follow our film shoots around in those days.
Keep it local is a statement typically seen in regards to food — but it seems equally as fitting for the transportation funds that contribute to each community’s safe bike routes and bicycle structure systems. The problem facing local bike funding is this, according to peopleforbikes.org:
“During recent negotiations on a new transportation bill, the House of Representatives proposed drastic cuts that would hurt bicycling. Their plan would allow states to take federal transportation funds that make roads safer for bicycling and divert them to other uses, without any input from communities like yours.”
The proposed bill would eliminate the funds necessary for your local community to propose and flesh out ideas for safer bike transportation, which would basically halt any future concepts and eliminate the potential for further growth and increased bike transportation options. Of course that’s not something any of us want, so here’s what you can do, right now: Follow this link to the peopleforbikes.org page that explains everything in a nutshell. Then, get in touch with your two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Representative by going here and entering your local information. You’ll be able to write an email urging government to take back the proposal, and send it all via the second link listed above. Send it now to take action and keep bike funding local!
PHOTO Via: peopleforbikes.org
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!
Fortunately, we live in a world where everyday people with brilliant minds can create hilarious works of art by way of posting something — a video, a written blurb, a photo — via the good ol’ internet.
One such mind, someone from San Luis Obispo, California, created an ad on CraigsList titled: Failed hispter – fixie must go, and it goes like this:
I tried so hard. I dated a girl from Portland. I criticized cheese. I applied the term artisanal to every inanimate object that went in or on my body. I burned and singed my forearms just to make it look like I was going to culinary school. I grew Carol Brady hair. I got itchy from the finest flannel and I cut off circulation from the waist down with jeans that made my ass look like an elevator button.
… And I rode a fixie.
When most cities consider a change in the infrastructure of their transportation system, the typical modus operandi is for city officials to sit indoors and look at drawings and written proposals. But what if city street improvements could be brought into the real world — into all three dimensions so that people could not only consider, but actually see, the changes that may or may not take place?
The city of Cleveland, Ohio is experimenting with this more “live” concept of proposed downtown street improvements in a project the city is pioneering called Pop Up Rockwell. Here’s the lowdown, via the masterminds behind it all, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC):
POP UP ROCKWELL is a one-week experiment to test “complete & green street” improvements on downtown Cleveland’s Rockwell Avenue (between W. Roadway and E. 6th Street), which took place during April 21 to 27, 2012. The temporary street transformation explores fresh ideas for making the street more pedestrian and bicyclist friendly. Going beyond two-dimensional drawings used in typical public meetings, Pop Up Rockwell allows people to physically experience a future vision of the city in three dimensions, in a real environment, and provide feedback before large financial and political investments are made.
The temporary installations included “Cleveland’s first cycle track, stormwater bio-filtration benches, enhanced transit waiting areas and wind animated public art” for city residents to experience — and potentially put into real-life practice in the future. According to CUDC, Pop Up Rockwell was pioneered as a response to the community’s desire to see real life action in between the formal and often slow-moving stages of planning and actual implementation. As CUDC puts it, “Lessons learned from the short-term project may influence permanent changes, which support the City of Cleveland’s Complete & Green Streets Ordinance and Group Plan Commission recommendations.”
With all of this we feel compelled to ask: Should more cities implement temporary pop up street improvements so citizens can experience them and potentially choose to have a voice in regard to the real-life changes that may or may not take place? Would you be excited to see a pop up street in your city?
Every Monday on Lane Love, we’ll be featuring bicycling news, stories and photos from around the world. Have a lane that you love? Send us a photo! You can post it to our Facebook page or upload to our Flickr group and we might just feature it here on Lane Love.
Much of the trail runs next to the rushing river, creating a unique juxtapostion between the water and dirt.
The McKenzie River Trail (the MRT) is situated in Central Oregon, on the west side of the Cascades. This mountain range, predominantly made up of dormant and not-so-dormant volcanoes, does an efficient job of stopping the moisture from the Pacific Coast. On the west side you have temperate rainforests and old growth timber, and a stones throw to the east you are exploring an arid desert-like landscape. The MRT, being on the west side of the volcanoes, features towering Douglas fir, mossy forest floors, a raging river (complete with big waterfalls) and a cool climate. Apparently it rains frequently, but it was nice and dry for our visit down this renowned trail.
We’re very fond of this entirely entertaining and in some cases sorely accurate poster, which we found via Loving the Bike‘s Facebook page. We love the idea of measuring the cycles of your life in terms of your bike fancy, so take a look at it and ask yourself: where are you in the Cycles of Life?
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!
The story of stunt biker Chris Akrigg‘s crash (and subsequent 40-foot fall) that resulted in a shattered femur is all too well known in the biking community all around the world. But now — a year later — Chris is well again, and back at doing what he loves to do: mountain biking with some serious class and finesse.
His first video back is proof that Chris has been hard at work recovering from his injury. It’s also a visual work of art. So today, after a fine long holiday weekend, we encourage you to sit back, relax and enjoy.
Every Monday on Lane Love, we’ll be featuring bicycling news, stories and photos from around the world. Have a lane that you love? Send us a photo! You can post it to our Facebook page or upload to our Flickr group and we might just feature it here on Lane Love.
According to the League of American Bicyclists, brand new data released by their organization, as well as Sierra Club and National Council of La Raza (NCLR), showcases the many economic benefits of cycling in the United States. It opens with a strong statement referencing the lack of government funding for adequate bicycling projects, stating that “… though biking and walking account for 12 percent of all trips in the U.S., these transportation modes receive only 1.6 percent of federal transportation spending—far less than their fair share.”
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