Here’s a look at bike news from around the country and the world:
– Tragedy struck during the Giro d’Italia, a famous, long-distance professional bike race. Closer to home, the Tour of California canceled its first stage due to snow.
– It’s Bike to Work Week, and rising gas prices have led to increased interest in bicycling, as well as scrutiny of various barriers and improvements. People thinking about starting to commute for the first time are given some sage advice.
– Speaking of high gas prices, bike sales are up 9% in the first quarter of 2011. Scooters are doing pretty well, too.
– In DC, bike advocates quietly reach out to lower-income neighborhoods, and it seems to be working.
– In Europe, a broad program to experiment with moving serious amounts of freight by cargo bicycle is just launching.
– A modest proposal for resolving road rage altercations: Listening to each other.
– New York City police are in the midst of an aggressive ticketing campaign to enforce bicycle laws–including at least three that don’t exist.
– For typical urban commuters, a new study has found, only 30% of jobs can be reached within an hour and a half on transit.
– In Australia, it turns out that the presence of high-quality bike infrastructure raises property values significantly.
– A new brand of lending–the “location-efficient mortgage”—rewards homebuyers for choosing to live in an area where they can get around by bicycling, walking, and transit instead of driving.
– Chicago is getting its first bike corral.
– In Toronto, one of the new bikesharing kiosks has already been smashed into by someone driving a car.
– Salt Lake City’s bike collective is temporarily closed after a man drove his car through the front door.
– What’s bikey Portland’s best kept secret? We have a lot of trouble sticking up to the vocal, anti-bicycle minority. From LA, here’s a primer on how to respond to the naysayers.
– A British author has penned a book about his global, historically informed quest for the perfect bike.