— This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by ABUS Security, makers of locks that can “thwart even the cleverest of thieves.”
Here are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:
Toddling to the finish: You too can now enter your 2-year-old in a bicycle race series put on by “the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of children’s no-pedal balance bikes.”
Rails-to-trails demise? USA Today reports that a decision last week by the Supreme Court could reportedly threaten progress on rails-to-trails projects. However, the folks at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy paint a more nuanced picture about what exactly the impacts might be.
Beer, the new Gatorade? Sports drinks are “full of carbs, sodium and all sorts of nutrients to keep our bodies hydrated and energized during and after exercise. And beer may be able to do that, too — if formulated the right way.” A Canadian company is about to bring a product to market.
Electrify bike sharing: A “portable electric motor drive for bike share programs that also works on your own bike or scooter.” Whroom!
Biking and walking: Should bikes really be banned from “pedestrianized” sites? A study of 21 sites across Europe found exactly one biker-pedestrian collision in 15 years.
The Ethicist on driving: Longtime NYT Magazine writer Randy Cohen examines the ethics of driving cars in cities and finds it problematic.
Bike-seat art: A Vancouver BC artist created some amazing bike seat taxidermy sculptures:
Bike-fun crackdown: Los Angeles police threatened to shut down the largest unsanctioned bike ride in the country, early in the morning before the L.A. Marathon, for lack of permits. (Thanks to reader Joseph E for noting that LAPD backed down somewhat in time for Sunday’s run.)
Fewer lanes, less delay: Though traffic studies typically predict some auto delay when bike lanes replace general travel lanes, human psychology means the opposite sometimes happens.
Bridge trouble: If this unused trolley bridge over the Clackamas River near High Rocks is about to collapse, maybe it opens the door to a bikeable replacment?
Gravel lawsuit: Contractors who allegedly left loose gravel on a Malibu roadway are now on the hook for $15 million to a man whose bike crash there paralyzed him.
Cargo bike rental: Amtrak Cascades doesn’t currently accept cargo bikes on board, so Seattle biking mom Madi Carlson rented from Clever Cycles for her latest trip to Portland. Here’s her travel diary.
Passing distance: Virginia now has a three-foot passing law.
Commuter site: OHSU has a new bike transportation website.
Road funding: Following Oregon’s lead, Washington is weighing a statewide mileage tax.
Short commutes: When you make a map of average American commute durations, lots of cities are ringed by dark blobs of awful. Not ours.
Southern biking: Atlantic Cities looks at an underappreciated bike safety issue: the Mason-Dixon Line.
Biking in cities: A reporter takes a world urban biking tour for Gizmodo and summarizes the results. Her take on Paris was especially interesting.
Bike accessory: Your old pizza cutter doesn’t resemble a bicycle nearly as much as it should:
Federal budget: President Obama’s new transportation budget proposes big increases in public transit funding and the bike-transportation-friendly TIGER program. Hey, it’s a starting point.
“A bike path to progress”: The NYT looks at the Indy Cultural Trail, a project funded by TIGER and private philanthropy that which seems to have singlehandedly created a “mainstream bike scene” in Indianapolis.
Former Bogota Mayor Enrique Penalosa, who popularized the ciclovia and pushed the principle that cities can be good for cars or for people, but not for both, will run for president of Colombia on the Green Party ticket. His TED Talk from last year about transportation justice is your video of the week:
If you come across a noteworthy bicycle story, send it in via email, Tweet @bikeportland, or whatever else and we’ll consider adding it to next Monday’s roundup.