Here are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:
Seahawks cycling: Seattle’s NFL team is headed back to the Super Bowl and — believe it or not — it was a bicycle that stole national headlines after their thrilling playoff win.
Annoying game show: Australia’s version of the Family Feud game show decided to ask: “What is something annoying that a cyclist might do?”
Ice-skate commuting: An Edmonton landscape architect has proposed a “Freezeway” that would let people skate to work. The winter “skate lane” would serve as a bike lane in the summer.
Sweet reminder: Berlin activists are apparently letting people know they’ve parked their cars in bike lanes by using whipped cream to mark them with pictures of bikes.
Bike-share savior? The Canadian real estate developer who last year bid $4 million to buy the continent’s largest bike-share equipment company, the then-bankrupt PBSC, did so without hiring accountants or laywers. The NYT has an interesting profile that also includes maybe the best short summary I’ve seen of the 2012-2014 turmoil in the bike sharing industry.
“Back to the future”: That’s the name for the new city program in Sitka, Alaska, that improves road safety by turning paved roads back to gravel.
Bus dog: A Seattle Labrador has taught herself to ride the bus, solo, to her favorite dog park.
Bike share rebrand: The former Alta Bicycle Share, bought by a New York real estate investment firm, is now known as Motivate.
Camera patent: Apple seems to be working on a product that could compete with GoPro.
Smart handlebars: Now being crowdfunded, they plug into your phone and buzz to give you turn-by-turn directions.
Strava speeds: The average speed of a British Strava user in 2014 was 12.4 mph for women, 14.3 mph for men.
Right-pricing parking: The Economist summarizes the national trend toward eliminating public subsidies for central-city car parking.
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African cycling: A South African team has qualified for this year’s Tour de France. It’s the continent’s first.
Adams, post-mayor: Former Mayor Sam Adams is leaving Portland for D.C., where he’ll direct the World Resources Institute’s U.S. Climate Initiative.
Transpo leader fired: Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has fired one of the state’s top transportation officials, apparently because she blocked using $2 million in state transportation funds to subsidize a coal export terminal. (He’s publicly said that he too opposes coal exports.)
Highway subsidy: In Minnesota, the state’s road system is a major wealth transfer from urban to rural areas.
Food trucks < food carts < food bikes. Or something like that. Local business Trailhead Coffee is the lead image in this NPR trend story.
High-viz psychology: Though there’s nothing wrong with wearing high-viz gear, IrishCycle.com argues, treating it “as a solution to poor or inattentive driving” is as futile as expecting someone to see the gorilla in the famous observation test.
Charm City bikeway: Baltimore is working on a protected bike lane that’d form the spine of its downtown network.
Freeway killed: The new Republican governor of Illinois killed the planned Illiana Expressway last Monday, saying the state can’t afford the $1.5 billion it’d cost.
Seatbelts vs. safety: This Andy Singer cartoon captures a concept with a rich history:
@copenhagenize pic.twitter.com/WtZFXT2mvg
— Tim Stredwick (@bicycle_tim) January 15, 2015
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.