MyWHaT

(photo Jan-Michael Stump/Record-Eagle)

The Third Coast Bicycle is set to begin this Sunday, August 22 and will continue with events throughout the week.  The festival has a little something for all types of velophiles, including lycra clad road racing/rides, fixed gear sprints/hill climbs, Two Wheel Technique‘s “fun cruise around town”, film night at the State Theatre and a plethora of other events. Suggestion for next year: A Tweed Ride. Hopefully, the Old Town Crit & won’t be in a torrential downpour like 2009.

www.TCBikeFest.org for the schedule.

Weekly Chatter

• An undriving license? Does it get you into the bar?

• Why does A2 always get the cool stuff first? TC wants a couple of Hawk signals,  too!

• Cyclists are better shoppers! The adage that “vitality of commercial enterprises = access by car” is out-of-date.
  

  Out of the bikelane, dude! (via a MyWHaT reader)

• The yikes department: story from Taiwan, 10-year old Boy Collapses on forced bike excursion. He was “soaked, tired and hungry.”

• I’ve been noticing a lot of bad parking lately, here’s a BLOG dedicated to it. To the right, an example in Traverse City ––>

• The largest oil spill no body has even mentioned, until now. 3.1 million barrels dumped into the U.S.: “We’re looking at a crisis of cataclysmic proportions.” That other, messier spill, isn’t just going away.

• There’s nothing wrong with dirt roads. Why the current underfunded roadways are not an emergency and reflective of a “paving binge for the last 50 years” by the federal, state & local road agencies.

• New York pedestrian safety report has a few surprises. The good news? Deaths down 20% since 2001. The noticeable? Male drivers overwhelmingly involved in crashes that led to ped death–> 80% of them.

• Lessons learned from a town planner. “Mostly, the work I was asked to undertake largely focused on making cars happy…I was obligated to tell developers they must provide a huge amount of parking.“

From Twitterville:

• who you calling bike crazy? (1st on street bike parking in Minneapolis) (@BirchwoodCafe)
• “Vehicular cycling should be regarded as a riding strategy for the individual, not an organizational strategy for the development of cycling” (@t1mmyb)
• “Cars are the leading cause of death among children between the ages of 1-14″ Our answer, removing the children from a place. (@thebusbench)
• Read this story, then look at ‘From other news sites’. If these weren’t car crashes this would be called an ‘epidemic’ (@mikedunn)
• Based on SCIENCE, not fearmongering: (Helmet debate) (@copenhagenize)
• My Evolution from Biking Girl to Biking Mom: Being a first-time mom comes with its challenges  (@BikeShopGirlcom)

To wrap, more love for Montreal. Not only is it an excellent place to develop appreciation for sharrow use, it’s also a great place to bike around for a morning. It’s even one of the top 5 cities to ride around in style, at least according to girlsgetaway.com. You don’t even need to take a bike as Montreal’s Bixi Bike is easy, inexpensive and everywhere. The following tourism video sells it well, follow Tammy:

Have a weekend.