BPAC losing its chairman

Ted Silver, longtime chairman of Miami- Dade's Bicycle- Pedestrian Advisory Committee, has resigned and is moving to the hills of North Carolina. He has been energetic and unusually well-informed, both in his bicycle advocacy as a voluntary member of BPAC and, earlier, as an avid rider with the Everglades Bicycle Club. Election of his successor is the first item of business on the agenda for next Wednesday's BPAC meeting.

Silver's departure leaves a BPAC vacancy in County Commission district 3. Current members of BPAC, each appointed by someone on the Metropolitan Planning Organization for greater Miami, are:

• Brett Bibeau, of Miami, executive director of the Miami River Commission
  

• Steve Greenberg, from the Brickell area,
  

• Susan Kairalla, a Kendall PTA activist representing the school system
  

• Theodore Karantsalis of Miami Springs, a librarian at Miami-Dade College
  

• Lee Marks, a Coconut Grove lawyer who sometimes handles bicycle injury cases
  

• John O'Brien, from North Miami's city planning department
  

• Robert Rodriguez, a Coral Gables lawyer
  

• Larry Thorson of Miami Beach
  

• Matthew Toro, a student and consultant from South Miami-Dade
  

• Betty Trueba, vice president of the Everglades Bicycle Club
  

• Eric Tullberg, of Palmetto Bay, the secretary of Green Mobility Network
  

Sundance airing bike progress

Have you been watching the "green" programming on the Sundance Channel? I hear they're featuring Portland, Ore.'s progress in bicycling in the "Transport" segment of "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" next Tuesday. I'll be watching and I hope you will, too.

The 25-minute segment at 9 p.m. EDT explores how cities, private organizations and university scientists together find ways to coax commuters away from cars and into using more energy-efficient transportation.

TV looks at bike-to-work plan

Here's more about the bike-to-work incentives at J&B Importers in Kendall. This comes from CBS4. Here's the blog's earlier item about the program.

Solemn ride with a stunning view

Tony Blazejack writes:

A large group of South Florida bicyclists took part in the third annual Ride of Silence on Key Biscayne yesterday. The 12-mile ride took place in cities across the globe and paid tribute to all cyclists injured or killed by motorists.

This was my first Ride of Silence. As one who regularly commutes to work via bicycle and an avid triathlete, I felt obligated to attend. Thus far I am left unscathed on South Florida's roadways, but many are not so fortunate. Close calls are a regular occurrence and one would not be hard-pressed to find a cyclist who was once hit or knew someone killed by a motorist.

The Everglades Bicycle Club sponsored the event, with Miami-Dade Police providing an escort and support. We rode two laps from Hobie Beach (near the Seaquarium) to the southern entrance of Crandon Beach Park. The atmosphere was appropriately solemn, and we were treated to an absolutely stunning sunset whilst slowly riding along the causeway.

Some of my favorite times riding are spent alone. Whether it be a trip downtown or a hard solo training ride, I tend to enjoy the solitude. This ride was interesting because it was, well, silent. Nearly a hundred (that's a loose guesstimate) cyclists of all flavors rode in unison without the stories, laughter, and social mingling that usually accompanies a group ride. I inevitably spent much of the hour-long ride reflecting on how lucky I am. Lucky to do this. Lucky to enjoy the outdoors. Lucky, and alive.

I am lucky because fate has not been so kind to many of our brethren.

Be safe out there, everyone.

tony

Blog tackles the M-Path

Please welcome a new blog inspired by the same reformist optimism that inspired the one you're reading. The new kid on the block is The M-Path to Enlightenment. Its authors say:

Our hope is to generate enough awareness that this utility path is actually one the best-established and bicycle-friendly routes in Miami-Dade County.

This is a fine idea, both to help riders make better use of the M-Path and to help its owner, Miami-Dade Transit, go forward with an already good plan for improvements.

Build-where-you-can is vindicated

The District of Columbia moves ahead with the dream of a bike path connecting several neighborhoods that were long isolated by the railroads running through Washington.

The [Metropolitan Branch Trail] began as a concept in the early '90s; several segments have already been built. When completed, the MBT and its contributing paths are envisioned to run from the Mall to Silver Spring, northwest into Bethesda, where it will connect to the already completed Capitol Crescent Trail.

This seems to confirm my friend Herb Hiller's advice that trail-building sometimes proceeds best as a series of short links that eventually can be tied together to approximate, if not to perfect, the initial vision. There's more about the DC trail at the blog MailBucket. By the way, I visited the MBT site a couple of years ago.
When the trail is finished it's going to be a huge improvement to the neighborhoods.

Rider profile: Shari Bernhard

Fitness writer Nick Sortal tells an inspiring story through his q-and-a interview with a bicyclist who overcame lymphoma. It's in Nick's Sun-Sentinel column.

Bicycling as civic symbolism

Jacksonville had a "Bike to Work Day" last week, which set Times-Union columnist Mark Woods a-thinking:

It's one thing to issue proclamations. It's another to actually build a city with cyclists, runners and walkers in mind. And we could do better.

You can read the Jacksonville.com: full column here.

The right bike for you is a matter of fit

If you ride more than a few minutes a day, you'll enjoy it more on a bike that fits your size and body proportions.

A good fit delivers better and safer performance with less fatigue. The rider will be able to fine tune the machine to his or her proportions and needs if the seat and handlebars - particularly the height and angle - can be adjusted precisely.

Interested? There's more in Ergonomics Today. You're not likely to get much help with bike fit at the big-box retailers that dominate the low-price bicycle market. Part of what you pay for at a freestanding bike retailer is the skill and knowledge to put you on the right bike -- not just what came off the boat yesterday. And the price doesn't have to be astronomical. Bike shops depend on repeat business, so they have an incentive to take good care of you.

Leadership setting civic example

A tip of the helmet to Benjamin Joannou Jr. for foresight and leadership in rewarding employees who walk, bike or use public transit to get to work and back. He explained in a letter to The Miami Herald:

Bicycling not only promotes health and wellness (another program we are instituting), but it also helps reduce our nation's dangerous dependence on fossil fuels (which contribute to global warming and pollution).

The letter was published this week in Business Monday.

Catch this bike cartoon

Copyright forbids me to show it here, but I think you'll enjoy Jim Borgman's cartoon at the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Trying to pedal and chat at once

There were many strange sights yesterday at the Greynolds Park Love-In, but the clearest in my memory is the cyclist riding out of the parking area toward the festival grounds while talking on his cell phone. I didn't know whether to laugh or to groan. I think I just gaped at the stupidity of it. At least this guy wasn't out on the road. Have you ever caught yourself fishing out your Nokia, Blackberry or MotoQ to share that hot idea that just won't wait? Recognize your honey's ring tone and don't want to make him or her wait? Go to the poll at right, and let's check our crowd's survival prospects.

In California, a new law takes effect in July that forbids making or taking a cell call while driving a motor vehicle -- unless you use a hands-free device. I don't believe the law mentions bikes. Not a bad idea, though, is it?

This photo's from the morning of the Love-In, before the better bands had taken the stage. Eventually the lawn pretty much filled up. Lots of bikes in the crowd, and a few of the riders used the free bike valet offered by Green Mobility Network.

For cyclists, new Alton Road more of the old

A reader reminded me today that I hadn't followed up on the Miami Beach City Commission's decision about what to do with bicycles in the reconstruction of Alton Road. Well, for cyclists, the news is not good. Although planners for the state Department of Transportation did come up with a proposal for on-street bike lanes on each side of Alton, the commission voted for wide sidewalks and said they'd prefer the cyclists ride there instead of the street. There's more about it in the SunPost.

Bike culture elusive in Toronto

The Toronto Star is out this week with a special Bike Issue, reporting:

Cyclists are shoved into the collective chaos of the urban transportation scene – trucks and cars, buses and streetcars, potholes and streetcar tracks, and most dreaded of all, the sudden swing opening of a car door. It becomes clear that the lakeside idyll of the bike commute is a tiny exception to a massive, and often painful, rule.

There's more in the Urban Toronto Forum.

Blogger bikes and glows

Celtic blogger Lisa Lawrence, in Seattle, is positively glowing in the post-commute photo she used with her "bike-to-work day" report. She writes as A Wild Celtic Rose. Nice going!

Philly explores bike-sharing potential

Bicycle activists in Philadelphia think bike-sharing, on the model practiced in France and the Netherlands, might have a place in their city.

"Americans, or Philadelphians, are screaming bloody murder because they're paying $4 a gallon for gasoline," said Russell Meddin, a Philadelphia bike-sharing advocate. "I don't care what the culture is, when something affects your pocketbook, it totally changes your dynamic."

There's more at the city's CBS3.

6 myths about commuting by bicycle

Adam Voiland rebuts some of the erroneous ideas you may have heard about bicycles as daily transportation.

Biking is a reliable, safe, fun, and cheap way to get around—and it happens to be good exercise, too. Still, myths about bicycle commuting persist. Here are six I’ve noticed over the years; feel free to add your own in the comments section.

Voiland is the "On Men" health columnist at US News.) The comments from Voiland's readers are a cut above what you'd see at many websites (This one an exception, of course!).

Dozens eschew cars for bikes on Natonal Bike-to-Work day

Making a move into commuting by bike, Judy Ott in Southwest Florida:

"I've always thought that it's inspiring to be operating on your own power. Whether you're cross country skiing or bicycling or sailing, being able to go fast under your own power is really cool.

"I'm definitely going to try this again, and I'll be prepared with extra tires for flats," Ott said.

Friday's bike commuters not only saved money on gas, they also did something good for the environment and for traffic congestion in the downtown area.

There's more in the Fort Myers
The News-Press.