Floridian crosses country by bike

There's a nice read in the Tallahassee Democrat about Jim Mann, a retiree who recently finished a cross-country bicycle trip.

"It was a great trip, but I'm glad it's over," said Mann. "After seeing the country by bike, I can say that nothing beats the green beauty of Tallahassee."

For his 3,100-mile ride from San Diego to St. Augustine, Mann followed the Southern Tier, a route mapped out by the Adventure Cycling Association.

Box office opens for Bicycle Film Festival

It's taken nine years for the Bicycle Film Festival to get to South Florida, but I'm betting you'll find it worth the wait. One of the films showing Dec. 12 in Miami Beach is Anima D'Acciaio (Soul of Steel) , about the legendary Italian frame-builder Giovanni Pelizzoli.

Anima D'Acciaio Trailer Ver5.1 from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

There are three different shows that Saturday at the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road at Lennox Avenue. Screenings start at 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m. -- and of course there's lots going on in the days before that. For program, a link to tickets, and details of festival-related rides and parties, just click here.

Construction in high gear on Heritage Trail

Perhaps the most spectacular part of the East Coast Greenway -- the bike and hiking path from Key West to Canada -- is the stretch through the Florida Keys. Cammy Clark writes in The Miami Herald that construction on the Keys portion, the Overseas Heritage Trail, is well along.

"... Trail construction is now in high gear, with new sections being built to connect the existing 58 miles of trail. Several historic bridges -- a century old, built by Henry Flagler as part of his Overseas Railroad -- also are being restored. The trail runs parallel to the Overseas Highway, recently designated as a prestigious All-American Road."

Read the full story and view Cammy's slide show at MiamiHerald.com. The photo here is by Tom Burton, showing the new Jewfish Creek bridge under construction in July. For another of Tom's views, click here.

Fuel tax pays less and less of roads' cost

The next time someone tries to tell you that bicyclists don't pay for the paths and streets we use, throw this nugget back at 'em: Just 51 percent of the $193 billion a year spent to build and maintain highways in 2007 came from fuel taxes and other user fees. According to studies of federal subsidies in the U.S. economy,

"Forty years ago, user fees amounted to 71 percent of revenues spent on roads. Today, user fee revenue as a share of total highway-related funds is at an all-time low since the Interstate Highway System was created in 1957. A complete data set of highway revenue by source is available for download. In 2007, non-user revenues contributed $70 billion to the highway system. By comparison, this contribution totaled $26 billion in 1967 (in 2007 dollars)."

You can read more at Subsidyscope.com , a project supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Of course, since most bicyclists also drive, there never was a lot of validity in the assertion that we were freeriders on the roads.

Bike-friendly Boulder was no accident

From the famously bike-friendly city of Boulder, Colo., comes an inspiring video story of how residents worked for 20 years to make their place one where anybody can bicycle anywhere in town.

Boulder Bike Story from Bikes Belong on Vimeo.

Think about this before you throw away that appeal from Green Mobility Network to join and contribute. Green Mobility has been at work for two and a half years, steadily making progress. It's your best option in South Florida for carrying out the day-to-day, farsighted politics required to build bicycle infrastructure throughout Miami-Dade County. The message from Boulder is that any town can become bicycle-friendly.

Man gets 4 months for shooting at cyclist

You heard about this little outrage up in Asheville, N.C.? Fireman chastizes a man for bicycling with a kid behind his seat, the two men argue, the fireman fires a shot that punctures the cyclist's helmet. The shooter, by now an ex-fireman, pleads guilty to a reduced charge -- and the judge passes sentence of four months in jail plus an anger-management course. Read the details, and confront your own anger, at the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Cranksgiving character

I'm reasonably sure I know this bird, but today's plumage has me baffled for a name. The wingless biped was sighted at the downtown rendezvous of the Cranksiving ride, organized for the Alley Cat crowd by Rydel and Tony with a cookie boost by Gary.

APB for a dangerous driver

Keep your eyes open for the driver of a green Mini-Cooper whose hit-and-run behavior is reported today by Felipe Azenha at Transit Miami. Let's look for a chance to photograph his misdeeds.

Avoid Brickell Ave. on Saturday

One lane northbound and one southbound will be blocked at 1643 Brickell Ave., Miami, on Saturday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., the state Department of Transportation advises. If that's where you usually ride I recommend you head west to Miami Avenue instead.

College paper backs driver-texting ban

The interest is growing in a proposed ban on texting while driving. Is there a bicyclist anywhere in Miami who hasn't felt heart rising to throat as a car approached with driver's eyes fixed on a hand-held screen? Now comes the University of South Florida's student newspaper, The Oracle:

"Texting while driving is distracting and dangerous. This is a common-sense decision, yet bans have failed to pass in previous years despite growing support. A Senate bill filed in 2008 failed to make it past committee."

The proposal barely got a flutter of support last year, but Sens. Carey Baker and Frederica Wilson aim to try again. It's about time.

Cyclocross coming to Fairchild Garden

Can you believe cyclocross racing at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden? A new event called Tropical Cyclocross has been announced for Jan. 31, 2010. Suddenly, Fairchild doesn't look like a fusty refuge for tea parties and garden clubs anymore. To check it out, visit www.tropicalcyclocross.com.

Food ride to Cauley Square

Here's a chance to help your body and soul at the same time. Take a bike ride this Sunday from Dadeland to Cauley Square and back, via the South Dade Trail. To join the excursion led by Gary Mendenhall of Green Mobility Network, bring two or more items of canned or nonperishable food in your backpack, basket or panniers. On the way south, the group will deliver the food to the community pantry at Perrine Peters Methodist Church.

The ride is 13.5 miles each way. Riders should meet at 1 p.m. at Panera Bread, 8870 SW 72nd Court, so the group can shove off promptly at 1:30 p.m. At the Cauley Square turnaround you can explore the historic village, browse the antiques or grab some refreshments. All riders should have a helmet.

Bike-sharing comes to Broward suburbs

Bike sharing is definitely catching on. Now Humana, the health-insurance folks, have installed a fleet of loaner bicycles at their Guidance Center in the Kings Point area of Tamarac, north of Fort Lauderdale. Monday through Friday, anyone 18 or older can present a driver license and a credit card and take off on one of the bikes. There's no charge if the bike is returned by 5 p.m. The address is 7666 Nob Hill Road.

Humana calls this program Freewheelin. These photos from Tamarac are by Alex Gort.

Learn traffic skills in Westchester

Updated
David Henderson will teach the Traffic Skills for Bicyclists course this Sunday, Nov. 15, at the Tropical Park Community Center, 7900 SW 40th St., in Miami's Westchester suburb. It runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Since class size is limited, you must register ahead of time. Call David at 305-375-1647 or write davidh@miamidade.gov.

I highly recommend the course. Your teacher is a certified instructor with the League of American Bicyclists, and the course was developed by the League over several years to impart the practical skills a safe rider needs. Here's the course description:

Gives cyclists the confidence they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail. The course covers bicycle safety checks, fixing a flat, on-bike skills and crash avoidance techniques and includes a student manual. Recommended for adults and children above age 14, this fast-paced, nine-hour course prepares cyclists for a full understanding of vehicular cycling.

The cost is $35.

Sunday fun ride to Grove, Little Havana

Miami bicycle coordinator Collin Worth will lead a fun ride Sunday in Coconut Grove and Little Havana. It starts at City Hall at 8:30, and you need to wear a helmet. This is one of the Bike Miami Rides, which continue the spirit of Bike Miami Days without any street closures.

Cyclist to cyclist: Let's do right

A couple of bicycling groups and a bike-loving ad man are cranking up an effort to get bicyclists and motorists to be more considerate of each other. A campaign called
"Ride Right, Drive Right" responds to cyclists' many complaints about cars that pass too closely and motorists who taunt or harass cyclists -- and equally vehement complaints from motorists about bikers behaving badly.

Jeffrey Lynne and Pat Patregnani are asking the state Department of Transportation to approve a couple of new roadside signs that they believe will cool some of the recent cyclist-motorist animosity in and around Broward and Palm Beach counties. Meanwhile, expect to see more of that "Drive Right, Ride Right" motto. Its authors don't do things halfway.

Patregnani is president of Zimmerman Advertising and founder of zMotion, a fast-growing team of cyclists especially notable for its backing of the Zimmerman MS Ride and other charity events.

Equally energetic is Lynne, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and leader in the Boca Raton Bicycle Club who recently was appointed to the board of the League of American Bicyclists. Lynne is the sparkplug of a new presence called the South Florida Bicycle Coalition, about which I'll write more some other day.

There's more about this safety and courtesy campaign in the Sun-Sentinel.

Bike parade to honor veterans

Gabrielle Redfern and friends at BASIC are organizing a Veterans' Day bike parade for next Wednesday, Nov. 11. The parade starts at the Miami Beach City Hall parking lot, where participants will gather at 8:45 a.m. If you want to decorate your bike (in a nonpartisan way, please) and take part, drop a note to Gabrielle or phone 305-790-5461. If you'd rather watch and wave, the parade route is from Convention Center Drive down Washington Avenue to Flamingo Park. The parade begins at 9:15 a.m. Have fun, everybody.

Critical Mass deconstructed

Fellow blogger Daniel Perez writes a very thoughtful critique of Critical Mass, the concept, at his Slow Bike Miami. It was kicked off by the long Sunday feature by Andres Viglucci in The Miami Herald, mentioned here a few days ago. Daniel's take on the we-are-traffic spirit of Critical Mass drew a few shots from the biking/reading public, notable among them the response of Robert Noval. Daniel and Robert may not agree on much, but their respective viewpoints couldn't have better representatives. They're good men, both of them, and I'm glad to know them.

Going to the Book Fair? Ride your bike!

On the last two days of the Miami Book Fair International, there will be bicycle parking on NE 2nd Avenue just below 3rd Street. Fair-goers who arrive by bike on Saturday, Nov. 14, or Sunday the 15th will get a $3 discount on their admission. That's right, if you pick up a cyclist coupon at the Green Mobility Network bike valet you can pay $5 at the gate instead of $8.

Here's a map of the book fair, at the downtown Wolfson Campus of Miami-Dade College.

I'm a bit concerned about there being enough room, so if you have a choice about it I'd recommend that you leave your tandem at home and ride something more compact.

Cyclists need to learn the instant stop

There's a life-saving maneuver that I'm willing to bet half the cyclists on the road today have never learned. It's called the instant stop. It's commonly taught in the Riding in Traffic course by David Henderson and other League of American Bicyclists instructors. But why wait for the course? Read about it at the Florida Bicycle Association blog, then go out and practice. I'm waiting to hear your comments.