South Miamians aim to be bike-friendly

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Don't let a flat ruin your ride

Are you fully prepared for your weekend bike ride or daily commute? If a thorn nails your tube and the tire goes flat, will you have to walk home or can you drop the wheel, fix the puncture and continue your ride? If learning to fix your tire is one of those things you've been aiming to get around to, here's your chance. Green Mobility Network is offering its Fix-a-Flat Workshop this Saturday at Mack Cycle & Fitness, 5995 Sunset Drive, South Miami. You pay $10 and when you complete the workshop you take home some nice gifts from Mack Cycle -- plus the comforting knowledge that if you get a flat you can fix it yourself. Bring your bike for the 11 a.m. class.

Texting laws catch on elsewhere

The truckers' magazine Land Line reports that 32 states soon will be enforcing laws against texting while driving. The newest are Indiana and North Dakota. So what is it with Florida? A big handful of our lawmakers have offered anti-texting bills over the past three or four years. Few emerged from committee. Come to think of it, this year few bills of any kind were passed.

Bertonatti trial postponed

Carlos Bertonatti's attorney gained another continuance today for the young singer's manslaughter trial in the hit-and-run death of bicyclist Christoph Le Canne on the Rickenbacker Causeway. The South Miami cyclist was killed Jan. 17, 2010, as Bertonatti drove home to Key Biscayne from a night of dancing. The case was reset today for August 23. Bertonatti remains out on bond on condition that he stay at home.

Riding north (from Florida) to Alaska

The Arizona Republic caught up with Craig Randleman on his bicycle trek to Alaska from Florida's Panhandle.

He said the good experiences on the road have far outweighed the occasional over-zealous road hog.

"People are always asking if I need any water," he said. "[Travelers] have helped me when I've had flat tires . . . There have been so many nice, good people around. Most folks are interested and helpful, seems to me."

There's more good reading at azcentral.com.

Dreaming of a bike-friendly world

Planet Bike from Planet Bike on Vimeo.

If you, too, dream of a bike-friendly city, come hear Bill Nesper of the League of American Bicyclists give a workshop in Miami at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24. To save a place write to David Henderson. The location is County Hall, 111 NW 1st St., room 18-4.

How was your ride, everyone?

Please tell us your Bike to Work Day story, won't you? Say how the ride was and what you saw that was fun or interesting.

Next stage on M-Path Extension near

The ubiquitous Bob's Barricades set up safety barriers tonight for the crews who will build a bridge across the mouth of the Snapper Creek Expressway. The bridge will be erected in late summer, but site preparation is about to start.

This will be the key part of closing the Dadeland Gap, which has annoyed and often deterred cyclists trying to bike between Kendall and South Miami. Closing the gap, with the help of new path already cleared below SW 70th Avenue, will connect the M-Path with the 20-mile South Dade Trail and provide a continuous off-road path fro the Brickell financial district to Florida City, gateway to the Florida Keys.

Road bill shaping up without paths

Bicycle advocates are increasingly nervous about how the next federal transportation bill is taking shape. Our best hope for keeping dedicated bike-walk funding in the legislation may lie with Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. Let DC Streetsblog tell you more. To write to Sen. Boxer, use this link.

Causeway alert for Sunday

The friendly folks at Miami-Dade Public Works remind us of triathlon, duathlon action happening on the Rickenbacker Causeway this Sunday from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. Event details are at Multirace.com.

Here's follow-up coverage from The Miami Herald about the Dutch-guided bicycle route workshop earlier this week.

The blueprint that emerged from the ThinkBike Workshop, sponsored by the Dutch government, would establish two intersecting, demarcated bike routes linking some of the principal neighborhoods and destinations of the city’s urban core, including the Venetian Causeway and Jackson Memorial Hospital, the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Midtown Miami and, possibly, the new Marlins major-league baseball stadium rising in East Little Havana.

You can read more right here. And please use the comments to share your thoughts here and at the Herald site.

Ride in pairs or single file

The popular "Share the Road" slogan is widely supposed to be directed at drivers. We cyclists tout our right to the road and most of us shrug off the occasional ignorant

encouragement to ride on the sidewalk instead. But we're not helping our cause when we go riding with our buddies and spread out across the whole road. That's often not safe -- and it's certainly not sharing.

Even for the athletes among us, a group ride is an important social event. We like to talk as we pedal. It's natural to say what we're feeling, catch up on the news of family and friends, tease a pal about a colorful shirt or fancy energy concoction. But on streets and roads we need to ride in pairs or single file, not big clusters that expose us to careless or impatient drivers. We need to learn how to safely and efficiently stretch out into pairs or a single file at the cry of "Car Up" or "Car Back". After all, "Share the Road" means us, too.

Money for bike paths, sidewalks might be switched to roads

The congressman with the most power over national transportation policy says federal funding for sidewalks and bicycle facilities should be stopped. He is Rep. John Mica of Winter Park, the chairman of the House transportation committee. Legislation being prepared by his staff would eliminate the Transportation Enhancements program, which in Florida and several other states has been the primary spur to building infrastructure that makes walking and bicycling safer and more convenient. You can read Dan Tracy's good reporting at the Orlando Sentinel. Please be sure to vote in the newspaper's reader poll to the left of the article.

There's comment and further reporting at DC Streetsblog.

Self-steering bicycle

Bikes in mind as state plans U.S. 1 repaving

Wide curb lanes to accommodate bicyclists are included in state plans for the repaving of U.S. 1 (S. Dixie Highway) between SW 168th Street and SW 102nd Street. It doesn't strike me as a good idea because of the speeds I see on that stretch along the west side of Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay. These new lanes would be just a few yards away from the bike route I like to use -- the South Dade Trail, which runs along the Busway.

The plans are being aired Thursday night at St. Louis Catholic Church, 7270 SW 120th St., Pinecrest. The meeting runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Florida Department of Transportation will have engineers present to explain details, answer questions, and hear public comment.

Here are lots more details via the Miami Herald's Neighbors section.

Dutch share bike savvy in Miami

There's excellent reporting at Transit Miami on the two-day bike workshop that the Dutch consul general sponsored here this week. I recommend it.

Bike Miami Day reset for July 3

Mothers' Day and Bike Miami Day may have been a mismatch. The event planned for this Sunday has been postponed to July 3. We're told that some business owners at Mary Brickell Village thought they'd lose trade. So watch this space for details and help us have a happy Bike-Walk-Skate Independence Day on the first Sunday of July.