Year: 2013
Bike to Work Philosophy
Getting Started
Three Reasons You Should Be Comfortable Taking the Lane
Recently our family took a road trip from Utah to points East. Along the way from Hershey, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. we took a detour to Lancaster County to see “Amish Country.” Rolling hills: check. Large families tending well-kept farms: check. Horse drawn buggies: check. Other people looking at Amish Country: check. Interestingly, we (and […]
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Bike to Work for Quality of Life
Going Car Free
Three Reasons You Should Have and Use a Bike
Yesterday on a train, I was asked to take yet another survey on transportation and transit. I take every survey that comes my way because I have strong opinions on the subject, but for the last year and a half or so, I have been embarrassed about my answer to one of the questions: how […]
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Bike to Work for Health
Speed Kills
I just saw another of those studies that answers a question us non-Ph.D types wouldn’t bother asking. In this case the question was, “Are higher speeds more dangerous?” The scientifically-validated answer: yes. No one should be surprised that that higher vehicle speeds lead to more deaths as well as more crashes in general. But what […]
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Bike to Work Tips
Morning Warning
I love riding in the morning; the air is cool, the wind is still, the birds are singing, and promise of a new day colors my view. But morning is, in my opinion, the absolute most dangerous time of day to ride, and I was reminded of this by an recent awful accident. Please take […]
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Bike to Work Philosophy
Bike to Work Tips
Being Safe by Being Confident
For years, I accepted the conventional wisdom that riding a bike was inherently dangerous. I figured that sitting on my ever growing backside on a bus was probably worse than the considerable risk of getting run over, and chalked up my continued safety to a run of good luck. After tens of thousands of miles […]
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Bike to Work Tips
Bike to Work Hazards Part 3: Fellow Travelers
We share planet Earth with a wonderful and diverse collection of carbon-based life forms. And sooner or later, every one of them will try to make you crash. Josh’s route to work takes him past many large, aggressive dogs who usually chase him away from their fences and then return to their owners’ stoops, smugly […]
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Bike to Work Tips
Bike to Work Hazards Part 2: Mother Nature
You may think you’re doing right by Mother Nature when you bike to work, but don’t expect her to return the favor. She is too busy adding beauty and variety to the earth by dropping multi-colored leaves all over the place, covering the ground with pure white snow, sending life giving rain, and generally strewing […]
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Bike to Work Tips
Bike to Work Hazards Part 1: The Mean Streets
In Martin Scorese’s 1973 film, The Mean Streets referred to the criminal politics of Little Italy. But for those of us in places where winter brings snow and ice, this time of year can cause the streets to actually become mean: breaking wheels, inflicting flats, and causing crashes. When people think about bicycle safety, they tend to […]
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Going Car Free
Your Car Commute May Not Be As Fast As You Think
I had occasion recently to drive to work and couldn’t help but notice that my time in the car–about 28 minutes–was a little more than half the time I generally spend commuting by bicycle. I often hear the concern that riding is a big time committment, but is driving really that much faster than riding […]
Read MoreBike to Work for Quality of Life
Bike to Work Philosophy
Bike to Work Tips
Three Things You Can Do To Think Better On A Bike
Auguste Rodin envisioned the thinker sitting naked on a bumpy rock, but this setup is really only good for pondering questions like, “Where did I put my trousers?” To produce high-quality thinking, get off the rock…and get on a bike. Albert Einstein reportedly thought of his theory of relativity while riding his bike. Edward Elgar was […]
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