But if all that wasn’t enough for you, then you might want to consider what would happen to you if you were riding on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk and you were hit by a car. A recent case in Canada suggests that while the accident may be the driver’s fault, the fact that the victim was a cyclist who was illegally in the crosswalk means that the cyclist shares some of the fault. In fact, an appeals court split the fault right down the middle–50% driver, 50% cyclist.

The trial court, when it first heard the case, had placed the fault 100% with the driver of the automobile. The rationale was that if the cyclist had been a pedestrian in the crosswalk, the driver would have been 100% at fault. But on appeal, it was determined that because the bicyclist was in the crosswalk, where he didn’t belong, he was partially at fault.

All I’m saying is be careful. Follow the rules of the road, for your own sake!

Alright, so they’re not trying to oust that very favorite cafe that exists only in your imagination. But rather, Actual Cafe promises that they’re “not just another wi-fi shack.” I’m totally on board with this idea, because my favorite thing to do in a cafe is to chat with a friend (or a few friends). But think about how many times you’ve gone to a cafe to see everyone with faces buried in laptops, especially at the chain variety of cafe (think Starbucks, Peet’s). It’d be great if people could interact, and not just via social networking platforms.

Actual Cafe provides a place for people to really get together and connect. Sure, there were a few loners on laptops, but they’ll find that it’s no quiet place to work. While there are a couple booths, most of the seating is either at a long bar, or a series of tables that have been pushed together into one long table. You’re sitting right next to whomever else is there, and you’re bound to have to talk at some point. Plus, there’s a high likelihood that you can talk to each other about bikes. That’s because many of the patrons are also cyclists. The cycling community is drawn to Actual Cafe because they have this beautiful indoor bike parking on the wall. You can just see my yellow Colnago in the picture (the second bike from the right).  I have to apologize for the photo quality. My camera was out of commission, so I used my phone.

Anyway, Actual Cafe also has a separate bike entrance that goes right to the indoor bike parking. The bikes are protected from wayward chairs and such by a metal railing. It’s really quite wonderful for the coffee drinking cyclist. The prices weren’t cheap, but the vibe was good, the indoor bike parking amazing, and the food quite tasty.

Actual Cafe also has rotating art exhibits on the wall, and a a bike set up on a trainer with a generator hub that will play a movie for you while you pedal. It’s a pretty cute little hang out spot, and it’s locally owned, so I feel good about that. I may even try to do some of my blogging there–but to avoid being one of those laptop people, I’ll probably try to talk to those sitting around me. Maybe I’ll see you there….

Now check out the French Twitter Bird–WAY cooler:

It’s been a wild year for me–driving 2000 miles from Wisconsin to California, then flying back to Wisconsin to get Orion and driving the 2000 miles again (I should probably buy some carbon offsets for this year, huh?).

For me + cycling, it’s been a wild year, too. Some achievements:

• mastered bigger hills here in California than even exist in Wisconsin
• entered a mountain bike race–something I’d been promising myself I’d do again for the past few years
• shed a few pounds (like 20), though I put a good chunk of it back on over the holidays–less weight means faster climbing!
• started working with a personal trainer, who has made me able to endure more pain than I thought possible, which has pushed me to become a better cyclist simply because my power has increased so much.

But of course, there have been some not-so-great cycling moments this year too:

• I planned to ride my bike to BART most days, but have failed. I usually take a bus or occasionally walk, though it’s only a mile.
• I haven’t been on a road ride in over a month, I think. Fail.
• The mountain bike race was hard. Too hard. I realized my skills (and bravery) in technical situations are severely lacking.
• That weight I lost? It’s not so good that I put half of it back on.
• I haven’t increased my stamina much. I have more power, and can get up hills better, but haven’t added any distance to my rides. I’m still happy at around 25 miles–depending on the terrain, of course. 25 miles of straight up is not my cup of tea.

The time is ripe for making New Year’s Resolutions, so why not some that are cycling related? And everyone recommends making your resolutions public–it will help you follow through. So here’s my plan for 2010:

• Trainer riding in the morning! I already run with a friend in the morning a couple days a week, and I really enjoy it. But the other days I plan to do some time on the trainer. Starting with just 45 minutes or so, and working up to more. The “working up to more” part is less about stamina, and more about having to wake up that much earlier.
• I’m going to ride my bike to the very last BART stop before the hills that separate me from work. It’s only a mile to the closest BART stop to me, but it’s a couple more to the next stop. I can’t commit to riding up and over the hills every day, but I can at least ride up to the hills before I get on the train.
• Mountain biking! I desperately want to be good at this, so I need to make an effort to hit the trails. At least once every other week to start, and hopefully once a week in the summer. I want to tackle that Lake Sonoma race again next year, and do well.
• Shed more pounds. So stereotypical, right? But it will make me a better, faster cyclist. And I won’t be embarrassed to post pictures of me cycling on here once I lose my gut!
• Figure out how to make my bulleted text the same size font as the rest of my posts. This is unrelated to cycling, other than with respect to the fact that this is a cycling blog.

What are your plans for this new year of cycling? Any big changes you’d like to make?

If you need some tips on how to keep your resolutions, check out the links below. I find most of the advice given on these blogs to be good advice, and they’re full of insightful information the rest of the year, too:

The Definitive Guide to Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions
from Zen Habits, by Leo Babauta

More Tips About Making and Keeping New Year’s Resolutions Than You Could Want
from The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin

**side note: Gretchen Rubin is one of my very favorite bloggers, and her new book, also called The Happiness Project, just hit stores this week.

Congratulations, Grechen!

Keep it in mind if you need some reading for the upcoming three-day weekend!

**Happy New Year image courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sally_12/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

The paths will link parts of town that cyclists could previously only get to by riding on bumpy roads in need of repair that are also heavily used by motor vehicle traffic.

I’m hoping Emeryville will catch on, and make more of an effort to link itself to the Berkeley paths so I can use these new routes!

You can read more about the details of the expansion in the article from today’s Contra Costa Times.

photo courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nafmo/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Now, I’m writing about bamboo bikes in what seems like a context that couldn’t be more different. While the Earth Institute uses bamboo to build bikes for those in Africa who don’t have the money for or access to other bikes, the Bamboo Bike Studio allows those with plenty of cash to build their own trendy bamboo bike to be ridden around wherever they live. Except that maybe the context isn’t totally different.

From Bamboo Bike Studio’s website:

One weekend is all it takes to fabricate a frame from bamboo— a renewable and performance-positive material growing right in our backyard— assemble the components, and roll away with a custom-fitted ride, tuned to your body and cycling style. And the cost of the class directly supports the Bamboo Bike Studio’s efforts to seed the first bamboo bike factory in Ghana, where reliable and cheap bicycle transportation can dramatically improve access to jobs, commerce, education, basic food and water resources, and health care.

According to an NPR story on the Bamboo Bike Studio, people are coming from as far away as California and England to build these bikes. And why not? After all, you get to build the bike yourself and learn valuable lessons about how bikes are built in general. The bikes look cool, too. They look as though they’ve been taped together, but really the joints are connected by a material that soaks up epoxy. Much of the money you pay for your class and materials supports getting other, less well-off people on bikes in Ghana. And from the testimonials I read, it’s a comfortable ride, too.

This tendency toward the warm and fuzzy is what’s driving me to feel all gooey over this video. It’s just some kids pedaling  to power Christmas lights, but it still gets to me. Of course we’ve all seen bike-powered generators powering everything from tv’s, to amps for electric guitars, to blenders for margaritas. Those things are cool, and interesting, and carbon-less, it’s true. But these kids are not only cool, interesting, and carbon-free, but also learning about environmentalism, global warming, the science behind wattage and amperes, the math needed to understand the science, the importance of exercise, and they’re spreading holiday cheer while they learn! Makes you kind of happy, right?

Here’s the back story:

Five years ago, as a college freshman in Madison, the UW Cycling team convinced me that because so few women would be racing, even if I finished dead last, I could still get points for the team in the mountain bike race that they put on at Blue Mounds State Park every year. So I entered, even though I had never really mountain biked before. Sure, I’d ridden on plenty of dirt trails and lots of gravel roads, but never over rocks and logs, across streams, and up rocky hills. I did well in the race–5th out of 10. But I should clarify that I only placed that well because the 5 girls who placed behind me had taken a shortened route by accident, and instead of racing for 13 miles, only raced for about 8. I was still pretty excited, and for a while, if you Googled my name, you could find proof that I didn’t come in dead last (even though I probably would have if those other girls had stayed on the right trail).

Ever since then, I’ve wanted to be a hard core mountain biker. But quite frankly, I’m a bit of a pansy. I mean, I’m just plain ole scared of  busting myself up. And so I’ve tried to go riding with the Trusty Boyfriend recreationally, but I always chickened out. I could only get over the fear with the adrenaline that came with a race situation. So when the Trusty Boyfriend’s sister suggested a race up in Sonoma, I knew I had to do it, or risk being that girl who never rode a mountain bike again. So we all entered. The Trusty Boyfriend (whose name is actually Orion. I’m sick of typing Trusty Boyfriend, and he doesn’t seem to care about anonymity), his sister, one of my college friends, and I all took of early in the morning to drive to the North Bay. What we found when we got there was scary–MUD!

I was totally prepared to ride a dry course. I thought I might even do well. After all, I’m strong. My legs are solid. It’s just the technical skills that I’m lacking. But the course was disgustingly muddy. Most of us had the totally wrong tires. Most of us slipped and fell over in all the corners. And definitely my friend and I came in dead last. But I learned a lot.

I learned that Orion is right–if it’s a downhill, don’t be scared, just bomb it as fast as you can. I learned that mud is dangerous, slippery, and hard to get out of cuts and scrapes. I learned that my legs are strong–strong enough to keep up with the other women on steep hills if there’s no mud. I also learned that no one’s legs, not even the men’s pro category winner’s legs, are strong enough to pull a bike up a hill that has mud 6 inches deep. But most of all, I learned that mud and rocks and stream crossings are FUN. I remember vaguely the fun that I had in my first race, and now I know that I need to go ride with all the dedication and intensity that I do on race day–every day.

I’m super excited to have rediscovered my love of dirt and mountain biking. I’m proud of every bruise and cut and scrape, even though I didn’t win. And I’m also proud of Orion. He actually did really well in the race, taking second place in the sport category for under 35-year-olds. I’m really proud of him.

Anyway–I don’t have the pictures on my camera, but they will be forthcoming

Go out and find some dirt to ride in! You’ll love it. Trust me.

Apparently the kids on the bus were ok, just a bit shaken up. At least there were no injuries reported right away, other than those of the cyclist.

I hate talking about accidents, but they serve as a good opportunity to just remind cyclists to pay attention, and that no matter if you’re in the right or wrong, the motorized vehicles are always bigger than you, and more dangerous! So please ride carefully!

San Francisco got a new bike lane! It’s the first new bike lane in the city in three years, and it’s green! SF Streetsblog has a great video of the press conference about it. In it, Mayor Newsom informs us that we currently have 45 miles of bike lanes in the city, and over the next six months want to stripe six more miles. The city will also be installing five bike racks per day.  And they’re painting the pavement different colors so everyone can see it’s a bike only zone. Some of those painted areas will be in front of the cars at stop lights, so that cyclists can be easily seen by cars at lights, and will get to go first when the light changes green. On top of that, they’re changing the timing of traffic lights so that bikes have enough time to get through.

Maybe it’s more like twelve steps forward, two steps back? Wow. Good job, San Francisco!

By why the sudden increase? As it turns out there was an injunction in place that prevented the city from making cycling improvements. Since that injunction, there has been a 53% increase in cycling. Mayor Newsom asks us to imagine what the increase could look like if we had bike lanes everywhere. He states that our goal is to increase the percentage of bike commutes in the city from the current 6% to 10% of commutes.

The lifting of the injunction is for sure yet, and the Mayor warns us that we may have to undo our improvements if the injunction isn’t permanently lifted. But there’s an air of optimism around the event–I think we’ll be seeing a total lifting of the injunction, and a lot more bicycle advocacy in San Francisco.

You can also read more about the new bike improvements at the San Francisco Citizen blog.