bicycle

Germany Opens Its First Bike Highway

- Adam Clare

Germany knows that their autobahns, which are famous for not having a speed limit, can only handle so much traffic. To alleviate pressure put on their highways they have built a highway just for bikes! The 100km long bike path runs through 10 cities.

The bike path is fully lit, cleared of debris, and even has overtaking lanes for cyclists. It’s just like any major road for cars but built for environmentally friendly and healthy transportation: a bicycle.

The RS1 cuts through the Ruhr region in North West Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands, and runs mostly along former railway tracks. The bike paths are 13 feet wide, have overtaking lanes, and according to the AFP are lit, and cleared of snow and other debris, just like regular roads. The inspiration for the RS1 comes from the cycle ways of the Netherlands, and also from London’s bike superhighways, and the route usually crosses other roads via over-and-underpasses.

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More Cities Ditching Cars to Increase Transportation Speed

- Adam Clare

Cities that are designed for cars now have the problem of switching from the traffic-causing polluting machines. Most places can’t build more roads so they need to use what they have more effiencetly. This means repurposing some roads or only having roads used for efficient transit solutions instead of old-school inefficient automobiles. Here are nine cities that are in the process of getting rid of cars.

1. MADRID, SPAIN

THE PLAN: The boundaries of Madrid’s current car-free zone are continuously expanding outwards, reaching a square mile earlier this year. While those who live within the zone are allowed to take their cars inside, those who don’t have a guaranteed parking space can expect a hefty fine. New smart parking meters throughout the city can also gauge vehicles’ fuel-efficiency, so gas-guzzler owners will have to pay more at the meter.
ECO-BONUS: As a greener alternative, Madrid’s new bike share program supplies 1,500 bikes stationed at 120 different locations throughout the city.

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Groovy Bike Helmet Lights Up

- Adam Clare

The Lumos helmet is designed to make riding a bicycle even safer. In the majority of collisions between automobile drivers and cyclists the car driver is at fault, so to make riding safer the helmet projects bright lights. This means that people who aren’t paying attention to the road as they drive will be forces to acknowledge the presence of the cyclist.

The helmet is a high-tech beauty for a low tech transportation solution. I just bought one.

ALWAYS HAVE A GREAT SET OF LIGHTS WITH YOU
It shouldn’t be difficult or inconvenient to take care of your basic safety as a cyclist.
With Lumos, rest easy knowing you always have a great set of lights on hand.
BRIGHT LIGHTS TO STAND OUT ON THE ROAD
14 super bright white LEDs in the front and 16 super bright red LEDs in the rear provide over 80 lumens of illumination to ensure that you stand out on the road.

Check out the Lumos Helmet.

Commute by Bike to Decrease Your Stress

- Adam Clare

bike

Stanford University’s Calming Technology Lab has found evidence to support what most commuter cyclists already know: riding a bike to work instead of driving a car lowers one’s stress. Not only are you improving your own mental health you’ll be consuming less gas and save a lot of money while getting physically fit.

There is no better day than today to start riding your bike to work.

“It’s particularly interesting to see that many people don’t transition back into the home after a long day of work very well. By biking to work we know that the physical nature of cycling and physical exertion will engender a more calm and focused state of mind. So while being good for us physically, we also see lots of psychological and emotional benefits.”

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Seville is Spain’s Cycling Gem

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

It’s well known that the future of urban design and transportation will support the mass use of bicycles. Still, some cities are slow to catch on to this. In Spain where cycling is not nearly as popular in colder northern parts of Europe the city of Seville is leading the charge into the future.

How Seville became such a great cycling city is a far out tale:

“As soon as the building work was finishing and the fences were removed the cyclists just came. The head of the building team, who’d been very sceptical about the process, called me and said, ‘Where have all those cyclists come from?’ That’s when I knew for sure it was going to work. The came from all over the city.”
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The net result is not Dutch or Danish levels of cycling, but nonetheless impressive. The average number of bikes used daily in the city rose from just over 6,000 to more than 70,000. The last audit, about a year ago, found 6% of all trips were made by bike, rising to 9% for non-commuter journeys.

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