Celebrating the ordinary cyclist

Sometimes we just need to celebrate an ordinary cyclist -- like this guy who rides in a foot of fresh snow, perhaps because that's the only way for him to get where he's going.

We were out in the car, because we didn't think anybody could bike in this stuff, but we saw half a dozen cyclists on the streets.

World Velomobile Market

What's happening in the world velomobile market?


Astrophysicist and science journalist Yvan Dutil has been talking with manufacturers and velomobilists and has written an article on velomobile production around the globe.  Click on the header to read what he's found out.

Briefly, velomobile production has been going up, and velomobiles are spreading across more of the world.

Ice-Biking

What do you do in Minnesota if the temperature is dropping from 22 to 13 degrees (minus 5.5 to minus 10.5 C), and the wind is gusting to 36 mph? You go to the Ice-Bike races. These weren't the January 28 mountain bike races on a Minneapolis lake described in a New York Times article, or the mountain bike race in Bloomington, Minnesota that was also mentioned in that article. These were the Original Minnesota Human-Powered Vehicle Association 16th Annual Ice Biking World Championship races on January 27. We may have to retire that "world championship" name now that there actually ARE some (quite a lot, in fact) other ice bike races in the world.

New York's street scene

This video on YouTube shows the challenges New York cyclists face, and contrasts them with conditions in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. It's a very polished production and runs a bit over 8 minutes. The header links to "Streetsblog," which posts some further discussion.



Heavily blogged in recent days, this should be required viewing for city planners. It shows the hazards and limitations of on-street striped bike lanes in busy traffic. Those lanes actually aren't too bad on the right kind of streets. We have some in Minneapolis that work well -- and others that just marginalize cyclists into laughably narrow, glass-strewn, potholed gutters full of "temporarily-"parked cabs, postal vehicles, and pizza-delivery cars.

Cycling progress in the Netherlands

An article on Fietsniews (Bike News, December 29, 2006) in the Netherlands looks at some new developments for bike commuters: "The bike is faster on the commuter route between Delft and Pijnacker. Well, drivers ought to know about that. And they will, with posted comparisons of travel time along the way." Cyclists have been aware that they could outpace cars on this short (less than 4 km) drive from the small town of Pijnacker into the city of Delft. Bikeways along the road allow the cyclists to speed past traffic jams. "So for 2007, they're planning to flash digital comparisons of the travel times on the information signs. Cyclists and drivers can see with their own eyes who's fastest."

In another part of this project, "Wachttijdvoorspellers" (Waiting-time count-down clocks) are being added to the intersections with traffic lights, beginning with one at a busy intersection in Delft, and followed by 8 to 10 additional ones elsewhere along the route. This is primarily to improve safety for cyclists. Project spokesman Van Norden explains 'By predicting the waiting time, we encourage more cyclists to just wait for the light to turn green. This works particularly well with long wait times." (On this particular route, though, cyclists wait an average of only 15-20 seconds.

The photo is of a bike-path crossing in Hoorn, another city in the Netherlands. Here, a sensor was recently added so that cyclists and pedestrians don't have to push the button to activate the traffic light. Elsewhere in the Netherlands, some traffic sensors detect bikes approaching intersections so that the light turns green just as they get there. Thanks to Ligfiets.net for the link. The header above links to the Fietsniews article, in Dutch

60 Velomobiles

Velomobile enthusiasts celebrate the end of the year with the Oliebollentocht. This annual late-December ride in the Netherlands draws more velomobiles than any other, despite the challenges of darkness, ice, and snow. In 2006, the weather appears to have cooperated, and 60 velomobiles made it to the event.

Participants compete to post photos first, so this year's photo pages began appearing by the end of the rally day on December 28. The Dutch recumbent website assembles a list of links to the photos and reports.

ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPV)

An annual contest for mechanical engineering students features velomobile development, but it seems to exist in a separate universe from the velomobile manufacturing world. The word "velomobile" doesn't even appear in the announcement. (See the link in the header.)

"ASME sponsors the Human Powered Vehicle Competition in hopes of finding a design that can be used for everyday activities ranging from commuting to and from work to going to the grocery store. Senior engineering students can use this competition for their capstone project and with their efforts design and construct a fast, sleek, and safe vehicle capable of road use. "

"There are three different vehicle classes:

Single Rider - operated and powered by a single individual
Multi-rider - operated and powered by two or more individuals
Utility - vehicle designed for every-day transportation for such activities as commuting to work or school, shopping trips, and general transportation

The rider (or riders) can be in upright, prone or recumbent positions. The single and tandem vehicles compete in sprint and endurance events. The practical vehicle emphasizes the usefulness of the vehicle for daily activities such as shopping, transportation or recreation. The practical vehicles must negotiate a slalom course with the challenge of carrying packages, going over bumps, potholes or other obstacles while stopping at signs and obeying the rules of the road."

"All vehicles in all classes of competition are required to have a full or partial aerodynamic fairing. This fairing must cover 1/3 of the frontal area of the vehicle and be built such that it clearly shows the provided number assigned to the vehicle and ASME logo. "

Cycling enthusiasts should encourage more coverage of these events -- it's hard to find any information on past participants and their vehicles, and it would be nice to have more links between the engineering students and the actual users of existing velomobiles.

Short days and commuting

Minnesota winter sunlight lasts later into the evening than it does in northern Europe, but eventually commuters have to do something about visibillity. This "Down-Low Glow" light is what I gave my husband for his birthday this year. It would look good under a Cab-Bike, too.

Back to Velomobiles

Getting back to velomobiles, since that's the topic of this blog, I've been uploading some velomobile film clips to YouTube. Click on the header for a link to the playlist. More to come when I get to them...

Cool things to do on a bike

On a snowy day, I just learned how to upload a video to YouTube and embed it in this blog. This one is of the Haarlem Marching and Cycling Band, which biked and played for an hour or two at the 2006 Cycle Vision bike show and races in Zandvoort, Netherlands. There's a link to the band's website in the header.