The thought of sudsing up next to the guy lurking behind the paper stacks may make one a bit squeamish. But at least the dude scanning your ballpoint pens will smell fresh as a daisy. As part of a pitch to become Miami’s first retail building stamped with a U.S…
This week’s Pic of the Week is of Miamian Gary Rhaney and his bicycle, which he put together himself using a kiddy wheel in front and a regular sized, but tireless, rim in the back. He calls the contraption “my security system – you got a tire, they’ll steal your…
Tuesday night, the fledgling Green Mobility Network met for its second meeting ever at the Dice House in Kendall. The group was started over the summer by John Hopkins, a South Miami resident and bicycling advocate who writes the blog Spokes N’ Folks. About 20 people showed up for the…
This week’s Pic of the Week (courtesy of AFP photo) is Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley riding a bicycle in Paris. During a visit to the City of Lights, he proclaimed yesterday that he wants a bicycle rental system similar to the Velib, a Paris’ new and truly revolutionary plan…
Good Friday All kinds of end-of-the-week news on the Bike Blog. First off, if you’re peddling around South Beach this weekend you might notice a new bike lane on 16th street. It’s been there just a week or so, according to Miami Beach Transportation Coordinator Christine Leduc. The Bike Blog…
Last week, I was contacted by Richard “Virgin Dick” Paris, a member of the Miami/Fort Lauderdale chapter of the Hash House Harriers – the self-described “drinking group with a running problem.” Put simply, hashing works like this: hashers meet (once a week, here) and one or two of them, called…
Since we didn’t post one last week, we’ve got two for you today: one is happy, one aint. Here’s the first, taken on a recent Critical Mass (the Saturday one) ride. The group, which promotes safety in numbers via mass bike rides, meets this Saturday, 10:00 AM at University Metrorail…
Apology: Somehow, this post got cut short, making it look an obnoxious rant against the very people whose work I meant to highlight. Sorry, Herb! A few nights ago, the Bike Blog was chatting with Herb Hiller, the Southeast Regional Program Consultant for the East Coast Greenway Alliance. The group’s…
The Bike Blog is proud to introduce a new weekly feature: The Bike Blog’s Pic of the Week! Submissions are welcome — We’re kicking it off today with this picture of Barbara, whom we met, on a recent steamy day, peddling around in a ridiculously small Next aluminum bike, which…
Just last week, the Bike Blog wrote about summer bike mayhem – yesterday, we got an email from Tricia Vanderkooy, who got hit by an SUV on her way home from last Saturday’s Critical Mass bike ride. It wasn’t just a freak accident, either. Here’s one pretty detail: before hitting…
It’s hot. Everyone who figured out a way to do so has fled Miami. Bike news is especially slow. Gone from the Bike Blog’s inbox are calls to meetings, the rallyings of the troops for this or that bike cause. Instead, hurricane season seems to have ushered in a rash…
This is the first in a series of posts on the Bike Blog’s Bike Fears – those niggling questions that we try to avoid every time we mount that two-wheeler and ride into battle (or traffic). We start with this one: Do Helmets Make People Want to Kill You? They’re…
A few weeks ago, the Bike Blog was peddling down Coral Way with Chris Alphin, a bike messenger and nice guy to boot, who organizes the Miami Beach Take Back the Streets Meetup Group. We were engaged in one of the Bike Blog’s favorite activities – ragging on Miami –…
While I was riding across the country, I had a thought – actually, I had lots of thoughts, some of them very weird indeed, but this was one of them: what if my bike had a sail? The idea had particular appeal to me as I was crossing Nebraska, where…
Forty-six public meetings and nearly two million bucks in, Miami 21 got canned last Thursday to be reconsidered for 90 days, during which Miami can look forward to – surprise surprise – more meetings, and more costs. So, the Bike Blog decided to do its part and reconsider how Miami…
Lots to do! First, the pan-activist group Emerge Miami, the Liberty City-based community nonprofit Weed and Seed, and the City of Miami Police Department will be hosting a kids’ bike ride this Saturday. David Chiverton, CEO of Weed and Seed, describes the ride as an attempt to bring together kids…
After a brief respite – the Bike Blog got bike clogged, you might say – we’re back. And to make up for last’s week’s missing dose of grumbling and mockery, the Bike Blog presents two bits of hope, progress, and downright democracy. The first comes from the City of Miami…
What gets 70 miles to the gallon, cruises along at 50 mph and runs on three wheels? The RTM Tango, a little egg-shaped scooter-car. The company, RTM Group Inc. is based in Miami and builds the three-wheelers in Uruguay. Although the vehicle cannot travel on the interstate, it does sport…
A month or two ago, the Bike Blog mentioned that the time of the World Naked Bike Ride – a worldwide event in which cyclists take to the streets in the buff — was neigh. After endorsing it wholeheartedly, we promptly forgot all about it and therefore didn’t have to…
Now that’s a cruiser You got your cruisers, and then you got your cruisers, you know? Let’s talk police cruisers first. After last week’s Take Back the Road Ride (a.k.a. Critical Mass – this is getting confusing) was crashed by City of Miami Police, the Bike Blog called around to…
The Bike Blog couldn’t make it, but last Friday’s tenuous Critical Mass-esque ride did, in fact, materialize. The event was fashioned after Critical Mass rides in other cities, which generally take place on the last Friday of every month. Assuming this event continues on a monthly basis, this means that…
Celebrating Mass Some time ago, the Bike Blog wrote about our city’s burgeoning Critical Mass, noting that Miami’s is a pretty tame incarnation of the worldwide pro-biking event. The confrontational nature of Critical Masses in some larger cities – in which riders completely stop traffic – is absent in Miami’s…
