Sign the petition.

Streets Are for People wanted to deliver their petition to Queen's Park today, unfortunately the police did not think it was such a hot idea. TO BE CONTINUED...

In its place they did a little march over to Queen's Park. It was much appreciated by folk out on the street. Photos here.

Reminder: Centennial Park Masterplan meeting

Don't forget tomorrow is the public meeting with Parks, Forestry and Recreation to discuss Centennial Park's new Masterplan. We need to get more cycling-specific items included in the plan!

Previous post here.
Press release on the Pedal Magazine website here.

Date: Thursday, November 1st
Time: 6:00pm.
Location: Centennial Park Olympium, 2nd floor, 590 Rathburn Road, just West of Renforth Road

Is this Tino wearing Lederhosen mit Birkenstocks?

Anne's Pumpking mover

You have to see this video, very timely being Halloween and all.
http://tinyplanet.ca/~ccumbaa/PumpkinMan2007.wmv

We need photos!

BLD staff have told of the "real" reason why Tino left BLD. A high-placed source at a major department store told a staff member that Tino has gone to work at the Art Gallery. Apparently he has seen a future for himself as a volunteer muse, a nude male muse. We were shocked and hoping that his partner is not finding out about this for the first time on BLD.

Please! Please! Please! If you are visiting the Art Gallery and see Tino at work grab a photo for this here blog. We need to increase readership.

Keep on driving

Art by Ogul Oz, at Hoofddorpweg Bridge, Amsterdam.



Pictures and news (in portuguese):
Mountain Bike BH
Tapostado

I love British People

Hey all,

I wanted to post a link to this amazing cinema ad by the British outfit 'CTC' (which stands for either cycle touring club or coast to coast).

it can be viewed at http://www.cyclehero.com/

be sure to check out both the long & short versions!

thanks to Janet for pointing this out to me.

bye for now.

The sidewalk rush.

911: Police, Fire, or Ambulance?
BMW: POLICE! My car was just hit by one of those scofflaws and he left the scene.
911: OK sir please calm down. Are you injured? Can you tell me what happened and your location.
BMW: I am not injured but my car has hit by a cyclist, he has done a lot of damage. He got back on his bike and took off. South bound on George St...right through a stop sign...um... he was dressed all ratty like with a bag on his shoulder.
911: Ok sir we have an officer enroute. Was the cyclist injured?
BMW: Who cares! Look what he has done to my car! Those damn cyclists think they have the right to break the law. They need license plates! I was just going in to get my morning coffee! IS THIS CITY NOT SAFE ENOUGH TO PICK UP YOUR MORNING COFFEE? Are you going to arrest that cyclist?
911: Sir, the officer has arrived but cannot find you. Are you the BMW parked in the bike lane.
BMW: No. My car is parked on the sidewalk outside Tim Hortons. What is he blind?!

CM Tonight. SCARY!

Bring treats for all! Especially for all the kids behind the wheel. They need encouragement to come back next month with their bikes.

Bloor and Spadina, 6pm.

Toys and veichles

Some people like cars and dolls since the early ages...










... and they grow older and still don't belive that's dangerous to drive and use mobile phones at the same time.














And while they're always stuck in traffic...

...I'm free to ride my bike.

Signs for the future

First of all, it's a great honor being invited to write on this space. I live in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and that'll be a great pleasure to bring some news from the south to this canadian virtual space.

The sign above was made by Jose Alvaro, a bicyclist from Belo Horizonte, during World Carfree Day 2007. Some other signs (in potuguese) can be seen here. And more about WCD in Sao Paulo, here (also in english).

Thanks to Martino for oppening his house and best wishes to my partners on this Bike Lane journey.

Intelligence captured.

For quite some time BLD staff have suspected that the real Tino was abducted several months ago, a suspicion that was raised with multiple sightings of Tino at the same time in different areas. We posted photographic evidence at the time only to have it refuted.

Suspicions were raised again when Tino announced he was leaving BLD. Staff contacted a retired member of the US Air Force's Project Blue Book. Acting on his advice we had Tino followed by an intern. The intern returned in state of total fright, before passing away he left us with this sketch confirming our worst fears.

In hindsight we realized we missed a significant fact. Tino's riding had gotten real slow at the same time our suspicions were raised, he was routinely being passed by the Ladies' Auxiliary Riding Club on his commute. It should have been obvious to us, the impostor never wore Birkenstocks when riding his road bike. Tino without Birkenstocks is like a wheel without a tire.

Gotta run. There are some nice men in black at reception asking us to sign our organ donor cards.

Take a poll

This links to a three question poll on the number of cyclists and attitudes on the road. Working on expanding this poll with other bloggers to get a more extensive read on what is going on out there.

http://www.torontocranks.com/?p=191

Blue Bike Lane

Hello All,

Here's a pic of the new blue bike lane installed on Strachan Ave. today. (sbnd at Lake Shore Blvd)

The blue is inended to highlight a conflict point where drivers merge across the bike lane to make a right turn. The City is currently testing the blue material for durability.

cheers for now.

cris

La Fuga di Olmo (Olmo's Escape)

My first film. Shot in Super 8. A lonely blue ladies bike runs away from home.
Much of what I have ever wanted to say about biking, bicycles and enviro-politics
I tried to say with this short film.

When I started Bike Lane Diary almost 5 years ago I thought it would be a good idea to document bike conditions and bike culture in Toronto. Judging from the many good comments I have received from cyclists far and wide it seems I was right. It was a good idea. Even though some of you won't believe this: I think it's time to pass on the torch to other cyclists.

Over to you, Brandon, Bruce, Cris, Darren, Guido, Goshka, Hannah, Tammy & Wes.
No worries, I'll still be around but less so on BLD. Must be moving onto other projects. The old film camera beckons. Mez needs a commercial or two. My wonderful partner Wendy wants to do something cool and exciting. Think I'll join in on the fun.

Thank you all so much for reading & writing and being so supportive.
See ya all in the Bike Lane.

Ride on!

Your friend always,

Martino

Night Rider III

Transit Ads I would like to see

Via quickrelease.tv

Gira's English Class

Gira lives in Sao Paulo, Brasil and puts up with a lot of crap from 'those Americanos'.

Via my favourite blog Motorized Apocalipse

Meeting: Centennial Park Masterplan

Parks, Forestry and Recreation will be holding a public meeting on Thursday, Necember 1st to discuss the new Masterplan for Centennial Park. This is a multi-year plan dealing with the revitalization of the 525-acre site as a public community recreation facility. Unfortunately the plan does not currently seem to include much in the way of cycling-specific needs. In fact, there has been opposition from staff regarding the addition of new cycling infrastructure in the park.

The Midweek Cycling Club (a great local cycling club that hosts weekly race series' including great learn-to-race programs for novices) hopes that enough cyclists will show up at the public meeting to show the Parks department there are enough people out there who support such facilities. They have released information detailing some of their ideas for how the Masterplan could better incorporate cyclist's needs. Some highlights include:

"All areas identified by double yellow to be asphalt surfaced with photo-cell street lamps on a timer system to enable evening use of the facility."

"A 250m, 333m or 500m inside diameter 5m to 7m wide paved surface with slightly raised banks circle for both track-cycling training and interval training."

"Adding showers to the ski centre's chalet and exterior access public washrooms"

"No un-fenced leash-free dog areas within the course or adjacent to it"

"There is no safe pace for children to learn how to bike ride; this path system would give them such a place."

"This facility would enable a group like Midweek to host Friday night races under the lights from May until Labour Day like is done in major cities around the world."

"Midweek currently host International Ranked Cyclo-cross races within the facility each November; the goal is to move these up to World Cup status within 5 years."

"Other cycling disciplines (BMX, mountain and recreational) requires safe, traffic-free space, this would supply it"

"It is estimated this facility would be used daily by novices to internationally ranked cyclists to usage levels matching those of Centennial's soccer and baseball fields."

"BMX: A track to UCI standards to be built within the new paved area of the currently unutilized hydro corridor."

"Track: excluded at this time but may be added in the future after we have proven that these facilities get significant usage to warrant considering taking the financial and usage risk that a track would entail."

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

As Darren over at Toronto Cranks reports 27km ain't going in this year. No Surprise! As far as I am concerned A. A. Heaps has no credibility whatsoever. You can defend him all you want.
Too bad he just had to shoot his mouth off repeatedly and mislead people.

Moreover, Ian Stuart points out that Bike Lanes are all crap anyway.

Oh, well. Fuck it all. Let's ride!

Really lock it!!

Photo source

You might be a courier if ...

01. You know what a fixie is

02. You have gotten more than 2 or 3 flats in an 8 hour work day.

03. You know that just because your dispatcher yells at you on the radio, it's nothing personal.

04. You have a code name [i.e. 8-ball, Fire Leader, Squid]

05. You have gone the wrong way down a one-way street just to deliver a package.

06. You know how to ride a bike with one gear and no brakes, somewhat safely.

07. You know the people in the local bike shop bike first name.

08. You know that downtown on a bike is SO much faster than a car.
(Read on in the comments)

TCAC

A few notes from the first meeting of the long absent Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee.

While nothing too major was tackled at the introductory meeting #1, there was a progress report on bike lane implementation. Most of you will know much of this already, as portions were published long ago, but there are a few updates worth noting.

Knox contra flow connector (Queen-Eastern):
Installed Sept 07
Logan connector (Eastern to Point 200m south):
Installed Sept 07, still have to install a modular island as a separator.
Christie (Dupont-St.Clair):
Installed Oct 07 (see Martin's photos below)
Greenwood (Danforth to Queen):
Installation started Oct 9th and is currently underway.
Queensway (Claude to Windermere):
Installation in Oct 2007
Lappin-Hallam (Ossington and Lansdowne):
Installation in Oct 2007
Chester Hill Broadview and 100m West:
Installation in Oct 07
Rogers (Old Westonand Oakwood):
Installation Oct-Nov 2007
Sentinel (Finch and Dovehouse):
Installation Oct/Nov 2007
Carlaw-Logan (Gerrard to Dundas):
Installation still to be determined, but implementation has been approved by council Sept 2007
Eastern Ave (Logan and Leslie):
Installation still to be determined. The timing of installation is subject to Councillor's direction.
Yonge (Queens Quay and Front):
Approved March 2007, installation is scheduled to co-ordinate with road alteration/boulevard improvement 2007.
Royal York (Delroy and Mimico Creek):
Should be put in next spring, is co-ordinating with resurfacing/reconstruction 2007
Stephen (Queensway to Berry):
Approved by council 2007, will co-ordinate with resurfacing/reconstruction 2007/2008 and should happen in the spring.
Pond (Sentinel and Shoreham):
Approved by council, must co-ordinate with resurfacing/reconstruction 2007/2008
Lansdown (College-Bloor):
As I understand it, this is sharrows, happening now.

A bit of a mouthful, but there you have it.
Also good to know is that Clay McFayden is working as the cycling rep for the Queens Quay West Environmental Assessment Stakeholder Committee.

Gotta run for now.

Storm The Gates Wednesday

Alberto's Exhibition at La Carrera

For more information on his show follow this link.

The Petition Car

The Wheel Dance

Cyclist killed in Mississauga

Cyclist killed after crash with dump truck in Peel
A 31-year-old woman was killed Saturday morning when she was struck by a dump truck in Peel. The accident happened around 9:30 a.m. as the woman was riding her bike southbound on Mavis Road, near Central Parkway West. Investigators say they are still looking into how she collided with the truck, that was also travelling south on Mavis. The woman was critically injured in the crash and was promptly airlifted to an area hospital. Nonetheless, she succumbed to her injuries. Police are not revealing the identity of the woman yet as they are still trying to contact her family.
Update: A few of us will ride to the location on Sunday Oct. 21 to lay flowers. We ride rom Ossinton and Queen at 10:30 am Sunday.

View Larger Map

Tree claims 2nd life

We cannot make this stuff up. It is a headline from a story in the Toronto Sun. No word on what injuries the tree suffered.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/10/14/4574947-sun.html

Walk 21 Recommendations: Hot Air ... and nothing but(t)?

" ... Like Parker, Councillor Mark Grimes argued that the initiatives, which include exploring the possibilities of regularly shutting down streets to cars, creating a continuous bikeway along Bloor Street and funding a Bike Share program, are going to require “baby baby steps.”

Committee chair Glenn De Baeremaeker saw it a different way: “This is a revolution of baby steps,” he countered. “It's urging us to think smarter, to take our roads department that focused on asphalt and make sure it's truly a transportation department that focuses on people and moving people.”
Via Dale Duncan in Eye Weekly. Illustration by Singer

Bikes To Rwanda

Who's afraid of a Beautiful Bike Lane?

Curitiba. Brazil (Left & Centre Photos)

Toronto (Right)

Photos from Curitiba via Luddista


Then again, you can just repaint the
Bike Lane as they did in Curitiba.
Photo by Elisando Dalcin

Nice work!!

Never mind the Sharrows

October 11, 2007


The Truth is in the Sharrows or lack there of, I think. Illustration by eYe Magazine.
For more info see: Bike Plan 2007 Brochure

Wenches with Wrenches - New Classes

Some of our previous Wenches with Wrenches attendees (and others!) have been asking us about these. Well, we're finally going to make them happen! Previous WwW attendance not required. (Sorry guys, these classes are for women only!)

Saturday, November 3, 2007. 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm.
Ball Bearings: For those who have already taken the Wenches with Wrenches classes and want a little more, or for those with a little bike repair experience already under their belt, here is a chance to learn about the bearings systems in your bike: everything that pivots has one of these! Everyone will have an opportunity to repack ONE bearings system on their bike during the class (i.e. one hub, a bottom bracket, or a headset). Cost: $15

Sunday, November 11, 2007. 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm.
Wheel Truing: Why does your wheel wobble? Why do your brakes rub, but only occasionally? What do you do when a spoke breaks? We will learn the basics of wheel truing: when (and when not) to adjust the tension on your spokes; how to bring a wheel back to true, and when it's not worth it; what to do with an emergency wheel true situation. Bring wheels, bring questions, and badly out-of-true wheels will be provided for practice!
Cost: $15

Registration
Registration required in advance, at Urbane Cyclist, 180 John St. (just north of Queen St. and CityTV). CASH ONLY at registration! Register for both classes at the same time and pay only $25 for both!

Questions? You can reach us at:
wenches@communitybicyclenetwork.org

Police complain about wine glass

CP Toronto - Police across Ontario are complaining about the inclusion of a wine glass in the "As Seen On TV" corporations in-car dining tray. The special tray attaches to the steering wheel and counter turns any movement in the steering wheel to keep the tray level. This ingenious device allows drivers to use both a knife and fork while eating their dinner. Police have taken issue with the inclusion of a wine glass included in the tray set, they worry that drivers may take to drinking wine while driving.

In Memory of André Gorz (1923 - 2007)

The Social Ideology of the Motorcar
by André Gorz

The worst thing about cars is that they are like castles or villas by the sea: luxury goods invented for the exclusive pleasure of a very rich minority, and which in conception and nature were never intended for the people. Unlike the vacuum cleaner, the radio, or the bicycle, which retain their use value when everyone has one, the car, like a villa by the sea, is only desirable and useful insofar as the masses don't have one. That is how in both conception and original purpose the car is a luxury good. And the essence of luxury is that it cannot be democratised. If everyone can have luxury, no one gets any advantages from it. On the contrary, everyone diddles, cheats, and frustrates everyone else, and is diddled, cheated, and frustrated in return. (read on in the comments) (Graphic by Lauzen)

Which Bike Lock Should I Buy?

A really good BIKE THEFT LOCK analysis:
Locks are ranked on Security, Portability/Ease,
and Value

http://www.slate.com/id/2140083/

Video of the Month

by Ricardo Portilho, music by Fabiano Fonseca
(Amsterdam)

The Bad Cabbie

Thursday October 4th, 8:40 am. Took this after chasing down the cab driver who had just run over and injured a cyclist on Wellesley East. He was more interested in the damage to his car (see photo) than the well-being of the cyclist who he tried to placate with a few bucks. Certainly not enough to fix the bike which he had just gotten back from the repair shop earlier in the week. The Cyclist is okay but sore, bicycle is badly damaged. I am in contact with the cyclist and with the help of ARC will assist him legally and make sure his bike gets fixed.

Classified

Cogs

An excellent bike shop in the east.

Riders in the fog

Bike Love can go too far

Send to me by my boss as part of a bad husband photo award.
(photographer unknown)

Video for a rainy day

Broken Bicycles - Tom Waits

New Bike Lane on Christie

Left - facing north of Dupont. Right - North of Davenport.