Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Hello Concerned Cyclists,
Just a reminder that you can get your bike advocacy events & activities published in the Bike Month Cycling Events Calendar. The deadline to Submit is NEXT THURSDAY, March 27th, by 4:00 pm.
The calendar will be available at 800 locations City-Wide, and will be a centerfold insert in NOW magazine Thursday May 15th.
The Bike Month Calendar will publish events going on between May 26th and June 21st, 2008.
Browse www.toronto.ca/cycling/events for more info, & the online registration form.
Table registration for the May 26th launch on Nathan Philips is also online.

Keep up the good work everyone.
-Cris Bouchard
the Bike Month Girl
416-392-7592

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Map Your Route

I was inspired to do this project when I read about a similar one from Boston. It is very basic and simple, but at the same time a powerful tool. Follow the instructions and map your route. Tell all your cycling friends as well and hopefully with the information we generate we can give some proper ideas to the city about where we want our bike lanes to be.

It should just take you a minute or two to map your routes. You have my word. Please note, if you rode twice in a day (for example morning commute to work; afternoon commute home) please map each leg as a separate ride.

1. Go to: http://maps.google.com/

2. Click Sign in located in the upper right corner

3. Login with the following information

* Username: Torontobikemap
* Password: bikemaps

If you are already signed in with a personal gmail account, please logout and re-sign in using the above information.

4. Click the My Maps tab located under "Google".

5. Click the Create New Map button located under the My Maps tab.

6. An input box will appear.

* In the Title box, please write your full name, date of ride, and start time of the first one-way leg of your ride.

* Example: John Doe, 8/14, 5:45 AM.

* In the Description box, please write a current email address and the purpose of the ride, i.e. commute to job, errands, social, fun/exercise, work (messenger, courier)

* Example: johndoe@AOL.com ,commute to work.

7. You are now ready to trace your route.

* To Zoom in, click "+"
* To Start, single click the draw a line tool the upper left corner of the map. Single click on the map location corresponding to your ride origin.
* To Change directions, single click along the intersections.
* To Finish double click on the map location corresponding to destination.
* To Edit after saving, hover the "hand" symbol over the route. When the route appears click and click once where you want to make edits.

8. After double clicking, an input box will appear. Please enter the reason you chose this route (i.e. most direct, most scenic, fewest cars, safest.) and/or anything else you want to share with us.

9. Click the Save button.

10. If you rode twice in the day, please go to #5 above and repeat to trace the second or return ride.

Hopefully this will help the city help cyclists better. Please map your route and spread the word. Thanks

Derek

Strong volunteer support for Cyclists Union



See story and more photos here.
http://www.torontocranks.com/?p=281

Monday, March 03, 2008

New hockey inspired fender keeps cars at bay.



I caught the above scene out of the corner of my eye. The drivers were giving a cyclist some healthy breathing space, they were not screaming at him to get off the road.



After getting a closer look at the bike's fender I understood why. Everyone knows that slashing hurts.

BIKE PIRATE party report back


Thanks to everyone who weathered the storm and came out to the party tonight. It was good times, and we barely had any leftovers! Here are some pictures on the flickr Toronto Bike Pirate Pool.

If you or anyone you know has taken photos at Bike Pirates please add them to the pool, or send them along to us via email. We would love to see them all!

Ring and post fix.

Exclusive photos of a fix for the ring and posts is running here,
http://www.torontocranks.com/?p=265