Yay Bikes!

  • February5th

    Times They Are A Changin’

    Posted by Michael Reed
       Posted in: News  •  1 Comment

    2328879637_c0d2e376ff

    As promised I will be doing some massive updates on the site this weekend. It will load faster, be easier to use, contain vastly fewer bugs, and will have some cool surprises too. I will throw up a maintenance splash page for a bit while doing the heavy lifting… to prevent all hell from breaking loose.

    Some parts of the site are going away, some parts are changing, some features will be on temporary hiatus. Don’t worry, these were mostly underused sections… and will be redone smarter and added back in at a later date.

    Thanks!

  • January26th

    Yay Bikes! Newsletter | February 2010

    Posted by Meredith Joy
       Posted in: News  •  1 Comment

    Screen shot 2010-01-26 at 2.37.25 PM

    2010’s Bike 2 Work Challenge

    You are invited to join our 2010 planning process! We meet weekly on Tuesdays from 7-8:30pm at the Yay Bikes! office (82 East 16th Ave). You are not required to attend every meeting to be involved; contact Austin to learn more and join the mailing list.

    Our committees are:

    • Data: Writes the rules of the game and allows us to evaluate our impact
    • Info/Promo: Creates promotional materials and the packets of information for Challenge participants
    • Sponsorship: Solicit cash donations and prizes for winning teams
    • Outreach/Education: Presents B2WW at organizations to encourage their participation, educates people on how to cycle to work, and gets businesses to participate in the Bicycle Friendly Business program
    • Events: Coordinates the Kick-Off & Award Ceremonies
    • Media/PR: Promotes B2WW

    We hope you’ll give some thought to where you belong on the planning team and come prepared to share your ideas! Also, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Bike Month activities via our friends at The Enrichment Association (just put “Bike Month” in the subject)!

    Quarterly Women’s Cycling Forums

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    Women in the United States bike far less than men; we represent a huge potential area of growth for bicycling. To tap this potential, Yay Bikes! will host four conversational forums for women cyclists and wanna-be cyclists in 2010. At these events we’ll gather data on what cycling means to us, how we experience cycling in Columbus, and what our vision is for cycling in this city. This information will be used to develop a women’s cycling agenda with specific outcomes to be pursued in 2011. Save the following dates and join us:

    • February 28, 2-5pm [RSVP here]
    • May 30, 2-5pm
    • August 29, 2-5pm
    • November 14, 2-5pm

    Yay Yoga (For Cyclists)!

    indian_bmx_yoga3

    Mountaintop Pose

    Yogi Diana Pearson has agreed to teach a yoga class* that addresses the body issues specific to cyclists! The course begins Feb 13, 10:30am to 12pm at Summit on 16th. Classes are $10 each and will run for as long as we have interest! RSVP to Diana to join the class.

    When asked how this will be different from a regular yoga class, Diana said, “Cycling, although a noble and wonderful passtime, brings with it issues related to the hips and lower back that can lead to serious pain and inflexibility if not balanced out. Specifically, cycylists tend to have short hamstrings and longer quads. This imbalance can cause torn hamstrings or blown out knees. The idea of this kind of class is to help cyclists protect their bodies so they can enjoy their sport and prevent injury.”
    *Mountaintop yoga bike poses not featured…yet…! :)

    Andrew Hulvey, Emerging Advocate

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    Andrew Hulvey

    One goal for Yay Bikes! is to support people as they become advocates for the kind of cycling they’d like to see in Central Ohio. Starting this month, we’ll highlight the successes of these “emerging advocates” in this new  feature. First up: Andrew Hulvey!

    Andrew has been on the cycling scene in Columbus for more than two years, working as a Pedal Instead volunteer, organizing and leading Critical Manners rides, and generating conversation on our forums. But over the past few months, Andrew has stepped up in a big way to become the primary voice for Yay Bikes! online (see his consistent, intelligent, and open-minded commentary as “lifeontwowheels” on Yay Bikes!, The Dispatch, ColumbusUnderground, and many others). His quest to understand and articulate the needs of local cyclists recently culminated in an outstanding analysis of the Hilltop Mobility Plan and subsequent relationship building on Columbus’s West Side.

  • January21st

    America: Falling out of auto love?

    Posted by subverita
       Posted in: News  •  No Comments

    According to a Jan. 12th Earth Policy Institute news release, “Between 1950 and 2008 more cars were added to our roads virtually every year as the total fleet expanded steadily from 49 million to 250 million vehicles. In 2009, however, 14 million cars were scrapped while only 10 million cars were sold, shrinking the fleet by 4 million vehicles, or nearly 2 percent. With record numbers of cars set to reach retirement age between now and 2020, the fleet could shrink by some 10 percent, dropping from the all-time high of 250 million in 2008 to 225 million in 2020.”

    “The United States, with 246 million motor vehicles and 209 million licensed drivers, is facing market saturation. With 5 vehicles for every 4 drivers, the 4-million-vehicle contraction in the U.S. fleet in 2009 does not come as a great surprise. In a largely rural society, more cars provided mobility, but in a society that is now over 80 percent urban, more cars provide immobility.”

    “A combination of driver frustration and the soaring congestion costs associated with wasted time and fuel are leading to a cultural shift that is reducing the role of the automobile as people turn to alternatives. Almost every major U.S. city is either building new light rail or express bus systems, or expanding and upgrading existing ones to reduce dependence on cars. The peak fleet may now be behind us…”  Source: http://tinyurl.com/y9lux4d

  • January20th

    New Trail Projects Announced

    Posted by lifeontwowheels
       Posted in: News  •  4 Comments

    west side projects jan 10

    From Brad Westall at Columbus Recreation and Parks:

    2010 will be a busy year for greenways in Columbus…and well it should be.  We have lots to share.

    Olentangy Trail

    Starting with the hard news—the trail will be closed between Pacemont and Patterson for a sewer improvement project.  I’ve attached the detour (which of course has to rely on High St.).  Utilities has promised us this will be very quick.  Mostly February and March.

    OSU is building the trail @ Herrick bridge and the Drake Union!!!  (I’ll let Steve Volkmann chime in on this–he’s done all the hard work.)  Many of you have already heard about it.  Fantastic improvement.  It will mean a Cannon Drive work around the campus trail section for a season…but I think we all will rejoice when this is all done.  Congratulations Steve on patience and perseverance.

    Safety Improvements

    We will be out on the path this spring with some needed safety improvements:

    Re-striping the centerline of the Olentangy
    Improving the sharp turn hazard areas (especially downtown @ the confluence bridge)
    New trailhead maps and signage

    Scioto Trail

    A new bridge is now under construction.  The first ever bikeway project in the west side—Scioto Hilltop Connector bridge.  This bridge will span the Scioto from McKinley Ave. to the existing trail from Grandview Ave. to Riversedge.  Actually, there’s a ton of projects in the next two years in the near west side/Grandview areas.  I attached a powerpoint slide rather than try to write down all of this.  In short, we will have seamless connectivity from Harrison West to Hilltop, from Upper Arlington to downtown.  Long time coming, lots o’ planning, coaxing, discussion.

    Note: Keep crossing your fingers on congress, the state, and the city on continuing their crucial support for projects such as these…it is the lifeblood of our move towards an active transportation mecca.

    Alum Creek Trail

    A 2 mile section from Innis Park to Sunbury Road is now under construction.  Thanks to MORPC’s stimulus funding set aside.  This is a key segment—we only have two short segments left, and this entire trail will be complete—22 miles from Westerville to Obetz, including a direct connection to downtown/Columbus State.  You will hear more about this…we need your continued voice and support, even if your are an Olentangy Trail regular or on-street regular (or like most of us, both)

    Land Acquisition

    It takes land to do these projects.  Right now we’re quietly working some major greenway corridor acquisition projects on the Big Walnut (wait until you experience this river corridor—unbelievable).  Also 2 miles of major work on Clover Groff, a tributary of the Big Darby (for you far west siders)

    And our key partner Metroparks is extremely busy—both with construction and acquisition, and soon they will be taking on a big hand with trail security and maintenance.  Watch the news for the 11 mile Camp Chase Rail Trail on the west side and the Blacklick Trail.  They are single handedly finishing the Blacklick Trail, including some very difficult projects @ Rt. 33 and Hines Road on the far east side.   Three Creeks to Blendon Woods, with direct connectivity to downtown and everywhere in the metro region.  (Within two or three projects, folks, you will be able to ride so far you’ll need provisions and a tent.)

    Thanks to Ray George for the tip.

    Do you have a cycling related news tip? Email Andrew at awhulvey@yaybikes.com

  • December15th

    Bicycle Celebration Month Planning

    Posted by meredith
       Posted in: News, bike to work week  •  13 Comments

    Bicycle Celebration Month is an important yearly event for the Central Ohio cycling community. The exciting plannning process is a great way to contribute to this fantastic month. The main event for the month is the Bicycle Commuters Challenge, which invites businesses and individuals to make a team and log bicycle trips to earn awesome prizes and bragging rights.

    You are invited to join the planning process for 2010! You can meet other cyclists, be empowered through collective action, and see your hard work pay off.

    We will be weekly on Tuesdays from 7-8:30pm at the Yay Bikes! office (82 East 16th Ave). Our first official planning meeting will be January 5.

    Preliminary committee structure will be as follows:

    • Data Committee: Writes the rules of the game and allows us to evaluate our impact
    • Info/Promo Committee: Creates promotional materials and the packets of information for Challenge participants
    • Sponsorship Committee: Solicit cash donations and prizes for winning teams
    • Outreach/Education Committee: Presents B2WW at organizations to encourage their participation, educates people on how to cycle to work, and gets businesses to participate in the Bicycle Friendly Business program
    • Events Committee: Coordinates the Kick-Off & Award Ceremonies
    • Media/PR Committee: Promotes the hell out of B2WW

    I hope you’ll give some thought to where you belong on the planning team and come prepared to share ideas in January!

  • December14th

    Yay Bikes! Newsletter | December 2009

    Posted by Michael Reed
       Posted in: Newsletter  •  No Comments

    Dearest Cyclist

    In the most joyous spirit of the holidays, Yay Bikes! thanks you for your kindness, patience, creativity, and generosity in 2009. Without you, Yay Bikes! cyclists wouldn’t have celebrated a successful Bike to Work Week, opened an office, launched a new website, educated seven cycling instructors, provided Pedal Instead bicycle valet service at major events, helped Columbus attain the League of American Bicyclists’ Bronze Award, and organized rides as diverse as Bike the Cbus and Night of 1000 Tacos!

    If you’d like to support the work of Yay Bikes!, there are several options in the left-hand column in this newsletter. But other (already-nonprofit) local cycling organizations could also use your help! Please read on to learn more about these projects and how you can help advance their missions with even a small donation.

    And stayed tuned for next month’s newsletter, when we’ll lay out a timeline for May Bike Month planning! Start thinking about YOUR contribution NOW!

    Happy Holidays, Yay Bikes!

    The Bike Lady

    bikelady

    In 2008, the Blacklick woman now known as “The Bike Lady” organized an impromptu bike drive that collected enough cash, bikes and gear for 125 children of Franklin County Children’s Services to wake up to a new bike from Santa! You can help The Bike Lady fulfill the holiday wishes of a vulnerable child this year with a cash donation – any amount is appreciated; $125 will get a child on a bike with a helmet and lock.

    Learn More & Contribute!

    Pedal Instead

    Pedal Instead

    Volunteers with The Enrichment Association’s bicycle valet service parked an impressive 5,436 bikes this year (up from 3,871 in 2008!) for cyclists at events like Buckeye Football, ComFest, Latino Fest, and more. This year the team was also awarded the WTS International Innovative Transportation Solutions Award! Your sponsorship of or donation to Pedal Instead allows the bike valet to maintain its equipment and to attend events that couldn’t otherwise afford the service.

    Learn More & Contribute!

    Third Hand Bicycle Co-op

    The shop at Third Hand

    The primary goal of the Third Hand Bicycle Co-op is to promote cycling as safe and environmentally responsible transportation. The shop provides community members with the facilities and tools, and the skills and knowledge, to help make cycling an essential part of their everyday lives. Weekly open shop hours are Weds 6-9pm and Sat 12-6pm, with a Womyn/Trans night on Thursdays 6-9pm. Your donation to Third Hand helps with overhead during the winter off-season and with the purchase of tools.

    Learn More & Contribute!

    Ways To Support Yay Bikes!

    Give Now
    paypal
    Happy Holidays,
    and a warm thanks for your ongoing support
    to Yay Bikes!
    Wish List
    amazon
    We’re aquiring books, zines, magazines, and films for our resource library. If you’d like to gift bicycle media to the community, check out our wish list for ideas!
    Office Hours
    Yay Bikes! Office
    Summit on 16th
    82 E. 16th Ave.
    Columbus, OH 43201 TUES 6-9 FRI 2-5 SUN 12-3
    Official Tee
    yay-bikes-yay-bikes-official-tee
    Please visit our shop at Skreened, where $3 of every purchase goes to support our work. Special Offer Buy $35 worth of merch from Skreened & get a $10 gift certificate for more
    (thru 12/31)!

    Bike on,
    Meredith Joy
    Yay Bikes!

  • December5th

    Gaining Insight on the Hilltop

    Posted by lifeontwowheels
       Posted in: News  •  20 Comments

    Over the past weeks there has been growing concern, discontent, debate and discussion on the proposed changes to the Hilltop and specifically a section of West Broad Street through the Highland West neighborhood. I’ve tried to speak on the broader topics of bikeways, education and awareness and alternatives that could be a solution both here and elsewhere. I’ve chosen to speak this way as I did not have a full understanding of the issues this specific section of Columbus is facing nor the work energetic and active residents are doing. In an effort to better understand these issues, I reached out to the Highland West Neighbors Association and offered to stop by and listen to their concerns. Ricardo Mendez took me up on the offer and invited me to spend the morning touring the neighborhood and highlighting the issues with himself, Geoffrey Phillips (President of the Highland West Neighborhood Association) and several others who stopped in along the way.

    Rather than try to editorialize my tour today, I believe pictures will paint a better picture of their concern and the issues this neighborhood is facing. Both expressed their desire to include all manners of transportation as their neighborhood redevelops. Proponents, they suggested, could have seen a more positive outcome through open communication and engagement of the businesses and residents.

    Read More

  • December2nd

    Hilltop Bike Lanes and Best Practices of Cycling Advocacy

    Posted by Michael Reed
       Posted in: News  •  13 Comments

    For reference, this article Best Practices of Cycling Advocacy, Fred Oswald, PE, LCI #947 came across my radar again in hearing local cycling advocates discussing the recent meeting of the Hilltop Area Commission and contention over the installation (or not) of bike lanes on Broad Street. Disclaimer: I am LAB educated in their LCI program and as such I am an advocate of vehicular cycling. I’m not strictly anti-facilities, but I’m not strongly convinced that these treatments (such as bike lanes) should be knee-jerk adopted. The Bicentennial Bikeways Plan’s purpose is to evolve a bicycling network that “has been developed to serve all types of bicyclists for all types of trips.” It is the spirit of that inclusive vision that keeps me, personally, more moderate toward facilities. There are varieties of cyclists and types of trips that I am sure certain facilities would empower, so it is difficult for me to come out against them as strongly as my natural disposition might have me do.

    In this post, subverita gives a recounting of the meeting and a synopsis of what was discussed. I was saddened to hear that pro-facilities advocates are referring to the sensibilities of vehicular cyclists as “crackpot”- but if you give the article above a read you’ll note that Fred indicates fairly early on that there are many pro-facilities type cyclists who have difficulty seeing both sides of the argument. Still, I think that kind of language is divisive and is a kind of misinformation in and of itself. This is an age old debate and I hope that we can learn (locally) how to engage in spirited debates about a topic we all are very impassioned about and maintain some mutual respect. Let’s keep it positive- that’s the spirit of my intent now and going forward- and I hope that pro-facilities folks can find it within themselves to have a try at the same. Further, dragging citizens and Civic Commissions into the heart of this debate doesn’t really serve to move pro-cycling initiatives ahead. Read More

  • November27th

    Yay Bikes! online update

    Posted by Michael Reed
       Posted in: News  •  2 Comments

    A Note To Yay Bikes! Members

    If you are having trouble logging in or using the new site- shoot me an email here: mike@yaybikes.com. I’m happy to help you get up and running and I will welcome all suggestions that might assist you in using the site (aside from just bringing the old site back :) ) – Also, the page you will find has the most utility in using the new site in the same way the old site worked is the forums page. The forums page lists newest, popular, unreplied, etc. I have removed the tag cloud listing until I can fix the issues with it, but keep tagging forum posts- tags are a useful way to give context to site content.

    Screen shot of new group tabs

    Screen shot of new group tabs

    I have added tabs to the group pages to separate out the members and the activity stream. The default tab ‘Description/Forums’ has also been reordered to give prominence to the recent forum listings. Hopefully this will help a little with usability as the previous look/feel was a little busy. Further refinements are to come and I need to schedule time to fix the activity stream listing- it currently shows raw HTML in the stream and we need to get that remedied.

    Yay Bikes! Labs

    As we move forward we’ll be doing some really exciting development designed to promote cycling in general and to empower individuals and advocate groups. Announcing Yay Bikes! Labs – our new features will be tested at that location and then rolled into Yay Bikes and related properties. Best of all, we’re going to develop all of our tools and services so that they are open and so that other groups can build on our foundation. More on that in coming months.

    That’s all for now. We still have a significant bit of clean up work to do on the new site before we can get to these more advanced features. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for contributing.

  • November23rd

    Something happened!

    Posted by Michael Reed
       Posted in: News  •  3 Comments

    Well, here we are. Welcome to Yay Bikes! Some things have changed, and I know change can be traumatic. Let me give you an overview of what’s what and try to help out a little. The Facebook API is running slow today- it does that once in a while. Some of the avatars don’t show up for my posts when that happens.

    So, what’s going on here?

    Of Note

    • There are about 250 posts yet to be categorized (I will finish these up over the Holiday weekend). These are in the Yay Bikes! group and date from February 09 and earlier. Your patience is apprecaited and any additional posts will move with the topic, so don’t worry about it too much.
    • There is a known bug with searching events… I’m going to fix that shortly too. For now I’m showing lots of events with little pagination.
    • You will undoubtedly find bugs- the new site was a massive undertaking. Report ‘em and we’ll get them fixed, but we’ll be spending our time tring to find them as well. <em>All suggestions are welcome, though we can’t guaruntee when we’ll get to them. We’ll certainly try, though. Use this group/forum to report bugs.
    • I made an attempt to auto-join folks to the right groups based on their prior posts- that didn’t go so well. I may have another try at it this weekend.

    Read More

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