bicyclefreedom.com

This is the coolest thing since I first removed my training wheels. You can go to Google Maps, select “Get Directions” and in the options down below you can ask for directions by bicycle. Yay!

This is still a new thing. Google warns there may be dangerous roads on the bike routes, not to mention unmapped bikeways. And of course, the most direct bike route isn’t always the most interesting bike route, even if it may be the safest.

The ailing BikeMetro offered more, at least for Los Angeles, because it let you factor in your tolerance for hills and traffic.

But if you’re looking for a basic bike ride from point A to point B, especially in an urban environment with a lot of traffic, this is a good way to start and you can do your own “research” and exploration on the pavement.

Thank you, Google!

This morning I got stuck behind a bus during my bike commute. It felt like I was sucking air right out of the exhaust pipe. But this usually doesn’t happen, because I have tactics I use to keep my lungs safe most of the time. If you ride your bike in a polluted urban environment like Los Angeles, there’s really a lot you can do to minimize the smog you breathe in.

First, if you have the option, you can cut your exposure to pollution by 10-30% just by riding in off-peak hours. The best time is early in the morning, before rush hour. Next best would be midday, or late at night.

If you’re not commuting by bike, and you just like to ride for the fun of it, be a weekend warrior. Ride your bike on the days when there are fewer cars on the road.

If you commute to work, and have to ride your bike during rush hour, you can save your lungs by taking alternate routes.

Almost every busy street has other streets running parallel to it, and the traffic on these other streets can be a lot lower. If you can get just 50 feet away from the heaviest traffic, you can make a dramatic cut in the amount of pollution you breathe in.

In fact, a Danish study found that when you bike on streets with low traffic volume, you can reduce your exposure to pollution by 50% to 60% or even more.

And when you think about it, you’ll have a safer, more quiet ride. Also more scenic. You’re more likely to pass parks and gardens. You won’t have to worry as much about being hit.

If you commute by bike, there might be stretches where you have to be on the busiest roads, but probably not for the entire route. Anything you can do to reduce the time you spend riding in traffic will pay off.

There will be more stop signs, and you might add an extra 10 minutes onto your journey. But you could also add years to your life.

If you ever ride a bike in L.A., you probably feel the pain of living in the classic car-dominated culture. So this might surprise you. It certainly blew me away.

Los Angeles could be a bicycle-friendly city

On his Human Transit blog, Jarret Walker listed the top 50 cities with the highest percentage of car-free households. East L.A. made the list, with 21% of households living without the automobile. Even Los Angeles itself was up there, albeit in 49th place, with a car-free density of 16.53%. We beat Seattle!

The reasons don’t have much to do with ecological awareness. It’s more a combination of poverty, age (Los Angeles was a big city before the riode pf the automobile), and urban density. Still, this just empasizes the opportunity here.

There’s always been a weird misconception that the bicycle is a luxury toy for the well-to-do, or a vehicle for the suburbs and the country. But given that poverty and density are compelling obstacles to owning a car for many people, biking just makes more sense. 

There could be a perfect storm brewing over this. Los Angeles has a strong bike culture already, and a bike plan (even if it has many shortcomings) is in place.

With our relatively flat streets and typically good weather (not counting this week), LA should be one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country. Now there’s some political will to make it happen, and statistics to show that it can be done.

One of the best parts of biking in the rain is the looks you get, and the conversations it inspires. When you’re biking in foul weather, especially in a place like LA where foul weather is rare, people take notice. It gives you a chance to change their minds.

While you’re out there pedaling through Valhalla, breathing free air and attacking the most menacing hills, the mortal masses are growing dull and weak behind electronic screens. Entire generations are hyperinsulated from the real world, and we’re paying the price:

Last year’s economic meltdown was caused by a potent mix of greed and laziness, the mindset that easy money should be a given, the bovine mentality that comfort is the norm and serious effort is unnecessary.

The purely physical aspects of life have become so easy for most of us that it’s easy to get lost in this mindset, easy to lose touch with reality, almost impossible to do anything as our resources and freedoms slip away.

At the same time, the few people who stay active and engaged with the world are beating the trend and thriving. The courageous heroes who squarely face the challenges that life throws at them, or who seek out challenges on their own, these are the people who continue to grow and succeed.

If you’re a regular bike commuter, I suspect you have a distinct advantage in your social and economic life, in addition to better health. And whenever you ride, you’re a beacon to all the wandering souls behind glass panes, a reminder of the independence, resourcefulness, and work ethic that made this country great.

When it’s raining cats and dogs, especially in a place like Los Angeles where it rarely rains very hard for very long, the weather separates the heroes from the common folk. If you ride boldly and blatantly where others fear to tread, you’re forcing the world to wake up and take notice.

You have a choice to make. We’re on the cusp of human evolution, but it’s different this time. We’re not going to be naturally selected by a meteor or some other environmental catastrophe. We’re going to choose our own fate.

So get on your bike, especially when the storms are raging all around you.

You don’t realize it, but your bottom bracket holds the future of America, and maybe of all humanity.

This isn’t exactly about getting around on a bike, and it’s only connected to riding a bike in Italy by a stretch of the imagination.

But there is a lot of urban sprawl, even in Italy (especially in Rome!)  and there were days of biking the Appian way where all I saw was a bunch of run-down homes and industrial stuff along a lonely road through the Italian countryside

That’s why this documentary on urban sprawl is relevant. I’m hoping for a future time when enough people are willing to ride their bikes as their primary transportation, there’s good public transportation in place, and cities become communities where people want to live, instead of the wasteland that so many of them are now (especially LA!).

So if you’re interested in biking as a way of transforming the world, you may want to check this out.

Big thumbs up to Matthew Segal for an in depth feature on the LA bike culture. I won’t feel like a lone rider in a sea of automobiles for at least a few days now. It almost makes me want to do the next Midnight Ridazz.

The cost of oil has been jumping up and down, but it hasn’t gotten nearly as low as 2 years ago, and probably never will. Sooner or later that’s going to hurt your wallet when you fill up your car with gasoline. You know where this is going.

Now will you ride your bike to work?

If you don’t care that much about pollution or infrastructure problems, if finding a parking space isn’t a problem for you, even if you’re not interested in improving your health, couldn’t you still use an extra wad of cash every week?

Just think, if you saved 20 bucks a week, in ten years you could buy your own island and you wouldn’t have to go to work anymore. Well, maybe you wouldn’t save that much, but with this economy saving a tank of gas a week–or even just half a tank–could work wonders to alleviate a lot of financial stress. Is there any way you could ride your bike to work? Even just part of the way?

I’m not writing this for extreme commuters. If you’re physically challenged, buried under snow, or you need to transport heavy merchandise or delicate equipment you’re excused.

But most of us could make this work. At least part of the way, some of the time. My dad is in his 70s and he still rides a bike across half of Chicago, even though he doesn’t have to.

Don’t think of this as judgement. I’m only saying that this is your chance to do something radical, something that can change your life and eventually transform the world.

Imagine a society where our security isn’t hostage to a greasy fluid, where almost everyone is strong and athletic, where our pets can roam the neighborhood without the danger of being squashed, where “drunk driving” means risking a scraped elbow, where you can sleep late without the roar of traffic waking you up in the morning, and you can breathe deeply without choking.

Did I mention that in my utopian bicycle dreamworld you can eat anything you want without getting fat, and you’ll have an extra couple hundred bucks to play with every month? (Maybe more, since the fluctuations of the economy now depend on the price of oil…)

Just give it a try if you can. Please.

I was biking downtown, and when I stopped at a red light someone rolled down their window and said, “I’ll bet you’re saving a lot of money riding that thing.”

Indeed. Probably tens of thousands of dollars over the last 15 years. Before the motorist took of at the green light, he said he was planning to ride his bike to work soon, because of gas prices and the recession.

But this isn’t at all about saving money. That’s just icing on the cake. Which got me thinking…

There’s a lot of talk in the media about an economic slowdown, recession, depression, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it. And there may be some truth in what you’ve been hearing, although the jury’s still out on how bad it’s going to get.

But spending less money doesn’t have to mean lowering your quality of life. I put that in italics so you’ll remember it, and burn it into your brain. Most bike commuters probably ride their bikes to work by choice, not necessity. And even if your credit card debt, your salary cut, rising costs or some other economic factor compelled you to ride your bike to work, you’d still get all the benefits that lead to this choice by people who have other options.

You’ll pump oxygen into every cell in your body, burn fat and build lean, powerful muscle. You’ll get to work relaxed and happy, looking and feeling a lot better than the stressed out commuters who had to hunt for parking. You’ll see your town from a new perspective, and make discoveries that motorists miss. Every day is an adventure, because you’re using your mind and body and wits to overcome new obstacles that wait for you just around the corner. It’s fun!

Not to mention the self-righteous ego-boost you can indulge in, knowing that you’re saving energy, reducing pollution, giving your fellow citizens more parking and road space, and generally making the world a little bit better.

And you’ll save money. Maybe start getting ahead, paying off your debts and building up your net worth while people all around you are worried about defaults and bailouts and who knows what else. But that’s not the point.

Riding a bike is just one example of how downsizing your life, spending less, can actually improve your standard of living. The new economy (and that’s what’s happening here–not a reduction of total wealth but simply a transfer of wealth) may look scary on the surface if you’re stuck in old ways of thinking. But really it’s an adventure of new opportunity. Embrace the adventure.

Race you to the top?