Regenerative braking bicycle hub created by MIT people and introduced today in Copenhagen during the climate conference.
Gee whiz factor: Bluetooth to connect to iPhone app for speed, direction and trip distance. More info here.

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.

Bicycle boulevard design uses a variety of tools to create low-speed, low-traffic, streets where cyclists can mix comfortably with cars. They’re popular in Portland and Berkeley and Europe as well.

To get an idea of what a bike boulevard is, you can have a look at the Portland Planning & Design Guidebook for Bike Boulevards, or even better, check out the great video above. Via StreetFilms. See also: CycleTracks iPhone App Tells San Fancisco TA Where Bike Paths Should be Built.

2009 Urban Cyclocross™ Series Finale is this Sunday, Dec. 6th.
Random images from past Urban Cyclocross events, photos: Esteban Chavez

Riders One community member Brad House runs Back On Track Productions and they are holding the 2009 Urban Cyclocross Series Finale in Palos Verdes, CA this Sunday December the 6th. For more information click here.

Go Green Fitness - Converting Your Workout Into Clean, Renewable Energy



A cycling fitness studio called Go Green Fitness in Orange, Connecticut has developed a program that converts power generated from cycling workouts into clean and renewable energy.

A typical group cycling class with about 20 bikes has the potential to produce up to 3.6 megawatts of renewable energy per year (the amount of power used to light 72 homes for a month) and reducing carbon emissions by more than 5,000 pounds. The entire group cycling studio, comprised of 24 indoor cycles, is connected to the studio’s electrical grid through an inverter, so the energy created by the cyclists can power all aspects of the facility, lowering the studio’s carbon emissions as well as the community’s demand for fossil fuel-based energy.

Excess electricity generated from the club can return to the power grid for other energy use in the community. All cycling participants can control and monitor their individual renewable energy output through a resistance control panel attached to the bicycle, and Go Green Fitness can track the total energy that is produced through exercise on the Go Green Fitness web site.

The fitness studio utilizes technology developed by a company called The Green Revolution, the gym The Green Revolution connects health + energy + environment by turning human effort within a health club into usable energy... an idea whose time has come.

I had the pleasure of meeting and riding with Anna Cummins during the Tour de OG.

Anna and her husband Dr. Marcus Eriksen have been champions in informing and educating the public about the dangers of plastic pollution in our oceans.


Anna and Marcus at the conclusion of a six-week journey from Vancouver to TJ to raise awareness about marine debris. Photo: sdnn.com

In 2008 the couple sailed across the Pacific Gyre with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. On this voyage, they saw that the amount of plastic pollution on the ocean's surface between Hawaii and LA had doubled since Algalita's first published paper in 1999. Twice as much in less than a decade. They also saw new evidence of plastic in the food chain through ingestion by fish. Here is how these alarming facts impact YOU:

Pollutants such as PCBs, DDT, flame retardants, and pesticides stick to plastic particles in the marine environment. Small fish mistake plastic for food. Plastic particles were found in the stomachs of roughly 35% of the 661 lantern fish collected at sea. Big fish (Tuna, Mahi Mahi, squid) eat smaller fish, we eat bigger fish.

What impact is this having on our health?



In order to bring awareness to this growing dilemma, Algalita and the couple launched Message in a Bottle which comprised of another voyage through the Pacific Gyre, this time on a "Junk Raft" made of 15,000 discarded plastic bottles and a cockpit from a Cesna. To follow up and publicize their findings at sea they rode their bicycles on a 2000 mile journey from Vancouver to Tijuana which gave Eriksen and Cummins the opportunity to speak at 40 events and deliver bottles of plastic-laden water samples to public officials along the way.


Junk Raft sails into Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu

One of the goals of their efforts is to push the idea that society needs to abandon the throw-away culture that has spawned so many one-time-use plastic products. Plastic grocery bags, bottles, utensils, straws, chopsticks and to-go containers linger in the environment for decades after being discarded. Cummins suggested an extended producer-responsibility for the manufacturers who make plastic products that would force them to be responsible for recycling them at the end of their useful lifespan. Similar programs already exist in Europe.

Eriksen said the problem with recycling plastic is that it’s “down-cycled,” meaning the recycled product is less valuable than the product it came from. “They are not making a new plastic bottle from an old one like they do with glass or aluminum,” he said. “Recycling plastic is not as easy as recycling other materials like glass and aluminum,” Eriksen said. In fact, recycling plastics is so expensive that much of the plastic collected in the U.S. is mostly shipped overseas for recycling. “We think that it’s really important for people to know this because if you think that you’re recycling your plastics, there’s no incentive to cut back on your consumption.”

The couple and Algalita are now launching 5 Gyres, to expand research to the 4 other major oceanic gyres. 5 Gyres launches early 2010. the 5 gyres project will collect global data on plastic marine debris, and will establish a clearinghouse for information on plastic pollution worldwide, through the 5 Gyres website. The goal is to bring the issue of plastic pollution to a wider audience, and engage the public in solutions.

Anna also runs www.bringyourown.org, a blog dedicated to educating the public about the consequences of living in a throw-away culture.




Highlights from the Junk Raft "cruise."

Anna and the author enjoying a gorgeous Monterey day during our ride with the Tour de OG

A few friends of mine have assembled a Movember Team to remember. This is a last minute rally to try and help out their fundraising efforts. To donate or just to have a good chuckle, click here.

Enjoy...Fausto Coppi Artwork by Claudio Pesci. www.claudiopesci.com

Whether it is an idea or a race... it is all nothing unless you go for it.

"If you think you are beaten you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you like to win, but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch you won't

If you think you'll lose, your lost;
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a person's will,
It's all in the state of mind.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or the faster hand;
But sooner or later the person who wins
Is the one who thinks
'I can.'"

From the back of the Open Road Bicycle Shop Business Card - Author Unknown