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My Remaining Bike Brings Back Great Memories

December 28, 2018 Bicycling, Featured Comments Off on My Remaining Bike Brings Back Great Memories

Prior to my February 2008 stroke, I’d bought numerous bicycles while living in St. Louis.   With two exceptions, all came from A & M Bicycles — at Arsenal & Morganford Rd. I bought my first bike from A & M back in the mid/late 90s, it was still owned by a descendant of the original founder. It wasn’t long after when the owner sold the shop to his employee, Karl Becker.

Numerous bikes, new & used, were bought from Karl. A couple of times I needed a used beater bike, we’d go down to the basement and come up with exactly the bike I needed.

The two bikes I bought elsewhere since 1990 were a used 50s Huffy fat tire at an antique store in the Kansas City River Market area, and a new Swedish Kronan bought sight unseen from a bike shop in San Diego. They disassembled it and shipped to Karl @ A & M, who assembled it. That was in 2004.

My bright orange Kronan bike in front of the former UMA store at 11th & Locust in December 2007 — this was in that short period after I moved downtown but before my stroke. After UMA moved to Chicago Rooster expanded into this space.
Following my stroke, the Kronan became art in our home office

Last month Karl Becker died, a huge loss to the St. Louis cycling community:

Becker, Karl Joseph born April 7th, 1963 to Joseph H. and Mary Ann, passed away suddenly November 18, 2018 while surrounded by family and friends. Karl enjoyed life fully by engaging everyone he met as a friend. His passion for cycling started early in life by following in the footsteps of his father. He was enthusiastic about cycling, both participating and promoting the sport. His love of cycling culminated in owning and operating A&M Bicycle, the oldest bike shop in the city of St. Louis. Karl is survived by his mother, Mary Ann, sisters Mary Jane, Lisa Evans (Brice), Mary Margaret Hendrix (Bill), Amy Becker (Steve), brother Paul (Cyndi), loving friend Mary Ann Hoopes, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins and countless friends. Karl had a zest for life and passions included reading, music, art, Jeopardy, good beer, fireworks and above all his cat, PK. Karl was a kind soul who gladly helped those less fortunate. Even in death, his generous spirit is a gift of life to others. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Mid-America Transplant Foundation. www.midamericatransplant.org

Published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Nov. 21, 2018 (Legacy)

This month we took the bike down from the shelves, yet something wasn’t right. The pedal would turn, but the wheel wouldn’t move.

The coaster brake rear hub was the problem.

I knew A & M was still open, but we have no bike rack for our car. Friends suggested Big Shark’s downtown location. A week later we walked it five blocks East to Big Shark. A few days later we returned to pick it up — the rear hub was freed up for less than $30.

Repaired in from of Big Shark’s Urban Shark location on Locust.

I haven’t ridden this bike in over a decade, but I just can’t part with it.  Lots of great memories on this bike. It also reminds me of Karl.

— Steve Patterson

 

New Book — ‘Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality’ by Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett

August 31, 2018 Bicycling, Books, Featured, Transportation Comments Off on New Book — ‘Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality’ by Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett

Here in the U.S., St. Louis in particular, bike lanes are a cheap way to use up extra road width. A little paint here and there, with unresolved intersections that often place cyclists in the wrong place — especially for a left turn. In the Netherlands bike infrastructure is on a different level entirely.

In car-clogged urban areas across the world, the humble bicycle is enjoying a second life as a legitimate form of transportation. City officials are rediscovering it as a multi-pronged (or -spoked) solution to acute, 21st-century problems, including affordability, obesity, congestion, climate change, inequity, and social isolation. As the world’s foremost cycling nation, the Netherlands is the only country where the number of bikes exceeds the number of people, primarily because the Dutch have built a cycling culture accessible to everyone, regardless of age, ability, or economic means.

Chris and Melissa Bruntlett share the incredible success of the Netherlands through engaging interviews with local experts and stories of their own delightful experiences riding in five Dutch cities. Building the Cycling City examines the triumphs and challenges of the Dutch while also presenting stories of North American cities already implementing lessons from across the Atlantic. Discover how Dutch cities inspired Atlanta to look at its transit-bike connection in a new way and showed Seattle how to teach its residents to realize the freedom of biking, along with other encouraging examples.

Tellingly, the Dutch have two words for people who ride bikes: wielrenner (“wheel runner”) and fietser (“cyclist”), the latter making up the vast majority of people pedaling on their streets, and representing a far more accessible, casual, and inclusive style of urban cycling—walking with wheels. Outside of their borders, a significant cultural shift is needed to seamlessly integrate the bicycle into everyday life and create a whole world of fietsers. The Dutch blueprint focuses on how people in a particular place want to move.

The relatable success stories will leave readers inspired and ready to adopt and implement approaches to make their own cities better places to live, work, play, and—of course—cycle. (Island Press)

Here’s the contents:

  • Introduction: A Nation of Fietsers
  • Chapter 1: Streets Aren’t Set in Stone
  • Chapter 2: Not Sport. Transport.
  • Chapter 3: Fortune Favors the Brave
  • Chapter 4: One Size Won’t Fit All
  • Chapter 5: Demand More
  • Chapter 6: Think Outside the Van
  • Chapter 7: Build at a Human Scale
  • Chapter 8: Use Bikes to Feed Transit
  • Chapter 9: Put Your City on the Map
  • Chapter 10: Learn to Ride Like the Dutch
  • Conclusion: A World of Fietsers

You can see a preview here. The authors live in Vancouver and write about walking, cycling here.

If cycling as a mode of transportation interests you and you’re not impressed with our half-ass bike lanes, Building the Cycling City should be on your reading list.

— Steve Patterson

 

A Look At Bike Sharing Now That It Has (Finally) Arrived In St. Louis

April 30, 2018 Bicycling, Featured, Transportation Comments Off on A Look At Bike Sharing Now That It Has (Finally) Arrived In St. Louis

After many years of trying to get bike sharing in St. Louis — the first of two companies has started service:

A docking system could have cost the city more than $5 million a year, Venker said. With the dockless model, companies instead pay the city $500 a year for a permit and $10 per bike per year to maintain services.

Typically, bike share users must first download a smartphone app that is connected to a credit card. To gain a permit in St. Louis, companies must provide smartphone- and credit card-free options. Some companies allow riders to pay in cash or use a prepaid card, then unlock the bike by phone call instead of app. (St. Louis Public Radio)

Docked & dockless? Let’s start in chronological order with docked bike share.

Divvy bike share on Chicago’s tourist-heavy Michigan Ave. However, Divvy is all over Chicago with 580+ stations & 5,800 bikes. August 2014 photo
The nearest rider is on a Divvy bike at 18th & Peoria in Chicago’s South Side, May 2015 photo. Click image to view location on a map

When we visit Chicago a few times each year we see the bike stations everywhere — not just in the tourist hot spots. We also see the bikes getting used all over the city. Chicago has a large biking community so it’s natural to see lots of use.

What about other, smaller cities? I’ve photographed docked bike stare stations in Cincinnati & Oklahoma City.

Cincinnati’s Red Bike docks, November 2015 photo
Spokies bike share in Oklahoma City, July 2012 photo
The Spokies station where you use your credit card to release a bike

Bike sharing has happened largely after my stroke, so I’ve not been a user personally. When I was in Cincinnati in 2015 for a Streetsblog event many in our group of bloggers would use Red bikes when we switched locations. Interestingly, I would often arrive ahead of them or about the same time — using my power wheelchair. This is because only one person can use a station at a time.

These docked bike share systems have largely been a success. Seattle, however, was an exception:

Perhaps the biggest issue, though, is how far apart Seattle’s bike stations are from each other. The National Association of City Transportation Officials found that station density is one of the biggest factors in the success of bike-sharing programs. The group has recommended that stations be no more than a five-minute walk apart. Seattle’s bike-share stations are located in two clusters: 42 stations downtown and eight in the University District roughly three miles away. (Governing)

So a station might be near your bus stop, office, or hotel but if there’s no station near your destination then it isn’t of any good to you. With the blogger group in Cincinnati a lot of their time was spent walking to/from stations to destination — in addition to waiting for others at the station.

The solution was to ditch the docks — dockless:

The new “dockless” bike shares have arrived in places like Seattle, Dallas and Washington, D.C., since the summer. They’re run by private companies like LimeBike, MoBike and Spin. Riders locate and unlock the bikes using their mobile phones and they can leave them, well, almost anywhere. The bikes have kickstands and lock themselves, so most don’t even have to be next to a pole, rack or fence to attach them to.

That means hundreds of new bicycles have hit the streets in these cities in recent weeks. With no set parking spaces or docking stations, many residents worry that the bicycles are further cluttering already crowded sidewalks. But others are excited for a new transportation option, especially because the new services tend to be cheaper and more flexible than the dock-based systems that have proliferated throughout the country over the last seven years. (Governing)

Dockless bike sharing has also frustrated many as bikes are left anywhere and everywhere.

San Diego’s dockless bike experience has been more of a free-for-all than in most cities, because San Diego couldn’t make an exclusive deal with one operator without violating a previous exclusive deal with a rental company that requires bikes to be returned to docking stations.
 
Supporters of the dockless bikes say regardless of how the battle over potential regulations turns out, the bikes have been a tremendous success with the potential to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Even bike-friendly Amsterdam temporarily banned them — due to high demand for bike parking!

“We have invested to create more bicycle parking spaces, and we do not want these to be taken by the many commercial bike-sharing systems.”

The posting added: “Of course, you are allowed to park a bike in the public space, even a rented or shared bike. What is not allowed however, is using the public space as a place of issuance, which is exactly what a number of shared bike companies is doing now, while occupying scarce parking places badly needed by Amsterdam residents and visitors.”

The municipality has stated that all dockless share bikes will be temporarily banned. Talks have been initiated with the dockless companies, including oBike from Singapore, Donkey Republic from Denmark, Dropbyke and FlickBike from Lithuania and Urbee and Hello-Bike from the Netherlands. (Bike Biz)

Which brings us back to St. Louis and the introduction of dockless bike sharing from Lime Bike — one of the two private companies to get a permit from the city.

LimeBike aims to provide a sustainable solution to the first and last mile transportation problem by helping people move around their cities in an affordable and convenient way while eliminating their carbon footprint. We are here to empower future generations to change their behavior so we can save this planet together.

With that vision, we launched LimeBike in June 2017.

LimeBike is not just a tech mobility company. We are a people and relationships company first and foremost. And we?re committed to building with you. (LimeBike)

Here’s a video from LimeBike:

I’ve downloaded their app to see where bikes are located, they’ve been all over the city since day one. I’ve seen & photographed many:

The bikes are very colorful. All are single speed with hand brakes, a bell, and a basket. A phone clamp is on the handlebar.
The first day I spotted a couple of groups that had blown over in the wind
This was the closest to being in my way, but I still had room to get by.
Often I see them at bike racks, though they have built-in locks.
Three at the same rack on Locust on another day.
At a rack at the main library
At a rack attached to a parking meter pole on Olive
At the racks in front of Culinary on 9th
Once you’ve used the app on your smartphone this high-tech lock will retract the pin that goes through the wheel’s spokes.

Docked vs dockless, is that it? No, there are now hybrid business models:

Zagster’s hybrid Pace system, which it’s rolling out in places like Rochester, N.Y., and Tallahassee, Fla., lets riders use docks or park elsewhere. (Depending on the city, users may get charged more for parking without a dock.) But the bikes can’t be left free-standing; they have to be locked to something in order to end a trip.

“We believe that bikes should be locked to things,” Ericson says. “That whole dockless evolution of dumping your bike anywhere in the street is not good for cities and not good for riders in the long term.” (Governing)

I’ve seen lots of people riding these new LimeBikes. those I spoke to were all quite pleased. The true test will come once the initial newness (and $3 credit) have worn off. I don’t doubt someone will leave a bike in my way, but I’ve been dealing with business signs, cafe tables, and dog poop as a wheelchair user for a decade now — it was 10 years ago today that I came home from 3 months of hospital/therapy following my stroke.

While I can’t ride one of these bikes, I love seeing others riding them! It’ll be interesting to see how both do once the 2nd permitted company begins offering bikes in St. Louis.

— Steve Patterson

 

St. Louis Bike/Pedestrian/Smoke-Free Advocate Martin Pion (1936-2018)

March 30, 2018 Bicycling, Featured, Smoke Free, Transportation Comments Off on St. Louis Bike/Pedestrian/Smoke-Free Advocate Martin Pion (1936-2018)
Martin Pion’s Facebook profile pic

This week St. Louis lost a great advocate, visitation was last night.

Martin Pion, 81, passed away on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 at his home.
Dear husband of Joyce Pion; dear father of Jerome (Sarah) Pion; Loving grandfather of David and Katie Pion; beloved uncle of Nicola (Kim) Teoh, Stephan (Jenny) Williams and Karen (Stacey) Williams dear great uncle to James and Andrew.
Martin and his family came from England in 1977. He loved the environment, bicycling and was a founding member and president of GASP (Group Against Smoking Pollution).
Memorial visitation will be Thursday, March 29, 4-7pm at HUTCHENS Mortuary, 675 Graham Rd, Florissant.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to charity of choice. (Hutchins)

Martin and I shared many interests including bicycling and smoke-free environments. Though we didn’t always agree, our disagreements were some of our best conversations. More often, we did agree — because of our shared beliefs we both supported Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary.

I first met Marin in the late 90s when I took his Road 1 bicycling course — he was the only instructor certified by the League of American Bicyclists teaching in the region. Later, while we were both serving as board members of the now-defunct St. Louis Bicycle Federation, he got me and other board members to also become certified instructors.

Martin in Ferguson, 2012

Even after my 2008 stroke he pushed me to not give up on cycling. I went to their home in Ferguson where he filmed me riding one of his English trikes.

Martin helped get me on the trike then used my iPhone to record the video. Afterwards, to get me off the trike, he had to tip me over onto a bed of ivy them help me up. We determined it would take a trike made from a bike with a very low cross bar to work for me.

We also spent many hours discussing technology and blogging. I got him to move from a static website to a WordPress blog — see ThinkBicycling!

Martin invested in cameras and posted numerous videos to YouTube and Vimeo. Martin was a huge advocate of bicycling within traffic, not being pushed off into inadequate bike lanes. Both videos below feature mutual friend Karen Karabell.

And a look at the protected bike lane on Chestnut.

It’s so great to hear Martin’s soft voice. Here’s how he described himself on Vimeo:

Scientist, majoring in Physics & Math., with environmental interests and sustainability, including promoting smoke-free air and proficient on-road bicycle transportation.

You’ll be missed friend.

— Steve Patterson

 

Opinion: World Naked Bike Ride St. Louis Is A Great Event

July 19, 2017 Bicycling, Featured Comments Off on Opinion: World Naked Bike Ride St. Louis Is A Great Event

The recent World Naked Bike Ride – St. Louis was the 10th annual here. The purpose is clear:

The World Naked Bike Ride in St. Louis is part of an international event to raise awareness of cyclist rights and vulnerability on the road, and promote positive body image and protest oil dependency.

I absolutely love this event! Sadly, the first rode here was just months after my stroke — so I”ve only been able to participate as a spectator.

AS a spectator even it’s excellent. The hubby and I were sitting at 16th & Washington for about 15-20 minutes before the ride came through. In that time we talked to numerous people — strangers. One couple suspected what we were out: “Ready for the naked bike ride?”. they asked. Others, pedestrians & motorists, asked us what was going on.

Unlike many other events, I saw no corporate sponsors, though many local businesses are partners. I saw almost no genitalia — but I wasn’t looking either. I was bust waving, reading signs, enjoying the creative costumes & body paint. Nothing remotely;y indecent.

Most who voted in the non-scientific Sunday Poll seemed to agree:

Q: Agree or disagree: The annual World Naked Bike Ride encourages indecent exposure.

  • Strongly agree 2 [4.35%]
  • Agree 4 [8.7%]
  • Somewhat agree 5 [10.87%]
  • Neither agree or disagree 1 [2.17%]
  • Somewhat disagree 2 [4.35%]
  • Disagree 13 [28.26%]
  • Strongly disagree 18 [39.13%]
  • Unsure/No Answer 1 [2.17%]

An important part of the ride is to promote a positive body image, to show the world we’re not all cover models.

How we feel about ourselves as people directly impacts what we ultimately see in the mirror. Negative messages from others in our lives and from the media can make this a challenging proposition. Creating a positive body image requires being able to integrate our feelings about ourselves with the messages we are getting from others.

When we have a hard time reconciling how we feel with external influences, we are likely to experience insecurity in our social lives–anywhere from a low hum of anxiety to a crippling self consciousness. We may also find that a good feeling about our body image is hard to hold onto and can be disrupted by small comments or an unexpected glimpse of our reflection. (Psychology Today)

Years ago I did some design work at a local facility that treats patients with eating disorders. Seeing young people with visible bones but think they’re fat leaves a lasting impression. My stroke caused me to have a food disorder, gourmand syndrome.Desiring fine food I have to work hard to not get even fatter.

Keep it up St. Louis, ignore those who can’t see past exposed skin.

— Steve Patterson

 

 

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