critical mass

6:30 pm SE Corner of Courthouse
bring a light, bubbles, music, condoms, salt and vinegar chips.

Schwek

Big Thanks to Todd and Dustin for all the Help we like to call it a Schwek built from my old mountain bike and a bike sara left here when she moved out it will be there Friday night

Christmas Parade

Each year the bicyclists in town have formed a "float" of bikes in the annual Christmas Parade.

All bikes are invited!! Come show Huntsville THIS SATURDAY how great bikes are!

Dress up in red and green, bells and antlers, or whatever!

All: I've signed us up for the Channel 31 Parade happening this Saturday, (meet at 11 AM, at Lot K on Clinton avenue across from the Post Office downtown). I've been to the Safety meeting, and got that box checked.

Balloon Tire Society

Find more photos like this on Balloon Tire Society

Balloon Tire Society is a fun bike ride club for fat tire enthusiast, who like to ride for pleasure.People who want to rebuild and restore antique bikes.Ride them with friends and meet new people.Come show your bikes,join rides in your neighborhood.

we are watching you

Vintage Ride postponed

If you were actually wanting to go on a recreational ride in this weather, nobody else was :-P The vintage/cruiser ride scheduled for this afternoon has been postponed.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BUY NOTHING DAY IS HERE – NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
(November 23 in the USA and Canada, November 24 internationally)

STOP SHOPPING TO GO GREEN: This November, environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in as many as 65 countries will hit the streets for a 24-hour consumer fast in celebration of the 15th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global cultural phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada.

Featured in recent years by the likes of CNN, MSNBC, Wired, the BBC, USA Today, The Age and the CBC, the international event has been gaining mainstream momentum as the climate crisis drives average people to seek out greener alternatives to unrestrained consumption.

Timed to coincide with one of the busiest shopping days on the US retail calendar, as well as the unofficial start of the international holiday-shopping season, Buy Nothing Day has taken many shapes, from relaxed family outings, to free, non-commercial street parties, to politically charged public protests. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending.

In past years, street activists have proven particularly imaginative in their celebrations, bringing zombie marches, credit-card cut-ups, and shopaholic clinics to malls and public squares in an effort to expose the environmental and social consequences of First World over-consumption.

Kalle Lasn is the co-founder of the Adbusters Media Foundation, the organization responsible for launching Buy Nothing Day as a yearly, global event. He explains that while most participants used to see the day simply as an escape from the marketing mind games and frantic consumerism that have come to characterize modern life, the focus has since shifted in light of the new political mood surrounding climate change.

“So much emphasis,” he notes, “has been placed on buying carbon offsets and compact fluorescent lightbulbs and hybrid cars that we are losing sight of the core cause of our environmental problems: we consume far too much.”

“Buy Nothing Day isn't just about changing your routine for one day. It’s about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment. With over six billion people on the planet, it is the responsibility of the most affluent – the upper 20% that consumes 80% of the world’s resources – to set out on a new path.”


For more information and media interviews contact:

MEDIA LIASON: Lauren Bercovitz
TELEPHONE NUMBER: 604-736-9401
EMAIL: lauren@adbusters.org


Editor’s Notes:

[1] For more information on Adbusters and Buy Nothing Day, visit Adbusters.org.

[2] Buy Nothing Day facts:
* The first BND was launched by Adbusters in Vancouver in September 1992, based on an idea by artist Ted Dave, as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption.
* In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving – “Black Friday” – which is the one of the nation’s busiest shopping days. Outside of North America, BND is usually celebrated on the following Saturday.
* Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise BND on CNN, but many other major TV networks have declined to air the commercials.
* Though the decentralized nature of the event makes it difficult to pin down participation numbers, thousands of activists have held public events in over 65 nations, including most US states, Canada, the UK, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Norway and India.

[3] Shopping and consumption facts:
* Per capita consumption in the U.S. has risen 45 per cent in the last 20 years.
* Although people today are, on average, four-and-a-half times richer than our great-grandparents were at the turn of the century, Americans report feeling “significantly less well off” than in 1958.
* A recent article in New Scientist featured research suggesting that the more consumer goods you have the more you think you need to make you happy. Happiness through consumption is always out of reach (New Scientist, 4th October 2003, Vol.180, Issue 2415, p44. Available online after registering at www.newscientist.co.uk).


END/

more to think about

bikes, jesus and the mormons get owned

Making the roadways safe for all

Sunday, November 18, 2007
By BRIAN TOONE
For The Times

Rising gas prices are pushing people to look for alternative means of transportation. I believe more people will consider running errands and commuting to work by bicycle as a means to offset rising fuel costs.

Combined with the continued popularity of recreational cycling, the influx of bicycle commuters will mean more and more people riding their bicycles on Alabama roadways. Because secondary roads in Alabama frequently lack shoulders and rarely have dedicated bike lanes, cyclists and motorists must share the same road.

The Huntsville Times should be applauded for noticing this situation and publishing articles that promote the discussion of the relationship between cyclists and motorists. However, the recent commentary by columnist Ricky Thomason "Free-wheeling cyclists must obey the rules of the road" conveys a different message.

read more here

Tall people not need apply

Short bikes...the way of the future!

Duane, who has a shop up at lowe mill generously helped me last night at LifeCycles. in the process we got a little crazy and tested the waters on how small of wheels we could get on a full size frame. This with a little work today is what we came up with. People loved it! Yes those are handlebars for a seat post. I'm getting my acetylene filled soon so i can weld on some "wings".

Jimmm sppagggy

help: be nice

Liz from Minneapolis is going to be in town for xmas and wants to ride with us and needs a bike. can someone help her out? below is her bike from home.

todays word and idea: Xerocracy

Xerocracy (pronounced zee-ROK-ruh-see, in IPA [ziˈɹokɹɘsiː]) is the idea of "rule through photocopying". It is a form of anarchic organization.

The word was coined to describe the organizational principle of Critical Mass, and it is used almost exclusively within that context. The word is intended to combine the ideas of freedom from bureaucracy and freedom to photocopy. Unlike a hierarchical organization, nobody is in charge structurally because everyone is free to make photocopies of their ideas and pass them around.

In such a system, the power to rule defaults to those who have chosen to photocopy their ideas. This power is proportionate to the number of individuals who receive the originator's photocopy and choose it over any other photocopies that they may have received.

The goals of a xerocratic group are not set by a few individuals in charge but are broadly defined by its members. Each person in the group is free to invent his or her own reasons for participating and is free to share those reasons with others. The degree to which an individual's ideas are shared by the group as a whole is dependent on the number of copies of the idea that are distributed, the effectiveness of the distribution of the copies, and the adoption of the ideas contained therein - either over or in addition to other ideas being distributed within the group.

The lack of an identifiable leadership may be itself a desirable trait for an organization. The ability to make anonymous, clandestine photocopies also makes it difficult for law enforcement to identify and punish organizers, since the "leadership" may be hard to trace and may change over time.

Here is how to make a city bicycle friendly and how to get cars under control.

How much space is dedicated to cars? Parking, highways, city streets, junk yards, garages. How many cars only have one person in them? What is more dangerous, a car or a bike? This video shows how Berkeley calmed traffic and made itself a bike friendly city. I have ridden in Berkeley and it is great. You can get everywhere you need to on a bike without feeling like you are in danger. Hopefully, other cities will learn from this video and start making themselves more bike friendly.

Ugh, Holiday season is close at hand...

There used to be one way to get through the maniacal rash consumerism of the holiday season...Santacon. Now we may have another visual aid, no its not Fred Claus (possibly the worst Holiday movie ever)

Its, "what would Jesus buy", the new documentary by filmmaker Rob Van Alkemade and produced by Morgan Spurlock.


Its about Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping choir as they travel the country enlighting people of the empending "shopocalypse!"
See the trailer here.

The movie talks about the environmental devastation from Holiday Waste. Did you know…

• From Thanksgiving to New Years Day, household waste increases by more than 25%.

• The amount of cards sold during the holiday season requires the harvesting of nearly 300,000 trees.

• 38,000 miles of ribbon is thrown out each year, enough to tie a bow around the Earth.

This Friday, the film opens in NYC at Cinema Village.

sunday alley cat pics and results sort of:)

here are the pics and rumor has it that Tyler won

alley cat sunday

sunday is Bill's Cranksgiving Battle Alley Cat Race. Damn thats a long title.
3pm Trailhead
party and food after.
be there!

from Jamie

Missed the ALDOT Public Comment meeting Nov 8?

Don’t worry. You didn’t miss much.

They purposely hold these meetings on the QT, with an itty bitty ad in the public notices section of the paper. Who ever looks at that?

They haven’t written the updated plan yet. They may take our input if enough people provide feedback.

PLEASE don’t give up now.

That’s what they’re counting on.

What we need is a few folks to go to the website and send comments into Mr. Doolin. Copy your state representatives, mayor, the local paper, county commissioner, and planners.

http://www.dot.state.al.us/docs/bureaus/Transportation+Planning/swtp_home.htm

Look through the 2000 plan and suggest policy about non-motorized transportation to encourage, enable and make safer biking and walking as transportation.

http://www.dot.state.al.us/transplanning/

Tell how much the following would help!

Big Bike Routes Signs, shoulders, sidewalks, better signals to cross roads, wider lanes, NO rumble strips.

Better Driver’s Ed that discusses sharing the road with bikes.

(There are more talking points below.)

I’m sure YOU have a few opinions on this!

bike fixin at manna house

Hi, I'm doing it again,

come fix bikes with me this weekend! I will be hangin' at manna house from 3pm to 6pm fixing bikes for xmas. Join me, and assume the position. If anyone comes this time we will figure out food maybe...

knock on the back door or call me, jim, thats jim spagnola at 256-348-5189

peas

Rising Demand for Oil Provokes New Energy Crisis

With oil prices approaching the symbolic threshold of $100 a barrel, the world is headed toward its third energy shock in a generation. But today’s surge is fundamentally different from the previous oil crises, with broad and longer-lasting global implications.

Traders at the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday, where the price for a barrel of crude oil settled at $95.46.

Just as in the energy crises of the 1970s and ’80s, today’s high prices are causing anxiety and pain for consumers, and igniting wider fears about the impact on the economy.

Unlike past oil shocks, which were caused by sudden interruptions in exports from the Middle East, this time prices have been rising steadily as demand for gasoline grows in developed countries, as hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians climb out of poverty and as other developing economies grow at a sizzling pace.

“This is the world’s first demand-led energy shock,” said Lawrence Goldstein, an economist at the Energy Policy Research Foundation of Washington.

read more here

Pedal Power How-To

Keep hearing how "HIGH TECH" it is here and there are more engineers than blah... blah... blah... wouldn't it be nice if they took a day off from making bombs and made something useful?

Bike Hugger · Pedal Power How-To: From the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology, at Humbold University, check the Pedal Power How-to, guides, articles, and examples. Like this pedal-powered washing machine. Also see the the commercial HPG and HPT (human power generation and trainer) from Windsteam technologies for all sorts of uses.

Buy Nothing Day Nov 23rd

This November, environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in as many as 65 countries will hit the streets for a 24-hour consumer fast in celebration of the 15th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global cultural phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada.

You can celebrate this “you weren’t born to shop” event in Seattle, on bikes of all types, by joining the Cargo BIke Ride on the 23rd at noon.

huntsville has a bike path

yes I saw it yesterday with my own eyes a brand new bike path!!

Lager replaces Pimms in bike polo revival

Rachel Williams
Monday November 5, 2007
The Guardian

Bike polo in Brick Lane.

Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi

The pre-polo social scene on Brick Lane is not one the regulars at Cowdray Park would recognise. There are no designer frocks or upturned Ralph Lauren collars, and the scruffily hip spectators choose cans of lager over champagne and Pimms. Yet urban bike polo, which has sprung up in cities around the UK, has an unexpected heritage to rival that of its equestrian cousin.

Inspired by street players in New York, the new breed of enthusiasts are reinventing a sport that - despite its inclusion at the London Olympics in 1908 and the hundreds of teams that existed in its heyday in the 1930s - is largely forgotten in Britain. Six months after four friends got together at a basketball court in east London, dozens of would-be players frequently now turn up on Sunday afternoons.

Article continues

In Portland, Cultivating a Culture of Two Wheels

PORTLAND, Ore. — Susan Peithman did not have a job lined up when she moved here in September to pursue a career in “nonmotorized transportation.” No worries, she figured; the market here is strong.

“In so many ways, it’s the center,” Ms. Peithman, 26, explained. “Bike City, U.S.A.”

Cyclists have long revered Portland for its bicycle-friendly culture and infrastructure, including the network of bike lanes that the city began planning in the early 1970s. Now, riders are helping the city build a cycling economy.

read more here

oil

Bike Hugger · Single Speed Mode:

From BikeHugger
Mark built up the Modal in Single Speed Mode this week. There are lots of bike geek details to share and I’ll cover what I can and add a travel report from Texas this weekend.

One of Davidson’s specialities is S&S Coupling travel bikes and Mark has traveled with them more than 30 times, all over the world, in various configurations. From Mark’s experience, Davidson’s direction, and creative input from me, we began working the Modal Concept in May of this year. The Modal is a travel bike that folds and toggles between single, fixed, and geared modes.



The concept isn’t presenting anything particularly new, but gathers various parts and ideas into a unique bike that I can travel with and ride in a city or a long tour. The bike switches modes with Paragon dropouts, a second set of bars, and cable split-stops.
Hinge v. Couplings

As our readers know, we’re into folding bikes and Dahons. The Modal is a different bike for a different purpose. I’m using it for longer rides and trips when I want a full road bike. For business trips and urban mobility, the Dahons are outstanding.

There are tradeoffs. Where the Dahon is heavier than the Modal, the Modal case is heavier and travel weight is about the same at around 45 pounds. I’ve also traveled with Sci-Con cases and the drawback to those is TSA and airline reliability. It’s very liberating (both in time and money) to check a bike as luggage and not have to wait for oversize to come out, hope that it wasn’t crushed, and that TSA didn’t unpack and repack it for you.
Single Mode Details

For the Modal to work, it’s built as a road bike with two sets of bars: one has shifters and other just brakes. I’m simply removing the derailleur, releasing the chain master link, swapping out the Paragon, changing the bar, and connecting the cable stops. After a few adjustments, the bike is ready to ride. The beauty of a single speed when traveling is fast rear wheel in and out. There’s also very little to break in transit.

* 39 x 16 gearing with a chain-ring protector replacing the 53 chain ring
* Ksyrium wheels with adaptor spacers
* One position derailleur hanger
* Carbon fork starnut adaptor thingy — don’t know the actual name, but this part replaces the expanding bolt method on some carbon forks with a star-nut style. If I need to drop the fork and for swapping bars, it’s way easier.

Due Props

The modal was designed by Mark V with help and advice from Bill Davidson. Building the bike was a group effort from the crew at

Elliott Bay Bicycles.

Bike Kill V, Chaotic Bicycle Olympics in Brooklyn

Bike Kill V, the annual chaotic bicycle Olympics event organized by Black Label Bicycle Club, took place in Bed-Stuy, Booklyn last Saturday. There are a bunch of great photos of it from Ana Coppola (above photos) and Konstantin Sergeyev.

Sylvenya has some video of the event here, here & here

Bike Commuting Encouraged

"Bike Commuting Encouraged October 31st, 2007 @ 9:42am by Jayme West/KTAR `
`Carpool Wednesday' in the Valley. But if you're in a car full of people stuck in traffic, you might look with envy at commuters on two-wheelers.

One of those is Jeff Zimmerman, who traded four wheels for two a long time ago and now bikes the 17 miles from his Tempe home to his Scottsdale office.

`Ninety percent of the trip is on the greenbelt, on the Indian Bend Wash and McCormick Ranch greenbelt,' said Zimmerman. ``It's just heavenly, the greatest ride you could possibly imagine.'

Zimmerman said he was inspired by a near-death experience -- ``having cancer that had about a two percent survival rate.'

Not only is Zimmerman riding a bike for his health, but also to save money and help the environment -- `one less car on the road.'

He has a group of guys who bike with him. ``

It's a great time for talking, and we race a little bit,' he said. If you think it would take too long to bike to work, Zimmerman said think again. ``You could actually probably get on your bike and get to work in less time, or at least the same time, as it would to drive your car.' He sees a lot of people biking, on all types of bikes. ``It's great to be on the trail and see people of all shapes, all sizes, all abilities. If I can do"