Teaching Kids to Ride Over the weekend, I had a great opportunity to work with some middle school aged kids and their parents. The kids wanted to ride their bikes to middle school and we spent a couple hours talking and practicing some road safety skills. I had a great time seeing these young people who are the next generation of bike transportation advocates! In this video, I go over 4 critical areas to teach young bike riders when they’re

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Is biking at the gym better than biking on the street? In a recent copy of our local paper, the Chapel Hill News, I read a column about a woman who biked on a stationary bike at the gym while imagining she was a kid riding on the street. Why didn’t she actually ride on the street? Listen to find out…. You can find the original column on the Chapel Hill News site here What do you think? Have

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For safe riding, be sure to watch the road surface Most bicycle accidents are not caused by collisions with cars, they are caused by rider error. This is a good thing because it means if we learn more about riding and get better at it, we minimize our risks and increase our safety on the road. One big source of crashes, especially for newer riders, is irregularities in the road surface. In today’s video I discuss this issue and what

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If you aren’t riding BIG, you aren’t as safe as you could be Riding in traffic is often un-nerving for bikers, and this is probably one of the biggest reasons people don’t bike. Fortunately, we can minimize our risks by changing our riding styles. Riding Big is one of these behaviors and it is often not intuitive. Watch today’s video to find out what it is and why I think it’s one of the best skills you can learn for

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Have you read a good cycling book lately? I like reading. It’s another of my hobbies besides bicycling. So when I come across a good book I like to share it. Today I talk about one of the best cycling books I’ve read – something that just about anyone can learn something from. Have you read any good cycling books? What are your favorites? -Elise Go By Bike is a daily video series that talks about how to be green by riding more and using your car less, including electric bikes, electric kits, cargo bikes, bike safety, and getting motivated to bike. If you like this video, please  digg it, stumble upon it, tweet about it or post it to delicious or facebook using one of the links below. share: Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post Tell a friend

The HOT debate in bicycle facility design Most people agree that providing better facilites for biking will help more people get their bikes out. In fact, the perception of whether biking on the roads is safe or not is a top reason people cite for whether they decide to ride. But what types of facilities should we spend our money on? Separated greenways? Bike lanes on the sides of major roads? or Shareways which force all road users to negotiate

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Keep safe in back and in front. In today’s episode of Go By Bike, I give another tip on biking safety – this one addresses a huge fear (the #1 fear?) of many cyclists – getting hit from behind. Welcome to Go By Bike! I started this series to talk about how to ride more and use your car less, including electric bikes, electric kits, cargo bikes, bike safety, and getting motivated to bike. Using your car less reduces your carbon

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Welcome to Go By Bike! – Episode 2: The First Rule of Biking Safely I started this series to talk about how to ride more and use your car less, including electric bikes, electric kits, cargo bikes, bike safety, and getting motivated to bike. Using your car less reduces your carbon footprint, saves energy, helps the environment, keeps you healthy, and makes your community a nicer place to live, so overall most people would agree it’s a good thing. In today’s

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Riding in traffic is something many of us start into timidly and gradually get more comfortable with over time. However, some people never get comfortable with it due to fears of riding in traffic. I’ve been bike commuting a long time, and over time have gotten to the point where I am pretty comfortable, riding even in heavy traffic if necessary. Over the years, I’ve found that educating myself on how to ride safely has helped me overcome my

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It is campaign season again, and there are a number of candidates running for the Board of Aldermen in our sleepy little town of Carrboro, NC (right next to Chapel Hill, NC). Just a few days ago, Sierra Club held a candidates forum. One question they asked the candidates was how they might improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. While we found all of the responses to be lacking (perhaps in part due to the reporting in the

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