Articles
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How far we've fallen...
April 26, 2010
Read moreThe cycling spirit was certainly in fine fettle in Great Britain, circa 1955, as seen in these wonderful video clips. Beer en route! Bike cars on the train! Check out the nifty bikes, not to mention the fun clothes…
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BUUD Alert #4
April 4, 2010
This is Bicycle-Unfriendly Urban Design (BUUD) alert #4!
Location: Portola Road (Westbound) at Farm Rd., Portola Valley CA
Issue: Bike lane squeezes from usable width (4 ft?) to zero width, entering left-hand corner at bottom of hill, on a route popular with groups of cyclists and known for the local population being intolerant of cyclists using the lane… this recent re-striping (not visible in Google Maps as of this writing) seems designed to provoke bicycle-car conflict. Given the amount of bike traffic this route (“The Loop”) gets, and the consistently wide shoulder everywhere else, this re-striping is ill conceived.
It appears that the re-striping was performed to accommodate the addition of a left-turn lane.
Solution: Put it back the way it was, let the cars wait a moment to get around those who must turn left.
I’ll post some photos next time I’m out that way.
View Bicycle-Unfriendly Urban Design in a larger map
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Vincible Tires
March 18, 2010
Read moreI recently purchased some rather expensive, supposedly invincible tires for my commute / touring bike. The Schwalbe Marathon Supremes are acclaimed as about the most indestructible tire out there, short of a couple truly massive things that really aren’t much fun to ride on.
Now, if you ever found yourself asking, as I have, “Self, just what would it take to puncture one of these tough tires?” I can now provide an answer.
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Dismal DSL
March 1, 2010
Our DSL continues (for the past 2 months) to be dismally slow. If AT&T has run fiber to our neighborhood, I’m just gonna have to give up on ‘ol Speakeasy.net and move on over…
Current results, courtesy of [DSL Reports](http://speedtest.dslreports.com/) 
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Tokyo/Glow
March 1, 2010
This is quite possibly the coolest art video I have seen in the past year… a glowing “walk signal” character takes a stroll through night-time Tokyo, via stop-motion video. It’s easier to watch it than to try to explain it!
Tip ‘o the hat to Laughingsquid for finding it (at Pink Tentacle)!