Sponsors and more sponsors for BCC 2010!!

Preparations are proceeding apace to put everything in place for this year's Bicycle Commuter Contest. We've chosen a "Theme" for 2010, which you can see to the left of this post:
Been There, Doing This! We are in the midst of designing a t-shirt and finishing up the process of signing up sponsors. I have updated our list of links to our sponsors' websites- check it out, under "Supporting Businesses and Sponsors" in the list of gadgets on the left. We have many returning loyal sponsors from past years, and some very exciting new ones as well! We are going to have some great stuff to award as prizes this year, thanks to many generous sponsors form near and far, but mostly near; I have been making an effort to engage sponsors as locally as possible this year, going farther afield only when I think we couldn't do better right here in the Pacific Northwest.

In other news, the SEATTLE BIKE SWAP is TOMORROW from 9-2 at Magnusen Park in Seattle, hosted by the Cascade Bicycle Club. Go to their website for directions and more info. See you there!

Interesting article on a post-carbon world

Worth checking out.



http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201003/nocar.aspx

Is Spring here?! Well, it's good bike commuting weather!

Take advantage of the amazing weather we're having, and start your bike commuting season early! If you haven't already started biking this year, or haven't biked this early in the season before, there are just a few things to remember:

• Be Visible! Make sure you have lights and bright clothing in case you end up riding after dark. If you haven't made this a priority yet, PLEASE do- "invisibikes" are dangerous!!
• Bring layers of clothing to adjust for drastic changes in temperature. We're experiencing 25 degree swings between high and low temps right now- it cools down fast when the sun goes down!
• Watch for patches of ice in the early morning. The roads are pretty dry right now, but watch out in shaded areas or where water pools or runs across the road.
• Remember, you can always take the bus home, or for part of your commute. Every Intercity Transit Fixed Route bus has room for two bikes on the front easy-loading rack.
• Visit your local bike shop for proper lights and other gear, and for expert cycling and safety information.
• You can do it! The hardest part is making the choice. Just choose the bike and go for it!

Article from the FTE News Magazine for State Employees (published with permission)

ECY engineer logs 5,050 miles commuted by bicycle

(OK, if this guy can do this year round in Spokane's climate...)

Photo by Jani Gilbert, Comm. Mgr
Ecology, Eastern Region

Kim Sherwood doesn’t have to worry about making exercise resolutions for 2010. He had already sweated enough in 2009 to last a lifetime. Before the New Year rolled in, Kim had logged 5,050 miles in 12 months of bicycle-commuting to his job as Water Quality Permit Manager at Ecology’s Eastern Region Office (ERO).
Such a feat takes patience, time, and determination, plus a passion for bicycling—qualities Kim has cultivated over the past 20-odd years of working for Ecology.
Kim began bicycle commuting in 1986, when he worked at the Central Region Office, in Yakima. Those early commutes weren’t so far, he said, but they got him into the bicycling habit, and it stuck. So when Kim relocated to ERO in Spokane, six years ago, it was second nature for him to plan out a bicycle commute route. The glitch: the office was 32 miles away.
Kim bit off the bicycle challenge in chunks. For awhile, he used combinations of car, bus and bicycle to make the commute. Over time, he added more bicycle miles until, in 2008, he found himself bicycling the entire route.
Kim’s morning begins at 3:00 a.m. to gear up for his two-plus-hour bike ride that takes him over country highways near the Idaho border, along the Spokane River Centennial Trail, and finally up the congested city streets of Spokane to the Ecology office north of the city center.
Kim’s bicycle, a little-known make that he bought years ago in Yakima, weighs 28 pounds and bears the scars of many years and many miles. The bike sports a relatively narrow front tire, and a fatter mountain bike tire behind. “It’s not as fast as a road bike,” says Kim, “but I don’t get so many flat tires either.”
Inclement weather doesn’t keep Kim off his bicycle. When the storms move in, Kim tops his bicycling shorts with sweats and turtle-neck layers for warmth. He covers it all with a large, white plastic bag converted to a poncho, belted snugly in place by a fluorescent safety harness studded with flashing lights. He wears a tight-fitting polypropylene hood to keep his head, ears and neck warm underneath his bicycle helmet.
There’s no doubt that Kim is noticeable when he’s on his bicycle. He wants it that way so that motorists will be sure to see him when he’s cycling in the dark. Kim is so visible, in fact, that a Washington state trooper recently pulled alongside at a stoplight to tell Kim he wished all bicyclists would show up so well in the dark.Kim can cite many reasons for dedicating himself to bicycle commuting, including the fact that he saved more than $2,000 by leaving his car in the garage. But, for Kim, the most important reason is that, by his calculations, he has kept at least 10 barrels of crude oil in the ground. “That’s my return to my cousins—including my non-human cousins—that I reduce my footprint so other life can share the planet.”

Interesting Online Magazine Article

Check out this article and Urban Velo magazine!

http://www.urbanvelo.org/issue17/p74-75.html

Winter Commuting Photos

Send me your best winter bicycle commuting photo and your permission to use it, and maybe I'll post it here! I'm looking for a few exciting and motivating images to show that commuting by bike is so possible even in the winter, especially here in the mild Pacific Northwest. Add a little information about yourself and your commute, and maybe we'll even turn it into a rider Profile.

Send to dgreen@intercitytransit.com

Share the Road is a Two Way Street

There are lots of opinions and feelings about cars and cyclists sharing the road, but it seems to be a fact of life for the time being- neither cars nor bicycles are going away anytime soon, so co-existence is pretty much a survival necessity (at least for cyclists). However one feels about shared lanes and "sharrows", they do raise awareness and the legitimacy of the bicycle as a vehicle on the road. Here is an example in bike-friendly Olympia, Washington.

Planning and preparations continue apace for the 2010 Bicycle Commuter Contest. We're lining up sponsors, working on a theme and graphics, preparing our printed materials and looking forward to April and May! Stay tuned for news as we progress.