
Low-income Baltimore residents will have a new affordable option for getting around starting this spring.
Low-income Baltimore residents will have a new affordable option for getting around starting this spring.
Bike trails connecting cities are an increasingly popular trend–and yet, you still can’t ride your bike from Baltimore to D.C. (without having to negotiate traffic-heavy roads, that is).
Don’t get excited. It’s still way too early in the season for a bike ride that covers the city and all of our amazing parks. But it’s not too early to register and to start preparing for one of the loveliest ways to spend a June day. Tour Dem Parks, Hon is offering an early bird registration special between now and March 31st. That means adults who register now can ride for only $35 (saving $15) and youth can ride for $20.
Riding a bike is fun. Mowing the lawn is not. And using a bike-powered lawn mower is such a strange idea that it’s got to be entertaining (as long as you don’t fall off).
One such bike mower has been developed by Catonsville resident Jason Mah, as the Baltimore Sun reports. Mah attached a push reel mower to his mountain bike using a custom-made arm; a 10-pound sandbag serves as ballast.
The 4K for Cancer ride is an amazing feat: groups of college students and other young adults pledge to bike across the country and raise money for cancer research through their efforts. Last year, 127 brave participants traveled across America, raising nearly $775,000 in the process.
Twenty-four year old Baltimorean Jamie Roberts, a graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, was partway through a ride from Baltimore to Portland, Oregon when she was struck and killed by a truck in Kentucky. Another rider was injured, but is expected to survive.
Looks like all that pro-bike activity in Baltimore and its surrounding areas is getting some nationwide attention: According to the League of American Bicyclists, Maryland is the 7th best state for cyclists. Last year, we didn’t even crack the top 10!
Okay. Forget about my suggestion to increase parking rates in Baltimore to encourage greater use of bicycles and public transit. (I mean, it wasn’t really my suggestion anyway.) This is what we really need to foster a bike community: a bike elevator to help cyclists up steep hills.
Here are the specs, from The Atlantic Cities: “To begin, you just push the green button at the “start station” and wait for the first footplate. You then stand up on your bike and put your right foot and all of your weight on the footplate. The launcher at the start station will give you gentle push to accelerate from zero to 1.5 meters per second. The lift can go up to 2 meters per second, handling a maximum of 300 cyclists per hour. It supports inclines of up to 18 percent grade and can extend as long as 1,640 feet.”
The Baltimore metro area did not make it onto Bicycling Magazine’s list of the top 50 bike-friendly cities last year, but this new development might help put us on the map in 2014: $330,000 of state money invested in new and upgraded bike paths around Baltimore County.
Riding bikes around town is awesome; getting a random flat tire when you’re miles from home is less fun. But Baltimore’s cyclists are in luck: Johns Hopkins has installed a very cool bike repair stand near the medical school campus, at the corner of Monument and Washington.