Cycling
Brockville: New wheels for kids in need
Recorder and Times / Megan Burke / 04 February 2012
The Brockville Bike Ministry, which [Eric] Montgomery has been setting up since last year with the help of Kelly Potvin, is holding its grand opening during March break so school-aged children can join in.
“Our plans for March break is to help 25 youths build their own bikes to their own specifications,” said Potvin.
“Everything from the frame up, we'll help them build.”
The youngsters and teens, from Grades 4 to 12, will choose their own handlebars, seat, pedals, brakes and more out of the approximate 150 bikes the ministry has collected from the surrounding area.
Biking Around Brockville – January 2012 Update
Cycling enthusiast Alan Medcalf has prepared this report on local initiatives. He states: "If you’re a cyclist or a friend of cycling in the Brockville area, then this newsletter’s for you. There is a lot going on and your action and support is needed to help make our community more bicycle friendly. A bicycle-friendly community encourages more people to ride bikes more often … and that’s good for our health, lifestyle and pocketbooks as well as the economy and the environment. Please read on to learn more about where we are in this journey."
MPG of a Human
Do the Math / Tom Murphy / 29 November 2011
Our walking or biking economies look pretty decent stacked up against cars—especially if we considered consuming foodstuff as potent as gasoline. This is all well and good until one appreciates that because of the way Americans grow, harvest, distribute, and prepare their food, every one kilocalorie of food eaten has consumed about 10 kcal of fossil fuel energy (dominated by oil). Our 7000 kcal gallon of food therefore took 70,000 kcal of fossil-fuel energy to produce, or a little over two gallons of gasoline. So you would divide the “food economy” values we calculated by 2.2 to get the fuel economy that supported your bike trip or hike. Now walking consumes 18–34 MPG of oil equivalent, and biking comes in at 70–130 MPG.
Support This Private Member's Bill to Pave Highway Shoulders
Canadian Cyclist / 30 November 2011
This is an important piece of legislation for all cyclists. Canadian Cyclist urges every Ontario rider to provide your support for this Bill, by contacting both your local MPP and indicating your support to MPP Norm Miller.
Parry Sound - Muskoka MPP Norm Miller today re-introduced his private member's bill which would enhance public safety for the motoring public and promote active transportation in Ontario.
Bike Action Plan & Energy Resilience
Santa Monica Patch / Gary Kavanagh / 25 November 2011
Despite massive investments and new technology, the oil extraction rate across the world has flattened out since 2005 (the US peak was in the 70’s), and gains in the past few years are increasingly coming from expensive and environmentally devastating tar sands extraction and deep sea drilling. Compounding this problem, the number of cars on the road in China and India competing for fuel imports is exploding.
Some analysis like that in the Department of Energy published report Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, and Risk Management from 2005, warn of the potential for catastrophic “oil crunches” before even 2015. The oil price spike we already had in 2008 was a factor contributing to our biggest economic crash in half a century. We do not have 40 years to linger in charting a new path toward.
St. Thomas: Pedal power back in vogue
St. Thomas Times-Journal / Patrick Brennan / 18 November 2011
There's a two-wheel revolution under way at Mitch Hepburn Public School.
Thanks to Green Communities Canada, Share the Road Cycling Coalition and Elgin St. Thomas Public Health, cycling to school is undergoing a revival at the school.
The Wheeling to School project, which targets students from Grades 4 to 8, is based on looking at the potential barriers families face in biking to school and, instead, supporting it as an option for getting to class everyday.
Darrell Jutzi, a public health nurse at Elgin St. Thomas Public Health, said the project builds on an active and safe travel-to-school program. Prior to this, there was no real effort to encourage students to ride bikes to school. "Cycling to school had not been promoted in schools to this extent," he admitted.
Hepburn was selected as one of four schools in the province for the pilot project by Green Communities Canada. The province supports the program with a grant from its Healthy Communities fund.
Cycle tourism a golden opportunity: Advocate
Recorder and Times / Nick Gardiner / 18 November 2011
Leeds and Grenville Counties have plenty to offer and plenty to gain from a concerted effort to attract more cycle tourism, says a local cycling advocate.
Alan Medcalf envisions the establishment of a cycling route around the counties bordered by a World Heritage site -the Rideau Canal -to the north and the heart of the UNESCO Frontenac Arch Biosphere to the west.
To the south, the St. Lawrence River and Thousand Islands region, already traversed by part of the cycle-friendly Great Waterfront Trail, frames the route.
A closed railway line running from Prescott to North Grenville -if converted into a bike path - would tie it all together and, at the same time, provide a link to an existing and growing cycling system that connects with an Ottawa bike route.
It's not the first time such a vision has been espoused but Medcalf has raised the stakes with a comprehensive report highlighting potential economic benefits that he presented to a recent meeting of the United Counties public works committee.
