Posts Tagged ‘bicycling’

September 05, 2014

Bicycling’s Racist, Sexist and Classist Beginnings and How They Impact Bicycling Today

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In today’s world, we like to hail the bicycle as the instrument of freedom for the underprivileged, the poor and the oppressed. But bicycling began in the 1880s and 90s in a context of racism, sexism and classism and for the most part was reflective of that context. But that’s long gone history, right? Actually no, bicycling’s not-so-egalitarian beginnings still cast a shadow in today’s world of bicycling and bicycling advocacy and this is something we need to look out for. Did you know that… – In the late nineteenth century, there was anxiety over whether “white, nonimmigrant…

August 25, 2014

How to Ride a Bike in Copenhagen

by: Paul Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is by guest contributor Paul Loomans. Paul is a development professional involved in sustainability, community, and biking. He is car-free in Phoenix Arizona. Paul is COO of Firefly Living, a new generation real estate organization. He also loves cats. It was my last night in Copenhagen. Over most of the past two weeks, I’d seen the world’s best biking city from the seat of a bike. Since I had gone car-free in Phoenix about three years ago, I figured it was time to visit Mecca for biking inspiration. I stayed with four different Couch Surfing and Airbnb…

August 12, 2014

Biking is not a race issue, or is it?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Some bicycling enthusiasts will insist that there are no barriers to entering the bicycling community and that it is open to anyone who wants to join. Just look at the comments on my post, Is Bicycling Only for Fit White People? And a lot of people will insist that there are certainly no racial barriers to bicycling. This may technically be true. Everyone is technically welcome to bicycling. But why is it, according to the research of Eve Bratman and Adam Jadhav, that “in some places, the people who ride are mostly wealthy and white?” There are two types…

August 05, 2014

Is Biking Only for Fit White People?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Apparently. The biking community in Portland is overwhelmingly white and seems to be comprised of the ultra fit who routinely go on 300-mile bike camping trips or insist on biking long and hilly distances in town, scoffing at those who choose easier, multi-modal ways of getting around. Don’t get me wrong, this level of fitness and dedication is laudable, certainly. But it’s also very intimidating and unusual. The biking community in Portland, at least the biking community I have been exposed to, tends to skew heavily (or should I say muscularly?) toward fit and environmentally conscious white people. Granted,…

June 09, 2014

Subversive Transportation: A History of Women Cyclists and How Women Cyclists Can Save the Planet Today

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Not unlike women in Saudi Arabia that are banned from riding their bikes in public today, at one time women in the US faced the same kind of resistance to biking as well. The first drop frame bicycles to make it easier for women in skirts to ride came about in the 1890s. But at the same time, male doctors decried the overexertion to delicate female constitutions that was caused by bicycling. And women who rode bikes were often depicted as a little bit crazy and wild. Bicycles were even accused of deflowering younger women, causing spontaneous orgasms, encouraging…

May 28, 2014

The Problem with Neighborhood Greenways

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Neighborhood Greenways have been touted as the best way to make biking safe and appealing on American streets. They are low-cost, at only $250,000 per mile as opposed to $4 to $5 million per mile for cycle tracks, they don’t require heavy modification of existing streets, and they are easy to engineer. The concept of Neighborhood Greenways was developed by Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Greg Raisman and Mark Lear as a feasible way to make bicycling easy and safe for anyone who wants to bike. Having been first implemented in 2009 in Portland, they were widely installed in 2010…

February 01, 2012

Bicycle Cellar in Downtown Phoenix a Step in the Right Direction for Air Quality

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Air pollution is a major problem for Valley residents, not just because it sullies our beautiful blue skies, but because it has a very real and lasting negative impact on our health. According to an excellent seven-part series currently running in the Arizona Republic called The Air We Breathe, “studies now link pollution, especially traffic-related pollutants to heart disease, premature births, asthma attacks and shortened lives.” The series, of which only three installments have been published to date, explores many reasons why we find ourselves in a choke hold with air quality, but lays much of the blame on…

January 11, 2012

Why the Central Avenue Road Diet is a Big Deal

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet New bike lanes are in on Central between Camelback and Bethany Home as part of the planned road diet for the area! I rode this newly slimmed down stretch of Central on Sunday with a group of bikers in celebration of this move towards making Phoenix a more bike-friendly place. Someone said to me on the ride, there are people in Arizona that don’t like bicyclists, that don’t think they should be on the road. And for too long, these people have had all the say in the transportation planning of our city. the road diet is a…

September 19, 2011

3 Reasons Why Biking is Preferable instead of Just Doable in my New Neighborhood

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet As you may know, Paul and I moved to Red Mountain, which is just outside the Woodlea Historic Neighborhood, about three weeks ago. We used to live at 3 Palms, in the Avalon neighborhood, between Osborn and Thomas near 16th Street. When we first decided to buy Red Mountain, I knew we’d be a lot closer to my office – Lux Coffeebar. But I didn’t realize how close we’d be to other stuff that we like too. We have one car between the two of us and most days Paul takes it to work. So I have to navigate…

January 24, 2011

Car Free Stories: The Virtue of the Bell and the Hazards of Intersections

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This is the second installment in my Car Free Stories series. Check out the first here. Recently I got a bell for my bike and what a transformative experience it’s been! Before, when people were in front of me on a sidewalk, I yelled (respectfully), “excuse me! excuse me!”. Nine times out of ten this wouldn’t work and I’d just have to slow down and wait for an opportunity to pass the seemingly deaf pedestrian. Now that I have a bell, I’ll ring it once and the astute ones will hear it and get out of the way. I…