Orange County Bicycle Coalition : Bicycle Advocacy : OCBC » Education

Bike to work and For Your Health

John — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:47:07 +0000

Regular bike commuters and their doctors already know this, but
for those of you still not sure if bike commuting is worth it, there’s headlines going around the world about a new study of 4,297 commuters that concludes that long commutes may be bad for your health.

From an excerpt:

“This study yields new information about biological outcomes and commuting
distance, an understudied contributor to sedentary behavior that is prevalent
among employed adults,” explains lead investigator Christine M. Hoehner, PhD, MSPH, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. “It provides important evidence about potential mediators in the relationship between time spent driving and cardiovascular mortality.”

Tracking down the source of the study, your editor obtained permission to post a link to the full paper which will be on the home page of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine ”for the next week or so”.

Now I know a 60 mile commute is out of the question for most,
but look at the benefits obtained riding 10 or even 20 miles
round-trip. Don’t know what those benefits are? Try it for day or two and ask yourself how you feel. With the new OCTA bikecars in service, your commuting range potential is compounded greatly.

A body at rest tends to….
Today with all the social media, it shouldn’t be too hard to find
like-minded people to meet-up and form a commuter train on 2 wheels!

The premise of the study seems to seek an answer to the biological impact of commuting by stating at the outset, ”While sedentary behavior is known to have adverse effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health, the impact of long commutes by automobile are less understood.” Thus at the conclusion of quantifying the commuting behaviors, we arrive at:”A new study has found that greater commuting distances are associated with decreased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), increased weight, and other indicators of metabolic risk.”

I suppose we could intuitively arrive at the same conclusion, but
these guys are scientists, and they have the data and statistics to show just how scary sitting around can be. Could the pain of long auto commutes be a contributing factor in the reported “Americans consume EIGHTY percent of the world’s pain pills“? Granted it’s from the Daily Mail, however even if we discount the claim by half, it’s still a big number!

Correlation, Causation? I’m no scientist – don’t ask me!

~~Next~~ This week is Bike to Work Week.
If you haven’t already planned a route and engaged your coworkers or other cyclo-commuters working close to you, do so now. Remember a bike, in the eyes of the law, is a vehicle and you must abide by lawful operation of your vehicle. Despite what you may have heard, you must “go with the flow” of traffic and never ride against it. See and be seen, keep your head on a swivel and wear a reflective vest or bright colored apparel so the auto commuters will spot you and steer clear.

Hybrids, the Road, and You

John — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:00:30 +0000

Skimming recent news items from 2011, we spotted this NHTSA update to a 2009 study regarding hybrid vs “normal” car / bike and pedestrian collisions. from their website.

New terms are defined in the report:
HE = Hybrid Electric
ICE = Internal Combustion Engine

The 2009 “Incidence of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Crashes by Hybrid Electric Passenger Vehicles” found that an HE vehicle was 2x more likely to be involved in a pedestrian crash than an ICE vehicle in situations involving low-speed maneuvers (Hanna, 2009).

From the conclusion of the report, we find this tidbit, “the odds of an HE vehicle being involved in a bicycle crash were statistically higher than the odds of ICE vehicle being involved in similar crash when the crash occurred at an intersection“. (emphasis mine)

Overall, the odds ratios indicate that the odds of an HE vehicle being in either a pedestrian or bicycle crash are greater than the odds of an ICE vehicle being in a similar crash. The odds ratio for an HE versus an ICE vehicle involved in a pedestrian crash was 1.35, and the odds ratio for an HE versus an ICE vehicle involved in a bicycle crash was 1.57.

Listed in the below tables from the report are the what and where of car / bike collisions:

Click to Enlarge

This update did not provide an apparent set of scenarios for bicycle crashes, but it did provide a clearer picture regarding pedestrian crashes. For example a comparison of all HE versus ICE passenger vehicles regardless of makes and models indicates that the odds of any HE passenger vehicle being in a pedestrian crash are 22 percent greater than the odds of any ICE passenger vehicle. The largest differences between the involvement of HE and ICE vehicles in pedestrian crashes occur with speed limits of 35 mph and lower, and usually in low speed maneuvers at intersections and parking lots.

Since cyclists have been known to dismount and walk about from time to time, one can surmise from this study that you are more likely to be involved in a crash with an HE vehicle on foot than on two wheels.

The takeaway here is remembering to look both ways before crossing a street, and being extra careful when pulling into or out of parking lots, or making lane changes on the road, due to the fact you must see tHE car because you can’t hear it.

Traffic 101.5

John — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:14:48 +0000

So you’re crusin’ in the bike lane and then REALITY!

Any guesses where in the OC?

Oh, and the CiclOCia survey results are here.

Why Bicyclists Are Better Customers Than Drivers

John — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:36:31 +0000

An excellent article from DCStreetsBlog highlights the positive economic impact cyclists provide to communities.
Long Beach is mentioned quite a bit in the post as having transformed 4 business districts into cycle friendly areas complete with merchant bike-share programs, discounts to customers arriving by bike, bike valets, and a sea change in business owner’s perceptions about cycling and profits.

The biggest obstacle to overcome was fear. Fear of change, fear of lost
profits, fear of the unknown…
Really though it’s a “no brainer”, to vanquish fear and get business owner’s buy-in all you have to do is show them the money!

Fear of Change: Change is inevitable – get over it; change is a natural
process that can be guided to positive results.
These are the “good old days”!
Fear of Lost Profits: Will you be willing to give me 1 of something if I
give you 12 in return?
On a 1:1 basis, or even a 4:1 basis, installing cycling infrastructure will lead to joy and discovery among disposable cash spending cyclists. Creating a bike corral in the space of 1 car’s parking spot, at least 12 bicycles are able to be parked. So in exchange for 1 spot and even 4 (3 passengers) customers using that space, you now have 12!
Fear of the Unknown: Since it is unknown, it is not worth your time (or
health) to fear “it”.

So Where’s the Money?
Cyclists spend less (on average) on car maintenance by definition – they are cyclists and drive less. Some are completely car free! Less maintenance costs (for them) turns into more disposable cash; generating business and profits for you (the owner). As an added benefit, more of that cash remains within the city or community – a win for everyone!

Consider:

According to a 2011 AAA news release the average cost of owning and maintaining a car sits around $8,000 a year.
Of that, only 16% is retained within the local economy (which you can read about here).
Cyclists become more aware of their surroundings and business offerings
Cyclists can stop and impulse buy much easier than an auto-bound potential customer (and are also more likely to)
Cyclists get hungry and thirsty by nature of their healthy activity
Cyclists generally are healthier than the general population – thus less
health expense and more disposable income.

Ya But…ok you want more?

St. Louis: Washington University quantified the economic benefit of their Ciclovia (open streets) as a net positive.
New York: Car free Times Square generates more than 10% of The City’s economic activity.
More cars != more profit. As simple as that.

BikePaths are Profitable:

Leadville, Colorado: A 19% increase in sales tax revenues after opening of the Mineral Belt Trail (and more).
Dunedin, Florida: 35% storefront vacancy into turned into 100% occupied after completion of the Pinellas Trail.
Property Values: Increase 11% near bikepaths according to April Economides (a consultant to Long Beach).
Construction: of bike lanes create about twice as many jobs as road-building for the same amount of money (a 2fer!)

If you build it, they will come…and spend - oh wait – no building required. Just 1 spot left open for 12 cyclists to securely park their bikes will do wonders to our local economy because more of those dollars will stay and circulate here rather than be exported to somewhere else. Those dollars remaining here will help cities regain their fiscal stability, and provide funds to improve the local infrastructure, which leads to more bike paths, trails, and lanes to needed destinations (wash, rinse, repeat – in a positive and sustainable way!)…

San Clemente has become a shining star by adopting into its General Plan its Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.

Cycling advocates throughout the County can and should get their city councils to do the same.

Which city or town will be next to embrace the sustainable future?

We can help, you can use the comments below or visit: Contact us.

When you ride your bike to a local business and there’s no bike rack, do you find the manager and explain to them that you would appreciate a bike rack near their business? Success builds on success, sometimes starting with one rack, or corral in one parking lot at a time.

More towns, cities, and counties nationwide are discovering the sustainability and profitability of cycling friendly environs.

It’s a sea change all right, and a welcome one at that.
Jump in, the water’s great!
-John

Road Repair – mastery of the mechanical – March 3, 10:30AM

admin — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:12:16 +0000

It's not a hard as it looks! Honest.

Gain the confidence you need to venture forth anytime you feel like it. Basic repair skills can be mastered by anyone, and result in a better maintained bike, too.
Bring you bike and get ready for free hands on instruction in flat repair, rear wheel removal, gear and brake adjustment, and more.

You’ll need tire levers, small screw driver, 5, 6,7, & 8mm allen wrenches, and if you have nutted hubs instead of quick release a 15mm box end wrench. You should also carry a spare tube, pump (or at least CO2 inflators), and a patch kit. Discounted tools and supplies will be available if you need them. Class counts toward completion of TS 101 course.

Location: Urban Bicycle Outfitters, 1900 N. El Camino Real (1 blk north of Pico), San Clemente. Call Pete 949 492 573 to reserve – limit 10 students.

Thanks O.C.! Nearly 1,000 TdF fans viewed Chasing Legends…

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:43:46 +0000

Limited posters available at the event!

…and their contributions help OCBC make Orange County a better place to ride!

The Video is now on Sale. Check out the trailer now.

Chasing Legends gives you cycling heroes as you’ve never seen them before, through an intense and personal glimpse inside the most winning professional cycling team as told by legendary riders, current and past.

92 uninterrupted minutes of lung searing action.

Using a multitude of high tech, high def cameras mounted on bikes, motorcycles, helicopters and team cars, Gripped Films will also include historical race footage, artistic travelogue of the European countryside and villages with narration from the voice of cycling for the USA, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.

Commentary from Eddy Merckx, Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen, Jens Voigt, Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Mark Cavendish and many others. Chasing Legends highlights today’s greatest professional cyclists with a dramatic show of teamwork and panache from Team HTC-Columbia through the 2009 Tour de France– an absolutely epic ride into the race action.