Month: May 2008

Biking in Astoria

Straight out of L.A.

I’m back in Astoria, glory to God. What grade would I give LA? A gentleman’s C at best. Some nice bike racks, though. I also enjoyed the mural on the Farmer John meat processing plant. Not only is it many stories tall, but it goes all the way around this very large building. Such happy…
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David Byrne falls off his bike

Falling off your bike and cracking your ribs sucks. Here’s David Byrne’s account: 05.16.2008: You drank too much and fell of your bike “You drank too much and fell off your bike” could be the title of a drawing by David Shrigley. But in this case, it actually happened to me after meeting Shrigley for…
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A friend for a day in L.A.

I often wonder why I write this blog. It doesn’t pay. And I really do have better things to do. But I love biking and bikes. And now three times, this blog has actually done something for me. 1) I met a bunch good people at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette through this blog and (unrelated…
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Bike L.A.

I’m in L.A. It sucks. L.A. sucks. I don’t like the city. Never have. I don’t like the car culture. I don’t have friends here. But my parents moved to Santa Monica about five years ago so I’m here every so now and then. My father’s health is bad and getting worse, so I’ll probably…
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What’s your problem?

The New York Times is soliciting bike questions for Joshua Benson, the bicycle program coordinator for NYC’s Department of Transportation. I already got mine in about my issues with Queensboro Bridge access. I hope he answers it!

12 Dutchmen were on a bike…

…on one bike. Check this out:This and other great old dutch bike pictures can be found on Andre Koopman’s photostream.

So I was letting the air out of a tire of a car stopped at a red light…

I asked a half dozen or so NYPD about my bit of street justice. Get this: not one of them could think of any crime I committed! A few other items of note: 1) If I were on private property, they could definitely get me for something. But I wasn’t. 2) They too mentioned that…
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Bike Balto

Putting the charm back in Charm City, Baltimore is becoming more bike friendly. Having lived and loved in Baltimore from 1999 to 2001, I can attest that the city is a good biking town that isn’t very bike friendly. I lived and commuted by bike and without a car there for the first 6 months.…
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NYC bike

In a comment, Carlos DJ writes: Hey Astoria Bike, I’m sure you get emails like this all the time. I just moved to astoria (close to astoria park) and wanted to get back into biking. I haven’t biked since the early 90’s when i was in high school so I’m quite outdated. Do you have…
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Even more Vigilantism

There’s a not too great article in the Times about cars parking in bike lanes. But what is great is that a group of vigilantes have started to spay paint no car stencils in bike lanes. Power to the people. I wish there were a single bike lane I rode on. Then I could complain…
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