Green Bikes visit Linz

On Sunday at 7 am the Green Bikes Tour arrived at Linz to stay here for a couple of days (I already wrote about the project earlier). Yesterday at noon the tour went on to Vienna where they'll arrive on Saturday. Most of the 25 participants came by bus across the alps, other ones joined the tour in Linz and came from Szopron, Hungary, by bike. After ten days of riding in the rain in Italy and Slovenia, it was rainy in Linz, too. Sorry folks!

My cycling organization helped the tour here in Upper Austria with accommodation, meals, workshop, and all kinds of other stuff. Since I did most of the work I had some busy days (on Saturday, with Anna's help I managed to buy lots of food for nearly 30 people without a car), but I met really nice people, learned some interesting things at the workshops (especially one in a village near Linz on spatial planning, revitalization of rural areas, and re-naturalization of the landscape) and had a lot of fun!

I didn't take any photos by myself, so I may refer to the official GBfP - website. It will be updated soon! And I'm sure Adam, Tomas, and all the other cyclists will be happy about comments!

Bike vs. car: a short alleycat race in the rush hour

Mr. E. Wagner is a publisher of city maps, hiking guide books and other things of this kind. Last fall I worked for him to revise the new edition of the "Eco City Traffic Map Linz" which features bike lanes, bike paths, one-way directions, secret paths for pedestrians and more useful information.

Last Thursday Mr. Wagner asked me to accept the challenge of a short alleycat race through Linz, bicycle vs. car. My competitors were the editors of the local online newspaper www.linzerleben.at, Mrs. G. Winter and Mr. C. Savoy. Checkpoints were at a drugstore in the northeast of Linz and a post office in the center, the endpoint was a bookstore near the center too.

Since my opponents relied on their navigation system, I could take the lead from the start. I must admit, I went a little faster than I usually do when I go to work or the like, therefor I sweat a little more, but my opponents weren't able to gain the lead again. The traffic of the afternoon rush hour did the rest. After 7 kilometers (a little more than 4.3 miles) I won with a clear margin of 10 minutes.

After the heat: maff, Mr. Wagner, Mrs. Winter
(by courtesy of www.linzerleben.at)

A german article and more pictures can be found here.

Bikes on cars

Well, sometimes it is legitimate to transport your bike on your car's roof or back. But many cyclists of the Lycra-fraction are such lazybones! Why do they go cycling by car? I live at the city limit, so I can observe them every weekend (at least when the weather is fine and warm). Parking lots full of cars with number plates of this area, equipped with bike racks to carry those full-suspension thingies around. Linz isn't that big that one couldn't make it out of it by bike. Cycling in the city isn't that dangerous (I would say it is less dangerous than sharing a single trail with a horde of weekend warriors :D ), and particularly on weekends the road traffic is quite low.

Bikes like this I usually put into my backpack.

My parents use to transport their bikes inside the car whenever possible, because bikes on cars increase aerodynamic resistance and fuel consumption significantly. There are always some old blankets in the trunk to avoid messing the interior of the car.

Velosophie 2.0

Yesterday the fourth velosophie magazine was published. That's a funky and free magazine dealing with bicycle culture in Austria that was established last year. The online versions are available here (in German). Hard copies can be found in several bike stores all over Austria. Grab it and read it or simply look at the spacy photographs in there!

In the current issue there is amongst others an interview with Heiner Monheim (who initiated the Radlust campaign in Germany) and one with Luud Schimmelpennink (about shared bike systems in Europe), some news about E-bikes, the cultural capital Linz, cool accessories and bikes for urban cycling, a bike trip through Africa (check out their English website) and so on.

But it gets even better! Yesterday Austria's first bicycle culture community was launched as well. If you're also based here make sure you check out velosophie.at and register yourself. There's also a blog that keeps you informed about bicycles in daily life, bike culture, news etc. My humble self is one of the currently five bloggers. And of course I'm looking forward to learn from different perspectives and have inspiring discussions.

Get involved too and let's work on an outstanding and diverse bike culture in Austria (and everywhere else)!

Subversive fair in Linz

Linz is the European capital of culture 2009, and last weekend a subversive fair (Subversivmesse) took place in the harbor.
Our friends from Vienna's bike kitchen had a stand there, and also had taken their workshop with them to repair, pimp and up-cycle bicycles. My friend Daniela and me joined on Saturday to construct a chopper bike from some old bikes. Special thanks to Max and Oskar from bike kitchen for their support and next time I'll take the chance to build a tall-bike!


On Sunday afternoon some bike competitions took place at the Danube. Sadly I missed bike bungee but was there for tall-bike jousting and bike jump.


I had a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy these pictures!

Better late than never – cycling season opening in Linz

The general esteem of cycling in my hometown can be concluded from bicycle-related events. Last Monday was the official "cycling season" opening. To me, this was almost four months too late. Since I only found it out that day, I didn't have my camera with me when I went there. Well, I didn't miss much. Some speeches by city representatives, and short bicycle tour through the city, where last year's improvements as well as planning for this summer were discussed: some one-way-streets opened for cycling in both directions, parking facilities, and new bike lanes. Nothing really exciting. Almost.

A really nice idea (I already knew from other cities) is a block of notes to be left as just a friendly reminder to motorists illegally parking their vehicles in bike lanes.

Do Not Park In Our Lanes!

Your vehicle is parked on a bike lane and/or footway! This is an offense against the road traffic regulations and can cause an administrative penalty up to € 726 and a towing with cost. In case of repeated disorderly parking you can reckon with a complaint.

I had this dialog with the nice lady in the town hall who was giving away the blocks.

Lady: How many would you like to have?

Me: Two or three, please.

The lady began to tear three sheets from a block.

Me: No, I mean three blocks?

Lady: But this' very much!

Then she gave me one block á 20 sheets.

Me: Thank you so much! This will do for a week!

Sidewalk cycling and bicycle infrastructure

I never cycle on sidewalks. Not only because I'm not allowed to. Even more, because I think it's way to dangerous. Firstly, it is dangerous for pedestrians cause cyclists are much faster than them. The speed of cars on the road is much closer to the one of cyclists than the pedestrians' speed is (<5 km/h). But it's also more likely for cyclists to get hit by cars. Why, you ask? Well, car drivers don't expect cyclists on sidewalks and easily overlook them when they turn. And even if everybody would watch out, sometimes it would still be impossible to see each other (e.g. if there is a line of parked cars in between). Turning cars are a threat, no matter if they come from ahead or behind. You can only avoid such accidents if you ride really slow and completely stop at each intersection. But that's not very energy efficient and slow. So why cycle on a sidewalk in the first place? Just don't do it. On the road you are much more visible to car drivers - hence safer - and also much faster :-).

Well, as I already mentioned, in Austria we are not allowed to cycle on the sidewalk. But we have bike paths (one-way or both ways) on sidewalks. And there are also a lot of so-called "combined foot and bike paths" that are for both pedestrians and cyclists (either separated by a line or not). And some of this constructions are just as dangerous as cycling on sidewalks. Unfortunately I'm forced to use them (if one has a road bike s/he doesn't have to cycle there, but I don't have one). Sometimes they are an advantage, e.g. if it is a short cut that I couldn't use otherwise, but they are a huge disadvantage and risk if they are just built to keep the road bicycle-free.



Combined foot and bike paths: The left picture clearly shows a short cut. One has to ride slow and watch out for pedestrians, but it might be an advantage. It's in Linz, where many combined foot and bike paths exist. The right picture shows a combined foot and bike path in Vienna (just the little bit where my bike stands). What you don't see is that cars have 4 lanes in each direction! And cyclists have to share a space with pedestrians that's even so small, that two pedestrians can't get by very well. The tragedy about it: due to our traffic regulations I have to use this combined foot and bike path and can't cycle on the car lanes! And this is an arterial road in the middle of Vienna (Gürtel at Volksoper, for those who know it). It's a real shame to call something like that a bike path and add it to the ~1000km of bike lanes in Vienna that the city council is so proud of. I don't know who plans bike paths like this, but it surely wasn't a cyclist.

A lot of accidents between cyclists and cars/trucks in the city happen on bike paths and bike path crossings because cyclists are not visible to car drivers there, but still feel safe (although they aren't). In addition, most car drivers don't shoulder check, what makes it even more risky. For truck drivers it's even more difficult to see you since they can only use their mirrors - never ever stop right beside a truck at an intersection! Last year many cyclists have died this way - overran by a turning secondary car/truck on a bike path (crossing).

Don't get me wrong. I do like bike paths out of the town, but generally not in the town itself because there are way to many dangerous junctions. Ok, it's not a natural law that they are dangerous, but due to bad traffic planning, dense housing and illegal parking a lot of them are. In the city I prefer sufficiently wide (!) bike lanes on the road because there I'm visible to car drivers and much safer. Or even better, low speed limits and many restricted areas (30 km/h zones, residential streets and such) with no bike lanes at all. And a few bike paths beside busy and important roads with a lot of (heavy) motor traffic. Appropriate bicycle infrastructure meets the hierarchy of the road.

Another bad example of a bike path in both (!) directions. How small might it be? 1-1.2 meters? Do you think that two cyclists can pass each other? Compare it to the car lanes next to it and form an opinion yourself. There are 4 of them in each direction - the location is close to the previous picture. At this particular spot you can even see 5 lanes. Well, space has to be saved somewhere, doesn't it? I just don't get why they built a bike path there in the first place. To get the road bicycle-free I suppose.. Also note that cyclists and turning car drivers have to be really careful at this bike path crossing to not interfere with each other. Such designs bear extra potential for conflicts rather than avoiding them.

If you want to see some good examples of bike paths you must go to Copenhagen or Amsterdam etc. Maybe I sound a little bit to pessimistic - but in Vienna there are hardly any. But ok, I will take some pictures of well-designed bicycle infrastructure in the future too, I promise ;-).

Do bicycles really die?

On Saturday Maff and I went to a party of our friends in Linz. Currently they are collecting old and broken bicycles to build some tall bikes. They get the bicycles from scrapyards and such for free. Some of them are still in good condition, sometimes even only have a flat tire as far as I could see that. It's sad that people throw such bikes away.. But well, I'm actually quite happy this time. Usually I don't have a bicycle in Linz. Sometimes I bring mine on the train, but in the new "railjet" train sets bicycle transport was cancelled and I have less opportunities now (very future-oriented, aren't they?). So I saw this bicycle on Saturday in their basement:

Radiant "Touring Sport" (the pink ladies' bicycle in the front)

It doesn't work yet, but it's still in good shape. From what I have seen so far, it only has a flat tire, the rear brake doesn't work and the rear fender is broken. The lights are also demolished. I don't know whether the gearshift is working. We will try to fix it this evening and see how far we get. Would be really nice to have a bicycle in Linz too. Even if it's just for a short time before they continue to use it for a tall bike..

A few hints for cycling in the winter, part 3: cycling

Let's come to the last part about winter cycling, namely cycling itself. Is it more dangerous? Is it more difficult? That's something I can't answer generally. It depends on the road conditions. If they are dry it is no different to cycling in the summer. If the road is wet, then you could compare it to cycling in the rain. The other possibilities are snow, mud and ice. Snow is not a big deal if it's fresh and less than 15cm. Riding on mud requires more skills – it is slippery, wet and dirty. Ice is a topic on it's own. The biggest problem there is that sometimes it is difficult to see it.

Here are a few things you might want to think about if you cycle on “winter roads” (wet, muddy, snow covered, icy):

• start your trip a few minutes earlier than usual
• turn on your lights also at bad weather conditions and not just at night
• use your brakes with care and mainly use your rear brake
• be cautious if you have to cross road markings, rails (cross them at a right angle) or cobbled pavement – sometimes I stand up for a better balance
• be aware that generally you can't see sneaky potholes, manholes or edges underneath the snow
• ride rather in the middle of the lane but certainly not too far right (that part generally is not so well plowed and there might be manholes and edges you can't see if they are covered with snow) – it also gives you more space to react
• slow down for turns and try keep your bike upright
• watch out for cars, even more than in good weather conditions, cause they have also problems operating their vehicle and even less time nor sight to watch the traffic (some of them don't even believe that there are still cyclists out there)
• don't use bike lanes or paths if they are in a bad condition, e.g. not plowed (unfortunately, in Vienna, snow clearance often clears the car lane and the sidewalk and just shuffles the extra snow/mud onto bike lanes making it impossible to ride there)
• you may want to ride in lane grooves if the snow is fresh, but sometimes these are the most slippery parts of the road and make it difficult to yield something (try to adapt to the situation, you will find out soon where it is safest to ride)
• if there is ice on the road, don't brake or pedal there and try to keep your bike up straight – if you see it early enough you can also get off your bike and push it for a few meters – once you lost your balance on ice it is impossible to react, and hitting the ground definitely hurts

A cyclist on a bike lane between two car lanes (to some unexperienced cyclists that might seem dangerous – but actually it is one of the safest bike lanes in Vienna cause car drivers are always aware of the cyclists, plus the speed is low)

Well, it is difficult to tell you some tips about cycling in the winter. The most important thing is to start out slow. You will recognize soon what is possible and safe and what isn't. Don't hurry, that's the main thing. Only cycle at a speed at which you feel comfortable and safe. Don't give in to a honking car driver behind you. You have as much right to be on the road and safe as s/he has. If s/he honks it's actually a good sign, cause s/he is aware of you ;-).

Maff enjoys cycling in the snow in Linz