Triomphe de l'Auto?

Generally I found Paris to be a very bicycle friendly city. However, the (probably) biggest road in Paris, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is still invested by cars. They are loud, stinky and the come in large numbers. I walked along the whole 2 km stretch, from the Place de la Concorde to the Place Charles de Gaulle (with the famous Arc de Triomphe).

The city as playground

I don't see many teenagers around here riding bicycles. Are they (or their parents) too afraid? Is it not necessary to get around because public transport is good enough (or parents drive them around)? Or is it just not cool to do so?

I remember being made fun of by other kids when I cycled to and from the grammar school in the neighboring town. Maybe it was because I didn't attend the extended elementary school in my town as most kids did (Hauptschule in German, a school from 10-14, but without a general qualification for university entrance -- see Wikipedia for an explanation). But actually I believe it was because of that stupid looking bicycle helmet that my mum made me wear. The "bicycle helmet fashion" in my area started in the early 90s, and the first helmets were really really ugly and uncomfortable. It created a very negative image of cycling amongst young people.

Better motivations for kids to cycle are those fancy trial riders, e.g. Danny MacAskill from the Inspired Bicycles Team in Edinburgh:


Cycling is really fun, and can be very challenging and cool if need be :).

Cycling makes you more intelligent!

Well, this isn't something I have cooked up. I read it in the news today: "Sich bewegen bringt doppelt Segen" (to take exercise is a double blessing). The article is based on a scientific study carried out in Sweden and claims that sport increases intelligence and slows down aging.

by Kevin Saunders

For more details see the article "Cardiovascular fitness is associated with cognition in young adulthood" (2009, abstract, full text). I just copied some of the results:

"During early adulthood, a phase in which the central nervous system displays considerable plasticity and in which important cognitive traits are shaped, the effects of exercise on cognition remain poorly understood. We performed a cohort study of all Swedish men born in 1950 through 1976 who were enlisted for military service at age 18 (N = 1,221,727). [...] Physical fitness and intelligence performance data were collected during conscription examinations and linked with other national databases for information on school achievement, socioeconomic status, and sibship. [...] Cardiovascular fitness, as measured by ergometer cycling, positively associated with intelligence after adjusting for relevant confounders [...] In contrast, muscle strength was not associated with cognitive performance. Cross-twin cross-trait analyses showed that the associations were primarily explained by individual specific, non-shared environmental influences (≥80%), whereas heritability explained less than 15% of covariation. Cardiovascular fitness changes between age 15 and 18 y predicted cognitive performance at 18 y. Cox proportional-hazards models showed that cardiovascular fitness at age 18 y predicted educational achievements later in life. These data substantiate that physical exercise could be an important instrument for public health initiatives to optimize educational achievements, cognitive performance, as well as disease prevention at the society level."

So let our young people cycle (to school)!

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.

Are you a bike punk?

What actually is a bike punk?
A punk that bikes? Is that all? Is it about anarchy on the road? I don't think so. Is it a guy/girl that rides a fixie with spoke cards and that plays bike polo on the weekends? Far too stereotypical (e.g. mountain and road bikes are also commonly used), but getting close I suppose..

"hard court bike polo" by "kitty meets goat"

Do you have to (re)build your bike yourself to be part of the crowd? I guess that helps as it's also about creativity and spending little money. Are only bike couriers allowed? And what about clothing? Punk-like clothing I'd say. But is that all? Or is it not that at all?

How to be a bike punk?
Yes, there is even a funny How-to on the internet! So let's see what I fulfill:

• buy a bike and value it almost as much as your own life: done
  
• get committed: done, no car
• bicycle safety: learned, so fine
• bicycle as the primary form of transportation: what else?
  
• cycle in rain and sunshine: easy-peasy
  
• attend critical mass (see what that is here): if possible
  
• unique clothing: well, kind of, but probably still too mainstream
• ...
  

Hm, I don't own a fixie though, and I yet don't have any cards in my spokes (but a sticker on my top tube that says "one less car" -- does that count?). I also never played bike polo. Therefore I wouldn't consider myself as bike punk. But all of that is not mentioned in the how-to anyway. So maybe I am a bike punk sensu lato ;-). What about you?

Well, honestly, who really gives a shit? Whatever you are, cycle on!

I found that cool redo of the Clash cover on the Three Basics blog

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!

Kirschblütenrennen

Last weekend a special bicycle race took place here in Upper Austria. It is called Kirschblütenrennen (cherry blossom race) and I think it is one of the oldest races still run in my region.

In 1984 it was the first bicycle race I had ever seen. I must admit that it didn't impress me much. I was rather bored by standing around at the road side, watching colorfully dressed men riding up a hill. Albeit it was a very steep hill, so what?

Years later, in my first season of bicycle racing, I happened to enter the race with the scope of experience of two or three races earlier that year, and I was ill-prepared for this one: To my surprise the hill had to be crossed twice. I fell back behind the peloton in the first climb and abandoned in the second. On Sunday I had a kind of flashback, especially when watching 12- to 15-year-old boys and girls merely flying up to the mountain standing with amazing speed.

Streifenhörnchen

Last Saturday I entered and finished my first Brevet over a distance of 200km. Brevets are long distance bicycle rides from 200km up to 1400km. Despite they're not races, Brevets are bike sports. There is no winner and for the most entrants the ride time comes second as long as they finish in time (e.g. 13 hours for 200km, which is easily to achieve on a road bike under fair conditions). Famous European brevets are Paris – Brest – Paris and London – Edinburgh – London.

66 entrants waiting for the start.

In Austria brevets over distances from 200km up to 1000km are held, start and finish are near my hometown Linz (about 20km south of my home, so I can easily get there by bike). The routes of the Austrian events are quite challenging, leading through the lovely landscape of the Salzkammergut and over several mountain passes.

Salzkammergut – a nice region to relax in your holiday. Or to take pains on your bike.

The weather was fine that day, so I am beginning to look like road cyclists use to when being tanned while riding in the sunshine. So you may call me „Streifenhörnchen“ (chipmonk; "Streifen" is the German term for "stripe").

Soon I'm gonna look like this.