Baltimore bike folks,

All this summer the Abell Improvement Association is running a free film series, showing movies in our little neighborhood park on Friday nights. This Friday (July 11th) we’ll be showing “The Triplets of Belleville” in honor of the high proportion of bicyclists in our neighborhood, the desire to increase that number, the fact that Bastille Day is around the corner, and the Tour just started. It’s a silly animated movie, although not quite appropriate for kids.

While the movies are being put on by the Abell Improvement Association and are intended for those members, I thought that some members of Baltimore ’s bicycling community might be interested in knowing about it. The film will be preceded by some shorts for children and projection will probably start around 8:45 p.m. this Friday (Saturday if it rains out Friday night) in the Abell Open Space on 32nd Street between Guilford and Abell Avenues.

The Triplets of Belleville
Abell Open Space
Friday, July 11th (Saturday if rained out)
Kid’s short films start at dusk (around 8:45 p.m.)

[Note I am placing this in the Bike Metro section as the Laural trail head is just a few miles from the B&A Trail and the Full ICC Trail will be a wonderful resource for Balto area bicyclist just as the B&A trail is.]

Please make your voices heard at the July 10th Montgomery County Planning Board hearing on the Intercounty Connector Trail! Let them know you do not want any sections of the trail to be eliminated from the county master plan! If you can\'t testify, please send letters and emails to the Planning Board and cc the County Council. See contact info at the bottom of this message.

In what would be a very short-sighted decision, the Planning Board may forever eliminate important sections of the planned trail along the Intercounty Connector highway by removing them from the county master plan. The Planning Department (led by the Board) is making the argument that the trail would cause irreparable environmental damage in natural park areas, despite the six-lane highway next door! Incredibly, this is the same Planning Board that endorsed the highway in 2005. Staff is saying the trail may be the \"straw that breaks the camel\'s back\", ignoring the tons of highway the camel will already be carrying.

The Planning Board would replace the removed sections of trail with sidepaths along busy roads, including New Hampshire Avenue, East Randolph Road, Fairland Road, Briggs Chaney Road, Bonifant Road and Notley Road. The detours are circuitous and force trail users to cross several major intersections and countless streets and driveways where cyclists must be extremely careful. That is inappropriate for a trail meant to serve inexperienced riders and families, and it undermines the promised transportation value.

Removing this trail from the master plan would be a death knell, making it extremely difficult to ever finish the trail even 20 years from now, when gas prices have hit $12 a gallon and global warming has ruined sensitive areas the size of Alaska. Even if the ICC trail isn\'t built right away, we MUST keep the entire route in the master plan. Highways attract development and employment sites that must be served by good bike routes. Just imagine if I-270 had a parallel bike path. That highway was also planned to have a path, but it too was canceled -- by the state -- 20 years ago.

Trails through parks and along highways were planned to be the skeleton of the county bike trail network, providing efficient mobility for cyclists by virtue of their length and location away from street crossings and traffic lights. The ICC trail was meant to be the backbone of that skeleton, linking together many north-south trails. Unfortunately the Planning Board has removed several park trails from the master plan over the years. This trend must stop.

The worst and longest detour being discussed is the one circumventing the Paint Branch Stream Valley Park. This would eliminate three miles of trail and replace it with five miles of detours. But trail impacts in that region have not even been studied. Changing a master plan should never be done without adequate study. Please insist that the Planning Board fully study the trail (how to build it, not just why we shouldn\'t) for ALL the detour sections.

There is a lot of debate as to where a bicycle commuter should position themselves in relation to the road. New bike commuters, especially, are often intimidated by riding in the road and often choose something that isn’t necessarily the safest place. Here are the top two:

* Sidewalk - While the odds of you getting hit from behind diminish greatly, there are other dangers that come into play.
o Drivers are not looking for fast moving objects on the sidewalks so when you come to a cross street there is a good chance you’ll get hit by a turning car.
o Sidewalks are available for pedestrians and, in many states, it’s illegal for bicycles to ride on them.
o You are forced to (and should) go extremely slow. Besides dealing with turning cars and pedestrians, you are riding are surfaces that are not maintained for traffic and often have other obstacles to deal with.

* The extreme right side of the road - In my opinion this is the most dangerous place you can ride. You are risking two dangers:
o Cars will repeatedly try to squeeze by you in the same lane and will almost always come very close to you which, obviously, increases your chance of getting hit.
o The Peek-a-boo bike. Picture two cars approaching. The second car is following closely to the first. As the first car moves to miss you, it is seen by the second car as merely drifting in the lane since the car isn’t moving that much out of the way. The second car doesn’t realize you are in the road until it is to late.

Because of the above dangers and contrary to many people’s “common sense”, the best thing for a bike commuter to do is claim the lane. I ride at least a third of the way into the lane and, around curves, I roll right down the middle.

Here’s the top five reasons why I started claiming the lane (and why you should to):

The following link is about Maureen Becker's request for secure bike lockers at a MTA station. While a lot of kudos goes to MTA for being so cooperative there is a story behind the story and that's the State law which calls for the state to remove barriers between bicycling and mass transit. Thanks to the effort of One Less Car this initiative made it into law.

...
City officials say that the moves are part of a policy of putting the needs of its residents and businesses before those of suburban commuters and that they are trying to create a walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented metropolis.

Like New York, London, Stockholm and Portland, Ore., District officials said, the city is reclaiming its streets for the people who live there. With billions of dollars invested in the Metro system, there are plenty of ways for commuters to get into the city without bringing exhaust-spewing vehicles with them, officials said.

The city's population practically doubles on workdays because of the influx of federal and other workers. And about 15 million visitors a year come to the city, almost 75 percent by auto, according to AAA.

"This is not about being anti-car, but increasing vehicles into the District is not a sustainable strategy for the city," said Emeka C. Moneme, director of the District Department of Transportation. "We want to encourage transit use, biking and walking."

Improving pedestrian safety is a priority for the city. The District has higher pedestrian death rates than New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles, with 2.7 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Pedestrian injuries rose from 586 in 2000 to 725 in 2006. District officials said the city's broad avenues create wide expanses of asphalt that make it difficult or intimidating for pedestrians to cross.
[Note: Baltimore pedestrian death rate is 2.5 and 856 injuries in 2006]
...

From: Amber Blake

Hello!

My bike was stolen from the garage at the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. It is an electric blue Orbea, with silver writing. (Road Bike), it has a carbon fiber fork, black handle bar tape, Dura-Ace components.
If anyone sees it can you please contact me? It's not your run of the mill bike so it will be pretty easy to spot.

I have video footage of the guy stealing the bike, and he left a bike he rode in on with his prints all over it (unlocked) in the garage. The city police wont look at the footage (Bldg security put it on a flash drive for them), nor will they dust the bike he left for prints. The value of the bike makes the crime a felony (grand theft -bicycle).
Also, if anyone has any suggestions as to what other steps I should take please let me [us] know.

Thanks!

Amber Blake

Greetings, I have really enjoyed riding with BBC and the Glenelg Gang over the last many years. I started my own Home Theater Interior company a couple of years ago in 2005 and developed the best product for the lowest price in the entire consumer electronics industry. If you want to create a better sounding room for your music, our ClassicA Acoustic panels may be the answer and more important than spending much more money than they cost on equipment. If you want to convert a drywall room or finished basement into an incredible place to hang out with your family and friends, and to watch the Tour in glory, check out what we do for a complete room package on our website at www.athometheaterrooms.com. I sell my products through consumer electronic dealers but I will pass along their cost to any local cyclists which will give me additional local installations for marketing photo's and support my local cycling community. Email me at sales@athometheaterrooms.com or call me at 410-707-0659. Thank you, Stuart.

The New York Cycle Club, a 1,600+ member organization, located in New York City, is conducting a worldwide bicycle accident survey. The results will be published as part of a cycling risk assessment study that will be made freely available to the public at the conclusion of the survey. It is for education and advocacy purposes. The survey contains dozens of data points and its design is streamlined to have folks get through the survey as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Please consider entering one or more accident survey responses. The more responses, the more meaningful the results will be. Thank you.

Here is the link: http://www.nycc.org/ras/

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Peter O'Reilly

Thanks to One Less Car

http://onelesscar.org/resources_mdbikemap.php