Trying out new bicycle lanes

Or rather, trying out new bicycle lane material.

Some time ago I had the opportunity to test ride new bicycle lane material, that SP Sveriges Tekniska Forskningsinstitut/SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden are working with. The test was done at AstaZero's testing grounds, about twelve kilometres from the city of Borås. Before the test all the participants had to sign a contract of secrecy, and we were forbidden to take photos of the inside the grounds. But Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb has always fought for freedom of the press, for less secretiveness and for the public's right to know, so I will break the contract and tell you all about it! I also snuck in a camera and took photos during the test, in secrecy, when the test conductors looked away!

No, seriously I asked one of the test conductors if I could write something about it here, asked her a couple of questions which she replied to and she also included some photos. Thanks Ena! All I had to do in return was to tell you that there were two test conductors, Ena Cupina and Martin Arvidsson, and that all the photos were taken by Ena Cupina. And as you can see in the photos there even was a news reporter and a camera man from a TV station there so, the test really wasn't that secret. What is secret is, of course, the compounds and materials they are working with.

So, there were five types of bicycle lane materials or, to be precise, five different compounds being tested and the goal of the test was to get opinions of how the lanes feel to ride on. This opportunity was the winter test, and it will be followed by a summer test later on. The compunds were tested for different aspects: how they felt when accelerating and riding, how they worked when you brake, how they felt when turning and swinging and "general feel". The only real miss that the test conductors did was being out too late when finding test participants, just two days ahead, so there were only twelve participants there. On the other hand the test took longer than anticipated and it got a little bit stressful at the end, so maybe that was only good. A more even mix of women and men would of course have been preferable too, but then (almost) all the participants were keen bicycle riders who know how a good bicycle lane should look and feel.

This is really important work, for the safety of bicyclists everywhere, so I am really happy to have had this opportunity and I look forward to seeing the results out "in the real world".

 Me being interviewed by the news team.

 A wintery landscape. This was some weeks ago, but by the coast spring was already on its way.

 

 Me being asked questions by Martin Arvidsson.

 To the left you can see my favourite lane compound. It looks a bit different, which I think is really good, because it would mean that eventually people would start recognising this as a bicycle lane, and not walk on it or park their car on it.

All the participants and one of the test conductors - ten mamils (including me), two women and one normal guy!

Ride safe!

Helkama White Power

Being politically correct really isn't something that Finnish bother much with. We would say that the Finnish are neither more nor less prejudiced or ignorant than anyone else, we simple bother less to use terms that are certain to not offend anyone. That said, should you be offended by something a Finnish person has said you don't have to hesitate telling her or him so. He or she will not have said it to hurt you, will have a very pragmatic attitude towards it all, will apologise and stop using the word. This is generally speaking of course, there is sexism, racism and homophobia in Finland, just as in most, if not all, countries. (So maybe we can skip the whole discussion about prejudice in Finland here. This is, after all, a bicycle blog.)

Probably, however, it wasn't a sod it-attitude towards political correctness that caused the Finnish bicycle brand Helkama to name one of their models...

(We borrowed this picture from the album "Welcome to Finland" on imgur. Hope that's OK!)

Most likely it was a case of the marketing department not being really aware of what this term could mean. This model came in the early 1990's, a time when a negligible share of the people in Finland were foreigners and when the internet was pretty much unheard of. Still... Wow.

Ride safe!

Giant ATX 777, part 2

Or "The end". Every bicycle has a story, but sadly this bicycle's story ends here.

After having reported it to the lost propery office of the police, waited three months and having gotten a letter stating the bicycle was mine I got to work on it. With a liberal spraying with anti-rust spray, the use of force and a list of swearwords I managed to get the pedals and the crankset off. A couple of days later I took the bike with me to the Cykelköket bike kitchen and, again with liberal spraying with anti-rust spray, the use of force and with the help of a Greek guy I managed to get the bottom bracket out too. (Never spray anti-rust spray on a bottom bracket that you plan to use!)

Then I could measure the distance from the bottom bracket shell to the rear dropouts with a piece of string, and state the the frame was actually bent. The left side was about three millimetres shorter than the right side, and there was a crack in the chainstay that looked quite worrying too. Too bad, because I was starting to like this frame! It was aluminium so it was very light, and though white is a terrible choice for bicycle frames (they start looking dirty within minutes) the frame felt like it could be a lot of fun.

But that's just the way it is. So:

Adieu, Anonymous Giant ATX 777!

 The crack in the chainstay.

Nope, it's not OK anymore.

Ride safe!

Hooray!

This is our favourite motorised vehicle in the whole world.

The City of Gothenburg (or, rather it subcontractors) has begun to clear the roads and the bicycle lanes of the gravel that has been lying in heaps all over. Hooray! It's spring and our première ride shouldn't be far away now!

Ride safe!

(Car) Dooring

(We borrowed this picture from melbourne cyclist. Hope that's OK!)

Today we would like to discuss a very important, and very dangerous, topic: (Car) Dooring. Yesterday we read about Alberto Paulon, an Italian chef, who died a little over a year ago, in Melbourne, Australia, after being doored.

Alberto Paulon and his fiancée at the time, Cristina Canedda. (We borrowed this picture from The Age. Hope that's OK!)

Alberto Paulon was riding his bicycle in the bicycle lane, when a motorist swung open the car door right in front of him, he hit the door, was thrown under a truck driving next to him and died lying on the street.

We have nearly been car doored a couple of times. Thankfully we haven't had any real accidents and hopefully we won't have any either. But motorists or passengers swinging their car doors open without looking is potentially life threatening, and being near that happening is enough to get your heart racing a little.

As cyclists there isn't that much we can do, without having to be sticklers for the letter of the law, or just quite annoying people. We can train our reflexes and powers of reaction. We can tell motorists that they should always check their mirrors before exiting (or look around before entering) their vehicles, if they're doing it while we're passing. And we can try to influence our politicians to spend more money on safe bicycle lanes and tell officials about dangerous places, where this phenomenon occurs or could occur. Because it really is better to be annoying than dead.

Ride safe! And spread this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMooBzAUyKY

The cyclist in this video reacts exemplary. Our reactions have included swearing, shouting and/or flipping the bird. Because we have gotten scared. (We borrowed this picture from youtube. Hope that's OK!)

International Women's Day

Today is the 8th of March - International Women's Day. Our day began with reading a man praising all women on a (Swedish) bicycle forum:

"Your beauty embellish each day and each night.... You're always there, by our side, in any weather, or when we come home from a bicycle ride.... " he wrote. And ended his post with a picture of a woman in shorts straddling a fixie.

Some, both women and men, thought that this was a pretty weird way of marking the International Women's Day and posted sarcastic replies. Then some men got offended, going "You feminists are all the same, always accusing men. Not all men are bad!" completely missing the point that this it is all about a patriarchal structure, and we are all affected by it. The man posting the first comment replied "No, it's not my wife on the picture, she's indeed just as beautiful, but the problem is finding a bicycle picture of her, unfortunately she doesn't share this interest with me, but she fully supports it, there's always a cold beer, some good food and sometimes a masage (sic!) waiting when I come home from my rides....!" Some people just don't seem to get it, do they?

He got more sarcastic replies, more men felt offended. (It's epidemic how people seem to feel offended nowadays.) So the man replied "She has cooking and baking as one of her biggest interests, I have the impression that she's quite pleased with what she has achieved, and will achieve in her life, and I try to support her in her interests and goals as much as I possibly can. Furthermore she has the fantastic quality of liking to please her husband, which I like doing for her too. We have the common opinion that the difference between man and woman is something that should be preserved and taken care of" and so on. And accused a women posting one of the sarcastic remarks of being bitter. Some people really don't seem to get it, do they?

Well, fortunately, that's not all that we found today. We found three great initiatives and inspirational people that we would like to tip you about:

World Bicycle Relief. It's not an organisation specifically for women, but it is just fantastic how something as simple as a bicycle can help women go to school, start a small business or provide healthcare. More people should support this.

Charity Msendo with her sturdy Buffalo Bicycle. (We borrowed this picture from World Bicycle Relief. Hope that's OK!)

Cycles Lady. Should you feel the need to be inspired when it comes to riding bikes, this is a great place to find it. Blogger/photographer Alena Chendler is extremely talented, and seem to know a lot of cool women who ride all kinds of bicycles.

(We borrowed this picture from Cycles Lady. Hope that's OK!)

And then, when you have gotten some inspiration, there's Bago Studio, run by Kellie Mobbs. Bago Studio makes clothes that are for cycling, traveling, hiking, dancing and everyday exploring, according to herself. Kellie Mobbs is extremely talented as well, and while the weather up here in the North really doesn't match her clothes very well at the moment, there will be a summer here too, eventually.

(We borrowed this picture from Bago Studio. Hope that's OK!)

Happy International Women's Day. Ride safe!

Our road racing season 2016, part 4

Things are changing. Parts of Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb have now entered the

Göteborgsgirot, 140 km, on the 7th of May

(We borrowed this picture from Göteborgsgirot. Hope that's OK!)

instead of the 70 km long Stadsgirot. We entered a kind of contest where you got a voucher to enter a race of your choice (of all the Göteborgsgirot options) and in a fit of hubris we registered for the 140 km version. We don't recall having ever ridden more than 82 kilometres in one go, and we have never had the opportunity of having a coach, so we have absolutely no idea how it will go but... Hey, let's do this!

And then the Nationaldagsloppet race (or rather the organisers of the race) have decided to not run it this year, "for different and good reasons". They don't write what these reasons are on the homepage, but we have no choice but to believe them. Anyway it's a real pity, because we really liked this race and looked forward to entering the 104 km race this year.

Oh well. Things change, and progress is always a good thing. If you want to find what races are going on around you go here (Swedish only).

Ride safe!