Cycling in Wichita

• In which your correspondent draws a bright line regarding advocacy

  I don't believe I'll be speaking before the City Council on behalf of this idea anytime soon. However, your "cycling as economic stimulus" jokes are welcome. [...]
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  Posted: July 14, 2009, 8:08pm EDT
  

• Very short notice . . .

  Just received this e-mail from Greg Standifer ("gcstandifer AT gmail DOT com"):. . . I wanted to see if you think anyone would be interested in getting together for a city ride tonight. Ryan Duzer, a passionate biker, is riding across America and is making a stop in Wichita today. [...]
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  Posted: July 14, 2009, 1:15pm EDT
  

• Local blog round-up IV (holiday edition)

  First of all, best wishes to all for a happy and safe Fourth of July.
  
  **Some very good news: Via the Coasters Bicycle Club comes this Craigslist ad:some fellow cyclists and I are working on a community bike shop, a non-profit co-op with the goal of promoting [...]
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  Posted: July 03, 2009, 8:55am EDT
  

• Front Porch Cycle Chic: The Delano District as community-state

  The 2003 re-zoning map for the Delano District. Click on the image to enlarge. Image found here.
  
  For this third Front Porch Cycle Chic post (the others--and, be forewarned/forearmed, they are lengthy but not vital to have read for this post--are here and [...]
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  Posted: July 02, 2009, 1:35pm EDT
  

• Open thread #3: We know the bad stuff about the 'burbs . . . but what's good about them?

  No time just now to write a legitimate post on this, but I wanted to bring it to your attention:
  
  Via Streetsblog comes this post from the new-to-me Oklahoma blog imagiNATIVEamerica that asks a simple but genuine question: is there a sympathetic non-fiction treatment of suburban life? Another [...]
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  Posted: July 01, 2009, 7:11am EDT
  

• A quick comment on Waxman-Markey and logic

  Something that visitors here might be interested in reading: Over at good old Blog Meridian, I have a post up on illogical--but sound--reasons for supporting Waxman-Markey (the huge cap-and-trade/renewable energy bill that just passed the House of Representatives. Here's an excerpt:If you've read this blog for a while, you've' [...]
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  Posted: June 30, 2009, 6:06pm EDT
  

• Mr. B. goes to City Hall: A preview

  As I noted a while back, I plan to speak before the City Council on Tuesday, July 7th, during the public agenda portion of the meeting, to ask that the Council consider adopting a Complete Streets policy. What follows are some excerpts from what I'll be saying. As you'll see, [...]
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  Posted: June 28, 2009, 12:21pm EDT
  

• Some quick notes from Janet Miller's District VI coffee

  This morning I attended Janet Miller's end-of-the-month coffee with constituents, held in its new venue of Mead's Corner. The chief order of business was to discuss the city's projected budgetary shortfall of $13 million for the next fiscal year and some of the measures being considered for dealing' [...]
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  Posted: June 27, 2009, 4:42pm EDT
  

• Local blog round-up III (Heat-advisory edition)

  Various things, some of them actually happy, have conspired to keep me from posting this past week; on the other hand, thanks to the Mrs. (a "combination Christmas-birthday-Fathers' Day-anniversary present," she says), I have a new computer monitor! Can you tell?
  
  Anyway. "Summer," as you have no doubt noticed,' [...]
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  Posted: June 27, 2009, 7:46am EDT
  

• Local blog round-up II

  This week's survey of recent and/or interesting posts from local cycling blogs and clubs:
  
  A quiet week last week on the blogging front.
  
  Bicycleptic goes on a ghost hunt--without his bicycle, but wishing he'd taken it with him.
  
  Eddie of Clicks and Whistles commented on this [...]
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  Posted: June 18, 2009, 9:06pm EDT
  

• Heads up

  I'll be requesting time to speak to the City Council about the virtues of Complete Streets at their weekly meeting on Tuesday, June 30 July 7*. It will start at 9:00 a.m. I hope some of you can make it.
  
  ____________
  *I learned this week that the Council' [...]
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  Posted: June 17, 2009, 9:37pm EDT
  

• Announcing the Wichita Bike-Commuter Map project

  A little inspiration: The très-cool logo for the NolaCycle Bike Map Project, a little bit about which below.
  
  Some of you know that today is known as Bloomsday: on this day in 1904, the Irish novelist sets the action of his novel Ulysses. That novel [...]
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  Posted: June 16, 2009, 6:55pm EDT
  

• Turn-of-the-century Topeka Cycle Chic

  Earlier today Randy of Kansas Cyclist, apparently noticing the pictures accompanying the Front Porch Cycle Chic posts, decided to humor me surprised me with an e-mail that had a link to this picture (click the image to enlarge it), from Kansas Memory (a service of the Kansas Historical [...]
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  Posted: June 15, 2009, 10:45pm EDT
  

• Just what are we promoting here?

  (That is, "we" as in "I" and "here" as in this space.)
  
  Over at Carbon Trace recently, Andy has been looking a little more carefully at the vocabulary he employs as an advocate of cycling. In response to my first Front Porch Cycle Chic post, for example, he [...]
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  Posted: June 15, 2009, 8:00am EDT
  

• WAMPOpalooza: More meetings!--a government entity's idea of after-event parties

  Via Jane Byrnes comes the meeting schedule for WAMPO's Metropolitan Transportation Plan Project Advisory Committee (MTP-PAC) and Transportation Policy Body (TPB) for the rest of this year and the first half of 2010. These meetings will concern formulation and discussion of the 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP),' [...]
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  Posted: June 14, 2009, 10:55am EDT
  

• WAMPOpalooza: WAMPO Open house

  [For the curious, my post on the WAMPO-hosted Complete Streets webinar is here.]
  
  Yesterday afternoon's open house was more sparsely attended than the webinar but, to my mind, more reflective of the city: one, for example, runs a business in Old Town and is' [...]
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  Posted: June 12, 2009, 3:10pm EDT
  

• Bike Across Kansas

  I'd missed this nice story in yesterday's Eagle which interviewed some riders as they passed through Towanda on Wednesday.
  
  Nice passage, in keeping with your correspondent's constant linkage between cycling and the fomenting of community (as opposed to cars' insulating, isolating effects):"The great thing about BAK (Bike Across" [...]
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  Posted: June 12, 2009, 11:53am EDT
  

• WAMPOpalooza: Complete Streets webinar

  Image found here.
  
  Yesterday's WAMPO events, the webinar at the City Council chambers and the open house at the Water Center, created in me a strange combination of frustration with the status quo and hope for the future. (Do keep in mind as you read' [...]
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  Posted: June 12, 2009, 8:20am EDT
  

• Local blog round-up

  While trying to fall asleep last night, I thought: Why not try to do for local cycling blogs once a week what Bobby of Douglas and Main does for the entire Wichita blogosphere on a near-daily basis? Surely I can manage once-a-week. So: on Thursdays during the summer, at [...]
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  Posted: June 11, 2009, 7:05am EDT
  

• Two quick reminders, and a new link

  Today, Biking Across Kansas comes to our corner of the Plains--the riders spent the evening in Halstead (on U.S. 50 just west of Newton), and today they will pass through Sedgwick, Furley, Towanda, and El Dorado on the way to tonight's stop at Eureka (here is the Google Map' [...]
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  Posted: June 10, 2009, 6:09am EDT
  

• The daily commute: Things observed and thought II

  The gateway over the new Midtown Bike Path; click on image to enlarge. Via Coasters Bicycle Club).
  
  Thanks to Copenhagen Cycle Chic's and Streetblogs' and Carbon Trace's linking to the "Front Porch Chic" posts, this humble blog had over 300 unique visitors' [...]
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  Posted: June 09, 2009, 7:01pm EDT
  

• Front Porch Cycle Chic: A bicycle on every autarchist's front porch

  [Welcome, visitors from Streetsblog(!), which was kind enough to honor this post with a plug on its current front page [update: and welcome to visitors from Carbon Trace, too]. I hope you enjoy your visit.]
  
  The Roberts and Gregory families, Kentucky, early 20th century. Click [...]
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  Posted: June 07, 2009, 1:10pm EDT
  

• Front Porch Cycle Chic: The revolt against lifestyle

  [Welcome, visitors from Carbon Trace(!) and Copenhagen Cycle Chic(!)--and thanks to Mikael for his kind mention of this post. I hope you enjoy your visit.]
  
  Two people converse next to a high-wheel bicycle at the fence of the first home of Alfred W. Bitting, 259 [...]
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  Posted: June 07, 2009, 12:54am EDT
  

• Some new links you may be interested in

  Pirates' Alley, in New Orleans' French Quarter. Imagine some spaces like this--a mix of shops, restaurants, and residences, through which automobile traffic is severely restricted--in Wichita's downtown, the Delano District, the 21st Street area, etc. A fella can dream, right? Image via the Project for Public' [...]
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  Posted: June 06, 2009, 3:34pm EDT
  

• Douglas & Main bait

  As you can't help but see, we're trying out the John Brown-on-a-bike image as a header for the blog. I've been surprised that each time I've used it, no one has commented on the image; I have no idea what that might mean. Meanwhile, lately I've been wanting to do' [...]
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  Posted: June 06, 2009, 3:33am EDT
  

• Biking Across Kansas coming to town, sort of

  This year's route for Bike Across Kansas. Click image to enlarge. Image from Biking Across Kansas via Kansas Cyclist.
  
  Bike Across Kansas, the state's pre-eminent cross-country cycling event (Randy notes that more than 800 riders will be participating), begins next week. Over at Kansas [...]
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  Posted: June 05, 2009, 3:15pm EDT
  

• June 11: WAMPO (events) Gone Wild!

  Thursday, June 11 has turned into a significant day for anyone interested in the future of Wichita's and Sedgwick County's transportation infrastructure--which is very likely you, if you're visiting this blog. On that day, the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WAMPO) will be hosting two events of' [...]
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  Posted: June 05, 2009, 10:35am EDT
  

• An image to ponder

  UPDATE: Just to make sure no one misses this--and very apropos of this post's subject . . . An anonymous commenter left notice that on June 11 (a week from today) WAMPO will be hosting the Complete Streets webinar I'd mentioned here. It'll be in the City Council' [...]
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  Posted: June 04, 2009, 4:19pm EDT
  

• The daily commute: Things observed and thought

  A sign like this one now appears at the intersection of Mt. Vernon and Market. More about this welcome development below. Image found here.
  
  First in an occasional series . . .
  
  Unless otherwise noted, what follows is a description of my route [...]
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  Posted: June 04, 2009, 1:05pm EDT
  

• Charleston Cycle Chic

  [W]hen more women begin riding, that will signal a big change in attitude, which will prompt further changes in the direction of safety and elegance. I can ride till my legs are sore and it won’t make riding any cooler, but when attractive women are seen sitting upright going about [...]
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  Posted: June 04, 2009, 9:09am EDT
  

• "You better ride, ride, ride, ride/Ride, ride ride awaaaaay": David Byrne talks up cycling's future

  The cover of Pedaling Revolution. Image found here.
  
  Over at Front Porch Republic, fellow Wichitan (and bike-commuter) Russell Arben Fox posts an excerpt from David Byrne's recent New York Times book review of Jeff Mapes' book, Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing [...]
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  Posted: June 03, 2009, 9:58pm EDT
  

• Hither and Yon #4

  I have been away longer than intended. I had intended to spend only the Memorial Day weekend in Topeka but ended up staying until Sunday, helping my father-in-law, as part of a big landscaping project at the in-laws' house, move lots and lots of rocks ranging from "inch-and-a-half" gravel to' [...]
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  Posted: June 02, 2009, 8:05pm EDT
  

• Another sort of Critical Mass?: Some observations regarding last night's Delano Neighborhood Association meeting

  Image found here.
  
  Thanks to Karen (she of Delano Wichita--her post on the meeting is here, by the way) and her kind note in a comment, I attended last night's meeting of the Delano Neighborhood Association (DNA), which had as guests two representatives' [...]
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  Posted: May 20, 2009, 2:57pm EDT
  

• Community Bike Shops

  Some of Austin Yellow Bike's yellow bikes. Image found here.
  
  Yet another reason (as if I needed another) to love Shearwater (and apologies in advance for the new-to-me tone of this post):
  
  It was via a visit to that band's website the other [...]
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  Posted: May 19, 2009, 1:26pm EDT
  

• Ride of Silence

  Image found here.
  
  Via Kansas Cyclist comes a Ride of Silence organized by Oz Bicycle Club. A Ride of Silence commemorates those killed or injured while riding a bicycle during the previous year.
  
  The announcement follows in full:Event : Ride of Silence [...]
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  Posted: May 18, 2009, 10:18pm EDT
  

• Sunday-Morning bicycling music II

  Image from Copenhagen Cycle Chic.
  
  "I Love Watching You Ride Your Bicycle," The End of Science. First I've heard of them, too. But a pretty good post-rock song, if you're into that sort of thing. And hey: it's a free and legal download, too.[...]
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  Posted: May 17, 2009, 8:59am EDT
  

• Bike-to-Work Day!

  Well? Did you do it? How was it? I hope you'll leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.
  
  The Eagle had a nice story in today's paper about Bike-to-Work Day (kudos to John Thompson of Start-Thinking for providing the great quotes and for being a bike-commuter himself. [...]
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  Posted: May 15, 2009, 8:14pm EDT
  

• A cautionary tale

  Need some, um, persuading as to the efficacy of bicyclists' wearing helmets and obeying traffic laws? Here you go.' [...]
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  Posted: May 14, 2009, 8:20pm EDT
  

• Some food for thought for the WDDC, the Delano District, etc., etc.

  No time to comment on this (I shouldn't even have been reading what I'm about to link to--Finals Week, you know), but via Matthew Yglesias this morning comes this post from the excellent urbanist blog Greater Greater Washington, DC, on results of the steps that city took in [...]
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  Posted: May 14, 2009, 1:13pm EDT
  

• Critical Mass event this Friday

  The cover for Critical Mass: Bicycling's Defiant Celebration. Image found here.
  
  Via an e-mail from District 6 City Council Member Janet Miller comes new-to-me word that, as of May 7th, Wichita now has a Critical Mass group, with a MySpace page (EDIT: and' [...]
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  Posted: May 10, 2009, 10:16pm EDT
  

• Sunday-Morning bicycling music

  Image found here.
  
  Bosques de mi mente, "Los titanicos esfuerzos de una bicicleta oxidada por avanzar" ("A Rusty Bicycle's Titanic Efforts to Move Forward").
  
  If you like this, you'll like all of Bosques de mi mente's work (the name, by the way, means' [...]
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  Posted: May 10, 2009, 11:13am EDT
  

• John Brown says . . .

  National Bike-to-Work Week is next week! National Bike-to-Work Day is next Friday, May 15. If what I have observed round about town these past few warmer weeks is any indication, interest in bike-commuting is growing here in town; I'm hoping we'll be visible enough next week [...]
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  Posted: May 09, 2009, 12:28pm EDT
  

• Coming up for air

  Sorry I haven't posted for so long--work and other matters have been and will continue to keep me away at least until next week some time.
  
  The end of this semester cannot come soon enough.
  
  While I'm here, though, I do want to draw attention to Michael James'' [...]
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  Posted: April 29, 2009, 10:50pm EDT
  

• Be careful. We're out there.

  Just a quick acknowledgment that everywhere I go of late, not just in my part of town--which has what I'd guess is the heaviest bike traffic in Wichita--cyclists of varying levels of seriousness are far more numerous on the streets than last year. That's good.
  
  What's not so good,' [...]
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  Posted: April 22, 2009, 7:11am EDT
  

• Sunday's Readers' Ride: A Lutheran and a rabbi go for a bike ride . . .

  (Note: Later I'll replace this note with a link to a map of the route I and then Moti and I took; check back again in a day or two.)
  
  This past Sunday dawned ominously for anyone looking forward to a pleasant ride: it was chilly, overcast and threatening' [...]
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  Posted: April 21, 2009, 8:57am EDT
  

• "The Hobby Economy": Not just for your mama's basement anymore?

  Deluded by grandeur, or a worker-bee in the new economy? Image found here.
  
  Via Andrew Sullivan comes what is, in effect, an economic answer to--and justification for(!)--the question, "Why do we blog?": "Hobby Economy," by Rob Horning. You'll want to read the whole' [...]
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  Posted: April 19, 2009, 10:19am EDT
  

• A tentative idea: Neighborhood Rides

  This morning, while thinking that we've run out of major bike-paths to explore on our Readers' Rides (at least till the main connector between the Arkansas River and Gypsum Creek paths gets built) and catching up with Karen's yeo-woman's labor of a blog, Delano Wichita, it occurred to me [...]
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  Posted: April 19, 2009, 7:58am EDT
  

• Saturday Readers' Ride: Some good news

  Route: Map My Ride. I wasn't able to save my route on Veloroutes, alas. Weather: cool-ish, but the rain held off.
  
  First of all: There's some storm sewer construction that is entirely blocking the Gypsum Creek path on the south side of Pawnee; thus, our ride on Sunday [...]
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  Posted: April 18, 2009, 10:30pm EDT
  

• April Readers' Ride

  It's spring! Finally! Time, therefore, to resume our approximately-once-monthly Readers' Rides this weekend. We'll explore most of the Gypsum Creek path, with a deviation from the path at George Washington to include the just-opened stretch I posted on a while back.
  
  Saturday, April 18th, 9:00 a.m.: Meet' [...]
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  Posted: April 14, 2009, 7:07am EDT
  

• Midtown Bike Path ribbon-cutting

  From Randy of the Coasters Bike Club comes this post (complete with KAKE video) about Wednesday's Midtown Bike Path ribbon-cutting. It looks like a decent crowd was there--good to see. It was also gratifying to hear Sharon Fearey's observation in the video that this path fulfills the very real [...]
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  Posted: April 10, 2009, 9:42am EDT
  

• Here and there

  I didn't have a chance to do this yesterday . . .
  
  I wish to extend congratulations to Lavonta Williams (District 1), Jim Skelton (District 3) and Janet Miller (District 6), who won their respective City Council races this past Tuesday. As readers know, Williams and Miller were' [...]
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  Posted: April 09, 2009, 7:22am EDT
  

• New bike-path opening ceremony

  Via a commenter comes news from the Coasters Bicycle Club that on Wednesday the 8th at 6:00 p.m. there will be a ribbon-cutting to mark the opening of the Midtown Bike Path. The festivities will be at Otis Park, NW Corner of 13th and Market. I will be in [...]
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  Posted: April 07, 2009, 7:10am EDT
  

• ARRA Project Public comment

  Via Jane Byrnes ("janebb AT sbcglobal DOT net"), the Bicycle and Pedestrian Representative on the Metropolitan Transportation Plan Project Advisory Committee (MTP-PAC), comes WAMPO's list of projects identified to receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (that's "Stimulus Package") money. Appendix E is where the list actually appears. WAMPO is [...]
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  Posted: April 07, 2009, 1:49am EDT
  

• Road class 1

  Over at Carbon Trace, Andrew has posted a podcast (13 minutes) in which he interviews two instructors of the Road Class 1 session, sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists. Some of the commentary is Springfield MO-specific, but I could tell, just from having listened, that I would [...]
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  Posted: April 06, 2009, 7:38am EDT
  

• The Bubbafication of Bike Culture

  Via Austin on Two Wheels, who needs bike lanes and dedicated paths when you can scrounge up an 8x8, a 2x6, and two tall-boys?:
  
  [...]
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  Posted: April 05, 2009, 5:17pm EDT
  

• Lavonta Williams' position on bicycle-advocacy issues

  What follows is the statement just sent me by Lavonta Williams, candidate for the District 1 seat on the Wichita City Council, the elections for which are this Tuesday, April 7:John, I am sorry it took so long to respond - but I am very interested in increasing the [...]
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  Posted: April 05, 2009, 3:34pm EDT
  

• Changing "default assumptions" about cycling: The case for the need to do so

  Two recent news stories, one from Oregon and one from yesterday's Eagle, are worth addressing, especially as, to my mind, they serve as a fairly accessible entrance into something more existential I've been giving some thought to of late regarding my sense of the status of cycling culture in Kansas--or, [...]
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  Posted: April 04, 2009, 7:40pm EDT
  

• You going to argue with this man?

  "You will ride with us!"
  
  Click image to enlarge. Photoshopping courtesy of the Mrs.
  
  I in no way want to distract from Neil's effort over at Bike Wichita--do be sure to let him know that you'll be participating--but I got to thinking of Kansas-specific [...]
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  Posted: April 04, 2009, 3:57pm EDT
  

• Bike-to-Work Week in Wichita

  "Recycle," a free-to-download image from Start-Thinking.
  
  I confess to wanting to post a little something about Bike-to-Work Week, an event sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists to encourage and promote awareness of bicycle-commuting, to be held May 11-15, but just hadn't gotten to' [...]
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  Posted: April 03, 2009, 9:07pm EDT
  

• KTOC

  Thanks to following some links suggested by that most-prolific of commenters in the blogosphere, Anonymous, this morning I learned for the first time of the Kansas Transportation Online Community, a service of KDOT. KTOC has been up since January of this year (here is the press release); as [...]
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  Posted: April 03, 2009, 9:53am EDT
  

• More catching up . . .

  The poster-art for Art of the Bicycle, to be held this year on July 31. Image found here.
  
  Some links of possible interest, some cycling-related, some not:
  
  Cycling in Wichita has now joined the Streetsblog network of blogs. Streetsblog is part of [...]
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  Posted: April 01, 2009, 11:26pm EDT
  

• Catching up on e-mail; a future Readers' Ride

  During my time away from the blogosphere, I fell waaaay behind not just on reading blogs but, even, e-mail. So, this being Lent and all, I want to send out a mea culpa to my regular e-mailer Mark who, unbeknownst to me, had written me on the 27th about his [...]
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  Posted: April 01, 2009, 7:36am EDT
  

• Chuck Dahlem's postiion on bicycle-advocacy issues

  Charley "Chuck" Dahlem (e-mail; no website) is a candidate in the race for District 3 (southeast Wichita). Today he e-mailed his response to the e-mail I sent to all the candidates for City Council; below is his response in full:
  Thanks for the information. In my opinion, I think [...]
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  Posted: March 31, 2009, 9:34pm EDT
  

• Janet Miller's position on cycling-advocacy issues

  As you may know, Tuesday, April 7 is election day for city council representatives in districts 1, 3 and 6. Janet Miller (link now fixed) is a candidate in the District 6 race, and last week I wrote her to ask her to speak to bicycle-advocacy issues and what [...]
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  Posted: March 31, 2009, 12:28am EDT
  

• Sunday Ride #6: New Gypsum Creek path

  Veloroute map. I took my usual commute route to reach the eastern end of the route, took the new route as indicated (included here is my turn north along the Canal Route up to Mt. Vernon), then returned home via my commute route.
  
  Greetings, all. It appears that [...]
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  Posted: March 30, 2009, 2:41am EDT
  

• Good news for southside bike-commuters

  I'm not back here full-time yet (though the Mrs.' condition is improving--and thanks for all the kind wishes sent our way), but I did want to pass along this tidbit: that at least in one instance, those dotted purple lines on Wichita's bike-path map do indeed mean "funded"--very good' [...]
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  Posted: February 27, 2009, 8:53am EST
  

• On indefinite leave

  Regular visitors here have probably assumed by now that other things have been keeping me away from here, and that would be correct. For about a month now, my wife's health has not been good, and my concern for her has consumed an enormous amount of my time and energy' [...]
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  Posted: February 19, 2009, 6:42pm EST
  

• A new voice in/for the Delano District

  Karen of Delano Bungalow fame has started a new website intended to be a source of information for all things Delano District: Delano Wichita Neighborhood News. It's only a couple of days old, but she has posted links to neighborhood organizations and has a blog aggregator for neighborhood blogs.[...]
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  Posted: January 18, 2009, 10:04pm EST
  

• Bring your own bike lane!

  The Light Lane. Given the expense of building bike lanes (not that they shouldn't be built, mind you), this might be a possible solution--especially since this lane would go wherever you want to go.
  
  (Hat-tip: Clusterflock)' [...]
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  Posted: January 18, 2009, 2:03pm EST
  

• Click a link and hear a good song; post it, and help rescue some animals

  From Anti Music:
  Today, we are especially happy to bring you “People Got A Lotta Nerve,” the first single from Neko Case’s forthcoming album Middle Cyclone (out March 3), because for every blog that reposts the song and/or iLike user who adds it to their profile, Neko Case and [...]
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  Posted: January 16, 2009, 4:49pm EST
  

• "Let's go shopping!"

  The late, lamented George's Market, no longer open any day. Image found at Delano Bungalow.
  
  Karen of Delano Bungalow, inspired by my earlier post, has up a thorough post addressing the near absence of a true grocery store in the Delano. Karen and her' [...]
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  Posted: January 13, 2009, 7:24am EST
  

• "In the neighborhood"

  UPDATE: The list is growing--thanks to those of you who have let me know you're out there. If you know of others whose blogs should appear here, too, please send them my way.
  
  If you have a blog and live in the downtown, Riverside or the Delano District of' [...]
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  Posted: January 09, 2009, 9:24pm EST
  

• The need for a grocery store in the Delano

  Imagine a couple of places like this in the Delano District. What more timeless place of business than the corner grocery? Image found here.
  
  I don't know if anyone in the Delano District reads this blog, much less cares what I might have to' [...]
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  Posted: January 09, 2009, 11:47am EST
  

• Some books on transportation and urban policy

  At various times I've linked to posts by Matthew Yglesias that address the issues of city planning and mass transit. Today, he happens to have up a post with a short list of basic texts on these issues. I have this pipe dream that in my copious spare time' [...]
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  Posted: January 08, 2009, 8:16pm EST
  

• An uneducated argument for a smart(er) gas tax

  Image found here.
  
  An anonymous commenter at this post left this comment, which I'll go ahead and post in full:While I definitely agree with your musings on our consumerism and short attention spans, I do quibble with you on one point.
  
  Are you' [...]
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  Posted: January 07, 2009, 2:12pm EST
  

• The 1-Mile Solution

  In catching up with my cycling-blog reading this morning, I ran across something that I'd like to help promote--or at least, Twilight Zone-like, present for your consideration.
  
  Early in this blog's life, I posted a little something in which I mused on how cycling changes how we think [...]
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  Posted: January 06, 2009, 10:41am EST
  

• Dusting off the blog, oiling the chain, airing up the tires . . .

  Greetings to any who still happen by here, and a Happy New Year to you.
  
  The story is simple: the weather turned cold, and because I (still) don't have any proper cold-weather cycling gear (Santa stiffed me in that department), I had to stop riding. And, sorry to say,' [...]
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  Posted: January 06, 2009, 7:46am EST
  

• Happy Thanksgiving!

  Here's wishing all of you a safe and restful holiday.
  
  See you next week.' [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2008, 4:25pm EST
  

• President-Elect Obama *hearts* bicycles--and urban policy

  Readers may remember that last month I encouraged visitors here to vote for Barack Obama on the strength of his approach to urban and transportation issues. It is a sign of the high priority he has given these matters that he has recently announced the establishing of a [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2008, 10:46am EST
  

• Readers' Ride report; a Wichita cycling eccentric

  What has not kept me from posting on last weekend's rides? Well: now that I've dealt with the last of those delays by having my internet service restored, I can offer up a brief report.
  
  I overslept on Saturday the 15th, and it was cold besides. Sunday the 16th, [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2008, 8:15pm EST
  

• Hither and Yon #3

  Angry Jack's Tube Tree, out behind the Bicycle X-Change's West Douglas location. Click to enlarge. Image via Riders of Rohan.
  
  A round-up of things:
  
  I've been instructed not to apologize for my silences here, so I'll just say that work and other obligations [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2008, 10:06am EST
  

• Readers' Rides postponed

  I regret to announce that I will have to postpone the announced Readers' Rides for this weekend. I would like to re-schedule them for the following weekend, Saturday the 15th and Sunday the 16th, at the same times and places as announced earlier.
  
  While I have your attention' [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2008, 9:33pm EST
  

• A non-cycling bleg

  As part of my Composition II students' requirements for their research projects, I am requiring them to keep a blog whose posts deal with source material they encounter for their topics. The chief reason I want them to keep one is to try to make them more aware of audience' [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2008, 6:11pm EDT
  

• Group rides, this weeked and next

  Just to make sure these don't get overlooked . . .
  
  You got a costume and a bike but don't think you have anywhere to go this Halloween? Or you'd just as soon do without the costumes but would just like to join a nice, sedate group ride' [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2008, 7:43pm EDT
  

• Open thread #2: Cyclists' friendliness

  Over at Carbon Trace, Andrew notes a dearth of smiles and waves from fellow cyclists when he's out and about; he wonders if that's due to a lack of a true cycling culture in this country: I think smiling and waving will occur in the United States when we [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2008, 5:55pm EDT
  

• Fruit from The Vine

  The Vine is The New Republic's group blog on energy and environmental issues and policy. I thought I'd pass along some links to posts that connect either to cycling or to larger issues of which cycling is, potentially, a part.
  
  In these excerpts from an interview with Joe [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2008, 1:03am EDT
  

• Readers' Ride #3 Announcement

  Mark your calendars and bundle up for Saturday, November 8, at 9:00 a.m. and/or Sunday, November 9, at 1:00 p.m. for the next Readers' Ride. Each day, we'll ride the length of the Gypsum Creek Bike Path.
  
  On Saturday the 8th, we'll meet on the south side of' [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2008, 9:15pm EDT
  

• A new bike path! But . . .

  In the news this morning: Bicycle riders will soon have a new path to navigate through downtown Wichita.
  
  [snip]
  
  The bike path will run from Central and Wichita streets, north to 9th street, then northeast in the former Union Pacific Railroad Corridor to 15th and Broadway.
  [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2008, 8:05am EDT
  

• What if Wal-Mart wanted to move into the Delano District?: Big-box retailers and the idea of community

  This is only tangentially cycling-related, I know. Visitors here also know, though, that a larger concern of this blog is the taking seriously of the importance--indeed, the near-certain coming--of the of the need to change fundamentally how we think about and travel between/among our living and work spaces (thanks, [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2008, 2:14pm EDT
  

• Halloween group rides!

  'Tis the season, no?
  
  The mysteriously-named Anonymous left the following comment yesterday afternoon at my post on Riders of Rohan; rather than distill it into a colorless announcement, I thought I'd post it in full here. And a query: The Wichita Bike Collective? Googling turned up nothing. I [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2008, 2:15am EDT
  

• Vamonos en bici! (ojalá pudieramos): Some comments on the state of cycling in Mexico City

  UPDATE: I'm late in noting this because I've been away from the blog today, but: a big belated welcome to visitors from Urban Velo. I hope you'll enjoy your visit here.
  
  
  The poster for the 1^er Congreso Nacional de Ciclismo Urbano, [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2008, 4:03pm EDT
  

• The path with no name

  My route: Map My Ride; Veloroute. As noted below, the path proper (which has no official designation) begins just south of the intersection of Bitting and 13th and runs north.
  
  The other day, I mentioned that, according to the minutes from the September meeting of the [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2008, 7:47pm EDT
  

• Planet Bicycle #3: Hey, you neighborhood associations

  Dream this:
  
  
  
  Except: this is no dream. It's a viable, vibrant city.
  
  Yes, it's Amsterdam again, from Amsterdamize by way of Carbon Trace. We can't build this . . . but surely here and there in Wichita--or just about anywhere--it would be possible to [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2008, 7:43pm EDT
  

• News from the neighborhood(s): A mixed bag for bike-friendliness

  Advance warning to non-residents of Wichita: what follow is pretty Inside (Wichita) Baseball, though one could make the case that our particulars may sound familiar to residents of other cities that are less than bike-friendly.
  
  I'll preface all this by saying that it's not entirely proper of me to [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2008, 5:55pm EDT
  

• Seriousness below the silliness

  The folks over at Austin Bike Blog recently held a contest whose entrants replied to this question: "What's the biggest thing you've carried on your bike?"
  
  Chris of Madison, Wisconsin, won:
  
  
  
  As I looked at this picture, I found myself thinking of [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2008, 7:29am EDT
  

• Cycling Chat #4 and misc.

  The Jeep Compass folding bike. Image found here.
  
  In matters of the actual kinds of bikes available these days, I am still very very ignorant. Thus it was today that at Keeper Plaza on the way to work, I saw a folding bike in person [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2008, 12:19am EDT
  

• A follow-up . . .

  . . . on the new tax credit for employers whose employees cycle to work, via Matthew Yglesias. He provides more details and a helpful reminder to cyclists to be proactive about this with their HR people at work (the rough-and-ready spellings are Yglesias' own):
  

  There’s a provision of [...]

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  Posted: October 08, 2008, 8:25pm EDT
  

• Open thread #1: Fixed-gear bikes

  I ask this out of ignorance: What are the virtues of fixed-gear bicycles?
  
  At the first Readers' Ride, both Bryan and Peter rode fixed-gear bikes, but it simply didn't occur to me to ask them this question. So, I asked Chris yesterday, and he didn't know, either--only that [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2008, 10:21pm EDT
  

• Hither and Yon #2

  UPDATE: Welcome to visitors from Austin Bike Blog! As a native Austinite myself (Beat OU!!), I'm doubly pleased y'all found y'all's way here and hope you enjoy your visit here.
  
  A round-up of links and some recent past adventures, in no particular order:
  
  A bit of silliness [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2008, 12:55pm EDT
  

• Readers' Ride #2: Southwind Suicide-Ride

  This past weekend was the occasion of the second more-or-less monthly Cycling in Wichita Readers' Rides, this one along the venerable Arkansas River bike path. Saturday's ride was an intimate one: no one was able to meet me at the southern terminus at Garvey Park, so on the way [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2008, 9:07am EDT