Running on Empty from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

My friend K sent me this cool but eerie video of Los Angeles without cars. From Treehugger.

EBR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 6/2/2010

SUMMARY
Groundbreaking Bicycle Company with roots in Tucson swings through town on a
Western States Tour. Founder and Tucson-native Ross Evans to speak about “living
your dream, and making a holishift TM.” Xtracycle will host a free Yoga Class at Yoga
Oasis Downtown and a free Holishift event at the home of nationally renowned bicycle
non-profit, Tucson’s very own BICAS.

Xtracycle Events Scheduled for Tucson
Tuesday June 8th, 4:00pm at Yoga Oasis Downtown
Join Ross Evans for a Yoga Hour class taught by legendary yogi and Xtracycle
rider, Darren Rhodes. First forty bike riders will get in for free – space is
limited. Evans will lead a mellow afternoon bicycle ride afterward.

Saturday June 12th, 5:00pm at BICAS.
Check out Xtracycle’s mobile Airstream showroom, ride an Xtracycle, test out
new products, walk away with a deal, carry a friend on the back of a bike,
and find out more about one Tucson-native who’s living his dream building a
business and a movement. Please come prepared to share food, stories, and
embark on a bike ride around Tucson with other like-minded holishifters.
In 2001-2002, early prototypes of Xtracycle were fabricated at Bicas, as well
as several early production models.

Contact Information for Xtracycle’s, Holishift Tour:
Ross Evans,
President – Xtracycle Inc.
Founder and Chairman of the Board, Worldbike.org
888-537-1401 (toll free)
415-244-5215 (c)
ross@xtracycle.com

Shannon Whitnack
Prominent Holishifter
shannon@xtracycle.com

If you ask nicely you can actually see the early Xtracycle prototype at BICAS. It weighs a ton and is made out of bent steel tubing, but is undeniably an Xtracycle. I am sure it will be on display Saturday.

–Erik Ryberg

Tom Thivener sent this around the other day, but I only just now figured out how to embed it. Biketopia!

–EBR

So I rang my bell back and he looked up with surprise, then after a pause rang me back again. His mother laughed and I pedalled on home.

–Erik Ryberg

I missed this response to Ray LaHood’s new bike-friendly transportation focus the first time it came around, back in March:

“Treating bicycles and other non-motorized transportation as equal to motorized transportation would cause an economic catastrophe,” Carter Wood, a senior adviser at the National Association of Manufacturers, told The New York Times. “If put it into effect, the policy would more than undermine any effort the Obama administration has made toward jobs. You can’t have jobs without the efficient movement of freight.”

Thankfully, it got resurrected today here, of all places.

–Erik Ryberg

God I love that place.

–EBR

From Agent K. Walzak, of BICAS:

Subject: BICAS NEEDS YOUR BODY!
Come show your support by showing up at BICAS this Sunday, April 18th at 5:45pm SHARP, SHARP, SHARP!!!

We will be taking a HUGE group photo with everyone who is a friend of BICAS and we want you, your friends, family and even your dog to be in it.

We are taking this photo to use for future publications and show all the awesome community support that BICAS has!

THE PHOTO WILL ONLY TAKE ABOUT 15 MIN. but you can stay longer if you like for the Tucson Bike Beautiful Event. Live music, art, games and more will ensue into the night.

Come for the photo stay for the fun.

Hope to see you at BICAS….. 44 West 6th St……. 520-628-7950….. http://www.facebook.com/l/e7f97;www.bicas.org

Love, Peace and Bicycle Grease!

Sincerely,

Your Friends at BICAS!

See you there!

–EBR

In case anyone doesn’t know this yet, next week is Bike 2 Work Week in Tucson. What this boils down to, at a minimum, is free breakfast all week for most of my readership. Plus a whole lot of other stuff if you care to check it out!

This used to be the one week in the year when Lauren would commute to my office by bike. She only did it so she could get her free breakfast at the public library.

The rest of the year she walked to work, as she only lived around the corner.

–Erik Ryberg

But as usual, Copenhagen wins.

–EBR

U.S. car usage is still massive, with 246 million motor vehicles in use — but that number is declining.

Between 1950 and 2008 more cars were added to our roads virtually every year, as the total fleet expanded steadily from 49 million to 250 million vehicles. In 2009, however, 14 million cars were scrapped while only 10 million cars were sold, shrinking the fleet by 4 million vehicles, or nearly 2 percent.

The United States, with 246 million motor vehicles and 209 million licensed drivers, is facing market saturation. With five vehicles for every four drivers, the 4-million-vehicle contraction in the U.S. fleet in 2009 does not come as a great surprise. In a largely rural society, more cars provided mobility, but in a society that is now more than 80 percent urban, more cars provide immobility. A combination of driver frustration and the soaring congestion costs associated with wasted time and fuel are leading to a cultural shift that is reducing the role of the automobile. Almost every major U.S. city is either building new light rail or express bus systems, or expanding and upgrading existing ones to reduce dependence on cars. The peak fleet may now be behind us.

–EBR