Keener Custom Cycle Works from Chris Wagganer on Vimeo.

Eleven years ago the machine in the above video was stolen, but I learned it has just resurfaced in Phoenix, and it’s designer/builder/rightful owner will be picking it up and bringing it home.

You might recognize one of his other designs here.

–EBR

Bicas from The Episcopal Church on Vimeo.

I am so proud to be a part of BICAS! What a great organization.

–EBR

I’m very excited about the Ciclovia route this year. It goes down Meyer and to “restaurant row” in South Tucson. It’s a very good route with good pavement, no traffic, and lots of stuff to look at.

The bike ride is from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Start anywhere you like, go whichever direction you like, and have fun! The streets will be car-free and there will be events along the way.

More atwww.cicloviatucson.org.

There’s still time to sign up to volunteer, too — email Ann Chanecka at achanecka@pagnet.org.

I’ll be volunteering in the morning at Silverlake and 8th Avenue, so be sure to wave as you go by. See you there!

–Erik Ryberg

I raced to Fourth Avenue and discovered the Bike Swap, thank god, was not on November 6 this year. It’s next week! Don’t forget! Don’t be late! This is one of those things that makes Tucson a great place to live (and bike — but that’s redundant).

–Erik Ryberg

I love this bike shop because it caters to the every-day biker, the person who may not need the highest-end equipment and who often just wants a minor repair done to keep an old bike on the road. People who ride their bikes nearly every day to get around town.

People who ride their bikes in their street clothes, the way God intended.

I’ve got nothing against recreational and competitive cyclists (and I’ve been both — very seriously), it’s just that the “other bike riders” seem so often to be forgotten in bike literature, bike politics, bike law, and bike advocacy.

Over at Ordinary they sell everything from top-end road, commuter, and mountain bikes to more affordable models, and can repair whatever you’ve got. But they are not at all averse to the ten-dollar repair job, and they definitely aren’t going to try to sell you something you don’t need. They carry lots of safety equipment and they make sure to have a selection anybody can afford. They don’t bat an eye if you walk your bike in and ask if they can fix a flat, nor do they look askance if your bike is getting on in years and missing, say, a front derailleur.

Little things like that win you a devoted following, and it’s no surprise to me they won the contest once again.

Check them out at 311 E. Seventh St. just off Fourth Avenue.

–Erik Ryberg

Readers of this Website know that I have been very critical of TPD since I started it back in 2007. In fact, the whole reason I did start it was my frustration at TPD officers who were not citing motorists for collisions with cyclists that were demonstrably the fault of the motorist. Over time I also became a critic of their failure to distinguish assaults on cyclists from the several hundred run-of-the-mill assaults that occur every month.

And something that really irked me was their using State safety grant money to pay themselves overtime to stake out likely four-way stops and ticket cyclists who didn’t put a foot down at the stop sign.

So now comes word via www.tucsonvelo.com, first, that TPD will actually be using this year’s safety grant to target wrong-way riders and cyclists riding at night without lights. That is a huge improvement in my opinion.

But now this, also from tucsonvelo:

In addition to the information in the previous story, Skeenes said they are using plain-clothes bicycle officers who are are being followed by an unmarked police car looking for drivers who violate the three-foot law.

Skeenes said bicycle officers often get more room than regular cyclists, but said cars do pass too closely occasionally.

According to Skeenes, the bicycle officers often can not catch up to cars. The unmarked police car allows the vehicles to be caught to cite the driver.

I’ve been pleading for this kind of thing for years now (one example), but never thought it would actually happen.

Seems there’s been a real shift in TPD’s attitude. If they follow through, I salute them. They have historically been the one seemingly insurmountable hurdle in dragging Tucson into the class of truly “bike friendly” communities.

–Erik Ryberg

Thought I’d pass on some news of a good experience with the Scottsdale police.

I ride to work frequently from my house in Tempe to my office in Phoenix, roughly 15 miles each way. A good portion of my route goes though Scottsdale, specifically 68th St. On my ride home this past Friday a truck full of what appeared to be freshly graduated high school kids (in daddy’s Escalade nonetheless), buzzed me within inches heading southbound on 68th just south of McDowell. I hadn’t quite reached the start of the bike lane, and it appeared to be on purpose since the car lane is plenty wide there.

Unfortunately for them, they didn’t see the squad car that turned south off McDowell just after them. He pulled them over immediately, and I originally planned to ride on, but I stopped just past them to see what he would do. He spoke to them briefly then saw me and walked over. He explained that he didn’t need me to hang around, but that he was going to ticket them for violating the 3 foot law with intent. Not having seen or heard of this being enforced before, all I could do was smile. I shook his hand, said thanks and rode home.

So at least somebody out there is paying attention and willing to do something. Hopefully you’ll get more positive emails about this in the future.

Maybe Ed over at azbikelaw.org can help here, but I have never yet heard of a single citation being given in the state of Arizona for a three-foot rule violation, except in cases where the violation resulted in an injured or deceased bicyclist. I think this might be a first.

I have regularly submitted Public Records Act requests to the City of Tucson for copies of their three-foot rule citations, and done the best I can to cross-check them with car/bike collisions (not too hard, since rarely are there more than two or three of these citations given in a year).

Of course, it’s bittersweet because in reality, those kids in the Escalade just got away with threatening someone’s life with a deadly weapon. If I point a gun at you “just for kicks,” I don’t get off with a $124.00 traffic ticket. (Although if you are a bicyclist the penalty won’t be all that severe even if I shoot you.) (And see also the comments to this post, including one from the victim.)

Update: Oh how short my memory is! Of course, just two months ago Flagstaff bicyclist Randy Mason successfully, after a long fight, got this rule enforced against a bus driver who grazed him and then yelled at him and then called the cops on him.

In my defense, this is the first time I’ve heard of it happening the way it is supposed to.

–Erik Ryberg

BICAS also has an art program that uses recycled bike parts. The education folks at BICAS regularly give classes and bikes to Tucson’s refugee community, youth, and low-income communities. They also provide, free of charge, ghost bikes for any Tucson-area memorial. What’s not to like?

Unfortunately, BICAS has in the past year or so been under continuous threat of being kicked out of the basement warehouse it currently occupies. The building is owned by the State of Arizona and leased to David Aguirre, a local figure of some reputation here in the Tucson art community. Aguirre sub-leases, or did sub-lease, the space to BICAS. He unsuccessfully attempted to raise BICAS’s rent over 100 percent last year, and when the State made him knock it off, he then told BICAS that they would no longer be permitted to use any of the bathrooms in the building. That edict was also reversed by the State.

Fortunately, the City recently took over the building from the State and asked for bids from the public for managing it. BICAS teamed up with the Warehouse Arts Management Organization and in return for a guaranteed five-year lease offered to pay a significant portion its rent up-front to help WAMO do needed repairs to the building.

Aguirre subsequently wrote to WAMO and asked them not to partner with BICAS, and stated that he intended to bid on the management of the building himself and was the logical best choice as a manager.

But in the end he didn’t even submit a bid, and today the City announced that WAMO would be granted the bid to manage the building. This means BICAS gets to stay for the duration of the City’s contract, which is five years.

I couldn’t be more pleased! As a board member of BICAS I have spent many, many hours and days fretting over the fate of this great organization should they have to vacate their crummy warehouse basement. It now looks like it will be some years before I have to go through that again!

–Erik Ryberg

When I started this blog almost three years ago it was in part out of revulsion for the idea that Tucson might become a “Platinum” bike-friendly city (an application for that status was being prepared at the time). I did not think we deserved it, and I feared that if we got that award we would have no incentive to continue improving. I still don’t think we deserve the highest award, but I am growing a lot more convinced that we are deserving of our current “gold” status, and the changes I have seen just in the last few years astonish me. Bicycles and bicycling are rapidly becoming more common in this city, and riding is becoming more safe. I am no longer the only person riding a bike around town in a suit and tie. More and more upright bikes are appearing with regular folks using them to get around. Drivers are getting used to us, and more tolerant. There is a greater diversity of age and gender among the people on bikes now, which signals that more people feel comfortable and safe on a bicycle. And the city is pretty much behind us. Mayor Walkup rode the Cyclovia and had intelligent things to say about it.

I want to say that we owe the volunteers who put the Cyclovia together, from scratch, on short notice, with next to no money, a huge thank-you. They include Jennifer Donofrio, Tom Thivener and Ann Chaneka from Tucson and Pima County governments, and many local folks who contributed their time and skills to pulling this thing off. If I try to list them I will leave people out, so I am not going to start, but many hard-working people donated their design skills, their computer skills, and their time. Daniela Diamente was corralled and talked into taking the lead just two months ago and she pretty much got the whole thing off the ground.

A round of applause to all. I’m proud to live in Tucson.

–Erik Ryberg

My readers know how excited I am that Tucson is having its first-ever Cyclovia. We are looking for volunteers for the event to help with the road-closures and other things. Please sign up for a slot to help out if you can! You can sign up for as little as one hour.

You can do so here.

Learn more about Tucson’s Cyclovia at www.cycloviatucson.org.

-Erik Ryberg