During the month of October, students at Bethel Elementary School were delighted to participate in Local Motion’s Bike Smart program. The Kohl's Kids Bike Smart Trailer was a huge success in Bethel’s after school program, with more than thirty students participating! Kids of all ages enjoyed riding bikes with friends in the afternoon and many improved their riding and safety skills in the week that we were fortunate to have the Bike Trailer...

A recent article from Citylab gives empirical backing to something that is obvious to anyone who rides a bike:  protected bike lanes make biking better.  But they do more than reduce crashes; they also increase rates of biking.  The increased margin of safety persuades "retired" bike riders to dust off their bikes and take to the streets.  Check out the article at this link.  And read on to learn why this matters right now for Burlington.

The key to a good bike ride, whether it be for a daily commute or a fun, recreational ride is being prepared. In order to ensure that preparedness, I always make sure to set out my riding gear and daily equipment before I go to bed at night. Some things go in my pannier, other things in my backpack. I use a checklist to make sure I don't forget anything...

Vermont Goldsprints is pleased to announce Burlington's own indoor bicycle racing party series- MAD DASHES- for winter 2017. Exact dates are TBA, but racing will take place at Brio Coffee, Switchback Brewing, and Maglianero. No racing experience and really, no bicycling experience is required to participate! Proceeds from Mad Dashes keeps the racing gear running and gets BIKES in front of KIDS at Open Street BTV, Safety Days, and other bike advocacy events around Vermont and beyond - and it's a heck of a lot of fun!

I ride my bike to commute to work no matter the weather. I have found that the key to dressing for winter riding is having a cool torso as you start off on your ride. Your upper body will warm up quickly and it is all too easy to start sweating even in the coldest temperatures. 

My ears are very sensitive to cold, so I often cover them up when it is only moderately cool. I use an adjustable helmet so I can accommodate a variety of different hats. I use wind proof hats fleece hats that cover my ears. As it gets colder that hats get thicker. In the thirties and forties I wear the hats in combination with a neck warmer, either a merino wool neck warmer or a thicker fleece one. Until it gets very cold, the neck warmer also serves to cover my face and nose until my breath warms up my face. When it gets into the twenties and colder, I add a balaclava to the mix.

I have poor circulation, so in the winter my hands get cold. I see people riding with no gloves when the temperature is in the 40's and I wonder how their hands feel. I want to stop them and say, "There are these great things called gloves, you put them on your hands when it is cold and the keep your hands warm!" I sometimes feel that I should carry around gloves to give away, but who knows if the gloves would even be used. 

Over the Labor Day weekend, events- both business and pleasure- conspired to take me to of all places, Bangor, Maine. As usually happens, I find myself drawn to libraries and this trip was no exception, ending up at the Bangor Public Library on a Friday afternoon. In amongst the other bibliophiles and bohemians, I chanced upon a bicyclist who had stopped to avail himself of the sanitary opportunities that a library provides. His bicycle was burdened down with panniers both fore and aft and yet he seemed to enjoy the extra ballast. He was of average height and average build, dressed in average clothes, but with an enthusiasm that tipped into above run-of-the-mill average. We struck up a conversation and it wasn’t long before I learned he was on his way back to Boston from an excursion to Bar Harbor by bike. He was a bit circumspect about his current itinerary, but felt he’d find his way home in a week or so.

And so I thought of him as a boy on the Bummel...

VBike just debuted its adaptive bike fleet! It's all about rolling out our "Bike Transportation Without Limitations" program - bicycle mobility with virtually no barrier to age, physical condition, or experience level. On Saturday, Oct. 1st, VBike volunteer Farid Quraishi and VBike director Dave Cohen headed down to Bethel to participate in Bethel Better Block and debut this fleet. 

Local Motion staff and volunteers hit the streets in Burlington last night to get high-quality bike lights on "ninja" bikes. We counted about 80 riders coming through the intersection of Pearl Street & Winooski Avenue in the space of two hours.  The good news?  Two-thirds of them already had lights on their bikes! Check out our Twitter feed for photos, reactions, and more.