By Erin Russell

The Olympic spirit is something I find contagious whenever the games come around. It is always history in the making and the few days that I have been at Whistler last week were no different.  

History in the Making

When Vancouver won the bid for the winter Olympics, they made a pledge to have the first sustainable games in history. More...

By Pam Tanner, Denver EcoMetro Guide Market Director

The excitement of the holiday season is over and you may be feeling the pressure of either making a New Year’s resolution related to your health or fitness goals.

Most of us begin the New Year and the prerequisite fitness resolution with the best of intentions, only to hit a wall within two or three weeks and struggle to maintain our motivation to continue. Below are some suggestions to help you develop a routine and achieve your goals: More...

This morning, I took a train to Seattle to teach at a conference. It is one of the joys in life. I bike to the train station, work on a crossword as the scenery passes by, and then bike around Seattle which, by the way, seems to be made entirely out of hills.

Today, I entertained myself with a new distraction, the subtle art of the roll up. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a “roll up” is when a cyclist folds, or in some way “rolls” up, his or her pant leg to avoid it getting caught in the chain. Roll means fold. It’s so clear. A thoughtfully folded pant leg is a style I don’t often sport because my bakfiets has a chain guard. However, today I took a commuter bike on my trip to Seattle, and with 3 hours to kill on the train, I mastered some pretty awesome roll ups. Check them out. Let me know what you think.
 
TRADITIONAL: Nothing fancy. Textbook functionality for keeping the pant leg out of the chain assembly. The style most often used. More...

Sundays Parkways is a Portland Department of Transportation event where a loop of city roads are closed to vehicles to create a space for pedestrians, cyclists, and community booths.

The last Sundays Parkways happened on Father’s Day, when Portland closed off 7.5 miles of roadway in North Portland. I would like to thank Portland for doing so specifically for me, Daddy-Travis. The route was great, joining together several neighborhoods with events and sights along the way. Families on bikes were most notably seen, however, Sunday Parkways drew a wide audience of cyclists, walkers, and runners.   

As a family, we rode the loop that included Peninsula and Arbor Lodge parks. We pedaled past Peninsula, knowing that we would hit it on the way back so on we went. Throughout the route we rode over chalk drawings and statements of celebration for the day. More...

Cirque du Cycling, the Portland bike parade, came and went like…well…a parade. People lined up and down Mississippi Avenue to witness the spectacle of collected bike groups. Our family rode with a group of cargo/utility bike users. Aside from all being larger bikes, this group shares the belief that bikes are superb vehicles for moving large objects from place to place. James--seen in the photo below with his dog Louie who sits in a custom made box atop his Xtracycle--made our banner, which pretty much summed up our group’s thinking: WeGO Cargo! More...

By Sara Johnson, Blue Sky Guide Sustainable Business Accounts Manager & Fundraiser Contact

I strongly encourage you to take the two-hour drive to Stockholm, WI some Tuesday night to eat one of the tastiest, freshest, and truly homegrown pizzas you’ve ever tried.  I made the trek with some buddies and by the time we rolled up at 6pm the lawn was packed with people jonesin’ for a slice of pizza from the farm.

Every Tuesday the owners of A to Z turn on their two wood-burning ovens (which they built) and make pizzas to order ($23+). Get this: everything, from the wheat in the dough to the animals that produce the cheese to the veggies topping it off, comes from their farm—talk about local! Bring your own plates, utensils, picnic blanket and wine to accompany some of the best pizza you’ll ever have.  (A tip: show up early around 5pm to avoid the long line of cars and big crowds—anything this good is no secret!).

Address and map after the jump. Image: Flickr/Creative Commons More...

I want to add the phrase “everyday cycling” to our language. I first heard this when I was a guest on the KBOO Bike Show in Portland. Before the show, I head co-host Tori Bortman use everyday cycling, and being the word geek that I am, I asked about the nuances of her phrase. A discussion ensued, and I am now convinced that everyday cycling needs to be part of our language.

There is a sizable group of people who fall under the term everyday cycling, myself included, but my riding habits are usually described as bike commuting. Until now.

Image used with permission of metrofiets.com. Pictured: Ella Ross and Phillip Ross. Picture taken by Maile Leithea. Check out the Metrofiets photostream! More...

Several years ago, when I first got a call about working here at Celilo Group Media, I had just torn the carsharing coupon out of the book that very day (it's called Chinook Book in Portland). Had I heard of the book? Of course I had! Did I ever redeem the coupon...er, no.

It wasn't just calculating the cost of gas, insurance, and upkeep that finally made me take the leap and sell my car--it was realizing that I drive so infrequently that spiderwebs connected the window to the steering wheel like something out of a cartoon. My bike was carrying me a dozen miles a day for free while I paid for spiders to practice tightrope walking between leather and glass. I sold the car and patted myself on the back (plus bought a pair of new shoes). And then, immediately, I missed an opportunity because I didn't have wheels. More...

This video, which is making the blog rounds, shows Denmark police stopping cyclists, hugging them, and handing out free helmets. No word yet on why, but it's certainly good for biking spirits.

Via BoingBoing  More...

The Wheel American Family explores living by dutch bike with three children. In this installment, the kids point out that it takes friendly drivers to make Portland a biking mecca.

A few days ago my eldest son, Kael, turned to me on our commute home and said, “Have you ever noticed how nice the bus drivers are?” I asked him what he meant. Kael went on to say, “Whenever we are at a super-duper busy street, they always stop to make sure we can pass.”

He’s right. They do. This is especially true when we are trying to cross Killingsworth. The traffic is so steady that a space rarely occurs. But just wait for the timely Tri-Met bus and we’re off. I spent the next few days attuned to my son’s observation and it was clear—the drivers in city vehicles are marvelously nice. Do they take a driver’s courtesy course to get employed by the city of Portland? I wonder.

Following are some examples of friendly moments that make the jungle more livable. More...