bike

Successful Hintonburg Kids Ride

May 28, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 2 minutes There is hope. A new generation of cyclists is taking to the roads. Kathleen Wilker organised a kids ride on May 28th from the Hintonburg Community Centre to the Parkdale Market and Arts Fair. Despite a somewhat gray morning, a few dozen kids and their parents came out for the ride of less than one kilometer. Kathleen gets it. No need for grants, no large advertising campaigns, just roll up the sleeves and organise a neighbourhood event. A very simple ride for the kids and T-shirts for the best decorated bikes made this a nice community event that doesn’t cost [Read more…]

No Image

The Mystery of the Scenic Orange Road Barrel

May 15, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 2 minutes We’re obsessed with safety. We make big orange road barrels to mark an upcoming danger to make sure no accidents happen. However, if someone calls in for a large dangerous pothole, you’d think road crews just go to Tim Hortons, have a smoke, stare to the pothole and eventually fill the hole. No such thing: the city or the NCC sends out the truck with orange paint, steel plates and/or orange road barrels visits the site to mark the appropriate spot as dangerous. About three weeks ago, in the last week of April, someone went out to put a road [Read more…]

NCC study on winter pathway usage

May 11, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 2 minutes The NCC commissoned a study on the usage of their pathways in wintertime. Although some claim that the winters in Ottawa are ‘cold and dark’ the numbers might stun you. Here are some results: Close to four in ten (36%) Canada’s Capital Region residents aged 16 and older (some 196,000 individuals) have used a recreational pathway during the winter months. An additional two in ten residents (21%, some 114,000 individuals) say there are winter activities they would do on the pathways if they were better maintained. Winter pathway users tend to be younger, and have higher incomes than do non-users [Read more…]

Shifting Gears in Halifax

May 9, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 2 minutes Last week I visited Halifax for a series of talks about cycling. Halifax cycling enthousiasts are working hard on developing a cycling culture. Obviously, without an NCC to build paths, budgets are somewhat tighter. However, Nova Scotia (and Halifax) are slowly becoming a better cycling place. Cyclists are pretty united in their effort to move forward. Support of City Councillor Watts (a younger version of Ottawa councillor Holmes – sorry Diane) is vital. Here are a few images of Cycling culture in Halifax. Read also more here: http://halifaxmag.com/2011/04/cover/shifting-gears

Dog on bike

February 25, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: < 1 minute This is kind of the ultimate Dutch bike picture. Lady who lives in the town of Bergschenhoek, a 10 minute bike ride from Rotterdam, carries her dog around in a basket on her bike. But not only that, she also has two panniers, a bag hanging off her bars and a seat cover (that is supposed to keep her seat dry when the bike is out and it rains). And of course, no helmet….

cars on bike lane in Ottawa

Cars in bike lanes at Dow’s Lake

August 10, 2010 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: < 1 minute . A few weeks ago, during the Tulip Festival or so, lots of cars where leaving the parking at Dow’s Lake. Rather than waiting, many of them used the bike lane to pass the left turning lane. When I pulled out my camera, they stopped doing it but I bet these are the same people who complain that bikes cycle on sidewalks. In autumn and spring, when traffic is busy, it happens all the time. Just before I took this picture I actually saw a girl sandwiched between two cars on the bike lane, as car-cyclist-car. Truly unbelievable.

Bike Sign Ottawa

Bike lane ends

May 9, 2010 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: < 1 minute So I am cycling home this week. Turned from Preston into Prince of Wales and all of a sudden there is this sign in the middle of the road. No alternative, no temporary bike lane. I often see the same for pedestrians:”please use other side” it would say. But sometimes there is no other side, or you have to jay walk. (Update on August 10, 2010: Citizens for Safe Cycling wrote to the NCC and the Ottawa Citizen. Both NCC and the City of Ottawa reacted swiftly and brought signs out to inform about detours in other areas in the [Read more…]