Picturing Coal

A great series of photos looking at the coal industry worldwide from The Big Picture.  Even ignoring coal’s irreversible long term damage to the atmosphere and climate, it’s a pretty desperate business for a lot of people, who are still scratching it out of the earth deep underground, by hand.  Popular with the kids too — they can really get into those hard-to-reach places.

Twelve Car-Free City Zones

Twelve Car-Free City Zones in photos, from National Geographic.  Many north americans can’t really imagine what cities are like without cars.  It took me a long time to realize that what I didn’t like about cities wasn’t the urban space, it was the fact that here, it tends to be infested with rude 1500 kg beasts.

Moving Across Boulder by Bike

Bed on a BIke

My friend Bryan, with whom I’ve been living for the last year, is heading off on a round-the-world bike ride for an indeterminate amount of time.   So I had to find a new place to live.  The Masala Co-op had a summer sublet opening, and I jumped at it.  I used to be on the board of the Boulder Housing Coalition, which owns Masala (and Chrysalis, another co-op downtown), and I lived here for the summer of 2004, before heading to Baja to kayak that fall.  And of course… I was determined to do the move by bike.

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Hero Biking to Fort Collins and Back

Strung Out Cyclists

The Boulder Bike Culture Meetup‘s first little social intro to bike touring went pretty well I think.  Didn’t lose anyone, no injuries that I know of, no major mechanical issues, only one flat tire.  Tail wind and gorgeous weather on the way up.  Good food, good beer.  Naps and gracious hostesses.  Tail wind and deteriorating weather on the way back, capped off by hail and sleet.  A well rounded taster.

Oh yeah, and I took some pictures… It takes a while to load, but I think it’s worth it.

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Wrenching at Dan’s

The Boulder Bike Commuter Meetup group got together at Dan’s (now former) house, to play with his tools and hang out.  It was nice to have a during-the-day event that lasted a little longer.

Kathy fixed a slow leak in her rear tire.  First patch ever?  Hopefully it held!

Kathy fixing a slow leak

Kerry wasn’t feeling mechanically inspired (she’s been playing with her own tools), and just wandered around snacking and heckling.  And napping.  And cooking kielbasas.   Ann did a practice run of DIY fender (and pannier) making for the workshop she’s teaching at Community Cycles next weekend.

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48 Minutes and 75 Bikes on the Boulder Creek Path

I spent some time this afternoon sitting alongside the Boulder Creek Path out east of where it joins up with the Goose Creek Path, heading toward the ocean of office parks that employ a significant chunk of Boulder, a 7 minute ride from my house at 21st and Walnut.  As the sun headed for the continental divide, I took a picture of (almost) every bike that went by.  Over 48 minutes, I saw 75 bikes. 

Looking at the photos after the fact, I did some counting and found some things out about cyclists in Boulder.

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