Cycling quick hits
During Bike to Work week one thing we kept commenting on was how fortunate we were here in Spokane to have organizers that carried the flag all year round. By that we mean that while the hoopla may only last a week, the Tweets keep coming and the news and updates are kept fresh and active all year long. And that's just from one organization. Need we remind you about Spokane's diverse cycling blogosphere (our favorite HERE with great links to others in the blog roll on the right hand side).
We're thankful for that not just as cyclists and commuters but as community members because if there's one thing we've learned about the cycling community, they're resourceful people who work hard for change and improvements.
Take Hank over at Shallow Cogitations for instance. His issue with lane blocking, both of the irresponsible vehicle owner side and of the curious streets department side have been well documented on his blog (honestly, one of the top blogs in Spokane). So no surprise that he was one of the commenters on a story that came out yesterday on the Cycling Spokane blog about the Spokane Police Department's bike lane complaint hotline. Though since we're in modern times and hotlines don't really exist, it's an email address - carparkedinbikelane@spokanepolice.org in fact. So what's so great about this, as opposed to reporting them on the My Bike Lane website? According to the announcement from the PD, "[they] will send out a notice to the registered owner on the first violation. [They] will add repeat violators to [their] Traffic Hotline for officers to investigate further which could include issuing infractions." And if you want to make sure you're reporting everything in all possible ways, there's always SeeClickFix as well.
If you're reading this thinking about how you'd like to get into bike commuting - we've got JUST the right story for you - found via the Bike To Work Spokane twitter page.
It's titled, New to Commuting? Come As You Are! and it's a great look at the move of the last couple years away from spandex and more towards practicality. And it's got the best advice possible for new commuters, "find a reliable bike (it doesn’t need to be anything special), take a look at some maps to find an enjoyable route and GO FOR IT." Read the post HERE.
