Do you want to up your cycling fitness? Do you have speed and power goals for the upcoming season? Cycling for hours but seeing no fitness gains immediately can be annoying and means you need interval training! In this video, Manon shares her top interval training tips to help you get fit fast.
From LA.Streetsblog.org
A trickle of new bike facilities – including one sweet protected bike lane – in recent years means that Beverly Hills is no longer a gap in the growing countywide bike network
By Joe Linton
It’s not really news that Beverly Hills has bike lanes. Streetsblog recently visited the 90210 city and shares photos of bikeways implemented there in the past couple years.
If I remember correctly, Beverly Hills didn’t have any bike lanes about a decade ago. Circa 2012-14 the city added basic bike lanes on Burton Way and Crescent Drive. Cyclists pushed for the city to incorporate lanes on the city’s revamp of Santa Monica Boulevard; the city installed bright green lanes there in 2018.
Those three segments were the city’s only bike lanes in 2019, when the city developed its complete streets plan.
Since then, the city hasn’t become a bike paradise, but it’s clearly no longer a biking gap. There has been a trickle of new bike facilities, with more on the way. Also, the city’s first subway station (some there opposed, some welcomed) will open next year.
Reading news coverage of bikeway approvals (in the face of some complaints) I expected more bike lanes there than there actually are. For example, last year the Beverly Press stated, “The new [Doheny Drive] bike lanes will connect to other bike lanes in the city on Clifton Way, Charleville Boulevard and Gregory Way.” But Clifton, Charleville, and Gregory don’t have bike lanes, just shared lane markings, called sharrows. (Sharrows have been termed the dregs of bike infrastructure; safety-wise they are basically useless. Beverly Hills calls them its “minimum grid bicycle pavement markings.”)
Photo by David Vives on Unsplash
Winter riding takes a toll on your bike, leading to mechanical problems and can result in you becoming stranded at the roadside in the cold and wet. Ollie runs through an essential bike maintenance checklist, to help save you cash and keep your rides hassle-free!
From NYMag.com
By
As a city-based cyclist, I know how hard it can be to find a safe and functional bike helmet that doesn’t look totally dorky. Luckily, on the safety front, all bike helmets sold in the United States must meet the same strict Consumer Product Safety Commissionstandard. Which means “the protection offered by most helmets is pretty similar,” says Randy Swart, the executive director of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute. “And it’s a good level of protection.”
With that knowledge, you can pretty much just pick a helmet according to your personal riding habits and how much you’re willing to spend in the name of comfort and aesthetics. And you’ll definitely want to make sure your new helmet fits properly. It should sit level on your head with the chin strap drawn so the helmet moves slightly downward as you open your mouth. The fit should be snug enough that you’re significantly loosening and tightening the rear adjustment dial (or equivalent mechanism) in order to take the helmet on and off. A well-fitted helmet should feel comfortable and relatively weightless. “It’s like a seatbelt,” says Swart. “Once you put it on and buckle it, you should pretty much forget it’s there.”
Find the best bike helmets for different kinds of riders below, as tested out by myself, fellow Strategist staffers, and a wide range of experienced cycling experts — including a budget pick that should work for both road racers and casual commuters, helmets for large and small heads, and a collapsible helmet approved by the Citi Bike crowd. While you’re here, I’ve also written guides to buying kids’ helmets and cruiser bikes.
