My town has a tradition on the August Saturday night closest to the full moon called the Moonlight Ramble. I attended it last night, and worked up a sweat along with several thousand others on bicycles riding along 17 miles of closed city streets from midnight to 3. Most of…
Here is the simple goal for those participating in Naked Bike Ride: Protest our dependency on oil and celebrate the power and individuality of our bodies. In America, most people tend to have a warped attitude toward bicycles. They see bicycles as toys and amusements, not as incredibly efficient and serious modes of transportation. More than anything else, Naked Bike Ride is an attempt to change this attitude and to get people to choose bicycles rather than gas guzzling motor vehicles, whenever possible.
This combination was pure marketing genius. If 1,000 people had assembled in the middle of St. Louis to promote alternative sustainable methods of transportation, the media wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass. Because these organizers promised to wrap this serious message about bicycle riding in a package of nudity, however, the media was there in droves. Here’s an video interview of two of the organizers.
Now, what kind of nudity did those curious media types actually see when they got to the assembly prior to the bicycle ride? Well, they saw some of this:
As well as some of this:
The evening could also have been accurately called Slogans Painted on Partially Naked People on Bikes Night, but that would have been unwieldy.
This use of nakedness to promote the message that we desperately need to start using sustainable transportation methods has been successfully executed in numerous other cities. Tonight, the event came to my home town. 
I decided to both participate in a minimally naked way …
Here's a thoughtful and well-researched article on the safety of bicycling by Alan Durning of Grist. Here's his bottom line: Biking is safer than it used to be. It's safer than you might think. It does incur the risk of collision, but its other health benefits massively outweigh these risks.…
Raymond Learsy reports on one aspect of post-oil: Renault Nissan, and California-based Project Better Place, are working together with the government of Israel to make the country oil independent by 2020. Denmark has already signed on to implement the sinews of this major electric car initiative. In broad outline, Renault…
My bicycle is not shifting smoothly. The problem has developed over many months. I’ve adjusted the cables repeatedly, without success. I received some not so bad news today. I took my bicycle into a neighborhood bike shop. The crank teeth are worn down, as are the back sprockets and the chain. This will…