Iowa City almost a bicycle friendly town

Iowa City is almost a bicycle friendly town. The press-citizen has an article. Make sure you read the comments.

Flat Tire

I've had many flats, but this was a first for me. Somehow I managed to break my valve stem. It happened on my commute home from work. Sitting in traffic on 5th street in Coralville, I attempted a track stand. Well, I suck at track stands and somehow managed to hit my valve stem with my heel. The next thing I hear is a pssssssssssssssst and I'm stuck with a flat tire.

Anyway, I got to thinking. It might be cool if the bike library could give a monthly bike seminar or something. The first one could be "How to fix a flat." We could even try to partner with one of the local bike shops. They could bring in tubes, patches, pumps etc to sell or just demo to the attendees. I can't think of a topic for the next seminar, but I'm sure someone could come up with something.

What do you think?

Public Forum - Parks, Recreation, and Trails Master Plan

I received this message from a co-worker today:

The Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department is beginning the process of developing a comprehensive, multi-year Parks, Recreation and Trails Master Plan, and has hired a nationally known company to assist with this effort. The purpose of the plan is to create a vision for future growth and identify the most important needs to be implemented in the next 5 to 10 years. The consultant will be conducting a series of "focus group" sessions the week of September 17th, followed by a public forum. This public forum is being held to review information gathered from the focus groups, and to help identify what the citizens of Iowa City would like to see relative to parks, recreation, trails, facilities, programs and services. The forum will be held Thursday, September 20, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., in the Social Hall of the Robert A. Lee Community Recreation Center, 220 South Gilbert Street. The general public is invited and encouraged to attend and provide input.

For further information call the Parks and Recreation Department at 356-5110.

Root River

Last weekend (9/7 - 9/9) I went on a camping trip to southeast Minnesota with my 2 daughters and a bunch of people from my church. The root river state trail is a 42 mile multi-use trail through several small towns along the root river. The paved trail used to be a railroad which makes the entire trail pretty flat.

The limestone bluffs, bridges, valleys, and river make for some spectacular views. I wish I had some more pictures.

I only rode about 10 miles of the trail. Someday I'd like to go back and try to do the whole thing. If anyone is looking for a biking/camping vacation, be sure to check out root river.

One of the many bridges along the trail:

Riding through the limestone:

One of the biggest hills :)

A great place to fish. There were a couple people fly fishing in the river. Unfortunately, you can't see them.
If only I knew how to golf...

Bike Lunch Talks

BIC will be sponsoring some lunchtime discussion about cycling in Johnson County. First up on September 27th, noon to 1pm, will be Kent Ralston, JCCOG transportation planner. He will be talking about Iowa City's application to become certified as a "Bike Friendly Community" through the League of American Bicyclists. In October, we are planning to invite IC Council candidates to talk about their vision for cycling in Iowa City. In November, we will have the Iowa Bike Coalition come in and talk about what their 2008 advocacy agenda.

Do you want this bike???

1977 French Gitane Mixte Classic Commuter

Iowa Shares will be holding a silent auction from noon- 3:00pm during the Iowa Women's Music Festival. This bike will be part of the silent auction!

The French did not invent the bike, but they did perfect it. This mixte style frame is a wonderful example of the relaxed and comfortable geometry used in French touring bikes. It has been upgraded with a riser stem, classic alloy wheels, rear rack, lights, mirror and bell. There’s even a place to put you coffee for your morning commute! Make it yours and support a great organization!

Come to the 14th Annual Iowa Women’s Music Festival
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Iowa City’s Upper City Park
Noon to 6:00pm

Brian

Roadside Breakfast 9/7

Breakfast was great this morning! We had Cherry Almond muffins, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins, Del's Famous Corn muffins, a (still warm!) zucchini bread from Jay, and, of course, BANANAS! There was a steady stream of cyclists stopping by. The sky was a bit overcast, but the weather was dry and not too hot. Good food, good conversation, good people.

Iowa Share the Road Plate

For those of you who sometimes have your feet in the 4 wheeled world, Scott H, one of the Salvage Night volunteers suggest that I might post this:

The Iowa DOT is sponsoring a "share the road" license plate. 125 plates have been purchased. 375 plates to sell before they are issued.

You can get more info from this website: http://www.iowabicyclecoalition.org/strplate.htm