Biking in Milan

We arrived in Milan by train at night and decided we would walk around a bit to see what the city was up too after dark. What a pleasant surprise when we turned the first corner from our hotel and saw a long bike sharing rack from BikeMi. BikeMi is Milan's successful bike sharing program. They currently have 103 stations and over 1500 bikes. To rent a bike there you simply go online or call a hot-line to get a subscription number and check a bike out. The first 30 minutes are free, it is only $.50 every 30 minutes after that, and you can return the bike to any station that you like. I saw tons of people on these bikes and it makes it a no brainer to use this system for short commutes.

The next morning in the daylight, we could see the bike culture in action. The city had several on street bike lanes, streets reserved for transit, scooters, and bikes only, and bike racks everywhere. The automobile traffic gave the cyclists plenty of right of way and bikes were riding anywhere they wanted.

Milan was a pleasant mix of modern and historic architecture and styles. The people there seemed to live harmoniously with their transportation systems. They literally had streets with light rail, buses, taxis, automobiles, scooters, bikes, and pedestrians all sharing the same space. It was nice to see a place where people just did what they had to do to get somewhere and didn't seem to think that their particular group had more right to be on the road than the other.

I Bike Italy-Tuscany Tour

While we were visiting Florence, we decided to take one day of our trip and visit Tuscany. After getting to the city and seeing what our options were, we decided to rent bikes and tour the hills on 2 wheels. Needless to say this was a great choice, and was one of the highlights of the entire trip. Not only did this get us out of the city for a day, but it also allowed us to experience the beautiful Tuscan landscape with the tranquility that can only come from biking (vs. renting Vespas, a tour bus, or a private driver).

We chose to use I Bike Italy for our tour. They provided us with fairly new 21 speed Kona touring bikes, helmets, water bottles, a delicious traditional Tuscan meal in a Villa, and a leisurely, professionally guided and fully supported tour. Our guide Bill was fantastic and his jack russell terrier Jake hung out with the group, and had the best seat on the tour as he rode most of the trip on the back of Bill's bike in a crate.It also gave us the opportunity to ride with folks from Australia, London, and a mix bag of Americans like us from San Fransisco, DC, and Boston.

The ride was about 20 miles and had a few hills that topped 10% gradient, but everyone made the entire trip. On the tour we rode through olive groves and vineyards and our lunch was at a historic villa that was still in operation producing fresh olive oil and wine. Of course the villa tour included tastings of the villa's wine and oil and an insight into the villa's production operations. The ride had plenty of stops for panoramic pictures and even opportunities to eat grapes fresh from the vine.We also got to cruise through several quaint towns and come across a few cycle clubs that were out on training rides.

If you get a chance to ever visit Florence, look I Bike Italy up and go on a ride with Bill. You won't ever forget it and you won't be disappointed.

iPhone App for Cycling Turns Cell Phone Into a TomTom

I was very excited when Google finally released a Bike There feature on Google Maps, where a cyclists could pick the best route for pedaling from place to place. Now there is a new free iPhone app that turns your iPhone into a cyclist's version of a TomTom or Garmin GPS navigator. The app shows the best bike-friendly routes to get from here to there, and displays a map for you to check during your journey. It not only keeps you on bike paths, but also shows you short-cuts that can trim time off your ride. And it has a whole bunch of other handy features that are cool.


According to the press release, the app from Bike Hub suses satnav-style routing that has been engineered specifically for cyclists. It keeps you on bike-safe paths and streets, and arranges your route to minimize up-hill cycling. You can even pick if you want the quietest route, the quickest, or a balanced route.

The cycle routing is done via CycleStreets of Cambridge, a community-based group working on a not-for-profit basis. Cyclestreets uses mathematical graph theory algorithms to quickly work out bicycle-friendly routes. Mapping is provided by OpenStreetMap, the 'wikipedia of maps'. OpenStreetMap is a community of 300,000 map enthusiasts worldwide who collaborate to produce the most up-to-date maps available. Changes made by members of the OSM community can be available online within hours.

Other features we like include a "bike shop finder," a listing of bike-friendly events, and a listing of laws associated with cycling in that area.

There seems to be some room for improvement according to a review on the Guardian:

One that will be particularly noticeable for anyone who has used satnav before, is that the app's map doesn't have a little dot tracking your progress. Also, the map doesn't scroll automatically as you move, or call turnings. If you want to know where you are, you need to click the target icon. You'll get a lovely big purple doughnut on the screen to show where you are, but it doesn't hang around long. Similarly it won't tell you how fast you're going. Overall, if you're expecting satnav for your bike, you'll be disappointed. To their credit, the makers actually call it "the nearest thing to satnav for bikes". It would have been nice though ...
Another problem - one that goes for all bike apps on iPhones - is that battery life isn't good for longer trips, especially if you want to keep the screen switched on.

Even with these issues, the reviewer gave it a very high recommendation. If you try it out, let me know what you think!

Biking in Florence Italy

I am going to report on my Italy trip in the order that we visited and saw things. There really wasn't any city that was that much better than the others and they all had good and bad policies and habits being practiced.

Florence is a college town so it had the most visible number of bikes parked on the street and number of cyclists riding bikes for commuting and recreation. The city of Florence had implemented separated bike lanes on the major arterial streets that fed the city and bidirectional, colored bike lanes on many of the secondary streets. Most of the secondary streets were paved with cobbles so the smooth bike lanes encouraged use and directed bikes through the heart of the city with little interaction with automobiles.

Florence was the first place that we saw that had bikes sitting around unlocked or just locked to themselves and leaned against shops and buildings. They also used the flimsiest cable locks and chains to secure their bikes. After renting bikes and doing a Tuscany bike tour, I found some inside information about their locking practices. Our guide Bill, from I Bike Italy explained that bikes in the daylight were fairly safe and a small chain was sufficient to detour theft. Night time was a totally different situation. He said that no bike lock was big enough to secure nice bikes so there wasn't any sense in spending the money on a fancy lock just to have it all gone the next morning. He said they just bring their nice bikes indoors and it has been such a part of the routine that they don't think anything of it. He also said that the city has been known to change bike racks without any notice and they would go through and cut all the bikes free, move the rack, and the bikes would either be confiscated by the city or by thieves.

Florence didn't have a sponsored bike sharing program, but had several private bike rental companies. It was very reminiscent of New York's bike rental system and the streets were full of tourists that rented bikes by the hour and see the city from the perspective of 2 wheels.

The bike clubs and athletic groups that bike were very active in the area, since you could ride 5 miles outside of town and be in some pretty fun/steep, rolling hills of the Tuscan countryside. Clubs seemed to be very similar to the ones here in the states and they all appeared to be doing their typical weekend warrior rides or people just out cruising through the field of vineyards and olive groves.


Overall Florence had the best on street bike facilities. Very hip bike culture and commuting. No helmets to be found anywhere, but that is true all over Europe. Very pedestrian friendly with several bike and pedestrian only streets.

Brooklyn's Prospect Park West Bikeway Accepted and Working

In my recent time up in New York, one of the areas of the city that I wanted to see was Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Up until this summer, speeding was apparently the norm on Brooklyn's Prospect Park West. With three wide lanes inviting motorists to hit the accelerator, it was a street monopolized by car traffic. That changed in a big way in June, when NYC DOT converted one vehicle lane to a two-way bikeway separated from traffic by the parking lane. Physically separated bike lanes are making New York safer for cyclists and pedestrians wherever they're installed, and this one is no exception.

The new lane feels safe and comfortable to ride on, no matter how much experience you may have as a cyclist, and it's attracting riders of all ages. For everyone walking to and from Prospect Park, the street re-design means slower cars -- compliance with the speed limit is up by a factor of five, according to a study by Park Slope Neighbors -- and safer crossings at intersections.

The transformation has been dramatic, and like any major change to the street, this one has attracted some vocal critics. While some opponents contend that the lane has been installed without public input, the truth is that community groups have been calling for traffic calming and safer biking on this street for years. Watch and see how the new Prospect Park West has made good on those demands.

Italian Bike Culture

What I saw on my trip to Italy  has to be broken up unto a few posts. Not only because of the amount of things that I saw and experienced, but because of the different things that each city had.

Italy seemed to be like many places here in the US or other cities in the world. They are facing an increased number of cars and multiple modes of transportation on their roadways. Unfortunately for them, most of their roads are 100s if not 1000s of years old and right of ways are designed for horse and cart and not large automobiles. Italy has done like many places in Europe and developed the use of smaller cars and vehicles and really embraced scooters.

A few cities that we visited are pushing their new infrastructure and transportation policies toward livable transportation initiatives. Cities like Rome, Florence, and Milan have implemented colorized bike lanes, tons of bike parking, and bike sharing programs. They also seemed to have a culture in place that embraced cycling and automobiles gave cyclists and pedestrians the courtesy they deserve and gave them priority on the roadway.

By talking to a few of the locals and doing a couple of rides out in the country, I found a few things that weren't apparent at first glance. Just like it is here in the US, bike theft is a huge problem and any bike that you want to still have in the morning, you have to bring it inside. Bikes during the daylight hours were safe with a small cable lock or even just leaned up against the wall outside the store you may visit. Bike helmets were only worn by road riders in spandex group rides. There were no laws regulating them and commuters didn't even consider them. E-bikes are very prevalent and seem to be making the jump into the mainstream much faster than they have here.


These are just some general observations from the few weeks that we were there. I am going to break down a few of cities into more detail on future posts, so look for those this week.

How many cyclists are really using bike lanes in Montreal?

Below is an interesting article that is pretty self explanatory. It is just more evidence that tends to back the theories behind the use of separated bike facilities in high traffic, urban areas. They provide safety and comfort for riders, and in turn increase ridership dramatically.

Check out the linked article and video that has a pretty cool helmet cam video from a Montreal bike courier. I won't vouch for his safe riding techniques, but his heart is in the right place. Couriers tend to ride like taxi drivers drive, but my hat always goes off for both. They focus on speed and efficiency and not so much on personal safety and road etiquette.

CTV British Columbia - How many cyclists are really using bike lanes? - CTV News