A Strong Towns Guide to Biking

Biking isn’t only for athletic guys in spandex — it’s for everyone. We hope the following guide with simple tips and ideas for making biking easier, more enjoyable and more fun will convince you of that. Strong Towns members from across the country and from all walks of life have shared their perspectives on everything from getting started in the “bike club,” to finding a lost bike, to advocating for safer streets. Here’s a roundup of their tips and ideas:

1. GETTING STARTED

• Entering the Bike Club: Gracen Johnson walks us through her entry into the “bike club,” and the tension between being a “jolly cycling lady” vs. a spandex-clad cyclist.
• Winter Biking is Hot: Four tips for making winter biking doable and fun. Hint: You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on special gear to do it.

2. THE JOYS OF BIKING

• How a Bike Will Save You Money (and You Don’t Event Have to Give up Your Car): Mr. Money Mustache tells you how to get rich with bikes.
• Biking, a Gateway Drug to Social Awareness: Yvette Tendick explains how biking has opened her eyes to issues of equality and safety in her Canadian town.
• Turning our Family’s Unremarkable Day-to-Day into Something Remarkable: In the summer of 2010, one family made a decision that would transform their lives for the better: they ditched their car and committed to a bike and walk lifestyle.

3. DEALING WITH CHALLENGES

• How to get Your Stolen Bike Back: Josef Bray-Ali found out the key to getting your bike back isn’t just registering it and filing a police report; it’s about having a social network that can come through for you.
• The Opposite of Bike-Friendly: What happens when your city fails to provide adequate bike racks, then tickets you for locking your bike to a street-sign? Here’s how the cyclists of Miami responded.

4. BECOMING AN ADVOCATE

• Strong Towns Member Works to Make Streets Safer: Brian Ludicke explains how he made his city of Lancaster, CA more bikeable, walkable and livable for all its residents.
• Planting Trees to Improve Bike-Friendliness: Sarah Kobos shares the magic of tree-lined streets for keeping cyclists and pedestrians cool and happy in hot climates.
• Bike Share: Bridging the Gap: How do we bridge the physical gap between regional mass transit options and city destinations? The answer may rest in the growing movement of bike share.
• How to Make Your Church Bike-Friendly: Whether your church is urban, suburban or rural, these 6 ideas can help you promote bikeability in your community.

Happy biking! Check out all our cycling content here.

Originally published at www.strongtowns.org on October 11, 2016.