OK, first of all, I have to say that I think we all could use one more incentive to bike to work and I personally believe that biking to work could solve a lot of the problems America is facing today.

That said, I don’t think it should be a part of the debate going on in Washington about what to do to solve the current financial crisis. This week, in order to “sweeten” the deal for members of the U.S. House of Representatives - to encourage certain members of the House to vote for the legislation - the Senate added a provision that would give employers a $20/month tax break for each employee who regularly bikes to work.

Seems like a good idea right? Only, the House’s only velocommuting member, Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) isn’t biting. I never thought that I would write such a thing, but I commend Blumenauer for sticking to his principles.

The last thing this community needs is to have a bunch of press about this obviously ill-timed and frankly inappropriate attempt to sway a few votes. And then there are the other potential backlashes, as in when companies most certainly will abuse this provision, that simply make this a ticking time-bomb, in my humble opinion.

I mean, I know this is how politics works, but after all of the pork spending that was added to the current bill, I have started reminiscing about the old bill - the one that the House voted down on Monday - that was only $700 billion!

So, we await passage of a modified version of the bill in the House, a quick conference committee, where this provision will almost certainly get stripped since Blumenauer is not going to vote for the bill, and we are back to square one.

I do hope that Congress can someday find a way to make biking to work more financially attractive to Americans, but this is not the one we want!

OK, Aibo fans, this one’s for you. It’s a bicycle parking robot that stores your bicycle in an underground, 9,000-bicycle capacity parking facility. That’s very efficient use of urban space!

Obviously, we don’t have such a need in the States (yet!) for such parking capacity (or gadgetry, for that matter), but it’s still a cool video and I like how excited the announcer gets.

What a way to end your commute! I still haven’t talked my boss into getting a basic bike rack for the office. Slow are the cogs of change in even the smallest offices…

Read more about the robot at Geek.com.

I’m in love. I mean it. It’s the kind kind of relationship that requires lots of “ums” and “ahs” as I unsuccessfully attempt to provide some sort of rational explanation for such a kinship.

But I’m in love. I find myself often going to the Electra Bicycles website to look at their line of bikes, but most often I check out the Daisy (pictured).

I know this bike is not for me - that’s the thing. It’s too flowery to match my more hard-core riding style, but I am really attracted to it in some innate sense. I simply love commuting to work in that relaxed position that a cruiser affords. There is just nothing like it in the world.

What pleasure…

For all of the people of a more ‘flowery’ persuasion, this is a beautiful, head-turning bike (How many bikes on the road today have lime-green rims?).

You might have to special-order this one, so you might just want to make a deposit soon at your local Electra dealer. You’d be that much closer to your own chance at true love.

Photo Credit: Electra Bikes

Jim Jordan and Pablo Alcala at the Lexington, Kentucky Herald-Leader have teamed up to post a story and accompanying video about Lexington resident Dan Dickinson’s bike ride to work.

Dickinson makes one very important insight: Don’t ride the big roads to work. (The smaller neighborhood streets are much more inviting and interesting anyway

Lexinggton is one city that has paid attention to its amazing level growth in recent years and has made significant strides towards making a compact, livable, sustainable community. Now that gas prices are going through the roof, I guess those dividends are paying off.

Here’s a tip of the old velocommuter chapeau to Dan and the Lexington Planning team!

Photo credit: Pablo Alcala, Herald-Leader.

Hey you - got a few minutes? Give this guy some good velocommuter data.

This is your opportunity to participate in a research study. It is supervised by Professor Moshe Ben-Akiva from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). Your results will contribute to a doctoral dissertation.

You can access the survey Here.

~ms

The word from Steetsblog is that New York City employees now have an indoor bicycle parking facility.  There has been a bit of a controversy with employees of NYC who want to bike to work.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans late last year to green up the city, including promoting City employees to bike to work.

The program has faltered a bit, with some employees complaining of poor bike storage and bad building bicycle policies.  This indoor facility is definitely a step in the right direction.  Hopefully the word from NYC just keeps getting better and better!

Kudos to Mayor Bloomberg and his GREENYC program.  Well-placed infrastructure will pay large dividends over the long term.

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According to the Choteau Acantha, this Montana city’s business owners have begun a Yellow Bike program.

The small town, located between Great Falls and Glacier National Park, receives a fair amount of tourist traffic over the summer as visitors travel around the state. There are numerous opportunities for campers and other visitors to cruise about the town without the need for an automobile.

The program is mostly the dream-child of local resident Mark Carlson. Here’s a tip of the old helmet to Mark. Nice going - keep up the good work!

~ms