Baby on Board: Pregnancy and bicycle commuting

The following was edited out of the manuscript of my book, The Bike to Work Guide: What You Need to Know to Save Gas, Go Green, Get Fit. The question of bicycle commuting while pregnant has come up occasionally from site readers. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

While pregnancy is undoubtedly a time when women need to pay close attention to their bodies and use some caution in their physical exertion, it’s a complete myth that pregnant women shouldn't exercise and continue healthy activities they enjoy. Safe exercise throughout pregnancy offers many benefits to both expectant mother and child, including increased blood flow, greater oxygen delivery, stress reduction, endorphins, improved mood. Maintaining physical fitness improves a woman's stamina during delivery and speeds postnatal recovery. If you can continue to work during your pregnancy, you can make your trip to work by bicycle.

Bicycle commuting can be a particularly healthy activity for expectant mothers, even up to the week before giving birth. Of all the exercises a pregnant woman might choose, cycling is among the best because of its smooth motion and it doesn’t require lifting, jumping, or sudden stops. The level of exertion can be varied, making it easy for a cyclist to lower the intensity of her riding as her pregnancy progresses. Possibly the only physical activity more suitable for pregnant women would have to be swimming.

Before embarking on any exercise during pregnancy, it’s important to consult with your obstetrician or midwife. Your caregiver should be completely involved in helping you design an exercise regimen that will be to your benefit. As long as your pregnancy progresses normally and you have no prior health concerns (such as a history of problems during pregnancy), a caregiver may encourage you to stay active with moderate exercise such as bicycle commuting.

The key to any exercise during pregnancy is not to overdo it. It’s fine to exercise as often as you normally would, but it’s best to keep the intensity level slightly lower than usual. For instance, while you may normally aim to keep your heart rate at between 70 and 80 percent of maximum while exercising, during pregnancy it’s best to keep it between 60 and 70 percent. Be sure to drink lots of fluids, take frequent breaks when pedaling, and avoid overheating.

Continue to be cautious when returning to biking after giving birth. While you’ll no longer be riding for two, you still need to keep your body well nourished, especially if you plan to breastfeed. Don’t be in too much of a rush to lose the extra weight you may have gained over the past months--it will come off steadily if you eat properly and continue cycling.

Your suggestions for happy bicycle commuting while pregnant?

Image: Web capture.
Visit: Bicycling and Pregnancy, American Pregnancy Association
Visit: Biking with a bump: Should you ride while pregnant?, BikePortland.org
Visit: Preggo Velo, Tot Cycle Family Cycling
Visit: Riding while pregnant, MotherNature.com
Visit: Bicycle travel, with kids too!, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Bicycling Safety Considerations for Women
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site

Out of excuses: You—yes, you—can ride your bike to work

From GreenRightNow.com, 05.13.09:

Paul Dorn knows that getting Americans to ride a bike to work instead of driving a car is quite the uphill battle. Even on a good day, he says, only a tiny percentage of the nation’s commuters use pedal power to get to their jobs.

He remains undeterred.

Given that this is national Bike to Work Week, it’s an apt time to pick Dorn’s brain on the subject. Between co-authoring a book (The Bike to Work Guide: What You Need to Know to Save Gas, Go Green, Get Fit) his bike commuting advice Web site and his commuting tips blog, he is well-versed in the subject.

"I'm fairly typical of most Americans in the sense that the day I got my driver's license, the bike went into the garage. I didn't really touch it again until my mid-30s, when I was living in San Francisco, and didn’t have a car," he said. His frustrating mass transit commute took 90 minutes. So he hopped on a bike, cut the commuting time in half, felt healthier, stopped paying bus fare and just generally started having more fun.

Of course, starting out in San Francisco helped. It’s a generally bike-friendly city, and Dorn...found a supportive cycling community to tell him about equipment, routes to avoid traffic and other advice. (Read more.)

It's Bike to Work Day in many cities across the U.S., including the San Francisco Bay Area. (BTWD in Sacramento is May 21.) This extensive article offers insights--many of them mine--into bike selection, bicycling safety, and advocacy for complete streets.

Bike to Work Day has been an effective promotion, encouraging commuters to reconsider their default transportation mode. A major challenge facing many prospective bicycle commuters is what we might call (with a nod to James Howard Kunstler) the "Psychology of Previous Investment."

Motorists have made a huge investment--social, psychological, emotional, and financial--in their automobiles. "I love my car" or "My car makes me look hot!" They've made payments on car loans and auto insurance. They are afraid of diminished social status: "Jeff's not driving, I wonder if he lost his job?" The characters on their favorite TV dramas and sit-coms drive; their friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, everyone drives. Cars evoke nostaglic memories; our parents took us on car trips, not bicycle tours. There's also the perception that bike commuters are either eccentric geeks or low-income transients. It's not mature or grown up.

Our entire culture has been built around the automobile. While the rest of the world built transit and high-speed rail, we built freeways and parking lots. In much of our country, it is truly unpleasant to walk or bike to destinations, which in sprawling suburbs are often separated by long distances and dull numbing strip mall streetscapes. In short, our public policy for the past 60-70 years has discouraged walking, transit use, or bicycling.

It's a challenge to consider shifting to bicycling.

Bike to Work Day is effective at raising awareness, as individual commuters and as citizens in a culture long-dominated by the auto-petrol industrial complex. BTWD offers a "safe" day to try bicycling, makes us confront our transportation reality, and causes us to examine our real options. And a few of us will try bicycle commuting, and possibly continue with it. Happy Bike to Work Day.

Image: San Francisco Bike Coalition.
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site

Sacramento Bee profile of multimodal bike commuter

From the Sacramento Bee, 04.30.09:

Commuter: A 'multi-modal' journey

In 1992, Paul Dorn sold his car, which wouldn't be such a big deal, except he never bought another one. Now he has written a book showing others how to get by with less car use or no car use at all.

"The Bike to Work Guide: What You Need to Know to Save Gas, Go Green, Get Fit" (Adams Media, $7.95, 218 pages) focuses on helping the 57 million cyclists in the United States "extend the fun they have bicycling on weekends to their daily commute."

"I didn't set out to become a bike commuting expert. I had a modest goal of creating a Web site, and that led me to have an ongoing conversation with bicyclists," said Dorn.

Dorn is not a bike rider fixated on speed. He equips his touring-style bike with a rear rack. He usually rides wearing loose-fitting hiking shorts instead of tight-fitting Lycra. "People should ride whatever they are comfortable in and whatever suits their style," he said.

Asked his position on helmets, which are not legally required for adults, Dorn says, "I'm not one of these helmet-enforcement types. I'm not a bicycling advocate who accentuates the danger. I accentuate the fun. Bicycling is safe. More people die in bathtubs every year than riding a bike."

"There are so many people who ride bikes for recreation. The real challenge is to encourage them to ride it during the week, too. A lot of people get started for various reasons – to lose weight or improve their health or save the planet. But they persist with bike commuting because it's fun." (Read more.)

An overwhelming article in today's Sacramento Bee, by bicyclist and journalist Blair Anthony Robertson, with an impressive video by Andy Alfaro.

I'm glad my comment about "the ongoing conversation with bicyclists" made it through the editing process. By means of this blog and my website, I've been privileged to have an extensive dialogue with bicyclists and would-be bicyclists from around the world. Everything I know about bicycle commuting is the product of the comments readers have sent to me or left on this blog, and I've learned a great deal from the bicyclists in San Francisco, Davis, and Sacramento.

Let's hope this article encourages a few more folks to consider bicycle commuting.

Image: Andy Alfaro, Sacramento Bee.
Visit: Biking Journalist: Interview with Blair Robertson, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site

Velorution coming to Boston?

From the Boston Globe, 04.10.09:

Is Boston Ready For a Revolution?
Can Boston really go from being the worst city for bicycling to the best? The mayor and his spitfire bike czar think so, and they're determined to launch the biggest bike-share program in the country. But as one visit to Paris reveals, bike share is about more than cool racks and shiny two-wheelers...

I'm visiting Paris to see how its new bike-sharing program has transformed and energized the city. Boston is exploring the idea, and while plenty of bike fanatics and clean-air enthusiasts are ecstatic, a lot of others think it's lunacy, given that our street system is a mess, our drivers are maniacs, and our weather isn't exactly ideal for biking...

When I arrive, Paris is having a rare cold snap and there's a dusting of snow...Even as I'm trying to keep my legs from shaking in the cold, a steady stream of undeterred commuters rides by on Velib bikes...I walk down to get my bike. A green light blinks, telling me to pull it out of the locking system...I ride down the block. The bike is heavy but handles well.

Mayor Menino commutes to work on his bike some days. He's convinced Boston can be transformed by a sustained effort to get citizens out of cars and onto bikes. He is not alone. "Bike share would allow non-riders to get on a bike with a very minimal change to their lifestyle," says David Watson, executive director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. "Forty percent of car trips are within 2 miles of home. If bike share helps us shift just a small percentage of those trips to bikes, it will have a huge impact on our citizens' health, on the environment, and the vitality of our community."(Read more.

A writer for a major daily newspaper visits Paris, and is impressed by the city's innovative Velib program and imagines how it might transform Boston. He's not alone. The success of Velib has attracted significant attention, and inspired initial efforts in many cities.

Image: Boston Globe.
Visit: Bike-Sharing Blog
Visit: Boston improves as a bike city, Boston Globe
Visit: Bike sharing sweeps Europe, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Boston: Paths to safe cycling, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Josh Switzky Interview, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site

Bike commuting and economic downturn

The economic situation is bleak, and getting bleaker. In some sense the current economic crisis is primarily an energy crisis.

The American economy rose to global hegemony on a wave of inexpensive petroleum. An assumption of perpetual cheap energy is the foundation of the business plans of nearly every corporation traded on the NYSE, NASDAQ, and other exchanges. The global economy assumes cheap oil, and no economy assumes this with greater enthusiasm than the prodigiously profligate U.S. economy, which consumes 25 percent of total annual global production of petroleum, most of which fuels the country's motor vehicles.

However, the era of cheap abundant oil is over. That's the dope slap now causing panic in the equity markets. Despite the momentarily lower price of oil, the long term trend is for increasing scarcity and rising prices for petroleum. Alternative fuels on the massive scale needed to fuel the global economy are scant, unrealistic, underdeveloped, and distant at best. Welcome to post peak America.

The new energy reality will have significant impacts on the economy. The first domino to fall was the housing sector, having powered economic growth for several decades through sprawling development of energy-intensive exurban "McMansion" subdivisions. The mortgage driven banking industry was the next domino to fall.

Other sectors approaching collapse include consumer credit cards, mall retail, automobile makers, and the airline industry. Business is eroding for the restaurant, travel and hospitality sector. Energy-intensive and credit dependent corporate agriculture is in trouble. The fuel-guzzling military-industrial complex will be challenged. Sadly, America's political leadership fails to understand this pivotal paradigm shift, and seems determined to launch another frenzy of stimulative highway spending in a futile attempt to reinvigorate the "Happy Motoring Era."

Those interested in more detailed examinations of the new energy future might consult the work of thinkers such as James Howard Kunstler, Michael Klare, and Paul Roberts, or films such as The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream or A Crude Awakening-The Oil Crash. Eventually the American economy will reach a new equilibrium, but it will doubtless be at a lower level. This will require a fundamental shift in how we live.

What does this mean for the future of bicycle commuting? In short, I believe the prospects are very, very bright. Those of us who now commute by bike will be less lonely on our streets. The relative appeal of travel by bicycle will increase, as Americans become less affluent and energy prices continue to climb. Some speculations:

• Urban Rebound: sprawling suburbs will lose their appeal, as gas gets scarce and costly. Dense, walkable cities will become more attractive, making transit and bicycling more practical.

• Transit Renewal: strapped public agencies will find even basic road maintenance an expensive challenge, let alone new highway construction. Fixed rail transit (trolleys), bus rapid transit (BRT), and passenger rail will all become more critical. Multimodal systems--combining bicycles and transit--will become more common.

• Power-assisted Bicycles: as much as bicycle commuting purists think pedaling is a virtue, many others will look to electric bicycles, scooters, mopeds, and other energy-efficient two-wheeled transportation. We will need to negotiate better accommodation for all two-wheeled vehicles, so bike lanes are not overwhelmed with motorized transport.

• Bike-Sharing: many municipal agencies will experiment with bike sharing, as a form of cost-effective public transportation. Boston, Washington, and San Francisco are among the early movers pursuing Paris Velib-style bike sharing systems.

• Bike Parking: companies looking to reduce the expense of providing employee parking may become more supportive of their bicycle commuting staff. The Bicycle Commuter Act is a hopeful start; possible new initiatives to provide more equity in transportation provision will emerge.

• Health Care Reform: cost-containment efforts are long overdue in American healthcare, which may shift the emphasis from medical intervention/treatment to illness prevention. This will provide more support for healthy activities such as bicycling.

The shift away from an oil-intensive economy and transportation system will be traumatic and difficult. But it doesn't have to be. Much has been done in many communities around the U.S. to facilitate bicycle commuting. We need to encourage even more public investment in bicycling, and end support for gas guzzling foolishness. The future of bicycle commuting may be very bright, and may be the foundation of economic recovery.

What do you think of the future prospects? Is there a silver lining for bicycling in the dismal economic trends?

Image: Web capture.
Visit: Did Your Car Cause the Crisis?, American Prospect
Visit: Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Permanent Energy Crisis Hits Home, TomDispatch.com
Visit: Dilip Hiro: The Energy Reality We Face, TomDispatch.com
Visit: The end of oil is closer than you think, The Guardian (2005!)
Visit: Will The End of Oil Mean The End of America?, CommonDreams.org (2004!)
Visit: From the Wilderness
Visit: Peak Moment TV
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site

Protect your bike from theft

From the Sacramento Bee, 02.20.09:

Bike theft is a common crime--no happy ending in most cases
Hey, what about my bike? That's what lots of local cyclists have been saying this week as police worked to crack the Lance Armstrong $10,000-plus bike theft case.

Each year, several thousand bicycles are stolen in the region--and few result in even a token police investigation.

Shawna Sanders, a student at Sacramento City College, said Thursday the lack of any follow-up on her missing bike case "really irritated" her. Sanders...said her old bike was swiped from her backyard near Curtis Park. She carefully secured her new bike's frame to a bike rack with a U-shaped lock. "I understand that they have a lot going on, but … " she said.

Her story isn't unusual, city police officials say, but the reality is there are few leads to work in bike thefts and when budgets are tight, public safety cases win. "Unfortunately, property crimes are not the top priority right now," said Officer Michelle Lazark. (Read more.)

Lance Armstrong's bike isn't safe from theft. Is yours? The well publicized theft of Armstrong's expensive time trial bike from a locked team truck last weekend in Sacramento has helped generate interest in the very real problem of bike theft. Knowing how to secure your own cherished bicycle is a real key to happy bike commuting. I've been very fortunate--I've had minor accessories stolen, but have never lost a bike. I've always been very conscious about locking, security, and theft deterrence. The following is an excerpt from the relevant chapter of my book, The Bike to Work Guide: What You Need to Know to Save Gas, Go Green, Get Fit:

You've arrived at work. Now you need a place to leave your bicycle.

Sadly, employers in the United States are not very enlightened about bicycle parking. They aren't reluctant to provide parking for their employee's automobiles, spending thousands creating a parking lot or garage for staff car parking, and thousands more on lighting, maintaining, security, and insurance for these parking lots. Yet only one automobile parking space could be converted to create parking for ten or more bicycles.

Until your employer gets better informed about the value of staff bicycle parking, you will need to take responsibility for keeping your bicycle secure during the workday...If possible, try to leave your bicycle in a secure indoor location. Not only will this keep your bike secure from thieves, it will also protect it from weather. Perhaps you have enough space in your office to keep your bike there; where it will also become a conversation starter with colleagues and perhaps inspire others at your workplace to bike commute. Perhaps there is a closet or storeroom with space. The luckiest bike commuters work at organizations that provide secure indoor parking.

While regular commuters may want something that provides a bit more security (if it’s available), most cyclists depend on what’s available in the immediate vicinity. Wherever you decide to lock your bike, make sure it’s safe for the bike and safe for everyone else as well. For example, don’t chain your bike in a place where it will block pedestrian’s paths. Besides being obnoxious, it may also be illegal...

Unless you leave your bike at a safe, supervised parking lot, always use a strong bike lock, preferably some sort of U-lock. You may also want to use more than one lock, such as a cable in addition to your U-lock. Redundancy is effective at deterring thieves, who may have the tools to defeat one type of lock, but not several types of lock. And don’t forget to take any accessories or easily removable parts with you when you leave the bike.

Other Theft Deterrence Techniques

• Record your bike's serial number. Every bike has a unique serial number, usually stamped on the frame below the bottom bracket. Record this number in a safe place. If your bike is stolen, report it so that law enforcement agencies could possibly recover your bike.

• Uglify your bike. Make your bike as undesirable as possible. Some cyclists remove brand name decals or repaint the bike to disguise a top-of-the-line model as a piece of junk. Many bicyclists also put decals on their bike, both to express a message ("One Less Car", "I Bike & I Vote" or "What Gas Prices?") and to discourage easy re-sale in the event of theft.

• Use a "beater bike". Leave your expensive titanium or carbon fiber bike at home, commute on a less expensive model. Many bicycle commuters ride "urban beater bikes" that are less appealing to thieves.

• Make it unrideable. Many cyclists remove wheels and saddles to make it impossible for thieves to ride away on a bike. Even thieves who load bikes onto trucks may avoid those with missing parts; they don’t want the hassle of finding spare parts when they can simply steal another bike without missing pieces.

• Register your bike. Many communities offer bicycle registration through the local police department or other agency. Many states or communities also offer or require a bicycle license, which includes an adhesive label. There is also an anti-theft organization, the National Bike Registry, which also provides tamper-proof adhesive label. These discourage thieves, who move on to unregistered bicycles that are more difficult to trace to the original owner.

• Identify your bike. Many bicyclists use permanent markers to personalize their bikes, making them less appealing to bike thieves.

• Report stolen bikes. Most times, police can’t do anything to help you find a stolen bike, especially when it is unregistered. It may be either impossible to find the thief or too time consuming at a busy precinct. However, a large number of stolen bikes are eventually recovered, so it’s worthwhile to report a theft just in case.

• Never buy a stolen bike. Without a thriving market for stolen bikes, the huge problem of bike theft would not exist. Besides, you may be held partly responsible for a theft if you buy a stolen bike. To avoid stolen bikes, only buy from reputable bike shops. If someone offers you a great deal on a used bike, ask to see a receipt or registration. Without either of these, it’s impossible to be sure the bike was'nt stolen at some point.

image: Sacramento Bee.
Visit: Avoiding the Bicycle Thief, Slate Magazine
Visit: A better way to store bikes, Examiner.com
Visit: Theft Prevention, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Visit: Bike theft real, and preventable, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: It's 5 p.m., do you know where your bike is?, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Cutting a bike lock, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site

Sacramento Meetup: bicycle bloggers, others

Coming to Sacramento for Valentines Day--and also the prologue of the Amgen Tour of California? Finish the day at the AToC Social Media Meetup. Join the inimitable Fritz (Cyclelicious, CommutebyBike), David Bernstein (The FredCast), Jonathan Tessler (Bicycle.net), Jon Winston (Bikescape), myself and others this Saturday, February 14 at 7 p.m. at Bar R15 in Sacramento (15th and R Streets.)

This is a casual, no-host get together, meaning you're responsible for your own food and drinks. (I'll be sipping Diet Coke.) Some bicycle parking is available (one rack, nearby poles), so you may need to use your kickstand and self-lock your bike or leash it with a friend's bike. Theft danger is present, but not huge. To find us, look for cowbells, bike race media passes and paraphernalia, or helmets. RSVP on Facebook. No RSVP is necessary, but leave a comment if you think you can stop by.

During your visit to Sacramento, try to visit the new Bicycle Kitchen if you have time. And also try to take a ride on the American River Bike Trail, one of the premier bicycling facilities in the nation. The Amgen Tour prologue course will be open for riding at 11:30 a.m.; enjoy a ride on traffic free streets.

Visit: Web capture.
Visit: Sacramento Bee Amgen Special
Visit: Sacramento: Bicycling gaining big, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Sacramento: Cycle City?, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Sacramento goes for gold, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site