Bike Score – How bikeable is Vancouver?

According to a study carried out by Bike Score in 10 Canadian cities and 16 American cities, it turns out that Vancouver is very bikeable, indeed. Not as much as Victoria, which keeps its title as the Cycle Capital of Canada, but definitely ahead from Montreal, Toronto or Calgary.

On the flip side, the news are not so bright: Vancouver and all the other Canadian cities in the study score below the 75 mark — far behind the scores on many European cities. And the percentages of ridership all across Canada would still make a Copenhagener laugh and choke a little. In short, no breaking news here: there is still lots of room for improvement.

The coolest part of the study carried out by Seattle-based Walk Score in collaboration with both Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia, though, is their “heat maps”: a visual, color based representation of the “bike-friendliness” of every area and neighborhood in the city.

Bike Scores are calculated for each location in a city based on 3 criteria: cycling infrastructure, topography and road connectivity and access to amenities. Those results are then mapped with color, with scores ranging from a low of 0 (deep red) and to a high of 100 (dark green). The American Bike Scores include an additional map showing the percentages of bike commuters by area, as a means to include a measurement for the social component in cycling: chances are that, if more people in your extended network bike, you will be more inclined to try it yourself.

But if Bike Score is wrong and not even peer pressure works to get more people on bikes, then I’d advocate for more sunny morning and afternoons: nothing like the first stretch of beautiful weather after a wet winter to see the daily numbers of Commuter Cup Contenders increase exponentially!

You can check all the bike score cities here. And also look for apartments based on cycling distance. And if you don’t see a Bike Score  for your city, tweet away to get it included: they will be building Bike Score for the top 10 most requested cities.

Bikes, Chorizo and the Recipe for Absolute Happiness

Yesterday, I took the first bite of my chorizo sandwich and was abruptly transported back in time, to the summer of 1941 in post-war Spain. Chorizo grease dripping from my hands, taste-buds overpowered by the intense, smoky flavours  and… bam! Memories that weren’t even mine, from places and times I had never known first-hand, started flooding. I guess I’m making it sound as if I was having lunch in the back seat of a plutonium powered DeLorean. In reality, all that happened was that my brain was short-circuiting the bike+food neural path again, as I suddenly remembered that one of my favourite cycling stories features prominently a chorizo sandwich very much like the one I was having. It involves not only bikes and food, but also one of the greatest Spanish writers on the 20th century and his infalible recipe for absolute happiness. It is, ultimately, a love story and goes as follows:

Weekend Ride – Cleveland Park and Musette Caffè

Route Length: 39.1 km
Route Difficulty: Moderate
Route with Profile:  BikeMap: 1530312

A new destination to add to our default  trifecta of short to medium length rides on the North Shore – namely: Horeshoe Bay, Whytecliff Park and Deep Cove. This ride includes some gradual climbing on Capilano Road, all the way to Cleveland Park, but nothing too crazy. The park overlooks Capilano Lake, and offers some gorgeous views of the Lions. The perfect destination for a little lunch picnic.

Nasu: Summer in Andalusia – Cycling meets japanese anime

I bumped into this trailer recently via Headset Press. This movie looks so awesome that I am willing to forgive its portrayal of us Spaniards as obsessed eaters of pickled eggplants. All the cycling related details are simply spectacular – you will even recognize some familiar faces from the pro peloton! I especially love the use of areal “shots” to follow the race (La Vuelta a España) through a very convincingly depicted Andalusian landscape. I was not surprise to discover that Kitaro Kosaka – the director – is a hard-core cycling fan himself.

I have been able to find the full movie online (thanks, YouTube!), but only with Spanish subtitles. I would be interested in finding it with English subtitles as well, so if anyone knows where, please, give a shout.

A Pancake-Rhubarb Cobbler for the Paris-Roubaix

Vancouver. Sunday, 5AM. You jump from the bed and run for your computer. Across an entire continent and one ocean, almost two hundred cyclists are making their way through France, from the outskirts of Paris to the border with Belgium. Only 86 will make it to the finish line, and you want to see who they are. This is, after all, no usual Sunday. For each and all of those riders, this is a Sunday in Hell: The day when the Paris-Roubaix – the roughest of road cycling classic races – takes place.

Any other day but this Sunday, your love for a good sleep would easily win over your love for the sport, and you would be content with getting a second-hand report on the bike racing results of the day well past the crack of dawn. So… what is it that makes this race so special? The answer is simple: The cobbles. Paris-Roubaix features 27 cobbled sections, varying from quite smooth (1 star) to a surface similar to stones dropped from a helicopter (5 stars). Riders go through the cobbles full gas. On carbon road bikes. With skinny tires.

Punctures are an understatement. Sights of blood are not uncommon.