Home > Other Fun Stuff > Advocacy & Industry News

Friday Roundup: Best states to bike, MFGA, ride Stelvio Week & more!

13 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Grading the States, 2019 Bicycle Friendly State rankings released – The Bike League is back this week with their annual Bicycle Friendly State Ranking showing some good news – widespread progress by state Departments of Transportation. But at the same time, more people were killed while biking in 2018 than in any year since 1990.

That continues a tragic trend, but it looks like some institution change seems to be getting underway, with every state is taking some action to make bicycling better. The League of American Bicyclists is hopeful for the progress. Check out their full report to see how your state is doing.  and would like to recognize several positive trends: BikeLeague.org

Advocacy & Industry News

  • Make Friday Green again, with Vélobici & others – While blatant consumerism dominates this day, there are plenty of people & companies pushing the #optoutside alternative. Vélobici pledged not to take part in Black Friday and called on fellow brands to Make Friday Green Again and end the madness of pre-Christmas discounting for the sake of the environment and the retail industry. The small-batch, luxury cycling clothing maker abhors the globally spreading Black Friday & even Cyber Monday shopping frenzy traditions, and the resulting spikes in air pollution & packaging waste. Read how they are trying to get other brands to join in too. Velobici.cc

Athlete News

  • The YT Mob rounds out final video of this year’s World Tour in ‘Time’ – The World Tour witnessed 6 rider camps on 6 continents, where over 550 young riders applied to be the next Young Talent. The unprecedented recruiting program created opportunity for 120 kids from all over the world to shine on a bigger stage, learn and develop their skills and passion for the sport we love. Eight Young Talents made it to the final camp at Mob HQ and are in the running for two spots to race as Juniors on the YT Mob team in 2020. YT-Mob.com

  • Go behind the scenes with CX World Cup leader Eli Iserbyt – Rotor sat down for a Q&A with one of the best cyclo-cross racers in the world right now, young Belgian cross talent Eli Iserbyt. See what makes the 22-year-old tick and you know find out if he likes cats or dogs… hard hitting journalism at: RotorAmerica.com

Where to ride

  • Ride Stelvio Week to prep for the 2020 Granfondo Stelvio – This one’s a biggee, but as scenic as riding in the Alps gets. Tour operator Grand Tours Project has just the thing to whip you into shape to tackle one of the most popular Italian gran fondos. Their eight-day, six-stage Stelvio Week tour will guide you from the airport in Milan every step of the way leading up to the big 151km, 4000m Granfondo Stelvio Santini on Sunday and have you back ready to catch your flight home a week later. Along the way are another 400km & 8000m of climbing to shake out your legs for the big event. GrandToursProject.com

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

13 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Mike
Mike
4 years ago

What is Massachusetts doing on that list? I pass 3 ghost bikes on a 4 mile commute to work. They tried to remove the protected bike lane over the Long Fellow bridge in the city for snow removal. The librarian was run over in Fenway, a doctor on Beacon St, a grad student near the science museum, it just goes on. There are ghost bikes everywhere. This goes to show how worthless these lists are and will now be used by Boston to promote a totally failure to protect cyclists and pedestrians.

Richard Massey
Richard Massey
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Totally agree with Mike. I live in Washington State and we got the same problems.

Robin
Robin
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

The report and the rankings are based on state level policy, laws, initiatives, and the like. The state could have very little control over what happens in Boston. Note that a lot of Massachusetts isn’t Boston.

Mike
Mike
4 years ago
Reply to  Robin

I’m glad that you can try and rationalize the failure of Massachusetts to protect our lives because a state policy says we should be safe. Boston city limits are small but the region that everyone who works and commutes is the most populous area of Massachusetts. Safety is more than a policy.

Robin
Robin
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

I’m not rationalizing anything. I explained what the report covered. That’s a simple fact, not a rationalization. Boston might be due criticism. I don’t know. I don’t live there. Boston might not fare well among a ranking of best biking cities.

In this report, Boston ranks 43rd among cities.
https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/all-cities-ratings/

Note that your bias may be negatively impacting your objectivity. Also note that you only have your experience and what you heard as a basis for analysis, while the organizations doing these reports very likely have a much larger data set to work with and are likely less biased in their analysis. https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/all-cities-ratings/

Robin
Robin
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

How is pointing out the scope of the report “rationalizing?” If you want reports the included details about how you feel Boston is failing, then you should look at city based reports, not state based reports.

gef
gef
4 years ago
Reply to  Robin

It’s really hard to measure how drivers treat cyclist, or how “good” it is to ride in a place. I found Alabama a great place to ride. No, there aren’t many bike lanes, but drivers are courteous and there are endless miles of smooth pavement that are lightly traveled. The map shows Alabama as red.

LTD
LTD
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

“Longfellow”

Mike
Mike
4 years ago
Reply to  LTD

Ever heard of auto-correct? People are dying on bikes right and left and you’re going to troll spelling?

K-Pop is dangerous to your health
K-Pop is dangerous to your health
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Mike, expecting rational discussion, objectivity, or even empathy from the BR comment section is a big-big ask. Now you know.

Joe
Joe
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Mike, live in central VA, used to commute in Boston. It is 100% safer in Boston then around my area, miss commuting there and with all of the issues here have had to stop.

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
4 years ago
Reply to  Joe

Yes, these lists are often very misleading because collecting data is quite difficult so often they measure infrastructure and death statistics because those are the only hard data points. Ex. I lived in Durango, CO for 2 years and genuinely believe it is the best place to ride a bike from the perspective of respectful drivers yet when I lived there I almost never rode in a bike lane or path And that infrastructure was minimal. When I lived in Houston I had to ride the More expansive bicycle infrastructure every day (including training on a bike path) because inside of town riding on the roads were a ticket to the morgue.

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict
4 years ago

Black Friday has always been green, with the color of money.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.