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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2011 19:59:46 GMT
I bought a little Vélib map at FNAC for 3€ but I never use it.
Patrick, most one way streets in Paris now authorise counter flow for bicycles.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 24, 2011 5:57:53 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Sept 24, 2011 6:54:33 GMT
Gee Patrick, so you live on The isle of Dawgs do you! I love the river cruises that take you winding around that part of London and in past years putting you off at The Beautiful (well I think it is) Millenium Dome, or now called the 02? I envy your lovely ride through all those parts of London and will be viewing those links this weekend. I have only walked the Regents Canal in past more energetic years, from Maida Vale (Warwick Ave Tube) to Camden Town. When you say you came home by boat, please can you give me a few more details? I am really excited to be heading for London in May next year after an absence of about 5 years. Thank you, and Kerouac for the tip about the velibs handbook - I will get one for sure.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2011 9:56:20 GMT
The mayor of Chicago was one of the very first persons to visit the Vélib system when it started, and he immediately said "I want it!" -- Chicago being a flat city.
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Post by imec on Mar 31, 2012 17:19:08 GMT
I had the great pleasure of riding in Minneapolis last week. It was proclaimed by Bicycling magazine as the America's Best Bike City. This is a bike/pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi in the old mill district.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2012 18:34:39 GMT
That's excellent. Even though Paris has 4 bridges over the Seine reserved for pedestrians (Debilly, Solférino, Passerelle des Arts and Simone-de-Beauvoir), none of them has a bicycle option.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2012 21:26:39 GMT
Great photo and very cool yes. I thought we were fortunate to have the path up on the Mississippi levee here,and, we are,but,it's for pedestrians,cyclists,joggers,horseback riders,skaters,dog walkers,baby carriages,you name it,it's shared. Anything and everything but motorized vehicles. And,not nearly as wide as that. I would love having something that exclusive. I'd love to see or hear about what the Mississippi River looks like from up there near the head waters. I think it starts not too too far North of Minneapolis/St. Paul area. This past week I was able to pick enough dewberries/blackberries from up on the river while out cycling to make 2 pies,and,there's more to be had. I really shouldn't complain. Thanks for sharing this Imec.
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Post by imec on Apr 3, 2012 1:51:50 GMT
I'd love to see or hear about what the Mississippi River looks like from up there near the head waters. I think it starts not too too far North of Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I have a few more pics of the river in the Twin Cities - I'll post a couple soon.
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Post by lagatta on Apr 4, 2012 23:33:49 GMT
Lovely. It is rather splendid that the Best Bike City in the US is a place with SERIOUS WINTER, though that doesn't discourage the Scandinavian cousins of many Minnesotans. Not just Denmark - even much snowier places in Sweden and Norway. (I don't know much about cycling in Finland).
That is a lovely picture, and I love the old flour mill, grinding hard wheat from the Prairies.
Our Bixi (Bicycle Sharing Scheme) is up and running. The Chicago BikeShare bicycles are Bixi bicycles as well.
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Post by imec on Apr 5, 2012 2:08:25 GMT
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Post by imec on Apr 5, 2012 2:23:08 GMT
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Post by lola on Apr 5, 2012 3:53:32 GMT
These are great, imec!
Reminds me a little of driving through Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with the Quaker Oats silos along the river.
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Post by fumobici on Apr 5, 2012 4:49:17 GMT
Those are. It looks like great cycling territory and those colors are so rich. Well done.
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Post by imec on Apr 5, 2012 12:27:09 GMT
Thanks folks! It really was a pleasure riding here. Minneapolis/St. Paul is a wonderful city(ies).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2012 19:25:41 GMT
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Post by lola on Dec 25, 2012 12:43:57 GMT
I think I have my family convinced that we can safely walk down Rue St. Paul to the Quai bike path and grab some velibs. Especially since traffic may be a bit lighter today. Seeing some of the death defying traffic weaving bike riding the past couple of days I can understand their concern.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2012 6:19:45 GMT
I guess the Lolas didn't survive.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 27, 2012 23:04:16 GMT
I'm certainly not cycling today. 45cm of snow, a record for 27 December and more snow than we've had in over a decade - probably more snow than we had all "winter" last year.
Lagatta is NOT happy.
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Post by mich64 on Dec 28, 2012 0:22:29 GMT
OH MY!! 45 cm!! Lagatta I can not even imagine that much at once.
It has probably happened here at some point but I can only seem to remember storms with at most 30 to 35 cm. The children on school break must be loving it but it will be terrible trying to get anywhere for the next couple of days.
I guess this has put an end to your cycling for quite a while.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2012 6:43:45 GMT
I was in Montréal once in a snowstorm, and I had a car for some reason which I parked on the wrong side of the street overnight. So the snowplows buried it.
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Post by mich64 on Dec 28, 2012 18:48:06 GMT
Not sure about Montreal, but in our town we have a by-law stating no overnight parking during the winter months on city streets so the plows can clear the streets for the buses and morning traffic.
Daytime storms do present a challenge as not everyone can get their car dug out before the deadline, especially after the plows go past them and bury them deeper. Not a perfect system but it helps most of the season.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 29, 2012 1:55:01 GMT
Not only is it a record, but in the last several years, we have had very little snow at all, while usually snowless places in Europe got quite a lot.
Hope the bloody stuff melts.
Mich, here there are a lot of places where there is no other place people can put their cars. Triplexes or more, not single houses.
I have to dig out my bicycle, but it is on our property.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 29, 2012 23:42:25 GMT
Did anyone see this article in the NYTimes? Click on the picture for the article. Sprawling Memphis Aims to Be a Friendlier Place for Cyclists
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Post by lagatta on Dec 30, 2012 2:28:42 GMT
No, I'd missed that. Interesting. Some of the naysayers would be far better off getting on their own bikes...
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Post by mich64 on Dec 30, 2012 16:57:23 GMT
I have only been to Montreal once Lagatta, but I can imagine it very difficult to implement our by-law there. I do remember seeing many lovely row houses, small condo complexes, tri-plexes and noticed that there was mostly street parking.
We are a small city (53,000 people) but the fact that it is so spread out and we have many single or duplex homes and most all rental units come with off street parking. We have noticed with the influx of 2 or more car families this is where the street parking has become a problem.
We also have a beautiful bike path from one end of the city to the other.
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Post by lola on Dec 30, 2012 17:12:18 GMT
I am the 1/4th of our family who really wants to get out on a Vélib, only have two more full days. So it's time I got bloody, bold and resolute and did it on my own. (except leave out the "bloody" part of that quotation.) I get up and out a couple of hours earlier than everyone else, anyway.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 30, 2012 17:17:28 GMT
Oh! Where are you, Lola? I haven't been able to be on the forum much, so obviously missed some crucial & interesting piece of info.
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Post by lola on Dec 30, 2012 17:26:57 GMT
Hello from Paris, Bixa. Husband, daughter #2 and I rendezvous'd a week ago with dtr #1, who's been working since September as a language assistant in the French Alps. We've been running around lapping it all up. The girls and I get to stay in London for a bit after this.
They've gone salsa dancing in the Bastille this evening, and I hope himself is on his way home from St. Denis, which he loved so much he wanted to return. Not the most adept at maps, standing on the correct side of Métro stops, etc.
Yesterday afternoon we went to hear Django gypsy jazz type music in the northern suburbs/St.-Ouen flea market, then walked up and over the Montmartre mountain, which is very steep indeed and involves many flights of stairs. I kept looking around for someone who looked like Kerouac, only handicapped by not knowing how he looks.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 17:10:04 GMT
Oh, you lucky girl you!!! I've resolved to resume what was my semi daily long ride routine (average 11 miles) and thus far have maintained it. I have a riding partner, who stirs me out of my holiday doldrums and with my barking dog at the gate at the early hour, have little choice but to get up and go.!!!
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Post by lola on Jan 13, 2013 18:03:37 GMT
Thank you, Casimira. Good for you to take that ride daily!
Lucky is exactly how I feel now, and home safe n sound.
I ended up having two Velib rides. One was first thing New Year's Eve morning, when I walked south on Rue St. Paul to the stand at a bike path on a sidewalk along Quai des Celestins, by the river. It took me some time to figure out the procedure for paying for and removing a bike. I had chosen a good one, but somehow failed to pull it out correctly. My second try I took a closer one that turned out to have a seat that would not tighten into place. Still it was fun riding on the path to the western and then the eastern end near Hotel de Ville. The seat made it unsafe for street use, though, so I ended up returning it near Rue de Rivoli.
Several bikes had flat tires or unusable seats. I wonder how often they send out bike mechanics or whatever. Still I saw so many people riding them, maybe half the total bikes on the street or more.
I find the concept of a Bike, Taxi, and Bus Lane way too daunting, though most alarming was how people ride in London. I'd have had nerve there only if in Hyde Park or some such.
Then New Year's night, last thing, my husband was ready to try it. We found the stand near Carnavalet had only one good bike, so we walked up r.d. Turenne, took a spin around Place des Vosges and down to the River. Bliss. Around Ile de la Cite, past Notre Dame, through Ile St. Louis. Crossing the bridge, past the lonely accordionist, the moon shone over the Seine. Such beauty, such freedom.
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