Category Archives: Greenways

The Many Faces of Cycling, Most Beautiful Ones

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I came home from a Saturday morning ride with friends, ate lunch, started reading and came across this.  An article called Pimp My Bike: Detroit’s Custom Cycles in Pictures in The Guardian.  Here are a few pictures from the article.  Photos are credited to Nick Van Mead, from the article.

slow-roll-detroit

long-chain

beautiful

Ashia, waving in the photo above, is quoted in the article saying she feels safer with groups, “It’s positive — and God Knows in Detroit, we need positive things like this.”

This blog is usually original posts, but obviously the Slow Roll movement in Detroit merits our attention.  They are innovating and reaching out to expand the conversation about our public roads, our cities and neighborhoods, economic renewal, social wellness, all propelled by bicycling.  This movement is bigger than any one group, in fact, it’s a global movement.

“It makes the city far more human…they have conversations, make eye contact…the people are friendlier” than they were before all these rides started, says Todd Scott of the Detroit Greenways Coalition (quoted from the article).  And my goodness, don’t we all need friends.

Resources/Credits–
Go read the article on The Guardian, it conveys the beautiful essence–  https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2016/nov/02/pimp-my-bike-detroit-custom-cycles-slow-ride-in-pictures
Photo Credits to Nick Van Mead
I’ve blogged about Slow Roll before.  Let’s be cities of friendly bicyclists.
Check out my post Green Infused Classic Cars for another innovator, a very famous one.
And more landmark journalism by Nick Van Mead and The Guardian–
America’s Road Trip: Will the US Ever Kick the Car Habit

Pecos Mountain Solace

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“One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native home of hope. When it fully learns that cooperation, not rugged individualism, is the quality that most characterizes and preserves it, then it will have achieved itself and outlived its origins. Then it has a chance to create a society to match its scenery.”  –Wallace Stegner

For the Fourth of July, Mai and I took a camping trip in northern New Mexico.  The weather is perfect there this time of year.  The landscapes of New Mexico are so diverse, and so large, you can get to just about any kind of scenery, place, environment that you would like to be in.

Aspen heights

Mai on trail

pecos wilderness

We stayed near the Santa Barbara river above Llano.  From our campsite we could hear water percolating down the mountainside, making a whooshing sound tumbling over rocks.  In the morning we hiked up the trail into the wilderness until we heard a bear snort ahead of us.  Then we turned around!  It was about time to turn around anyway.

Santa Barbara hiking

summer beauty

green light

It was beautiful.  The grace of the aspen groves rising.  The verdant mix of trees.  At 8,000 feet the air has an especially ethereal quality to it, unique to this mountain valley.

Pecos evening

Pecos sunset

Being in this place gives you a sense of renewal.  The air so clean for the trees, the water filtering down through the fine soil.  We camped lightly and left no trace but ash from our campfire in the fire ring.  Sometimes the biggest positive impact we can make is by leaving things intact and unmarked.  Our time here then had no visible results, unless we look past ourselves and across time to a larger scale where our wholeness is part of the land’s health for self-renewal.

stream

Building Lasting Partnerships

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A big thank you to my friends at Conservation Science Partners and the Landscape Conservation Initiative for supporting the Southwest Bike Initiative.  They also brought their friends at Live Oak Associates, Inc., an ecological consulting firm, to strengthen our network.  Because of the team CSP put together, they are my bike org. of the month for May 2016.  Check out the article here announcing our collaboration promoting the role of cycling in conservation.

magenta Sandia

When I was choosing “categories” for this blog post, I started clicking every one.  This partnerships embodies all that I’ve been doing up to this point, and connects a series of journeys that began long ago.  I’m enthused to be working with such classy organizations and bright people.  LCI’s philosophy of mobilizing science through collaborative planning, education and practical experiences has been influential in instigating new approaches for solving environmental challenges.  CSP’s innovative structure and novel science applications has created a paradigm shift in how we do conservation.  LOA’s ecological expertise delivers practical solutions fostering environmental sustainability throughout California and the Western United States.  Together their collaboration is raising the bar for conservation science.

Truchas

Cycling is a great practical exercise for improving health, the environment, and building lasting partnerships.   Our cycling team builds grassroots coalitions, and increases collaboration between diverse communities around common objectives to achieve new vistas on what is possible.  Please follow SBI’s website and media to keep in touch with our development.

Walking the High Desert Landscape

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A walk in the foothills above Albuquerque yesterday reminded me what good a walk can do.  Walking lends perspective on our health and where we live.  It’s a simple and powerful tool.

range

sprinkles

Walking helps the mind flow.  Seeing the sky’s movement while we’re walking or being startled by the color palette of a sprinkle of flowers can free up our thinking powers.  We tune into nature’s economy and open up to life.  The rhythm of movement kindles creative sparks.

biker up

curve

berries and twigs

Walking is a way of gathering information and experiencing what is going on in the world around us.  Reynold Levy recommends CEO’s grow their knowledge by walking.  “Take a walk, read widely…I am utterly persuaded that every nonprofit CEO should exit his or her office and walk two miles east, north, south, and west to see the organization as others do.  Elicit their point of view.”  Steve Jobs made walking an integral part of meetings with his colleagues.  Take a walk, boost your health, learn something new, shift your perspective.  Enjoy today.

cactus flower

seams

Resources:
America Walks offers tips for walking meetings.  National Walking Day is April 6, 2016.
Steve Jobs’ habit of walking meetings is documented in Walter Isaacson’s biography on Jobs

Investing in People with Bus Rapid Transit

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“Developers gravitate toward places where they see investment happening.”
–Lillian Kuri, on Cleveland’s Health Line

On March 21 Albuquerque City Council voted 7-2 to launch the Bus Rapid Transit project on Central Avenue, our historic main street.  The debate surrounding this big change was passionate.  The project aligns with core economic values by increasing efficiency in the transportation system, and reducing the per capita transportation footprint.  Transit oriented development is a creative process for structuring development around connecting people, creating inclusive economic growth, reshaping the City’s form and updating plans for the future.

Realizing the game changing impacts of this project depends on how well we embrace the opportunities.  If we move forward with a spirit for advancing common goals by leveraging transit’s benefits, Bus Rapid Transit can promote cultural and economic growth, ecological stability and integrity, and a healthier and forward looking City renowned for its vibrancy and innovation.  Here are a few opportunities Bus Rapid Transit on Central opens up.

  • Street ergonomics improve by tailoring infrastructure to support essential mobility freedom and efficiency for people, with traffic flow structured on pedestrian movements
  • Improving public health and pleasure by generating walking during routine daily activities
  • Opportunity for retooling the way construction, transportation and development are done
  • Creates jobs and trains a skilled workforce for sustainable development that can be scaled
  • Sets a leading example as New Mexico’s largest city for sustainable urban development and lifts the quality of experiences for public life in shared spaces, with health at the center
  • Enables ABQ to welcome more population growth without adding traffic congestion
  • Increases connectivity and mobility in our City while reducing car dependency

Welcome ART, ABQ Rapid Transit!  This is an historic moment for Albuquerque.  I’ve been writing consistently about sustainable urban development.  Here are a few blog posts and quotes.

“[the] City is looking forward, not backward.”
“Public works projects…catalyze a cultural shift in thinking about what kinds of policies and infrastructure we should be investing in.”
Reflecting Emerging Values in the Built Environment, September 3, 2015

“Leading edge transit is an integral aspect of the new American dream.”
“A transportation CEO would see this is as easy executive decision to make.  It’s…efficient..”
The Mystery of Albuquerque’s Development, September 18, 2015

“Quality of place is important too — numerous surveys have shown that the physical and intangible features of a city are associated with higher levels of happiness and better health.”
Health and Transportation in Cities, December 11, 2015

“We have to imagine a revitalization of Central Ave. that invites more businesses and people in”.
Land Use Planning and Better Walking and Bicycling, January 21, 2016

sprinkles

Spring is blooming in Albuquerque

Thank You for Bicycling Corrales

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How…do they expect a man to ride a horse in this country?  said Rawlins.
They don’t, said John Grady.  –Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

Corrales Thanks You

Corrales zone

bike

Corrales bike zone

I crossed the river on the old Alameda bridge, which is now solely reserved for bicyclists, pedestrians and horses.  You can get to it from the Bosque Multiuse Trail.  On the western bank of the Río Grande you roll on into Corrales and a web of country roads.  The roads run parallel to the rectilinear irrigated farm plots.  A few roads follow acequias on the same axis as the river tracing the land’s subtle contours.  There are still open fields intact and wineries and small plots with livestock.  The suburbanized dwellings have adopted a spacious and sandy desert feel for the most part.  Llamas look at you still chewing from their grazing and horses of chestnut and all color coats are populous.  Road runners skitter on the loamy road shoulders and people walking their dogs smile and wave at you.  Corrales is a nice variety of place and part of the local flavor of mid central New Mexico bicycling.  It reminds me a lot of Santa Fe as the roads were laid out long before motorcars.  The land feels close up and timeless.  It is a landscape made at human scale, not industrial machine scale.  Bikes work well in this village environment.

Corrales pines

Corrales in the zone

corrales church and bike

more posts on Corrales and rides that go through there:
Stevie’s Happy Bikes: Total Awesomeness
Jemez Dam Ride
Cowboy Dreams in Corrales New Mexico

Ten Thousand Cranes

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Under the last full moon we visited Crane country along the river lands south of Albuquerque.  The cell phone I use for pictures serves me well most of the time, but for this post  I am adding a few photos with better resolution from SBI’s partner Sansai Studio.  The large birds in these photos are mostly either Sandhill Cranes or Snow Geese.

Sandhills in sky

Snow geese arc

Sandhills in field

It shifts your orientation to the world when you see the pattern of bird migrations.  Rivers such as the Río Grande are important flyways.  Past Belen any semblance of towns vanishes and the river forest, fields and pastures, mesas, mountains and dome of sky come to the forefront.

snow geese arcing

Snow geese go to bed

The Cranes jostled and called in the corn fields.  When they took off and flew overhead we could hear the whoosh from the air compressing under their beating wings.  Their feathers like fingers articulating their glide.  Flying in formation one bird may pause for a stroke and it sinks noticeably several inches before being buoyed in the invisible slipstream of the leading Cranes.  Efficient midflight rest.  Flocks were flying overhead at all depths shaping out the sky, their movements directed by an intelligence we may not know but are able to recognize.

snowgeese beat

Sandhills over mountains

Kids play

I get a sense of appreciation from our pilgrimages to this great bird habitat.  Gratitude for the irreducible living earth.  Without it there is no us.  Sharing the world, looking around at the couples, families, and kids playing in this atmosphere is heartening.  A place for all life’s variety.

special lighting

Six foot wingspan

Snow geese above

It is a life changing experience observing so many Cranes.  The true reality of the world shows.  Squadrons of life flying soundlessly higher than the tallest building guided by keen bird insight.

Sandhills flying

moonrise over shoulder

When it began to get dark the birds suddenly rose from the fields where they were feeding, all as one.  Waves of energy taken to the air, pulsating wings lifting them off into the night.  They roost in the river and ponds in their secret places.  I wonder how it feels to be a Crane.

faint shadows and stellar light

Cranes will save you

Being outside brings on surprises.  The play of light on land and water.  The healing power of nature.  The fabric of life and all the unexpected wonders that make the world whole and alive.

Full Moon up ove Manzanos

Sandhills

Walking UNM

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I took a walk on the University of New Mexico’s main campus yesterday after a meeting.  I had planned to visit the library but it was a nice day to walk and look at that horizon where the landscape meets the sky.  The wooden trim and decorated beams adorning buildings and the places where adobe brushes celestial blue make for an abstract charm such as music imparts.

UNM blanca

UNM chapel wood

UNM double corners

The integration of the built and natural environment is exceptional in New Mexico.  Cultural traditions intertwine and inspire new creations.  Trees lend a rooted and organic flavor.

UNM colors

UNM Maxwell Adobe Wall

UNM chapel

UNM spikey desert plants

Everything in planning and design is about getting it down to human scale.  And making the big things like buildings approachable and inviting.  The vernacular architecture of UNM makes the mundane seem extraordinary and imbues an everyday walk with a special character.  The upclose environment is warm and stimulating.  Clouds roll and dissolve in the mile high sky against distant mountain drops.  The omnipresent sun.  Time has a way of vanishing here.

UNM opening

UNM turqoise courtyard

UNM spiral

UNM big office

UNM greetings

Learning from Trails

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“It is sometimes assumed, explicitly or unconsciously, that an individual’s tendencies are naturally purely individualistic or egoistic, and thus antisocial…But there is no ground for any such view. Individuals are certainly interested, at times, in having their own way, and their own way may go contrary to the way of others.  But they are also interested, and chiefly interested upon the whole, in entering into the activities of others and taking part in conjoint and cooperative doings.  Otherwise, no such thing as a community would be possible.”
—Democracy and Education by John Dewey, p. 23, The Echo Library 2007

“Boulder’s multi-use paths work just like our roads.”  —The Way of the Path, Boulder, Colorado

Bicycling on trails and shareduse paths is great fun.  I used to take the beautiful path along the Truckee River in Reno as part of my commute.  Listening to the water flowing from Lake Tahoe gushing through town was a perfect way to start and end my work day.  Here in Albuquerque I try to incorporate the Rio Grande Bosque Trail into many of my rides, even if it means adding some extra distance.  These paths create ready access for citizens to high quality experiences.

When I talk to people there is a strong sense that the calmness of the trail is one of the key elements making for an attractive journey.  The first concern is always regulating the fastest vehicles, bicycles, to make sure they don’t take away from others’ experiences.  That makes sense to me because the level of service a road, trail or pathway provides is not about top speed, but comes from an inclusive sense of the whole experience of all users.

Applying this perspective to roads is helpful.  The FHWA says, “For most of the second half of the 20th Century, the transportation, traffic engineering and highway professions in the United States were synonymous. They shared a singular purpose: building a transportation system that promoted the safety, convenience and comfort of motor vehicles.”  Because of the way the built environment was constructed, many people have dropped the notion that walking and bicycling matters.  But evidence has shown that walking and bicycling does matter, and must be taken seriously.  We’ll have better roads when we take into account the experiences of people who are walking and bicycling there, and by promoting safety, comfort and dignity for all.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/guidance/design.cfm

bandelier-grazing

Deer along the trail at Bandelier National Monument

Bicycling Hog Wild in Arkansas

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Ark biking

The welcome center on I-40 as you enter Arkansas near Ft. Smith makes you want to move there.  They do their job well.   Oak and hickory woodsmoke from the stone fireplace percolates through the air as you make your way across the lawn to the front doors.  The shelves are full of promotional materials to browse.  I walk up to the counter and there are two hosts.  I say I’m interested in bicycling and she reaches and gathers up three or four brochures as thick as magazines.  Lots of cycling here.  By the free coffee, a flat screen plays bicycling videos.  Riders glide on trails through the woods underneath sheets of layered rock with waterfalls running over them.  On the next scene road bicyclists ride socially on Ozark country lanes.  Then the video shows families and friendly groups cycling together on the Razorback Greenway.  It made me feel very excited and welcome to bicycle, and showed Arkansas is set up for bicycling.

ARK Botanical

ARK Fay fun trail

ARK Fayetteville Lake mirroring

We stayed with my Aunt in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Her neighborhood connects to the Razorback Greenway.  The Razorback Greenway is a 36 paved multiuse trail between Fayetteville and Bella Vista.  It’s a game changer for making the region a bicycling destination.  I want to go back and ride the entire length.  On this trip I had a chance to explore the loop around Lake Fayetteville.  It is one of the many spur trails in local communities now interconnected by the main trail.

ARK Fay the Greenway hog

ARK NW trail count

The Walton Family Foundation has built strong partnerships with regional agencies to get this trail completed.  When my Aunt moved here the trail was in progress, and because it was one of the reasons she relocated to Fayetteville, she followed up with the Mayor to let him know what an important foundation it was for quality of life.  They must have heard from a chorus of voices because they finished the project in May 2015.  The is one sweet trail.  It took me into parts of the woods and revealed nature that would otherwise be hidden.  Quiet and still.

ARK Fay layout

The trail speed limit is moderate out of courtesy to the wide range of users.  We modify our speed based on conditions, the presence of people being the most important factor.  I don’t mind slowing down and I found the trail design and culture quite suitable for a satisfying cruise with the road bike.  When I want to ride faster I use public roads.  Pedestrian safety comes first, and bicyclists always yield to pedestrians and equestrians.  Building up this culture of sensitivity, inclusiveness and patience is key on our trails and public roads.

ARK Fay trail speed

ARK Fayetteville Lake passing signs

ARK zoom Fayetteville Lake trail

It was a peaceful morning ride and helped me focus before Grandma’s birthday.  The way the world moves feels right on a bicycle.  Let’s build more of these and welcome more bikes.

ARK Fayetteville sunset

ARK Fay water fall down

References
Walmart’s support http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/our-impact/home-region/nwatrails
Walmart’s Bike Friendly Headquarters http://bikeleague.org/content/bfb-spotlight-walmart-hq
Arkansas Wild, Bike Volume 2 http://www.arkansaswild.com/archive/
NW Arkansas Regional Bike Ped Master Plan http://www.nwabikepedplan.com/
Arkansas Outdoors, Bicycling http://www.arkansas.com/outdoors/biking/
Bike League report card 2015 http://bikeleague.org/content/report-cards
Tim Ernst Photography http://timernstphotography.zenfolio.com/p431024935