Bicycle Mapping

Posted on 28. Aug, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

We are all map-users.  Whether or not we recognize this fact (or like it, for that matter), is a whole different story.  Maps are made for accomplishing a wide range of tasks from navigation to defining boundaries to measuring bits of information to showing elevation and  much, much more.  Maps are literally visual representations of [...]

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Globe Cycle

Posted on 25. Aug, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

File this one under cycling for a cause.
James Bowthorpe is riding around the globe to raise money for Parkinson’s research.  James is from London and is a volunteer at a Parkinson’s Disease research clinic based at King’s College London in the Institute of Psychiatry.  James originally volunteered at the clinic to get experience in a [...]

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Community Building

Posted on 20. Aug, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

At UtilityCyling.org, we think that the potential for using your bike is quite vast.  Of course, you can use a bike for transportation, you can use a bike to make deliveries, you can use a bike to provide a wide variety of services.  All of the aforementioned types of uses are relatively straightforward and tangible [...]

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Cycling Services

Posted on 10. Aug, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

The next major category of utility cycling that we would like to examine is cycling services.  In our first post, we identified a number of different services that can easily be done via bicycle.  Among them:

Retail and Commercial Services
Emergency and Patrol Services
Land Services

For the time being, we have separated out the category of bicycle delivery [...]

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Delivery – And It’s By Bike!

Posted on 04. Aug, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

In our first post, we identified the category of delivery as a major component of utility cycling.  In terms of bicycle deliveries, these subcategories initially came to our attention:

Couriers/ Messengers: Many cycling enthusiasts are somewhat enthralled with the elusive bicycle messenger, who zips through traffic bearing important documents, photos, objects, and anything else that cannot [...]

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The Logistics of Bicycle Commuting

Posted on 30. Jul, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

The next piece of the bicycle commuting puzzle is logistical.  How are you going to get to where ever it is you plan to go?  What will you do with your bike when you get there?  These questions are liable to arise when you start to seriously consider the possibility of bicycle commuting.  But do [...]

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Starting With The Basics

Posted on 27. Jul, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

Now that we know a bit more about the history and practice of commuting, it’s high time we get down and dirty and start talking about the different elements that make up the practice of bicycle commuting.  There are some really great resources of the web for bicycle commuters:  Commute By Bike, Bike Commuters, Paul [...]

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A Brief History of Commuting

Posted on 22. Jul, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

Perhaps the most obvious category of utility cycling is transportation, and the most obvious category of transportation is commuting. Commuting refers to the practice of traveling between one’s place of residence and one’s place of work (be that a regular job site, a mobile job site, classes, etc.) on a regular basis. The [...]

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Transportation and the Bicycle

Posted on 17. Jul, 2009 by Melanie Meyers.

Transportation is a vital element of life.  Transportation is what allows people to accomplish a wide range of essential daily activities such as getting to work, picking up and dropping off kids, running errands, seeking medical care, and on and on.  Transportation provides the structure beneath the international economy, as goods and services are transported [...]

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