102 Avenue Bridge Replacement Project (over Groat Road)

The 102 Avenue grillwork bridge over Groat Road (approximately 127 St) is scheduled to be replaced, causing closures from 2014 through 2015, requiring a detour across Stony Plain Road. Meanwhile, construction on the Stony Plain Road bridge over Groat is scheduled to begin an end in 2013, while maintaining pedestrian access during most of the road closure, so cyclists will maintain access across at least one bridge at any given time. Signage during the Stony Plain Road bridge closure will direct traffic to 107 or 111 Ave (as opposed to 102 Ave), though we may expect traffic volumes to nonetheless increase along 102 Ave.

On the 102 Ave bridge, lanes will be widened to better accommodate transit, and bike lanes will also be added.

What kind of bike lanes? Good question! E-mail [email protected] or call 780-423-2517 for details, letting the City know that this is an vital connection for cyclists, and more details are needed on the City's website. Would you bike on a busy 102 Ave bridge with just a painted line, or do you think there should be physical separation between cyclists and the vehicles? Let the City know: e-mail or call your councillor as well, and include us in your correspondence at [email protected].

Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton's pedal-powered apple crusher

Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton, in partnership with EBC and funded by Next Gen’s MEAET microgrant, has designed and built a pedal powered apple crusher. It was officially launched at the Devonian Garden’s Fruit Grower’s Festival. Check out OFRE's website--they're a fantastic organization! Here's a video of the apple crusher in action.

Cyclist Town Hall Meeting: Whyte Avenue Corridor Presentation

Thanks to Conrad Nobert of Green Edmonton for organizing tonight's town hall meeting on Whyte Ave cycling infrastructure. We filled the hall (the photo was taken before we did), and it was great to see all the interest and passion.

If you came, please consider attending our AGM as well. We need strong voices to be heard.

Here's EBC's presentation from this evening:

Cyclist Town Hall - Whyte Ave 2012 on Prezi

EBC Newsletter for September 2012

Our latest newsletter is now available. You can always view previous newsletters as well, and subscribe to have our monthly newsletters delivered to your e-mail.

Bike Racks on Buses

Did you know that EBC, through an Alberta Ecotrust grant, purchased half of Edmonton Transit's bus bike racks in the program's initial pilot? ETS is now making progress in outfitting its entire fleet with bike racks on buses. We're meeting with ETS in the week of September 24 to demo some potential designs, and we want to take your feedback with us. Please take a moment to fill out this survey no later than September 27.

Cyclist Town Hall Meeting: Whyte Avenue Corridor Bike Paths

As Edmonton’s cycling hub, the Whyte Avenue Corridor is in dire need of dedicated infrastructure to increase safety and make cycling more comfortable for cyclists of all abilities. Come to this town hall meeting and help galvanize public support for Whyte Avenue Bike infrastructure, and form a working group to refine a proposal to make to the city. Cyclists should decide what infrastructure would best improve cycling safety and comfort along the Whyte Avenue corridor.

Agenda:

• Edmonton Bicycle Commuters' Society: presentation on bicycle infrastructure
• Conrad Nobert: Ideas for Whyte Avenue Bike Infrastructure
• Ben Henderson, Edmonton City Councillor
• You: open forum/town hall meeting. What bicycle infrastructure do you think would make Whyte Avenue safer and more comfortable for cyclists?

When: September 25, 2012, 7:30pm Where: Queen Alexandra Community Hall, 10425 University Ave (near Calgary Trail and 76th Avenue)

For more information, see the event page on Green Edmonton or Facebook.

Photos from Memorial Ride

Thanks to the hundreds of friends and supporters that participated in the memorial ride for Isaak Kornelsen. A number of people have posted photos from the memorial. Steven Townsend's photos are here, Andriko Lozowy's are here, and more photos from participants can be found here.

Closed for Labour Day

BikeWorks South (and North) will be closed on Monday, September 3 for Labour Day. You can find us instead providing free, supervised bike parking at the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's Symphony Under the Sky. Please have a safe and fun long weekend!

Memorial Ride for Isaak Kornelsen

A memorial ride for Isaak Kornelsen will be taking place on Friday, August 31, at 5:30pm. We will meet at City Hall and ride to the site of the ghost bike at 102 St and Whyte Ave. Please be aware that while EPS, ETS, and the City are aware of the ride, we will not be riding as an escorted event, but rather as simply regular traffic. Therefore, normal traffic regulations apply, and we will be riding single-file and in accordance with all traffic laws. Lane position will be determined by safety considerations.

We'll be riding from City Hall, the building where infrastructure decisions take place. The memorial will form a human bike lane as we proceed from City Hall to the site of the tragic collision that killed Isaak. In commemorating Isaak, we want the City to recognize that all citizens deserve fair access to safe and effective mobility. Protected bike lanes on Whyte Avenue would just be the first step.

If you require a bike for this ride, please e-mail [email protected]. For inquiries requiring immediate response, please call Chris Chan at 780-700-5564.

Advocacy meeting

We'll be having our monthly advocacy meeting tonight at BikeWorks at 7pm. If you have any interest in working to improve conditions for cyclists and pedestrians in this city, please attend!

Annual General Meeting

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at Parkallen Community League Hall (11104 65 Ave) on Sunday, September 30, 2012 from 1pm-4pm. Everyone is welcome to attend. Hear reports from our President and our Treasurer, as well as our Annual Report, and vote on next year's budget. We will also be having elections to fill 6 positions on the Board of Directors. If you are interested in helping to set the direction of our growing organization, or know someone that can lead us towards a better city for cycling and walking, please visit our nominations page.

Submitted nominations are also now posted on our nominations page. Nominations will continue to be accepted up to and including from the floor of the AGM on Sunday.

Cyclist death

Tragic news today: Isaak Kornelsen was killed on Whyte Ave this morning by a passing cement truck, just blocks from BikeWorks. As a memorial, we'll be putting up a ghost bike today at 2:30pm at 101 St and Whyte Ave. Our condolences to the family and friends.

The Edmonton Journal reports that EPS has called the incident a "freak accident".

Collisions aren't freak accidents. They're the result of a series of decisions and events and the dynamics of traffic, taking place within a built environment and road design. We don't know the full details of this incident, but calling it a "freak accident" ignores the role that infrastructure and education play in how drivers and cyclists can share the road safely.

Vancouver & Montreal (among many other major cities) have separated bike lanes on commercial arterial roads: what if we had a separated bike lane going down Whyte Ave (like Times Square in New York City, or down Broadway, or 9th Ave)?

28-Hour Repair-a-thon

Our 28-Hour Repair-a-thon is this weekend! Visit us at BikeWorks South any time between 1pm on Saturday and 5pm on Sunday. Yes, even a 2am, you can come by after your Fringe play, late-night pizza, or last call at the Next Act and fix up your bike, buy a used bike (there's some beauties available right now), or just hang out in a friendly space. We'll be operating as normal; we just won't be closing!

More Maintenance Classes!

We've added a second Basic maintenance class this week. Here's the details:

Monday August 27

BikeWorks North – 9305-111 Ave – entrance through side parking lot

6:00pm – 9:00pm

Cost: EBC members $20, non-members $25

If you want to start learning about working on your own bike but aren’t sure where to start, this workshop is for you!

Learn how to fix a flat tire at home or on the street, how to keep your brakes working flawlessly and your shifting smooth. You will find out how to save money by spotting small problems before they turn into big problems and by learning how to clean and lube your bike, you’ll learn how to extend the life of your bike while improving its performance. Bring your own bicycle so you can learn specific techniques that work on your components, or learn on one of the many EBC yard bikes.

Space is limited, and these courses tend to fill up quickly and pre-registration is required.

Pre-register by emailing [email protected]. Online pre-payment is encouraged (we’ll send you a link when you register). Please note that if you register without pre-paying but don’t attend the class or give 24 hours notice, you will not be eligible to register in future classes.

This is an introductory course. If your bike has a problem that is not covered by the scope of this course, we probably won’t have time to fix it, but you can always come to BikeWorks during regular drop-in times and one of our volunteer mechanics can help you.

Cost is $20 for EBC members and $25 for non-members.

Job Posting: BikeWorks Manager

Alex, our longtime BikeWorks Coordinator, is leaving shortly for a new opportunity. We're sad to see him go, and will miss the work, energy, and personal presence that he's brought to the organization over the last six years. It'll be a tough job to replace him, but we're looking! If you've got the experience and you're passionate about making Edmonton a better, more livable city, and you think bicycles are a great tool to push us towards that goal, please consider applying for this job.

Note that this is not a mechanic position, nor is existing in-depth mechanical knowledge a requirement.

The full job posting, including application process, is here: Job Posting - BikeWorks Manager - August 2012

Good luck on your travels, Alex!

Learn How to Maintain Your Bike

Second date added!   Monday Aug 27th, 6pm at BikeWorks North Want to learn how to maintain your bike? Here's a great place to start! Get to Know Your Bicycle - An Introduction to Bike Maintenance is a popular 3 hour introduction to the basics of keeping your bike in tip-top shape. We will be offering it again on Friday, August 24th. Full details are here:

http://edmontonbikes.ca/courses/aug24

Cost is $20 for EBC members and $25 for non-members. You can register by emailing [email protected]

Old website

Our old, archived website is back online (mostly). You can access it (including the bike registry) at http://edmontonbicyclecommuters.ca/ The old site will remain available for reference, but we'll be moving content and services, such as the registry, to the new site over the coming weeks.

Holidays

We'll be closed Monday for the holiday, but you can still find us at the Heritage Festival in Hawrelak Park from noon-4pm, doing free minor tune-ups at the main bike lock-up. See you there!

Website

Hey everyone, Sorry for the recent website troubles. Our host updated their software, which caused our ancient website to break. We weren't quite ready to launch our newly re-designed website, so many things (especially images) aren't working, and a lot of the information on the site you're looking at now is out-of-date (it was copied from the old site a long time ago).

In the meantime, please contact us on Facebook or by e-mail to confirm anything you'd like to know.

Thanks for your patience!

Potholes...

I brought my camera to take a picture of a MASSIVE pothole on the 102 St. bike route that runs through Oliver. When I got there, a city crew had already filled it! They filled a few others, too. But be careful because they didn’t get all the way to 124 St. (I think they ran out of asphault filling the MASSIVE one.)