Wheelie Good Podcast! – Details, episodes & analysis

One of the reasons Nate Phipps co-founded the Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw in 2017 was for the simple reason that he friggin’ loves bikes. They’re elegant, efficient, and they benefit just about every facet of human life. And he knew that if enough of the other 360,000 county residents loved bikes even half as much as he does, he’d be on to something.

We’re also proudly announcing the imminent arrival of a free lending library for e-assist cargo bikes, spearheaded by the e-bike experts at Human Electric Hybrids. Look for more details closer to the A2ZERO Green Fair on September 20.

And remember! Handlebar Happy Hour is coming to Erratic Ale and the Raterman Bread Haus & Bistro in Dexter on Thursday, August 29, in part to celebrate the new B2B Trail section between Zeeb Road and the Delhi Metropark!

Thanks for listening to the Wheelie Good Podcast! Subscribe for free to be notified about new episodes and listen to the many voices of bike advocacy in Washtenaw County.

We also talk about the unique triple perspective that cyclists have on traffic; our friends and partners at Walk Bike Washtenaw, Ypsi Bike Coop, Common Cycle, and Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA); and why Bike Party is the most fun you can have on two wheels.

Other links:

* Inspiration from the Boston Cyclists Union and the Iowa City Bike Library

* The Quest for Vison Zero

* People For Bikes named Ann Arbor a 2024 City on the Rise

* Seattle study: bicycle road safety projects don’t hurt businesses

* Check out the Sustaining Ann Arbor Together grant program​​

Music by Alisia from Pixabay.

The Ann Arbor City Council is on a bike-friendly roll lately, having decided to build a protected bike path along Miller Avenue and keep existing paths clear of trash bins. These improvements are thanks in part to the efforts of freshman councilor Dharma Akmon, who has been a big advocate of cycling since the days when she couldn’t afford a car.

Dharma is also a Managing Director at U of M’s Institute for Social Research, which makes her a big data geek. So she’s learned that The Numbers are often the best way to confront opposition to road diets, etc., most of which is based on anecdotal evidence and/or a basic aversion to change.

The best aspect of encouraging people to use their bikes year-round, she says, is seeing how quickly such visible behavior can be normalized. And anyone concerned about cold weather can find winter-care resources all over town. Besides: If the Finns can do it, why can’t we?

Thanks for listening to the Wheelie Good Podcast! Subscribe for free to be notified about new episodes and listen to the many voices of bike advocacy in Washtenaw County.

We also talk about other major roads that might get bike paths soon, why her contact information was posted at Pizza Bob’s, and why there are people who actually thought her name was “Derwin.”

Other links:

* Subscribe to Dharma’s newsletter

* Avoid riding a bike in a big flowy dress

* The Ann Arbor Politics Facebook group

* How to use a2fixit.org

* Seattle Vision Zero projects do not harm local businesses

* MIT: false news travels faster than true stories on social media

* Ontario calls for major Toronto bike lanes to be ripped out

* Is “No Mow May” a good thing?

The woman formerly (and still somewhat currently) known as Hula Hooping Hannah is Hannah Stanton-Gockel, a candidate for a Master’s degree in UX Design & Research at the University of Michigan School of Information. And as an urbanism influencer and carless bike commuter, she has started social media presences on YouTube and TikTok that focus on universal access to road infrastructure for people of all demographics and abilities.

Hers is the kind of mind that came up with Bubbles For Bike Lanes, a five-mile bike ride she convenes a few times each year to 1) call attention to roads that are very dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists, and 2) uphold her conviction that the most effective protests are a little goofy.

Like most graduate students, Hannah wants to use data to upend misconceptions about the relationship between cars and vulnerable road users. Why does Michigan’s passionate car culture create biases about cycling’s usefulness? Why do we accept that our daily commutes have be terrible? And why do cities think cyclists can be delivered from harm by a stripe of green paint?

Thanks for listening to the Wheelie Good Podcast! Subscribe for free to be notified about new episodes and listen to the many voices of bike advocacy in Washtenaw County.

We also talk about how to go carless in the depths of a Michigan winter, the average walking speed of a middle-aged man, and whether Nextdoor Sass would make a good band name.

Other links:

* Follow Hannah on Nextdoor

* University of Michigan’s 2050 Campus Plan

* Mexican bus drivers are trained to experience the fear cyclists feel on the road

* Ann Arbor’s bike counter map shows 1.44 million uses of its downtown bikeways

It’s easy to understand why cyclists of every skill level—from weekend jaunters to professional triathletes—wait at least three months to be bike-fit by Maxine Bratus. She still loves the process after 19 years because cycling makes her feel like a badass, and that badassery grows when you’re at your most stable in the saddle.

Bike fitting involves technological appreciation for the bicycle and physiological diagnosis of the bicyclist. It’s a perfect science and an imperfect art. It’s exploding in popularity. The technology never stops evolving. And the best practitioners distinguish themselves with a “bikeside manner” that makes their clients feel heard.

Maxine turned her linguistics degree into fitmi! by following her instincts and betting on herself when opportunities arose. She’s the kind of person who fits three people a day for three hours at a time, geeks out about trigonometry when measuring flexion angles, and willed her business through COVID in the depths of winter by keeping her windows open and asking clients to bring their coats.

Thanks for listening to the Wheelie Good Podcast! Subscribe for free to be notified about new episodes and listen to the many voices of bike advocacy in Washtenaw County.

We also talk about her 68-mile “supreme” bike route, the allure of breakfast cereal as a major food group, and whether there will ever be a Bratus University.

Other links:

* Check out fitmi! on Instagram

* Follow Maxine on Strava

* The fates of Two Wheel Tango and Waterford Precision and Gunnar cycles

* The Cecchetti Ballet Method

* How Ignaz Schwinn’s name became synonymous with biking

* Ride the Dirt Hammer or the Supreme

* Happy Freedman, who apparently coined “bikeside manner”

Each year, Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations hosts its downtown Green Fair, and this Friday, over 100 presenters will take over Main Street to showcase their efforts toward community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030.

The Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw will be one of those presenters, helping our friends at Human Electric Hybrids launch the city’s new cargo bike lending library. We’re also partial to the annual Bike Parade for the Planet, which will begin with a fleet of decorated bikes—including yours!—from Pretzel Bell at 6pm and end with a free cone at Washtenaw Dairy.

As we near the halfway point of this ten-year initiative, Jennifer and Sheronda are struck by the city’s momentum toward sustainability. The cultural shift is coming, buoyed by unprecedented enthusiasm to keep the planet from boiling away.

Thanks for listening to the Wheelie Good Podcast! Subscribe for free to be notified about new episodes and listen to the many voices of bike advocacy in Washtenaw County.

Behavioral change can be hard, but little by little, kilowatt by kilowatt, our community is embracing new ways to make our homes and lives more climate-friendly. And the huge leap in usage of the new bike infrastructure is a big part of that.

Join us on September 20 from 5-8pm on Main Street in Ann Arbor, stretching from Huron Street to William Street, and see why this annual blowout is more popular than ever. And one of these years, someone might even offer up bike-aritas!

Other links:

* OSI Director Missy Stults

* Ann Arbor’s sister city, Tübingen, Germany

* Cinnaholic is exactly what you think it is

* Did you know they’re called “boober carts”?

* The maker space at All Hands Active

* World Car-Free Day on September 22

* A2 Tech Trek