VBF president Champe Burnley and Richmond councilman Doug Connor appeared on PBS’s Virginia Currents to talk about rail-trails — especially the James River Branch Trail, a new rails-to-trails project in Richmond.

The new trail will run for 2.3 miles through the south side of the city on an abandoned CSX railway line, which, as the video shows, is currently suffering from illegal dumping. The new trail promises to clean up and revitalize the area, and tie into an interconnected network of local, regional, and even national trails.

As Champe points out, Richmond is a burgeoning mecca for bike trails and routes, with the Virginia Capital Trail, US Bicycle Routes 1 and 76, and the future East Coast Greenway all running through the city.

See also: US Bike Route 1: A Ride Through Richmond

A Day in The Life of RPC from craig dodson on Vimeo.

Richmond Pro Cycling is a 501c-3 non-profit organization that develops elite-level cyclists into civic leaders. Richmondprocycling.com

Join over 1000 riders on Saturday, May 8, for one of Virginia’s largest cycling events — the Capital to Capital ride, aka Cap2Cap — a fundraiser for the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation. When completed, the Virginia Capital Trail will run 55 miles along the Scenic Route 5 corridor, connecting past and present capitals of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Richmond.

Cap2Cap is unique in having starts at both ends, Richmond and Williamsburg, with quarter, half, and full century ride options, returning to where you started. Come pedal through 400 years of Virginia history, and help raise funds to make the Capital Trail a world-class experience.

See the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation website for more information, download a registration brochure, or go directly to Raceit.com to register.

Here’s another great video about the Virginia Capital Trail, from the Foundation’s YouTube channel:

In response to the new bike lanes in front of the White House, AM talk radio loudmouth Tony Kornheiser went on a rant against cyclists, encouraging people to “run them down.” This went largely unnoticed (AM talk radio is pretty marginal anyway), but it made its way to Lance Armstrong and Bob Roll — who took offense, and have spoken out.

Now it’s all over the media. Bob Roll’s video rebuttal is above, and USA Today’s article “Lance Armstrong Thinks Tony Kornheiser is an Idiot,” reported Lance Armstrong’s Twitter postings:

Listening to Tony Kornheiser’s comments/rant on ESPN radio re: cyclists. Disgusting, ignorant, foolish. What a complete f-ing idiot.

Tony Kornheiser on cyclists on the road, “run ‘em down”. Really? Big mistake, Tony.

Have a listen. http://ow.ly/1nByQ. Listen to the March 11, part 1 segment and go to 30 mins in. #whatapunkasschump

(Washcycle did a nice transcript of the Kornheiser segment.)

Armstrong then encouraged us to write to ESPN 980 management:

Not happy about Kornheiser’s comments? Let them know @ESPNRadio980, @ptishow, and here http://www.espn980.com/info/contact_us.php

I hope everyone will. If anyone has good contact info for ESPN at the corporate level, please share it, so we can write to them too.

Later, Armstrong posted:

…just off the phone w/ Tony Kornheiser who’s very sorry 4 his comments re: cyclists. Going on the show 2morrow 2 discuss this w/ him.

To me this is all about a relationship. It’s bikes and cars. Both will be here forever. Awareness needs to exist as well as mutual respect.

Indeed. As Bob Roll pointed out, that cyclist “in your way” is someone’s dad, mom, son, daughter, or grandparent. To even think about harming or trying to intimidate them, because you’re feeling impatient or inconvenienced, is simply unacceptable.

Dr. Christopher Thompson found this out the hard way, and will spend the next five years in prison, for doing what Tony Kornheiser has advocated.

Update: Has Tony repented? Listen to Lance Armstrong on The Tony Kornheiser Show (MP3), March 19, 2010.

“This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.”

That’s what Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tweeted in reference to a new federal bike and pedestrian policy, which promises to, “Treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes.”

This is a big announcement. We encourage you to see the accompanying article at Mr. LaHood’s own blog, with more video, and links to more coverage.

Biking and walking have long been shortchanged by both federal and state governments. As the Alliance points out in their 2010 Benchmarking Report:

Ten percent of trips are by bicycle or foot, yet bicyclists and pedestrians make up over 13% of traffic fatalities and receive just 1.2% of federal transportation dollars.

So this new federal policy is a welcome change. Let’s think about moving people, not just cars.

Here’s a glimpse of the New Trail at the Massanutten Four Seasons Resort, built by volunteers from the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition. Virginia has a thriving mountain bike culture, and this video shows what it’s all about!

This trail is on private resort property, but you can ride it legally with a Massanutten trail pass.  You can also get a trail pass through the SVBC, by doing 3 days’ worth of trail work, or by paying $50 in addition to your membership.

Video by our own Chris Scott of Shenandoah Mountain Touring, featuring Kyle Lawrence and Thomas Jenkins from the Shenandoah Bicycle Company.  Edited by SMT intern Tyler Spurlock from James Madison University.

If you’re wondering what The Alliance for Biking and Walking is all about, Susie Stephens in the above video gives a good explanation, along with a brief history of the organization — and conveys its spirit with a song! The Alliance’s mission is to help local advocacy organizations become more effective. Help your organization become more effective by attending the Winning Campaigns Training at our Fall Retreat, Nov. 13-15.

Susie died in 2003, but her spirit lives on in the work of the Alliance (formerly known as the Thunderhead Alliance), especially in cities like Victoria, BC. Victoria has the highest bike modeshare of any sizable city in North America, surpassing even Portland OR. Susie will be honored there with a tree planting ceremony this Monday, Oct. 26. Below is an email about the event, with more about Susie, from Victoria bike-ped advocate John Luton. This was posted to The Alliance mailing list:

A memorial tree to American bike advocate Susie Stephens will be planted Monday, October 26th at the Atkins Rd parking lot access to the Galloping Goose regional trail in View Royal. The location is a crossroads of the new and the old where a paving project on the Goose, to support the E&N rail with trail project, is days from completion. The event is a waystation in the long journey for Stephens’ family, who have been traveling the world planting trees in memory of the Washington state advocate who brought her message to the capital in the late ’90s and helped energize local cycling advoactes. Susie always had a special affection for Victoria. The ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. and people who knew Susie and cycling supporters are invited to intend.

Stephens was killed in a St. Louis bus accident in 2003 while she was in the city training U.S. National Parks service staff on better planning for bikes and pedestrians. An insurance settlement left her mother Nancy MacKerrow, with a settlement she has since been investing in Susie’s passions of bike advocacy and the urban forest. McKerrow has funded scholarships for biike advocates to attend training with the U.S. based Alliance for Biking and Walking, which was co-founded by her daughter as the Thunderhead Alliance. The Alliance brings together local and regional advocates from across North America and her electrifying speech to delegates of the 1998 Pro Bike conference in Santa Barabara encouraged local advocate John Luton to invite her as a keynote speaker at that year’s AGM of the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition.

Stephens then helped connect Victoria advocates with the National Center for Bicycling and Walking in the U.S. who brought the 2004 Pro Walk – Pro Bike conference to Victoria, an event that again focused attention on cycling and walking for transportation in Victoria. More than 600 attended.

Working out of Seattle and then eastern Washington, Stephens had many occasions to bring her bike to the Island and was a big fan of the Goose. Luton, who has organized the tree planting, is expecting numbers of cyclists in the community who met Stephens to join the planting. Cyclists will also be able to look in on the new paving project, expected to open within days.

Stephens speech and an improptu singing performance showing off a beautiful voice and a knack for inspiring lyrics can be seen at: http://blip.tv/file/2730954

Luton has been working with CRD staff to set up the planting with a location and species that will act as a local memorial. MacKerrow, along with Stephens’ brother Jack Stephens, have made a special trip to Victoria to attend and make a local donation for the tree.

For more information:

John Luton
22 Philippa Place
Victoria, BC V8S 1S6
johnluton@shaw.ca
Executive Director, Capital Bike and Walk Society
Coordinator, Vancouver Island Cycle Tourism Alliance

In the wake of the Distracted Driving Summit comes this excellent video report from SoCal Connected, clearly demonstrating the danger of cell phone use while driving. They even compared it to driving drunk — with surprising results.

Distracted drivers are an increasing threat to cyclists and pedestrians. VBF supports further restrictions on cell phone use, such as a hands-free requirement like California’s. (Texting is already banned in Virginia.) Resistance from cell phone companies is to be expected, but the biggest political hurdle may be legislators themselves, who aren’t willing to give up their own cell phones.

Boulder Bike Story from Bikes Belong on Vimeo.