Close the gap: Bay Bridge west span pathway
What good is an east span bike path without a west? Good question because I sure can’t come up with a sensible answer. A west span path would be the logical conclusion to the nearly completed east span and to the age old San Francisco bike commute quandary that AC Transit buses and even the Caltrans shuttle do not fully solve.
On March 23rd, Senate Bill 1061, which if set into law would allow toll collections to be used for the pathway, will be heard by the Committee on Transportation and Housing. The East Bay Bicycle Coalition is urging letters of support to be sent (snail mail, really?). My fingers are crossed on this one
17.Mar.10 
Just another day by bike
Moving into a new house soon so I’m always on the lookout on Freecycle for treasure; yesterday’s haul: foam mattress (the sleeper sofa kind, not the thousand dollar Swedish kind unfortunately). Foam made it nice and easy to haul in the ol’ trailer though 
Heading down Milvia, one of Berkeley’s bike boulevards
Google Maps “bike there” finally arrives!
WOOHOO!
Back in October of last year, Google made the big announcement they’d be adding a feature to their Google Maps application for bike navigation (to add to their list of other alternative means of transportation like walking and transit). What I love about Google is they consistently back up their talk and today, they’ve come through and made available a GIANT database of bike route data and the new ability to punch in addresses into Google Maps and have it route you the best way on a bike!!
Been playing with it and it has some great data for Berkeley, San Francisco and Oakland and by the looks of things, has great data elsewhere too. This is big, really big. Go check it out 
Google’s official blog – Biking directions added to Google Maps
Recumbent “bike pod” whisks cyclists along above traffic
…well at least it might some day. The video is mostly in Swedish but there’s some English in there too. Looks like crazy fun and maybe even a useful idea in the right place.
Spotted on Walk Oakland Bike Oakland
Dunlop valve key rack – another way to re-use
The list of ways to re-use bike tubes seems to grow endlessly. Just when I think I’ve seen them all…
Clever idea and easy to make yourself too
Found via Stilsucht & avail. in Germany at DaWanda (and no I don’t know what either of those names mean)
Update: These are not Presta valves as I originally mistok them for but rather Dunlop/Woods valve which are apparently much more common in Germany than they are in North America
Spring is coming!
Hooray! Our plum tree in the backyard just started flowering and my hardwood fig cuttings are now showing some life. Still waiting on our apple trees but they should follow suit soon. Time to start thinking about this years garden!
P.S I apologize to our East Coast snow bound readers 
Impressive tube ball
From the folks over at Box Dog Bikes in San Francisco, they’ve shown us their bundle of joy: a massive ball of innertubes
I was pretty excited when mine got to be fist sized, this is impressive (and yes I am impressed by such things)
Dream L.A. bike map
Found this droolworthy map-set of a potential bicycle network in the Los Angeles metro area. Being originally from LA maybe I find this extra exciting though…
Don’t be deceived though, this is purely conceptual (ie fantasy). The LA Bike Working Group is trying to draw attention to LA’s severe lack of a cohesive bike network
This network would rival the kind of connectivity that has only been available to drivers on the extensive freeway system. Keep on dreamin’
Click to see the complete set of maps
Found via Inhabitat
