Follow @theurbancountry on Twitter Find us on Facebook Subscribe to theurbancountry.com via e-mail Subscribe to theurbancountry.com via RSS
Follow @theurbancountry on Twitter Find us on Facebook Subscribe to theurbancountry.com via e-mail Subscribe to theurbancountry.com via RSS

“Not Much Can Go Wrong With That Bike” 4

“Not Much Can Go Wrong With That Bike”
Sofia on Daddy’s cargo bike – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country  Last night my wife took her car to the grocery store and when she tried to start it again, the battery was dead. I grabbed my cargo bike and went to a nearby mechanic to borrow their mobile booster pack to ...

“Bicycling makes me feel like I’m a part of the city instead of feeling apart from the city" 8

“Bicycling makes me feel like I'm a part of the city instead of feeling apart from the city"
Screenshot from YouTube video by Vancouver Cycle Chic Below is a wonderful video by our friend Chris Bruntlett and the folks over at Vancouver Cycle Chic featuring Vancouver librarian Cecily Walker, as she introduces her city as a great place to live and to get around by bike. Vancouver, as you probably know, rests inside ...

Dignified Older People On Bicycles 3

Dignified Older People On Bicycles
Older people on bicycles in Amsterdam –  Photo by Marc van Woudenberg / Amsterdamize In the midst of Toronto Mayor Ford’s crack scandal was a revelation about how Canadian society views adults who ride bicycles for transport. A 45-year-old man who is in the middle of the scandal was recently approached at a TD Bank ...

House Moves By Bicycle 5

House Moves By Bicycle
Transporting cargo by bike in Portland, Oregon – Photo by Ryan Good  On a visit to Shanghai in 2010, I snapped dozens of photos of people transporting large objects by bicycle – including a bathtub and a full sized refrigerator – among other large household items. Here in Canada or the United States, it would ...

Urban Bicycling Is For Lazy People 76

Here in Canada, as in the United States, people tend to generally view bicycles primarily for recreation or sport. Thus, when someone asks me how I arrived somewhere and I tell them I rode my bicycle, they naturally assume that I am athletic, brave, unusual, always late, and I probably need to take a shower. ...

Copenhagen Bike & Breakfast 1

Copenhagen Bike & Breakfast
Cargo bike sofa – Photo by Mikael Colville-Andersen for Airbnb listing  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to travel to your favourite cities around the world and to stay in a reasonably-priced flat in the heart of the city and have bicycles readily available to tour around town? Add to that, a friendly and passionate host who ...

Using Google Search To Reveal Public Perception 2

Using Google Search To Reveal Public Perception
Google Bicycle – Photo courtesy of Leon Hoffman  One useful and amusing way to identify current trends and to gauge public perception on a topic is to use Google Search Auto-Complete. To do this, simply start typing in a phrase on a topic of your choosing, and watch Google complete the sentence using data from ...

Home Depot Trip By Bicycle 6

Home Depot Trip By Bicycle
Cargo bike with hockey equipment – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country A couple Wednesdays ago I needed to make a run to Home Depot to pick up some plywood and hardware for some small renovations I am doing in my loft. The same evening I was planning to meet my brother at ...

Darcy Allan Sheppard Documents Revealed Through Freedom Of Information Request 2

Darcy Allan Sheppard Documents Revealed Through Freedom Of Information Request
In Memory of Allan Sheppard – Photo by Tsar Kasim New details have emerged through a Freedom of Information request regarding the August 31, 2009 death of Darcy Allan Sheppard. Sheppard’s father claims the evidence he has obtained through the freedom of information request does not support the explanation in the decision to drop charges ...

Sitting Side Saddle on Batavus Fryslan 8

Sitting Side Saddle on Batavus Fryslan
Photo courtesy of Peter Bojanczyk for The Urban Country  On Sunday I bought a used 2011 Batavus Fryslan bicycle that I spotted on Craigslist to replace my 2010 Fryslan that was stolen in March. Last night we tested the rear rack while my 210-pound colleague Al sat side saddle while we transported ourselves from one ...