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Hola, Amigos! Has it seriously been 6 years??

Hola, Amigos! Has it seriously been 6 years??
I can hardly believe that 6 years has gone by since I last made a habit of regularly writing on this blog. Although I put the pen down to focus on other priorities in life, I have still been using my bike as my primary mode of transportation (when I am not run commuting to ...

Life Hack: IKEA’s $2.00 Bicycle Ski Rack

Life Hack: IKEA's $2.00 Bicycle Ski Rack
Life Hack: $2.00 IKEA Bike Ski Rack – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country Two years ago my girlfriend Roxy and I each picked up a pair of Nordic skis, which allowed me to re-take-up cross country skiing; a hobby that I had thoroughly enjoyed as a kid. Over the past couple winters, ...

The “Get The F#ck Out of My Way” Attitude 10

The
BMW SUV – Courtesy of Curtis Perry A few days ago, an article was posted by a bicyclist into the Craigslist “rants and raves” section. The poster highlighted a road rage incident in which an angry driver in a blue BMW SUV screamed and honked at the bicyclist to get out of the way, in ...

Quick Update From China 1

Quick Update From China
James’ fixed gear bike in China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country Wow. It has been an inexcusable amount of time since I last wrote an article on here. For the past two and a half months I have been living overseas in the southern most part of China (Hainan Island). I ...

Too Cold To Take Public Transit 90

Too Cold To Take Public Transit
The last two days have seen immensely frigid temperatures here in Toronto. I have still been using my bike on a daily basis throughout the winter, but Tuesday proved exceptionally cold when a friend and I pedaled a few kilometres to a computer store that evening. This was a rare occasion in which I was ...

Should Distracted Bicycling Be Banned? Umm, No. 4

Should Distracted Bicycling Be Banned? Umm, No.
A bicyclist talking on her cell phone – Photo courtesy of otzberg  The Atlantic City’s Eric Jaffe asks whether distracted bicycling should be banned: “Whether you’re for or against distracted cycling rules — more on that in a moment — you can’t deny that using a cell phone changes the way a person rides a ...

Groningen: The World’s Cycling City 7

Groningen: The World’s Cycling City
Groningen: The World’s Cycling City – Screenshot from Streetfilms film on vimeo Clarence Eckerson Jr. from Streetfilms recently took a trip to Groningen, Netherlands and documented its widespread bicycle culture in a wonderful 15 minute film. Groningen, a city of about 192,000 people has the highest mode share of bicycle users of anywhere in the ...

Stettler, Alberta Bike Share Program Suspended After Its One Bike Goes Missing 5

Stettler, Alberta Bike Share Program Suspended After Its One Bike Goes Missing
Stettler, Alberta’s bike share program has been suspended after the program’s single bicycle went missing in that town of about 5,700 people. Bike Share Program Director, Harold Bruce spoke to the CBC about the program he founded after returning from a visit to Toronto, where he had thoroughly enjoyed Toronto’s BIXI bike share program. He ...

The Art Of Carrying Things By Bike 19

The Art Of Carrying Things By Bike
The Art of Carrying Things by Bike – Screenshot from Vimeo video by Laura J. Lukitsch  Most readers here are aware that I have something of an obsession with carrying large amounts of cargo on my bike. The countless times I have heard people say “you need a car to live” perhaps induces my insatiable ...

Dear Vancouver: Riding A Bicycle In Normal Clothes Should Not Be A Defiant Act Of Rebellion 12

Dear Vancouver: Riding A Bicycle In Normal Clothes Should Not Be A Defiant Act Of Rebellion
BIXI bike collage from Montreal, Canada – Photo courtesy of Chris Bruntlett via Instagram  Our friend Chris Bruntlett recently returned to Vancouver from a vacation that included stops in both Toronto and Montreal. In an article in Hush Magazine, Bruntlett elegantly summarizes his travel experiences while lamenting Vancouver’s sport/recreational bicycling culture and British Columbia’s unfortunate ...