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Bicycling in Toronto: Interview with Carla Wintersgill 22

Bicycling in Toronto: Interview with Carla Wintersgill
Photo of Carla Wintersgill courtesy of Yvonne Bambrick for The Urban Country While pedaling to a client’s office one morning in May I witnessed a driver hurriedly squeeze past a cyclist ahead of me, missing the cyclist by mere centimetres. The woman on the bicycle shook her head but kept riding on. I pulled up ...

Recreational Bicycling in Texas 8

Recreational Bicycling in Texas
Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country Austin, TX – In North America, bicycles are primarily viewed as recreational toys. They are racing machines, exercise devices, mountain climbers, and weekend cruisers. It is uncommon in most North American cities to see a significant amount of people in their regular clothes using a bicycle for ...

Lawyer On a Bike: Interview with Ian Flett 53

Lawyer On a Bike: Interview with Ian Flett
Photo of Ian Flett courtesy of Yvonne Bambrick for The Urban Country Half a world away lies a land where troves of business men and ladies gracefully pedal their way to and fro their places of business. In business attire, they dress for the destination, not for the ride. But this isn’t Amsterdam or Copenhagen. ...

Mandatory Driving Helmets A “No-Brainer” 25

Mandatory Driving Helmets A “No-Brainer”
Driving helmet photo by Jeffrey Beall The Toronto Sun recently posted an entertaining editorial calling for mandatory bicycle helmets, labelling cyclists who oppose mandatory helmets “stupid, arrogant, self-entitled jerks”. We thought it would be appropriate to swap the word “bicyclist” for “driver” to make the case for mandatory driving helmets: OPINION EDITORIAL Driving helmet law ...

Stupid, Arrogant, Self-Entitled Jerk 24

Stupid, Arrogant, Self-Entitled Jerk
Screenshot from an absurd Toronto Sun editorial The title of this post may aptly describe whomever was in charge of the editorial desk for the Toronto Sun newspaper on Tuesday evening. The Toronto Sun posted an “opinion editorial” entitled “Bike helmet law a no-brainer”, which appears to be more of a childish diatribe than anything ...

Bikes & Kayaks 6

Bikes & Kayaks
Bob with his home-made kayak – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country Despite the fact that Canada’s economy is largely built on debt, Canada is still no doubt a rich country. In rich countries where most people don’t need to worry about feeding themselves or putting  a roof over their heads, they look ...

Sit-up Bicycle Art 2

Sit-up Bicycle Art
Bicycle Art Drawing part two – screenshot from YouTube video by Mike Rubbo Last September we held an exclusive contest here on The Urban Country to win a bicycle art painting by our friend Mike Rubbo. To win the painting, all you had to do was send a photo of yourself on your bike, and ...

Floating Bicycle Commuters 8

Floating Bicycle Commuters
“Floating” series – by Zhao Huasen (photos posted with permission) Riding a bicycle after a couple glasses of wine might make you feel as though you are floating. But until now I had never imagined what it might look like to actually float while riding a bicycle. Chinese photographer/artist Zhao Huasen’s “Floating” exhibit shows exactly ...

PedalPub: Bringing the Bar to the Bike 16

PedalPub: Bringing the Bar to the Bike
PedalPub Twin Cities – photo by Matt Johnson Why bring the bike to the bar when you can bring the bar to the bike? PedalPub is a human-powered mobile pub which was recently spotted in Minneapolis, Minnesota by our friend George who was visiting the Twin Cities for a conference. Known as “the bike with ...

Dear Bicycle Helmet 50

Dear Bicycle Helmet
Duo enjoying life – photo by EcoBicycle via RateMyVelo.com Dear Bicycle Helmet I know it has been a very long time since we went on a  ride together. It may sound cruel, but I honestly don’t miss you at all. I never liked how you messed up my hair on my way to work. It’s ...