A non-governmental, nonprofit organization promoting bicycle transport, economic development, international understanding and safety education.

INTRODUCTION:

Extreme weather seems to be the topic of the season.  We hope that the weather and road conditions around you are conducive for you do all the bicycling that you desire.  Meanwhile we continue to help individuals and organizations to promote sustainable transport and understanding, worldwide.

A giant “thank you” to everyone who has donated to us, participated on a travel program, purchased a publication, volunteered or in any other way supported IBF recently.  To the rest of you, there are still plenty of opportunities to get involved and get a thank you – see below.

Here is a program update:

2010 STUDENT BICYCLE ESSAY CONTEST

International Bicycle Fund Student Essay Contest is open to anyone 16 years old or under.  For more information see http://www.ibike.org/essays/index.htm.  There are cash prizes for the winners in age group categories:  Essay may be on any aspect of bicycling (history, touring, racing, commuting, role in society, learning, teaching, etc.)  Girls and boys from all countries are encouraged to participate.  You need not be a bicyclist.  The deadline for entries is every year on May 1^st (mailed entry must be postmarked by 1 May and arrive by 15 May.)  Entries can be submitted by email. Please share this information with teachers, parents and students in your circles.

The essay program takes a surprisingly large number of hours to administer.  If you would like to support this and other IBF programs, it can easily be done online at http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=91-1286223

NEW AT IBIKE.ORG

“Learning to Bicycle without Pain; Teaching Bicycling Without Strain”

This video continues to get a steady stream of interest and some surprising comments.  It has received over 16,000 viewings in nine months, http://bit.ly/SUoBE.  Share it with parents with young kids and everyone else who would like to learn to bicycle without pain.  It is posted with narrative instructions on our website at http://www.ibike.org/education/teaching-kids.htm.

“ABC on Getting Started with Bicycling”

We receive a variety of enquiries for people “getting started” in cycling.  Some are doing just that, so are more accurately getting re-started in bicycling, and some are trying to get started in a particular aspect of biking.  We have tried to point them in the right directions at http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/starting.htm.

“Bicycle Music Festivals”

Bicycle Music Festivals are a magical mix of bicycles, music, food & fun, http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/bike-music-festival.htm.  We hope there is one near you (North America west coast & Europe) that you can get involved with.  IBF is the fiscal agent for several festivals.

“Avoiding Hazards and Mitigating Risk”

Using a model for evaluating and mitigating work place hazards, we applied the tool to bicycling tour.  The results posted at http://tinyurl.com/ykfemo 

“How efficient is Bicycling?

Using egg-acting measures to egg-plain, we comparing the efficiency of bicycling with other forms of transport, http://www.ibike.org/environment/efficiency.htm.

“Organizing a Charity/Fundraising Bicycle Event”

In response to several requests we pulled together so ideas on how to organizing a charity/fundraising bicycle event.  It is only an outline but hopefully it will move people along the planning process.  It is posted at http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/bike-a-thon.htm.

“Airline Baggage Regulation for Bicycle”

The airlines continue to reduce the allowances and raise the fees on baggage faster than we can keep up with them.  Those we learn about we post.  Surcharges for a bicycle can now be US$600 per trip.  We generally get new information a couple times a month.  To see what we have learned see http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/travel/bagregs.htm.

UPCOMING IBIKE TRAVEL PROGRAMS: COUNTRY YOU SHOULD SEE:

One of the goals of our travel program is to help people get out of the travel ruts – heading to the tourism destination enclaves.  We do this by offering programs to really interesting places that are not mainstream destinations, and by giving people an opportunity to see a mainstream destination through a different and more interesting lens.  The full schedule is posted at http://www.ibike.org/ibike/schedule.htm.  We hope you will take on one of these opportunities.

Our cultural travel programs are our main source of revenue.  We hope you will support IBF by joining one of these programs:  These may not be mainstream destinations, but that is part of their value.

Hidden Gems in Up-coming Cultural Bike Tour Programs Include:

South Korea: September 25 to October 8, for more details see http://www.ibike.org/ibike/korea.  Half of South Korea in pretty industrial, and the other half in picturesque rural, riverine, forested, coastal and mountainous, continuously culturally rich and dazzling -- it is the latter half that we explore!  We can’t understand why touring cyclists are not swarming all over the back roads of South Korea.  Come be the first on your block to discover the elation of bicycle touring in Korea.

Sierra Leone: November 4-20, for more details see http://www.ibike.org/bikeafrica/sierra-leone.  The diversity characterizing Sierra Leone is considerable. This explains its offering of verdant forests, mountain landscapes, and drier savannahs, as well as beaches and the sun throughout the year.  Much of the coast is lined with coconut trees and dotted typical fisherman's dwellings.  Freetown has many modern conveniences and an active scene, while the villages are serene, and reflect traditional values and lifestyle, including wonderful hospitality.  This program is a engaging mélange of modern and traditional.

Seattle: Year around, if you visiting Seattle please consider on of our custom Seattle Heritage Bicycle Tours.  For more details see http://www.ibike.org/ibike/seattle.

SAMPLES FROM OUR TWITTER POSTS

Twitter is the primer way to stay current with develops at IBF/Ibike.  We tend to post a short message a couple times a week.  The following are messages that we have posted recently on Twitter that aren’t covered elsewhere in the Update.  To follow our Twitter posts in real time visit http://www.twitter.com/intlbike.

Dutch study: Economics of bicycling; Dutch bicycle tourists spend 750 million Euro, http://tinyurl.com/mgh5o5, it has been growing annually. 9:48 PM Jul 22nd, 2009

African entrepreneurs build bike powered phone charger from recycled items, http://bit.ly/LoPW2 8:01 PM Aug 21st, 2009

Media is all over Pres. Obama not wearing a helmet biking (9/27/09). He has worn a helmet in early outings, see http://tinyurl.com/nd9olq 2:49 PM Aug 27th, 2009

"Good Guide" rates many consumer products on health, environment and social criteria, http://www.goodguide.com/. Know what you consume! 11:27 AM Dec 4th, 2009

Bicycle helmet impact test results for cheap and expensive helmets were virtually identical (BSHI), http://tinyurl.com/yfalafq 5:07 PM Dec 9th, 2009

UPS returns to it's roots (100+ years ago) with new bicycle deliver service, http://tinyurl.com/ydyqej8 9:29 AM Dec 15th, 2009

The U.N. estimates 40,500 tons of CO2 will be pumped into the atmosphere during the 12-day climate conference http://tinyurl.com/ybxzghj 5:24 PM Dec 15th, 2009