The Week in Review: The big bicycle boom, Brazilian inmates cycle to freedom, and more

Here's the news that's fit to print from this last week in the world of bicycling.


Inmates in a Brazilian jail are bicycling (sort of) to power street lights and gain their freedom just that much earlier. Prisoners ride stationary bicycles, the power from which provides enough power to light 10 street lamps along the riverside promenade in Minas Gerais, the town where the prison is located. In addition to getting exercise and providing nearly free power to the city, for every three 8-hour sessions on the bikes, the inmates can take a day off of their sentence.

Inmates at a prison in Minas Gerais, Brazil, burn calories and
time off their sentences for riding stationary bikes.

We recently came across a bicycling cartoon of sorts called "Bikey Face", produced by bicyclist and illustrator Bekka Wright from Somerville, MA. Started in June 2011, Wright's website is filled with comics, drawings, biking tips, and more.

NYCDOT released a new ad as a part of its "Heads Up" campaign that was intended to encourage bicyclists to obey traffic laws (notedly, riding the same direction as traffic and obeying red lights). However, as VeloJoy.com pointed out, the ads do very little to encourage women to cycle. From VeloJoy: "Did anyone notice that the imagery in these ads reinforces the perception that cycling is unsafe and rife with confrontation?"

As speculated (and quite accurately speculated) by Forbes contributor Jeff McMahon, cities in the United States are in the very beginning stages of what will be an enormous "bicycle boom", similar to the one both Americans and Europeans sparked in the latter part of the last century. The difference? Ours died down, and Europe's did not. I have noticed the upward trend that McMahon points out in his article in recent years, and it's only getting steeper. If you're not riding now, you probably will be soon.

Speaking of the North American bicycle boom of the 1960s and 70s, here is an excellent page found by SaltCycler Christy Jensen. Rife with photos and statistics from National Geographic and U.S. News and World Report, it is as interesting a read as it is exciting. But who's going to be the one to make canvas handlebar bags cool again?

Just something fun from our friends to the west. Soma Fab in San Francisco just shared this video with us from Marin Bikes and rider Andrew Taylor, taking some of his favorites lines in the city and favorite trails in Marin County to the north. Enjoy.

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