Más allá del Dakar (Beyond Dakar) is a project that aims to build a school for 300 children in Bodouakro (Ivory Coast) driven by Juan Díaz García (Barcelona 1959), who is going to travel more than 7.000Km to collect the money for bulding that school in cooperation with Global Humanitaria.

Due to my relation with Global Humanitaria and the work that this NGO developes in Ivory Coast, I know the reality of this sub-Saharan country which is among the world's least-developed and where illiteracy rates are very high. Tere is a pressing need to implement projects that will have the improvement of Ivory Coast's education as a main target.

The cost of the project amounts to € 35.000; an amount that you can help to reach sponsoring kilometers or buying the t-shirt of the project

The route will start in Tangier (Morocco) in November 2010 and will take him to Daloa (Ivory Coast).
To achieve this target he wants to involve companies and people in this project. Are you into it?

Source: EB Project (ESP)
More info: masalladeldakar.org (ESP)

The next April 10th, at 11:30am will take place the first Classic and Oldstyle Bicycle Meeting of Zaragoza.

The mass meeting will be in the Primo de Rivera's Park, and we invite you to participate dressed in époque clothes or, at least, in an elegant way. This is not a sport meeting.

The idea popped out in the CicloClásica's forum taking as a reference some similar events that are performed in other countries such as Portugal or France.

I think this can be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Source: Rodadas.net (ESP)
More info: Cicloclasica (ESP)

The Velo-City Global 2010 is the World’s largest Global Conference on Cycling. The conference will take place in the heart of Copenhagen, one of the world's most inspiring cycling cities, and will offer you first hand experience of the city's many innovative initiatives in the field of cycling.

Congestion, obesity, climate change and quality of life in the cities are important global issues. Cycling has a vital role to play in tackling these problems and in improving the climate and quality of life in the cities.

From 22nd until 25th June there will be conferences and plenarys about the benefits of cycling.

The conference fees are DKK 6,668 / app. €895 for 4 days; and DKK 1,865 / app. €250 for 1 day conference.
The 4-day conference package includes entrance to all conference sessions, lunch, free rental of a conference bike, as well as participation in a range of social activities, including the Dinner Party and a bicycle parade.

The 1-day pass includes participation in all sessions and activities on the day.



You can get the 2nd announcement in pdf here, or subscribe to the newsletter.

Source & more info: www.velo-city2010.com

During the next month will take place in Barcelona the second "Iberian Cycle Courier Championship" (called CIMB due to the Spanish abreviation).
From 1st till 4th of April organized rides, bike polo, the main race, a bike part swap, and some parties will take place in the Forum premises.

Althought the racecourse hasn't been published yet, the main race will have about 1,5 Km and seven checkpoints. If you want to participate in any way (racing, playing polo or being a volunteer) you will find the registration form in here.

As they say in their webpage:

"Cycle courier championships are important events for urban cyclists, and not just for the sake of competition, but also to recognize and celebrate urban cycling culture."

Even this schedule is subject to changes, you can get a general idea of what will go on.

Thursday, April 1st:

• 19:00 Forum of participants
• 21:00 Sprints

Friday, April 2nd:

• 10:00 Breakfast; Registration
• 12:00 Group ride
• 14:00 Lunch
• 16:00 Bike Polo Tournament

Saturday, April 3rd:

• 10:00 Registration
• 14:00 Lunch break
• 16:00 Mainrace!
• 22:00 Prize ceremony

Sunday, April 4th:

• 11:00 Goodbye, until next year!

Hope to see you there!

More info: www.cimb2010.es (ESP/ENG)

The 3rd Bicycle Congress will be held in Lleida from April 15th to 17th, 2010. This Congress draws inspiration from the two previous editions (Barcelona 2006, Hospitalet del Llobregat 2008). This will be the first time the Congress is held outside of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.

The choice of Lleida as host city responds to the fact that the Paeria is currently developing its Urban Mobility Plan. Lleida is now ready to implement the first measures of this plan, which should dramatically boost cycling mobility in the city.

The 3rd Bicycle Congress should lead to a change of bicycles' status and lend more social visibility to this means of transport. Bicycles are a healthy way to get around. Furthermore, as bikes are small, light, cheap, non-polluting and quiet, they contribute significantly to urban traffic calming measures.

Bicycles are becoming a common fixture in all cities, and it is therefore paramount for policymakers working on mobility-related issues to be aware of all technologies, materials, signals and road surfaces associated with this means of transport. Bicycle-related legislation should be modernized and adapted to cyclists’ present needs with a view towards improving safety, allowing the integration of special 2, 3 and 4-wheel pedalled bicycles, legalizing PedElec and developing new concepts such as shared roads, 30 km/h areas, etc.

New changes to legislation should be adopted in response to the on-going minor revolution promoting cycling as a key weapon in the fight against climate change. To this end, a working group composed of regional and national institutions from different fields has been established under the coordination of a parliamentarian legal representative and the support of law students. The group's conclusions will be presented during the Congress.

Another factor that has a direct positive impact on bicycle development is infrastructure. The Congress will discuss infrastructure in an open-ended manner from both an urban and rural perspective. Issues such as building and maintenance of bike lanes, tunnels and bridges or bike-friendly road surfaces will be among our main focuses throughout the discussion.

In a few words, the 3rd Bicycle Congress is certainly the most important bicycle-related event ever held on the Iberian Peninsula.

We invite all of you to come and participate!

Source: www.bicicat.cat

Multi-level bike parking at Amsterdam Centraal Station. CC photo: Daniel Sparing (I'd love to see my city like that)

Last year, many new bike-parkings where place in Szczecin (Poland), thanks to the organization Rowerowy Szczecin, who got funds from Norway.

This year, they are back again with the same proposal.

But, before placing the racks, the City Council wants to know where they are needed, so they will be effective and used by cyclists. For this purpose, Rowerowy Szczecin has created a map , with the title "Place Your Parking Reactivation", where citizens can place their wish, and set where they would like (or need) to have a parking for bikes.

As the local newspaper Moje Miasto says:

Each added point should include the exact location, a brief description of the site and the proposed number of stands and a photo.

Certainly, those initiatives, envolving the City Council, the Cyclist Organizations and the citizens (who really are the final users) are realy needed and always welcome, because they help the Administration to do the things in the right way. What for we need bike racks where nobody will use them? Place them wisely and it will be a success.

Source: Moje Miasto (POL)
More info: Rowerowy Szczecin (POL)

You can download this wallpaper in 1440x900,1280x800 and 800x600

 

And here you have that one in 1440x900, 1280x800and 800x600

Bicycle path in Szczecin. The path ends and... you can choose - riding on lawn or on bumpy cobblestones ? Have a nice ride ! cc photo: ilm19

"More than 700 hundred pages and photos exposes the fatal conditions of bicycle lanes"

This is the headline I found today reading the Szczecin local newspaper "Moje Miasto" (My City).

This report is the result of the initiative "Bikes Without Barriers" that invited all city-bikers in Szczecin to show off their complaints, and document them, with photographies and videos. "The result of it, is that we only can be ashame!"says the subheading of the page.

Tomasz Loga, one of the authors of the report, assures that they went through every single bike path, collected information from the users and citizens and concludes that a lot of work and investment is needed. With this action they showed off the bad conditions bikers in Szczecin suffer. For instance how some bike lanes are half the width they are supposed to be, or how often we find streetlamps, trees or cars parked in the middle of the path.

You can download the full report, of 722 pages lenght and Polish language, here.

And, as an end, a video, of the Aleja Wojska Polskiego, showing a piece of what this raport says.
More videos, and the full article here. Have a nice weekend.



Source: Moje Miasto Szczecin (POL)
More info: Rowerowy Szczecin (POL)

Hola amics! Durant els darrers dies he estat fent algunes proves amb diferents plantilles, CSS, i pàgines varies amb el blogspot i, finalment, crec que he arribat a una solució més o menys decent.

Què us sembla el nou look? Evidentment no és definitiu, però penso que és una bona base; un inici que ens pot ser mol útil. S'ha d'anar polint mica en mica, és clar, i afegir-hi, modificar o canviar alguns punts.

Què hi ha de nou?

A la barra de menú principal he col·locat els enllaços de Què fem? on explicar com va començar tot i quina és la nostra missió (bona pregunta, eh?); On ho fem? És a dir, a quines ciutats tenim "seu" (Szczecin i BCN de moment) o "embaixades" en el cas que la cosa creixi; Botiga on la gent pugui fer comandes de samarretes, enganxines o demés coses de merchandising que ens inventem (això s'ha de pensar bé, entran en joc impostos i coses d'aquestes); Contacte, on podem posar un formulari com el que el David té a inginius; i per últim el RSS per a les suscripcions lo qual encara no sé com funciona (David, aquí ens hauràs de fer un cop de mà)

Limitacions.

Les limitacions d'aquesta plantilla són poques sota el meu punt de vista. L'unica que trobo destacable és que, a la columna principal, les imatges dels post no poden tenir una amplada de més de 400px, perque queden tallades.

Llicències.

Aquest és un altre tema que hauríem de rumiar. De moment, ara que el bloc és tancat i que està tot en fase de proves, he otorgat la llicència Creative Commons que podeu veure a "About". No sé si aquesta és suficient (jo crec que sí, i sino encara hi ha una altra llicencia CC una miqueta més restrictiva) en el cas que comencem a penjar els nostres propis dissenys de samarretes, etc. ho podriem pensar.

Idioma

Sé que aquest pot ser un punt delicat. Tot i que tots tres som catalano-parlants, he establert com a llengua per defecte l'anglès, més que res, per un tema de neutralitat. Si volem atraure gent de tot arreu (Szczecin i Barcelona, per començar) hem de pensar en un idioma que ens faciliti la tasca. Està clar que això és un tema a debatre, però penso que és una de les millors opcions; lo qual no implica que es deixin de banda el català, el castellà o el polonès.

En fi, un petit pas (més) per a l'home, un gran pas per ibikethecity.org

Espero les vostres respostes, crítiques, aplaudiments i exabruptes.

Salut!

Pedro Delgado turned in his resignation as the maximum representative of the Spanish Cyclist Organization in the Superior Traffic Council, tired of seeing how his proposals were not taken into cosideration by the most of the members of  the council and annoyed about how they were using his image.

In the video Pedro explains the reasons that led him to take this decission (in Spanish).




Vía Rodadas.net (ESP)
Source: ciclismoafondo.es (ESP)