Life on two wheels. 

EcoSalon reader Kristin Bott rocks a sundress at the Portland Short Track Series.

As she puts it, “It rains for nine months of the year in Portland. Not an exaggeration. So when summer comes, the whole city celebrates. Every year, the folks behind the Portland Short Track Series  have a ‘summer casual night’ when they encourage racers to ‘Leave the lycra at home and come race in your Monday best’- casual threads: oversized surf trunks, colorful skirts, double-rainbow tie dye tees, knitted socks… anything goes. I lack tie-dyes and surf trunks, but I do have a couple of sundresses, and I rarely wear skirts, but it seemed a good fit.”

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures tocontact@ecosalon.com.

Image: Richard Rosko

The post On the Move: Portland, Oregon appeared first on EcoSalon.

Stylish cycling gear that will keep you feeling safe and looking chic all summer long.

We’re all about alternative transportation here at EcoSalon, and summer is the perfect time to get out that bike and start pedaling around the streets. To help you do that in style, we’ve gathered some cycling gear that will keep you safe while still looking tres chic.

Nessa Dress by Edith A. Miller
There’s no reason you shouldn’t wear a dress just because you’re biking. Just make sure to choose a loose-fitting short one, so it’s comfortable and doesn’t run the risk of getting stuck in the gears. This classic striped dress by Edith A. Miller is ethically made in the USA, and we think it goes great with a bicycle.
$198, Juno & Jove

The Madera Helmet by Coyle
Based on a contemporary, skate-inspired helmet design, the Madera provides a great balance of coverage and visibility. Coyle helmets are made using patented technology that takes advantage of  the inherent structural properties that allow wood to absorb significant energy in the event of a significant impact, adding protective redundancy to the EPS foam or low density cork system that lies beneath. The all-natural materials resist the UV degradation that synthetic helmet materials are vulnerable to, which means you won’t need to replace a weather-worn and sunburned helmet every few years.
$375, Coyle

Blink Steady Rear Light
A good light is a must, especially when long summer days on the road turn into spontaneous picnics under the stars. Made from solid aluminum, the Blink Steady bike light turns on automatically and shuts off when you’re not riding. And you don’t have to remove it when you lock up because it’s secured by your seatpost.
$95, Blink Steady

Bike Strap-Downs by Walnut Studiolo
Let’s face it, we often end up carrying more stuff than we thought. When you’re on a bike, this can be a problem, unless you carry the right accessories with you. This set of bike strap-downs is a key tool for MacGyvering stuff onto your bike. Two buckling leather straps with eyelets running the length of it helps you strap down items of varying sizes to your bike rack. All of Studiolo’s beautiful bike accessories are made, by a couple, in their workshop in Portland, Oregon.
$38, Walnut Studiolo

Green Guru Cruiser Cooler Recycled Bike Tube Handlebar Bag
Think of the Cruiser Handlebar Bag as the missing glove compartment for your cruiser or commuter bike. It has room for all those essentials, like a just-in-case rainjacket, sunglasses and sunscreen for a hot spin to the beach, or cold beverages for a warm evening cruise. You can also take it off the bike and use it as a cooler. Made in the US from recycled or upcycled bike tubes and upcycled reflective mylar from compostable cup packaging
$44.95, Green Guru

Portland Design Works Sodapop Fenders
Made from 97% post-consumer recycled beverage bottles, these bike fenders will keep you clean and dry in any weather. They are designed to pop off your bike easily, should you want to remove them when the sun comes out. Thanks to clever hardware they fit most city and mountain bikes that have a hole in the fork crown.
$25, Portland Design Works

Recycled Innertube Stringer Cuff
The lightweight stringer cuff by Beatrice Holiday is made from soft recycled bike inner tubes, lightly sprinkled with metallic gold spray paint. Designer Holiday wants you to feel good knowing that this bracelet was made from heap of inner tubes that lay discarded outside a bike shop in Venice, CA. Now they can ride again, only on your arm instead.
$28, Etsy/Beatrice Holiday

Eastlake Recycled Tablet Sleeve
If you bring your reading tablet along for the ride, make sure it’s protected, in true biker style. This stylish, protective sleeve is constructed from recycled bicycle inner tubes, which gives it a durable, highly water-resistant exterior. It’s sized to be compatible with the iPad, but will fit other roughly 10” tablets as well.
$34, Alchemy Goods

AB Designs Leaf Earrings
You would never know at first glance, but these delicate leaf earrings are actually made from upcycled bike tubes. They’re carved by hand in Portland (by EcoSalon’s very own resident foodie Anna Brones) and look really great worn under a bike helmet!
$20, Etsy/AB Designs

The post Cycle Chic: Stylish Bike Gear to Get You Pedaling in Style appeared first on EcoSalon.

Life on two wheels.

Elly Blue, cycling advocate, writer and woman behind Taking the Lane, rocks not only two wheels, but wheels that manage to pull a futon. When was the last time you put your bike to work like that?

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures to contact@ecosalon.com.

Image: Neighborhood Notes

The post On the Move: Portland, Oregon appeared first on EcoSalon.

The best of EcoSalon’s stories this week.

A sociable glass: in the words of Michael Broadbent, “drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life’s most civilized pleasures.” (When that wine can be trusted, of course).

A sociable mug: not only is coffee amazingly useful, it’s amazingly friendly too, as hundreds of years of coffee culture will attest.

A sociable bench: it allows you to hang out with your bike.

A sociable meal: sure. But it ain’t healthy.

And…penguins. Which, we learned this week, are a little over-sociable in some situations, enough to embarrass and dumbfound a biologist accompanying one of Britain’s greatest explorers. (We’re blushing).

The post The Friday 5: Sociable Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

All over the world, bike powered energy is being used to burn calories and produce clean wattage.

Cycling is a massively popular pastime, means of transport, and sporting activity. Millions of people use two wheels to get around, have fun, and get a carbon-neutral adrenalin rush. Now, in places and spaces all the world, energy generated by pedaling is being turned into electricity to power leisure and entertainment equipment.

In the UK, pop-up carbon-free movie theaters are being powered by the audience. Open-air cycle-in cinemas are appearing at British festivals and art spaces promoting a “celluloid kills cellulite” type experience. One of the organizers of these cycle-led events is Magnificent Revolution, a collective of artists, musicians, designers, engineers and ecologists that run workshops about renewable technology and micro-power generation.

We all love to relax in front of the TV, but some places want you to pedal to earn your entertainment. The Cottage Lodge in New Forest, England, has introduced a bike-powered television for guests. Built from a reclaimed ship from the 17th century, the Cottage Lodge fuses sustainability and media very creatively.

At the other end of the “leisure time” scale, a prison in Phoenix, Arizona uses Pedal Vision, which is also a pedal-powered TV system. But there’s no choice for these guests: to watch their favorite shows, inmates have to cycle while positioned in front of the TV set. Some see it as unfair making the inmates cycle to watch the box, but the box-watching prisoners are undeniably fitter and healthier. If they slack off, the TV shuts down.

So, thinking logically, when you’re cycling for the sake of it, can’t that energy be harnessed too? Of course it can. While you’re pedalling at the gym – or running, or on the cross-trainer – the kinetic energy that was used can be re-used for a constructive, emission-cutting purpose. Florida company ReRev retro-fits workout equipment to generate electricity: 30 minutes’ exercise produces 50 watt-hours of clean electricity. The Universities of Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Texas, and Oregon all use its system.

The trailblazer for pedal-powered exercise systems was the super-environmentally-friendly Green Microgym in Portland, Oregon, which was the U.S.’s first human-powered gym. The gym offers further incentives for using its electricity-generating machines, some of which are fitted with iPads: each half-hour workout earns you a voucher to use at local businesses. Encouraging support for neighborhood stores, as well as being carbon-neutral (they also use solar power): we like.

Photos: Mon Labiaga Ferrer, Magnificent Revolution, Cottage Lodge, Green Microgym

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

The post Places & Spaces: Where Pedal Power Is The HVAC appeared first on EcoSalon.

Municipal governments, take note: a university student has invented the perfect public bench.

Displayed at this year’s ICFF, an ingenious solution to our urban bike-locking crisis: The Wright Bench. It’s a piece of functional furniture that combines a park bench with a bike rack.

Because this is the wrong way to lock up your bike…

This is the Wright Way.

No…

Yes!

Appalachian State University (ASU) student Eugene Duclos created the bench/bike rack for the Perennial Wood Appalachian State Design Studio contest. Evidently, Perennial Wood is a new type of U.S. manufactured wood, modified to protect against rot and decay, and uniquely suited for moist outdoor environments. With ASU being in North Carolina – the same state as the Wright brothers – the design was created in homage to the first flight duo: a wing-shaped wooden seat and wrought iron rack behind it. Did you know the Wright brothers were first entrepreneurs in the bike business? It’s true.

Let’s hope Duclos has trademarked his inventive bench. It seems only a matter of time before municipal governments flock en masse to purchase these benches for cities and parks.

Images: Galdo Trouchky; Mike Dillingham: Despoke; BitchcakesNY; PSFK

The post The Wright Public Bench is a Bike Bench appeared first on EcoSalon.

Life on two wheels. 

Who says you can’t pair a Surly with heels? Even in small town Colorado you have to spice up your ride.

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures tocontact@ecosalon.com.

The post On the Move: Salida, Colorado appeared first on EcoSalon.

A test for your bike IQ.

You know it. You love it. The bicycle is a clean machine in a carbon-fueled world. Here is a quiz to test your transportation IQ.

Q: On average, the annual operating cost of a car is $8,220. How much does it cost per year to maintain a bike?

A) $308

B) $3,020

C) $20

Answer: According to a 2009 report published by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the annual maintenance cost of a bike is $308. Cyclists can lower that amount by joining a bike co-op and learning to repair their own machines.

Test more of your bike IQ:

Pedals vs. Pumps

Bikeways vs. Highways

Federal Transportation Funding

Read more: Japhy Dhungana rode his bike from Los Angeles to the tip of South America. Can you guess why he named his bicycle Bucephalus?

Sierra is the magazine of the Sierra Club. Our motto: Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet. Follow Sierra magazine on Twitter.

Image: moriza

The post How Much Does a Cycle Centric Lifestyle Cost? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Foodspotting’s top pick for food by bike in San Francisco: bike to the ocean for a chocolate sandcastle.

Love food? Love bikes? Our San Francisco Food By Bike Foodspotting Guide just might be for you. We picked some of our favorite spots that either deliver by bike or straight up serve food from a pedal powered cart.

Foodspotting sent us their own good cycling foodie tip  which is all about grabbing your bike, enjoying the weather and trying this delectable morsel:

Beach Chalet Chocolate Sandcastle @ Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant

With a bike, and some good weather, you can ride all the way down the hills to head toward the beach. There, you can get the fun chocolate sandcastle while dining with a beach scene in front of you. – Amy Cao

Spotted by Jen Minto

Check out the full guide and enjoy!

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: Daily Candy, Foodspotting

The post Foodspotting Friday: Food for the Cycle Lover appeared first on EcoSalon.

The drive-thru: an iconic institution fueled by the American spirit to hit the open road. But in this day and age, drive-thrus have become synonymous with unhealthy lifestyle habits, both because of the food they serve and the mode of transportation used to get there. But what if the food was good, and getting access to it promoted sustainable living habits?

In Madison, a restaurateur is looking to open an eating space that’s anything but a drive-thru; he wants to launch a bike-thru, accessible only by two wheels. The Wisconsin capital is already known for its cycling culture, in fact it’s currently ranked the nation’s #7 city for biking, and Chris Berge thinks it would be the optimal spot for what he calls a “bike-in” bar and grill. The proposed restaurant would be built on the city’s Southwest Commuter Path, making it inaccessible by car, and commit to serving local food, and producing zero garbage. He’d also make it a great place for riders to get a quick rest stop, with bathrooms, a fountain for filling water bottles and a bicycle repair service station.

Although the restaurant hasn’t been officially proposed yet, the idea has already garnered the support of the mayor of Madison, Dave Cieslewicz. “I think it’s fascinating idea,” Cieslewicz said. Be it a love for good, local food or a passion for two-wheeled transport, the idea has the potential to take off in other cities as well.

Conscious urbanites know that combining a love of bikes and food makes sense, and restaurants that offer ample bike parking for diners that arrive on two wheels are already getting plenty of national traction, and in places like Venice Beach, there’s even valet velo parking.

And for those that can’t make it out of the house, there are lots of two wheeled foodie delivery options from soup to coffee to jam. Vive le culinary velo revolution!

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

The post Foodie Underground: The Bike-Thru appeared first on EcoSalon.