One Street News

September 2017

Vol. 10, Issue 5

1. Bike Hunt Stories Show the Power of Bicycles - Story 1: Peaches
2. Bike Hunt Featured on TV
3. Resources – Sacramento, CA Buffering Bike Lanes with Parked Cars
4. Hot Topics – Kigali, Rwanda is Removing Private Cars from the City

Bike Hunt Stories Show the Power of Bicycles - Story 1: Peaches

By: Sue Knaup, Executive Director

Since publishing my memoir, Bike Hunt, at the end of August, I’ve had many deep discussions with readers via email, phone, and Facebook as well as in person. The Interbike trade show a few weeks ago drew readers to the One Street booth to share their thoughts inspired by the book.

The top theme of these discussions has been how and why humans tend to act so badly in groups. This plays out in many nonprofits, and certainly played out at the Thunderhead Alliance while I was the director there in the early 2000s – the timeframe of the book.

Running a close second for readers’ are my detailed accounts of what I call Bike Hunts – my tales of searching for and then giving away used bikes whenever I travel. During my disturbing time at Thunderhead, my Bike Hunts were my only connections back to the world I’d known before taking the job. They were so important to me, I recall fine details of these precious moments simply helping strangers with bicycles.

Each Bike Hunt story shows the significant impact a bicycle can have on someone who is struggling, though it’s simply me giving a bicycle to another person. No anti-poverty program. No ribbon cutting. No media. Just two human beings and a bicycle.

So I thought I’d share some of my favorite Bike Hunt stories from Bike Hunt, starting with a bright pink girl’s BMX bike I found at a Goodwill during a conference in Miami and named Peaches. Read Peaches’ story in this blog post on Defying Poverty with Bicycles under Blogs at www.OneStreet.org.

Peaches’ Bike Hunt story is one of many throughout the book. I’ve got my eye on several more to share. All will have the label “Bike Hunt” in the blog so you can easily find them.

Better yet, you can buy your own copy of Bike Hunt to read all of the stories and more. Find it through any online book vendor worldwide (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.) or order it through your local book store. We also have copies for sale at www.OneStreet.org.

Bike Hunt Featured on TV

An invitation from Arizona TV gave Sue Knaup an opportunity to discuss her experience writing her memoir, Bike Hunt. The host of Sandy and Friends, Sandy Moss, posed interesting questions that allowed Sue to describe the arduous ten-year writing journey. Watch the video on our home page under Inspirations at www.OneStreet.org.

Resources – Sacramento, CA Buffering Bike Lanes with Parked Cars

The United States is way behind countries that prioritize bicycling, especially when it comes to bicycle infrastructure. Most U.S. cities settle for skinny white lines to delineate a narrow, rough roadway edges and call them bike lanes.

But Sacramento is one U.S. city that is not satisfied with copying its peers. Instead, they have taken a serious look at why their residents and visitors are not cycling more. They have also noticed that those who do ride bikes generally do so on the sidewalk even though riding on a sidewalk is a miserable experience dodging pedestrians and navigating intersections from behind the view of drivers. Sidewalk riding is always a symptom of inferior bicycle provisions. And Sacramento is doing something about it.

Their new design for three roadways will move parked cars toward the center of the street and bike lanes to the edge, which will create a buffer between bicyclists and moving cars. This design has proven effective in other U.S. cities who are stepping up to prioritize cycling. It is also used in the Netherlands and other cycle-friendly cities around the world. Read about Sacramento’s projects in this recent article.

Hot Topics – Kigali, Rwanda is Removing Private Cars from the City

Car-free initiatives are gaining momentum around the world. But most of these are kept to a few blocks or a small section of a city center. Even these efforts meet tremendous opposition from people who believe businesses will fail and traffic will come to a standstill if these sections of street are blocked to cars.

The city of Kigali in Rwanda has no fear of such opposition. In fact, they are so confident in the citywide benefits of banning private cars, they are phasing them out citywide.

Imagine if cars were no longer allowed into your city. Imagine the silence, the calm, the ability to walk and bike in the street without endangerment. Read about Kigali’s courageous efforts here.