No ridiculous car trips

   
No ridiculous car trips is an informational film about a campaign bearing the same name. This campaign, now in its fourth year, aims at convincing more people too choose cycling over driving in Malmö City in Sweden.


No ridiculous car trips from Martin Lang on Vimeo.

The idea of ridiculous car trips is spot on. I still remember getting appalled with one of my then colleagues who shamelessly told me how she would drive down her driveway to pick up the mail... Ok, that one is pathological.
Yet, too many trips are made that could easily be done on a bicycle. Malmö's campaign was successful and brought them some international recognition.

Nice videos: Will you ride with Sophie?

An extremely cute, well-done video targetting the general public as well as younger, more feminine demographics.
Particular outstanding achievement from Seattle based Cascade Bicycle Club.

This video is old news by the way, it has been in circulation for a good while, but is still as interesting  and as relevant as ever.

Nice videos: more bicycle fashion

  
Levi's has decided to enter the urban cycling market via the commuting crowd's needs.
It has come up, so far, with a pair of jeans and a jacket. Actually, they aren't even new items, they are recycled versions of items already on racks.

I actually went and checked them out. Over-hyped and nothing I can fit my big ass in. Remind me of those damned American Apparel high waisted jeans designed for those whose legs you can floss with!



Quite frankly, I could not care less about the technical bullshit really. Don't believe in it anyways... What's wrong with a little water? Hot dude though.

H&M on the other hand seems to have preferred a more... I don't know, laid back, cool chic approach, whatever that means.



Love the interracial couple. Feels good to have some company...

Again, nice contributions to the positive Zeitgeist. Those are always welcome!

Nice videos: Flying Pigeon

The revival of a mythical Mao-era bicycle.
An icon from a time when the three "must-haves“ of every citizen was: a sewing machine, a watch and a Flying Pigeon bicycle.

The video itself is terribly romantic with a tidbit of nostalgia and some healthy dose of multicultural flavour: there you go! A winning proposition.


The Flying Pigeon Bicycle from yulu canada on Vimeo.

Now, I do not know the first thing about these particular bicycles... Some have criticised them for being terrible rattling clunkers. One can wonder if those horrible "bicycles imported  from China" to help Cuba survive its post-sovietique era oil shortage were not some of these...
Yet others are huge fans and have set up full websites dedicated to these little sweeties.
In anycase, the marketing is brillant and first class, from people who actually *get it*. Major League I say.

I wonder though where these images were filmed. Looks terribly like Vancouver to me...

Health connection

Caught in Alexis Nihon the other day:

Is Pharmaprix (Shopper's Drugmart) promoting health (and cycling) for once, instead of just profiteering on disease like most of Big Pharma?
Anyways, as long as it contributes to creating the right Zeitgeist, I am all for it!

And they got it right, to the T:
Racial diversity, no freaking helmet, nice casual clothes, big smile, healthy looking beautiful girl, wind blowing in the hair, wicker basket with fresh flowers. Purrr-fect!

How is it that a non-cycling entity with no stake in the cycling issue can manage to come up with such a perfect  image while the very cycling organisations supposed to advocate for us all cannot?

I give Pharmaprix an A+.

Nice videos: High fashion cycling

Further indicating a possible "mainstreaming" of cycling, high profile designers have chosen to communicate on this theme.

Armani



3.1 Phillip Lim



Now, is any of this a sign that cycling is becoming mainstream?
Those who believe in this theory seem to forget that fashion does not follow the crowds, it precedes it, it is avant-garde, sometimes engaging into areas where, well, not everybody follows them...
Then, another obvious point is the fact that these folks do not really care about cycling per se. It is the newest trend for them right now but we simply do not know how long designers will be interested in cycling. Their new-found caprice may last one season before scuba-diving or bare-ass skiing or whatever takes over.

Therefore, it is nice, we should definitely highlight it and surf the wave: it contributes to the positive zeitgeist, but I would not count on it in lieu of straightforward advocacy for decent infrastructure and laws.

Nice videos: Velo city 2011 - Seville

My all time favourite cycling promotional video!
The lyrics are very inclusive, very poetic, while being simple and accessible.
This video is a promotional masterpiece. It was produced as part of the promotional package for the Velo city 2011 conference in Seville.

Song:              La cumbia de la Bicicleta by David Aguilar.
Animation:  Luzdemente

What's not to love?

Partage la route

Vélo Quebec launched a new "share the road" type of campaign last month.

Of course, it will probably prove itself to be as inefficient as all the other "share the road" and "vehicular cycling" nonsense we've been feed with since the 1970's... but hey, it's a cute and romantic little TV commercial that, at least, should not do any harm.

Obviously, the only real solution if we want to see cycling rates improve and fatalities decrease, is to have better cycling infrastructure, better urban planning, better policies and tougher laws on delinquent motorists, including getting rid of Quebec's no-fault bullshit laws.

This requires political balls (more on that some other time).

Until then, we can find solace in the ineffective but inoffensive commercial.