In the loopy world of blogs, this is the first post you'll see. For us, it's the last.

From the time this blog launched with several contributors, it has always been in a bit of a gerrymandered space between the sports and health worlds, with some transportation and food thrown in.

We've lost some voices in the year since then, so it's with some relief that those of us still active move to Picture of Health this month. We hope you'll come with us so we won't have to miss you.

It's been fun. Thanks for all the comments!

Photo credit: Getty Images

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 6:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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You bicycle? In Annapolis?

A proposed master plan lays out the creation of 30-plus miles of linked, marked trails and routes for getting around the city on two wheels.

The City Council will soon be asked to adopt the document for planning purposes.
The idea is promote bicycling for transportation and fun. Click here for our article.

Posted by Andrea Siegel at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Bicycling, Safety, Traffic
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With a year to go until the London Olympics, organizers are promising to take another look at whether a solitary terrorist could cause tragedy.

Continue reading "Anders Breivik and the London games" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Safety
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The Rails to Trails Conservancy sent out an e-mail blast to supporters this morning in hopes of giving Sen. Ben Cardin an earful from walkers, runners and cyclists.

Here's a piece of the missive:

Continue reading "Conservancy to Cardin: Don't defund us, bro" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Bicycling, Outdoors, Politics, Running, Safety, Traffic, Walking, Washington
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Walking and cycling are struggled to grow as transportation options in America over the last 10 years, according to a Reuters article published this morning, with most of the growth occuring among men.

Some other groups have even reported losses, with a Rutgers researcher bemoaning the lack of participation among non-males and those without means.

From today's article:

Continue reading "Win a free towel: Tell us why Biking is so darned manly" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Bicycling, Outdoors, Safety, Traffic, Walking
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Sun reporter Don Markus has a couple updates on the man shot outside a Ritchie Highway mall. From Markus' article:

Continue reading "Shooting near B&A trail" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Bicycling, Outdoors, Running, Safety, Walking, Weekend
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As a bit of a companion to last week's post about trail/road intersections, here's some new information: In Virginia, a test of lines on the road -- some a bit bizarre -- at trail intersections appears to be a success.

Continue reading "Report: Strange lines help at trail crossings" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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December 5 gave us a little bit of snow, but we had to wait until last week to get some real accumulation.

At my childhood home in Michigan, that would mean it was almost time to start shoveling off the back porch, gradually making the resulting pile higher and higher until there was a tremendous* hill on which to sled. Eventually, I got too cool for that, but since I had more than one younger sibling, the snow slide survived through most of my teenage years.

Now, I view winter weather as a good chance to exercise lateral muscle sets that normally get underutilized.

Continue reading "Tell your snow story for a shot at a tasty prize" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Safety
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According to the NY Daily News, a TV weather woman there made a report of being attacked by a stalker in Central Park. Reportedly, she told police that a Hispanic man attacked her and dragged her into a wooded area in September, and that he recently was menaced by the same man.

Scary story, except that police are saying that the story is entirely made up. The woman is now facing charges.

I really don't understand why someone would make up such a story, and I won't speculate, but I wonder whether any other Central Park runners decided to take extra precautions -- or stayed away from the park completely -- because of the false reports. Although, I guess, most of us know we need to be careful all the time.

Posted by Anica Butler at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Media, Safety
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While browsing through an NYC bike education flier -- part of the city's "don't be a jerk" program, via a weekend post on Greater Greater Washington -- I noticed something intriguing. From the pamphlet:

Using a Bike Box

Bike boxes increase the visibility of cyclists stopped at red lights. Only use a bike box when you approach the intersection at a red light.

You can also use bike boxes when making right turns; position yourself in front of the cars. Make the turn when the light turns green.

View the source material here >>

I don't necessarily agree with the tone of NYC's "don't be a jerk" campaign as a whole -- as one GGW commenter put it, chastising the masses in hopes of educating a few out-of-line cyclists can be "as pointless as complaining about violent pedestrians because somebody once mugged you and he was on foot" -- but I definitely like what I see in the this particular flier.

(Edit: Jerry Jackson has an interesting take on my sentiment about the campaign here)

Continue reading "NYC's bike boxes" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Bicycling, Safety, Traffic
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As cyclists gain clout, one commenter notes that new laws go both ways. (2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Lloyd Fox)

Today's paper had a nice Mike Dresser piece on bad bike behavior. It described the usual standouts -- ignoring signs/lights, hopping up on sidewalks, etc.,. -- but what really caught my eye was an interesting entry in the comments section. Here's what it said:

I have checked with the county police on the 3 foot buffer law and - as all traffic lasw do - it applies to the cyclists as well. How many of you cyclists have squeezed yourselves along a row of cars to be first in a line? That is a violation of the law. How many of you have skirted through red lights? Ran stop signs? turned right on red? I think Mr. Dresser is kidding himself if he thinks only a handful of cyclists are bad eggs. (Bold was swapped for caps -PM)

Continue reading "An interesting corollary to the 3-foot rule" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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While not offering specifics, U.S. Marine Col. Dan Choike called the measures -- being developed in conjunction with the FBI and local authorities -- "robust" and said there would be no delays to the race schedule.

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marine Corps Marathon, Politics, Running, Safety, Washington
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Daylight savings is just around the corner pushing the evening commute into the dark. If you are on a bike and not blinking, you should be. Maryland has passed several new laws making the roads safer for biking, but a cyclist has a responsibility to be visible.

On my ride home in the dark a couple of nights ago I saw six other cyclists. Only two had tail lights and neither of those was obvious from more than fifty feet. The five dollar tail light may be fine around your neighborhood but it just gets lost in the sea of light in on city streets.

An effective tail light needs to command attention. With that in mind, I put tail lights to the test. Here are six worth considering.

Reply to this post. I will give one random commenter their choice of one of these lights next weekend when daylight savings ends.

**** Update ****

And the winner is ..... Becky from Odenton. Congratulations! The Lights & Motion Vis180 is on the way.

Continue reading "Seeing Red: Time to Get Your Blink On" »

Posted by Jerry Jackson at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Bicycling, Safety, Traffic
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Two Swedish industrial design students have invented an airbag for cyclists who prefer not to wear a helmet. According to the Daily Mail in London, the 'Hvvding' helmet is an airbag 'collar' that uses a helium gas cylinder to inflate when sensors detect a sudden jolt.

The company hopes to market the device in Europe and the United Kingdom next year.

At $400 a pop, I think I will stick with my non-explosive helmet.

Posted by Jerry Jackson at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Bicycling, Safety
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Andrea wrote Monday evening about a walker on the B&A trail who was robbed late at night. (A suspect has been caught.)

It was interesting to compare the comments on that story with the thoughts Exercist readers expressed regarding after-dark runs.

To be honest, I found the comments more similar than I had expected. As the person who staffed our old comment-approval system before it was upgraded, I generally find blog comments to be both more positive and more thoughtful than comments on the newspaper site at large. That doesn't seem to be the case here, as I was happy to see productive dialogue in both places.

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Bicycling, Running, Safety, Walking
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