Tag: NPR

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Show #676 – October 16, 2025

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Guests: Scott Tong; Tony Jordan

Scott Tong is one of my favorite NPR hosts. Most days, along with Robin Young and several other Here and Now folks, I listen to Scott on WKSU, our local NPR affiliate.

Over the past year or so, I’ve heard Scott talk about riding his bike, crashing his bike, and more recently, training for a long-distance cycling event.

So I reached out to him, and he was happy to talk about his riding experiences, the bike he rides – which is only one of my all-time favorite brands – and the event he was training for with his brother-in-law and his wife.

Scott Tong, was wondering whether he might be getting too old to ride his beautiful Serotta Road bike and I assured him he is not!

It is true that while training for a long-distance event a couple of years ago, he fell and broke his collar bone and this year, while training for the same event, his wife fell and broke HER collar bone.

Still, he’s really not that old and he likes to ride!  He got back on the horse and completed the Seagull Century in Maryland right after our conversation.

If I were to ask you if there is enough parking wherever you go, what would you say?  Probably – No.

But what if I told you there is actually too much parking in many places, and that parking in general is poorly managed by most cities?

That’s the starting point for my conversation with the president of the Parking Reform Network, Tony Jordan, an organization that educates the public about the impact of parking policy on climate change, equity, housing, and traffic.

From the bizarre parking codes for every conceivable building, business, and residence, to a need for rethinking the miles and miles of concrete that take up precious land and contribute to climate issues, Tony Jordan helps to answers my many questions, and helps to give us actionable ideas to make our parking, driving, and especially biking and walking concerns better.

For more information about the organization and ways to get involved in improving parking, transportation, and equitable options in your area, log on to parkingreform.org.

And for my extended conversation with Tony about how bicycling and parking reform are connected, log into my Substack entry.  It’s a little bonus track!

Follow us on Instagram, FB, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.  Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite app so you never miss an episode.  And do check out my Substack for my thoughts and commentary.

Next time on TOC, join me for an extended conversation with Escape Collective’s Joe Lindsey as we wrap up the 2025 cycling season and talk about some of the controversial issues facing the pro tour.

October 16_Transcript

 

 

 

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Show #675 – September 26, 2025

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Guests: Steve Frothingham; Jeremy Siegel

This episode of the podcast offers up a short discussion with Bicycle Retailer’s Editor-in-Chief, Steve Frothingham, about U.S. Customs and the seizing of containers from Taiwan manufacturer Giant.

Earlier this week, in a surprise move, US Customs officials seized containers from Giant, the world’s largest bike mfg, over unspecified forced labor accusations.

In an effort to find out exactly what that meant, besides holding up shipments at the ports, I rang up Steve Frothingham, at BR&IN.

His explanation, which was as up to date as of a few hours before we talked, made quite a bit of what was happening clear, but also left me with a lot of questions that I’m hoping will get answered in the next day or so. 

We also talk about tariffs – which unfortunately is becoming a daily topic. 

Here are links to Steve’s articles on the upheld shipments. 

Then I have a very interesting conversation with PRX’s “The World” global Transportation Correspondent, Jeremy Siegel about how Helsinki made it to the top of the Vision Zero with NO traffic deaths for over a year!

I listen The World on WKSU, our local NPR affiliate.  It’s an hour a day and there are always terrific stories from – well, around the world. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the car and heard Jeremy Siegel, “The World’s” Global Transportation Correspondent say that Helsinki had reported ZERO traffic deaths for over a year. 

Being a Vision Zero hopeful for the Cleveland area and never having heard of any major city, let alone a country’s capital, say that no automobile, cycling, or pedestrian fatalities had occurred seemed amazing.

I came home, re-listened to the piece on their website, and then contacted Jeremy.

Here is how they did it…

You can hear Jeremy on The World on your local NPR affiliate or log on to the world.org or find him @theworldnewswgbh on YouTube..

I hope you enjoyed the show today.

I will be uploading a new Substack piece to offer up some of my thoughts on both Steve and Jeremy’s conversations. Please consider subscribing to my Substack and help support my work.

Thank you for listening.  Until next time, please stay safe, stay well, and remember, there is always time for a ride.  Bye bye.

Transcript_September 26

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Show #470 – September 14, 2019

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Guests: Debra Bogaards; Sue Prant; Kevin Wren

If you are a regular listener to NPR’s Marketplace, which airs weekdays around 6pm in our time zone, you may have recognized my voice – On Tuesday, a 3-minute monologue about our bicycle business aired around 25 minutes into the show on the My Economy feature.

And, what happened next was unbelievable – it was as if someone had unleashed a hurricane as all of our social media feeds lit up, our web site was overwhelmed, and our email in boxes were full.

I really want to thank Bennett Purser, the producer who not only talked me through the initial conversation, but skillfully edited and assembled the piece… I am very grateful and very envious of his talent!

If you missed it and are interested in hearing it, you can log onto marketplace.org and click on the my economy link at the top. The piece is titled A small bike shop with a big customer first idea. Yeah baby!

So, now that I’ve patted myself on the back enough… let’s do a show!

Three great guests – three very different topics this evening.

First up is attorney Debra Bogaards. I met Debra when Brian and I rode in Israel in 2017 and we’ve kept in touch through social media since. Debra’s law practice is in S.F.

Recently, she posted something about cancelling her membership in the luxury Equinox fitness club where she took spinning classes among other things.

Voting with her dollars, Debra’s reasons for taking her money elsewhere are a noble example of honoring your principles and calling out those who don’t.

Then, it’s off to Boulder, Colorado where Sue Prant, executive director of Community Cycles, talks with me about plunger-gate (I believe I coined that expression) when a lane on 30th Street, notorious for being a tough place for cyclists, was mysteriously turned into a protected bike lane with a line of plungers glued to the pavement. Sue and I also talk about her work and how Colorado is handling some transportation issues.

Finally, Kevin Wren of Wren Sports, who is just back from Eurobike, gives us an overview of the show, a lesson in how the bike industry really works, and how he and his partner drilled down to find the niche that they now occupy with some great success

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Show #218 – November 1, 2014

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Guests: Keri Caffrey, Mark Friis, Ron Gurth – A Discussion of NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show

Happy November! Welcome back to The Outspoken Cyclist Show!

Our show “covers” another show this week. On Thursday, October 30th, NPR’s Diane Rehm Show offered up a one-hour segment about cycling; specifically, “Sharing the Road: Adapting to a New Culture of Cycling”. With 5 invited guests from 5 different areas covering transportation, Highway Safety, and even a dissenting voice on allowing cyclists to ride the streets in San Francisco, the show covered statistics, complaints, safety, and legislation.

My question was – did it accomplish what it set out to do and, if not, what was missing? So, to that end, I invited a trio of guests to comment on Diane Rehm’s show and to offer up what was good, bad, ugly, or ???

My first guest is one of my favorite cycling advocates and the founder of Cycling Savvy – the instructional program out of Orlando that is training other trainers to teach riders not only how to be safe on the road, but to become confident predictable cyclists. Keri Caffrey is one of the smartest people I know and has her finger on the pulse of just about every aspect of bicycling advocacy.

Then, we’ll head on out to Redlands, California to speak with Mark Friis, Executive Director of the Inland Empire Biking Alliance. Mark has some interesting counterpoints to some of Keri’s comments as well as some dissenting words about the way we train children to ride today. Much of our conversation though mirrors Keri’s thoughts about the effectiveness of the DR Show.

Finally, we go back down to Florida to catch up with retiree Ron Gurth. Ron is a Cycling Savvy Instructor (CSI), a League Cycling Instructor (LCI), and because of some recent actions taken – or more to the point NOT taken – by the League of American Bicyclists has recently withdrawn his support and membership from the organization. Besides being an avid single ride, Ron and his wife ride a tandem – another topic that makes some of the issues raised on the Rehm show questionable.

Sit back and enjoy!