Tag: Peter Wilborn

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Show #525 – October 24, 2020

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Guests: Peter Wilborn; Dr. Chris Cherry; Jacob Van Sickle

How is politics impacting cycling?  Is there undue influence to how we perceive our “cycling movement” from the outside- or even from the inside?

What do equity and inclusiveness REALLY look like? And, why is infrastructure – bicycle infrastructure – so important to the overall success of cycling?

Of even more urgency is to understand why it is important to embrace law enforcement as a relationship that will benefit us as cyclists instead of distancing ourselves from it.

Politics has certainly been up from for many if not most of us lately; but, I’m not certain I saw the juxtaposition of bicycle advocacy and politics until my conversation with Peter Wilborn, founder and partner at Bike Law. He always makes me broaden my thinking, and today is no different.

After a break, we’ll head to Knoxville, TN to speak with Professor Chris Cherry.

If you have ever come to a railroad crossing and missed the mark – meaning, you hit the crossing at an angle that caused you to crash – you will appreciate the work my second guest has done to mitigate the problem.

When his wife crashed at a railroad crossing on her way to work and the head of his department at the University asked Chris Cherry what he was going to do about all the crashes that seemed to be occurring at this crossing near the campus of UT, he and his team decided they’d better do something. The solution – his jug handle design – was simple, efficient, and inexpensive.

Dr. Chris Cherry. is a professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering whose primary research areas focus on transportation system impacts from emerging technologies (like e-bikes, e-scooters, & shared mobility) on safety, sustainability, health, and mobility, and he joins us today.

And then, we’ll do a quick check-in with Bike Cleveland‘s Executive Director, Jacob van Sickle. As has every other organization in the past 7 months, Bike Cleveland needed to make radical changes to its programs and events in the wake of COVID19.

Jacob fills us in on those changes as well as offers us some bright spots to focus on for 2021.

Bike Cleveland, our local advocacy organization, has been busy trying to navigate the new normal of COVID for local cyclists. Jack Van Sickle, the executive director, fills us in on some of the programs and projects in the works for the remainder of this year and on into 2021.

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Show #507 – June 13, 2020

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Guests: Rachael Maney; Sgt Mike Wear

This week’s show tries to put some perspective on the events of not only the past two weeks; but, also the raw realities that have emerged about everything we might have been taught when we were in school and what we think we see in the news and on the streets today – and how the bicycle can be a symbol for both good and bad.

As we try to untangle and understand all the myriad things that are happening – – from COVID19 and its profound effects on our lives and the economy, to the horrific and sickening death of George Floyd and the subsequent global outcries for equity and justice, I turned to my friends and supporters at Bike Law for some perspectives that you may not have heard yet.

Peter Wilborn, who is the founder of Bike Law, started out as a civil rights attorney. In fact, in 2016, Peter wrote a piece for the Bike Law Blog titled, Biking is a Civil Right.

National Bike Law Director, Rachael Maney, has some very personal connections to discrimination and civil rights herself.

So today, Rachael and I take a look at everything from statistics and consequences to illustrations of how inequities show up in everyday situations.

Then, I speak with Sgt Mike Wear, the VP and Public Information Officer for IPMBA. the International Police Mountain Bike Association (IPMBA) is a non-profit association dedicated to promoting the use of bikes for public safety, providing resources and networking opportunities, and offering the best, most complete training for public safety cyclists.

Over the past couple of weeks as people demonstrated, and sometimes rioted and looted, you may have seen photos of police officers holding their mountain bikes up as shields – or what some headlines have said as weapons – to fend off crowds of people.

From those photos came a barrage of commentary from bike manufacturers that they would no longer supply bicycles to police departments and will “do better” and be “all in” in making changes in their work cultures.

Then I got to thinking and started seeing another side – a way different side – of police on bikes and decided there was way more to the story than the knee jerk reaction – including mine – of condemning the police for the work they were trying to do.

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Show #388 – February 17, 2018

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Guests: Peter Wilborn; Mary Wisnewski; encore interview with Rody Walter

RADIOTHON 2018!!! Yep – it’s time to log on to wjcu.org and pledge your support for the show AND the station. We only do this once a year and all of the money raised goes directly to the station! Any amount is greatly appreciated – and, thanks for listening!

Over the past year, we have reported on cyclists who have been hit – often fatally – while riding. We haven’t however, talked much about cyclists who crash by virtue of obstacles in their paths – obstacles like potholes or sewer grates or raised barriers that are difficult if not impossible to see.

Cyclists have been badly injured – sometimes sustaining permanent disabilities – and their equipment has been damaged.
Now that the roads are beginning to show the ravages of winter, I thought it would be a good time to talk about what you can and probably should do if you encounter these types of issues.

My first guest is Bike Law’s Peter Wilborn. Peter knows all too well about cyclists who are injured and equipment that is damaged as he has devoted his legal career to their causes. We walk about what to do if you encounter a road hazard, what needs to change when it comes to being less vulnerable on the road, and ends with a plea to “keep on riding”.

After a break, Chicago Tribune transportation reporter Mary Wisnewski talks to me about the work she has been doing in her town to shed some light on the disparity among residents who are being ticketed to minor cycling infractions. Her 2017 article “Biking While Black: Chicago Minority Areas See The Most Bike Tickets” was followed up this week with her column Black neighborhoods still see most bike tickets, police data show.

Mary and I talk about what the statistics show and how, while the number of tickets is decreasing, the disparity is staying the same.

Finally, since this is NAHBS weekend – and, unfortunately, circumstances did NOT pan out for me to attend the show, I thought I’d bring back one of my favorite people in an encore interview. Rody Walter from Groovy Cycles in Wooster, Ohio has been my guest a couple of times and was also a member of my frame builder’s panel in Sacramento.

He has a smart and unique view of the custom bike world and I thought hearing this conversation again would whet your appetite for some fancy bikes.

#nahbstweets will be goin on all weekend and beyond to showcase some of the beautiful equipment being exhibited in Connecticut.

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Show #312 – September 10, 2016

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Guests: Award winning author Edward Humes; Bike Attorney Peter Wilborn

It’s a chock-full-o-stuff show beginning with my first guest, Edward Humes.

Ed is the author of 14 books, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and his new book, Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation looks “under the hood” of transportation in ways we never imagined.

From the total flop that was dubbed “Carmageddon” in 2011 when a portion of Los Angeles’ 405 freeway was shut down for “expansion” to how cat food shows up on your step hours after you ordered it on line, Ed shows us how our transportation systems reek of inefficiency and waste.

We talk about whether we have the guts to make the changes we need to make going forward and where it needs to start.

Then, I talk with bike attorney and founder of BikeLaw.com, Peter Wilborn. Peter grew up a cyclist, lost his brother to a cycling related crash, and has dedicated his career to defending cyclists as well as giving great advice to anyone who needs to know his or her rights.

We discuss Peter’s well reasoned ideas about cyclists, drivers, and the attitudes we all take when we both get behind the wheel of a car or on the seat of a bike!