The first presentation was on bike trail development in South Jersey. It was mostly about new bike trails and bike lanes being adding around the southern part of the state. It's amazing the number of towns adding bike path and bike lanes to try to create a better environment for getting around on bikes. I didn't realize there was that much improvements going on in the state. One of the more interesting parts was when they talked about all the trails and parks that they are adding around the Camden waterfront. The guy giving the presentation was real excited about all the new development and he actually made Camden sound like its actually going to be nice place to bike? I'll believe it when I see it but the drawings of the parks did look cool.
The next seminar I attended was by the deputy head of the department of transportation of Philadelphia. She had a really dry sense of humor and gave a pretty funny talk about how she and her team have worked hard to convince both the politicians and people of the city that bike lanes and path are good for everybody. For example one of her most recent projects was adding a dedicated bike lane on Spruce and Pine. These bike lanes actually removed a lane of traffic from the street but she had data that showed that travel time for cars was actually quicker, accidents for bikers when down by 40% and car accidents were down 25%. I like her pragmatic approach and she and her department should be able to continue to keep improving the bicycling environment in the city.
There was also a good presentation on the Schuyykill trail. Over a million bicyclist use this trail every year and the city is continuing to spend a lot money to improve and expand the trail. In the next couple of years they are going to take back some industrial land south of the Art Museum that will make a nice extension to the trail.
The last talk I attended was by the Bike Snob. If you've read Bicycling Magazine over the last couple of years you probably caught some of his articles. He is basically a bicycle comedian and did a 40 minute talk with pictures about the strangeness of mountain biking his style was a little Seinfeld like... "So what's the deal with a recumbent mountain bike?" I didn't realize there were so many strange and funny things about mountain biking.
The only thing disappointing thing about the day was the weather. The snow made walking around the city hard and messy and the drive home wasn't a lot of fun either. It also keep the outdoor vendors away from the show so although there were a lot of bike shops and custom bike makers there there wasn't a lot of people selling used bikes and parts. I did get to talk to a few people from the Philly Bike Club and I also got to meet the author of "Where to Bike Philadelphia" It's a really good book that is a little different than the one that I'm working on but it shows the interest and demand for these type of books. It was also nice to talk to somebody else who understand the work required to publish a bike book.
Of course the snow meant that there was no riding this past weekend but hopefully this was just an anomaly and we can have a few more weeks before it starts getting really cold and crappy