Turkey Bike

Every year as the holidays approach I think about how much I don't enjoy them. In a country where we have so much wealth and obsession with the material things we sometimes tend to forget the fact that people are still suffering from lack of basic things. Food, clothing, healthcare; it seems to me that we could do a better job. Anyway, I have decided to stop thinking negatively about this stuff and just try to contribute in small, simple ways. So this year I thought I would bring my turkey to the Community Food Bank. Then I thought, I'll ride my bike to bring my turkey to the Community Food Bank. And then I figured, why not challenge some other folks to do the same thing? Voila! Turkey Bike! I sent an email out on Wednesday and on Saturday 9 people showed up to do one simple, good, thing for someone else. So what? Well, it's a small thing, but 9 families will have a better holiday because of the actions of 9 total strangers. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Turkey Bike! from Brendan on Vimeo.

4 Months!!

Time is flying! It's now over 4 months since I started my year without cars. I will confess that, recently, I have been using my car more than I would like. Since I started in July I have joined the board of directors for the New Jersey Bike Coalition and I have to drive to meetings all over the place that are just too far to ride in the amount of time that I have to get there. Such is the problem of our car-centric society which has been designed to enslave us to the auto and oil industries.(See my last post for more on the enslavement!) Currently I am the chairman of the committee for mounting a New Jersey Bike Summit which will be happening on February 27th, 2010. More info on the summit at http://njbike.org . One of the things that has grown from my project is "Bad Driver TV".  I am now making a video record of all my cycling and capturing all the examples of bad driving I encounter. Yeah, we need better infrastructure that accommodates comprehensive inter-modal transportation but what we need first is for people in cars, pedestrians, and  cyclists  to just stop being stupid and selfish. Anyway, presented for your viewing pleasure, episodes 3 and 4 from "Bad Driver TV". As always, if you're a cyclist, keep the rubber side down. If your a driver, thanks in advance for giving us a break!

Bad Driver TV Episode 3 from Brendan on Vimeo.

Stop Signs Are For Stopping! from Brendan on Vimeo.

Copenhagenize.com - The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog: The Social Ideology of the Motorcar

America has been enslaved by the very machines that falsely promised to make us all equal and  set us free.
Automobiles are the greatest scam ever perpetrated on such a grand scale. Read the article at the link below and you will come to understand that a truly free society moves under it's own power!

Copenhagenize.com - The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog: The Social Ideology of the Motorcar

Roosters at a liquor store?

The year without cars is going by quickly! It's been 115 days and I am riding a lot. Maybe not compared to some but for me it's a lot. The weather is turning colder now and if I ride home from work it's in the dark. The rides in the morning have become routine and although I wear my helmet camera I have not been accosted too badly so I am just enjoying the crispy air and quiet time. Occasionally I do run across some strange things and I do see a lot of dead things in the road. Would it be weird to start photographing road kill? Anyway, on Monday, I took the short ride to the store on route 46 when I came upon this weirdness. I thought I was hallucinating but the video would not lie and so it is presented here to make testament to my witnessing two roosters clucking around the parking lot of a liquor store at the side of the highway. Now, mind you, this is not exactly farm country so seeing roosters running around a parking lot is pretty unexpected. Just a note here-These were some pretty fine looking roosters. Anyway, I came to learn a little later on that the deli next door to the liquor store apparently keeps a chicken coop behind their building. I guess they are making their own eggs for fresh and tasty egg sandwiches. Enjoy!

Roosters At The Liquor Store from Brendan on Vimeo.