This Thursday -- Bike Programs on the Brink

Today, the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives is releasing its long-term federal transportation bill. Cycling groups expected the bill to be bad news for biking and walking, but we didn?t think it would reverse all progress made in this country in the past twenty years.The House Transportation Committee will vote Thursday, February 2, on whether to approve this bill or amend it to include biking and walking programs. Find out if your Representative is on the committee by clicking here -- and if he or she is, then take action right away.Why the urgency? House leaders are pushing hard to completely cut bicycling and walking out of transportation. Lawmakers seem to have gone through federal law line-by-line to gut programs that make streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians. They haven't done this to any other transportation sector. Among many terrible provisions, the House bill:
- Destroys the major bike/walk funding program (Transportation Enhancements);
- Repeals the Safe Routes to School program, which helps create safe ways for kids to walk and ride bicycles to school;
- Allows states to build bridges without safe access for pedestrians and bicycles;
- Eliminates bicycle and pedestrian coordinators in state DOTs; and
- Strips language which ensures that rumble strips ?do not adversely affect the safety or mobility of bicyclists, pedestrians, or the disabled.?
Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/01/this-thursday-bike-programs-on-brink.html
Must admit that I'm burned out on Bicycling magazine's monthly barrage of top 10 product lists or 10 ways to get faster, fitter, finer in 30 days.But here's one that caught my attention: 10 of Bicycling magazine's favorite multi-day tours.You could make the argument that any such bike tour you're fortunate enough to take would be a favorite. Here's their lineup:(Shameless self-promotion alert: By the way, all of these, and many, many more, are listed at my state by state list of 

