Hello world!
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by admin
2y ago
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing ..read more
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Hola, Amigos! Has it seriously been 6 years??
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
I can hardly believe that 6 years has gone by since I last made a habit of regularly writing on this blog. Although I put the pen down to focus on other priorities in life, I have still been using my bike as my primary mode of transportation (when I am not run commuting to work). A lot has changed since 2014. My daughter is turning 9 years old and my dog Mojie turns 18 this year. After an amazing 6 years, and after being stolen and recovered twice, my Babboe Dutch cargo bike was stolen a third and final time in February 2018. My insurance company helped me purchase an identical Babboe a few mo ..read more
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Life Hack: IKEA’s $2.00 Bicycle Ski Rack
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
Life Hack: $2.00 IKEA Bike Ski Rack – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country Two years ago my girlfriend Roxy and I each picked up a pair of Nordic skis, which allowed me to re-take-up cross country skiing; a hobby that I had thoroughly enjoyed as a kid. Over the past couple winters, Toronto has lacked adequate snow for us to get out much; but a nice dumping of snow yesterday provided the first opportunity this winter to dust off the skis and get out in the snow. Unfortunately, finding places to ski typically requires using a car; and the skis are awkward to transport from my apartment t ..read more
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What am I Going to Ride Tomorrow?
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
Waterloo Bikes Article A story of bike theft and recovery from Waterloo bikes: Remember how that feels? I’m sure many of you have had a bike stolen at some point, it’s kind of par for the course in bike ownership. There’s the hassle of reporting it. Calling the police. Calling the insurance company. The feeling of loss, especially if the bike holds sentimental value. . Wondering, what am I going to ride tomorrow … Then there’s that feeling that another human being took something that was yours. Someone invaded your personal space and took something. A silent frustration. Unless of course it ..read more
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The Stolen Bicycle Recovery Operation
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
Craigslist ad for Dylan’s stolen Trek hybrid bicycle It all started with an instant message from my friend Dylan, who had recently had his bike stolen from downtown Toronto: “James, look at this. It’s my bike for sale on Craigslist. What should I do?” Dylan knew that I had a bike blog, and I had dealt with stolen bikes several times before. The cautious side of my brain told me that he should report it to the police and have them setup a recovery operation to get his bike back. The realistic side of my brain told me that the police aren’t going to do jack shit to help him get his bike back ..read more
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My Dutch Cargo Bike Stolen & Recovered in Less Than 10 Minutes
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
James’ Babboe Dutch Cargo Bike – Photo courtesy of Andrea E. It was only a few minutes after my 5 year old daughter’s school concert production came to an end when I received the phone call from my friend Brad. My ringer was still muted to avoid disrupting the concert; but I could feel it vibrating in my pocket. Me: “Hello?” Brad: “Hey James, do you have your bike??” Me: “Yep, I have it here at the school. Why?” Brad: “But do you have it with you right now? There’s a sketchy looking dude riding erratically around the park on a bike that looks just like yours” Me: “Shit. One sec, le ..read more
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The “Get The F#ck Out of My Way” Attitude
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
BMW SUV – Courtesy of Curtis Perry A few days ago, an article was posted by a bicyclist into the Craigslist “rants and raves” section. The poster highlighted a road rage incident in which an angry driver in a blue BMW SUV screamed and honked at the bicyclist to get out of the way, in order to save a few seconds. Here are a few key comments from the article that resonated with me: And then you were making a right-hand turn immediately ahead and had to stop right in front of me and wait to turn because of other people, on foot, being in the way. Obviously annoying for you, but this gave me a g ..read more
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Quick Update From China
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
James’ fixed gear bike in China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country Wow. It has been an inexcusable amount of time since I last wrote an article on here. For the past two and a half months I have been living overseas in the southern most part of China (Hainan Island). I have been keeping very busy between spending my days outside with my daughter, and working all night to align with the time zone back in Toronto. This has left me very little free time to keep up to date on the news/blogs, or to write new articles on The Urban Country (not to mention the Internet connection here is e ..read more
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Slow Down – Other People Make Mistakes
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
Speed ad – Mistakes – Screenshot from YouTube video  Here is a very powerful video highlighting the virtue of driving cautiously and slowing down in anticipation of somebody else making a mistake: When you are behind the wheel of a car, please know that you are in a killing machine, and your actions can negatively impact yourself and other people forever. James D. Schwartz is the Editor of The Urban Country and is based in Toronto, Canada. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter. More Articles Like This: Warning: Driving Kills, Maims, Suffoc ..read more
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Too Cold To Take Public Transit
The Urban Country | Bicycle Transportation Blog
by James Schwartz
2y ago
The last two days have seen immensely frigid temperatures here in Toronto. I have still been using my bike on a daily basis throughout the winter, but Tuesday proved exceptionally cold when a friend and I pedaled a few kilometres to a computer store that evening. This was a rare occasion in which I was actually almost uncomfortable riding my bicycle because it was so cold. The temperature on Tuesday morning was –22C, and the wind-chill adjusted temperature was –37C – far colder than Toronto’s daily average (mean) temperature in January of –3.7C. My friend and colleague Jen H. took public tran ..read more
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