BY KRISTEN J. KUBISIAK AND RAMELLE BINTZ • DOOR COUNTY ADVOCATE • MAY 9, 2009

Door County visitors will have a new option for traveling the downtown areas of Sturgeon Bay and Fish Creek this summer.

Two new businesses in the area are offering pedicab services. Pedicabs are a bicycle-driven pedestrian taxi that offer an environmentally friendly alternative to short-distance travel.

“It’s a great way for people to get where they want to go while enjoying the fresh air,” said Angie Brusky, co-owner of Peninsula Pedicabs LLC in Fish Creek. (more…)

Tags: bicycle, brusky, Cabs, dismal economy, entrepreneur, fish creek, fresh air, fun, Main Street, Main Street Pedicabs, new businesses, new option, Pedicab, pedicab business, Pedicab News, pedicabs, street pedicabs, sturgeon, sturgeon bay, taxicab, transportation

Entrepreneurs Brooks Brizendine and Saurabh Chawla are excited to launch their new Pedicab venture in Ocean City, MD, because they say it will bring both a fun and environmentally conscious business to an area that has drifted from its 2001 All-American City status, in their opinions.

“I had seen pedicabs all over New York City and when one of my friends started riding in my hometown of DC, it just clicked,” Brizendine said of the creation of Ocean City, MD based Coastal CruZn, LLC. “Saurabh and I are both passionate about doing our part to contribute to the environment, so the progression into creating a pedicab business just came naturally.”

(more…)

Tags: America, brizendine, Brooks, Cabs, Coastal, conscious business, CruZn, driver, Drivers, entrepreneur, Environmentally, fun, hybrid bike, New York City, Ocean City, ocean city md, Pedicab, pedicab business, Pedicab News, pedicabs, recyclable items, recyclables, saurabh

Student’s Chicago-based pedicab now on campus

Like many students on St. Patrick’s Day, senior Brendan Blume was up all night splitting time between Brown Street and the student neighborhoods. But unlike anyone else, instead of walking it, he was flagging pedestrians down asking if they wanted to ride on the back of his bike.

As a co-owner of Blume Brothers Pedicab, based in Chicago and less than a year old, Blume brought the pedicab to campus in March. He works Thursdays to Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., when he’s not on duty as an RA in Stuart. It’s just him and a 21-gear bicycle with a carriage-like seat attached.

“When (passengers) get on it they think they’re kings of the world,” Blume said. Entire parties turn and cheer when they see his bike and passengers go by. “It’s like chariots of fire.” (more…)

Tags: bicycle, bikes, blume, Brendan Blume, Chicago, entrepreneur, Environmentally, fun, passenger, pedestrians, Pedicab, Pedicab News, ride, Transport, transportation

By Neville Hawcock

On a bad day, cycling in London feels like dinosaurs versus mammals. You, the warm-blooded cyclist, may ultimately inherit the earth, but until then you run the grave risk of being squished by a lumbering, petrol-fuelled sauropod. You have the acceleration, the visibility, the manoeuvrability; they have the weight, the momentum, the airbags.

There are good days, of course, when pedalists and petrolheads give way to each other in a haze of goodwill. But they are rare. So it is with some trepidation that I approach BugBugs’ Holborn Viaduct lock-up. My task is to give one of its pedicabs a test-ride; and pedicabs – as their operators prefer to style these latter-day rickshaws – are the SUVs of London’s bike scene: big – maybe too big – and apt to provoke extremes of opinion. (more…)

Tags: bike scene, bikes, Cabs, driver, Drivers, drivers association, fun, London, Main Street, national cycling, NEW YORK, Operators, passenger, Pedicab, Pedicab News, pedicabs, rickshaw, rickshaws, Safety, slow traffic, taxi drivers, test ride, traffic, trike, yellow cab

by Gary Koenig, Denver Cycling Examiner

If you’re like me, you’ve invested more than a few idle minutes thinking about being a professional cyclist. What could be better than getting paid to ride all day long? Daydreams are fun, but sober reflection on the shrinking nature of the pro pelotons, both worldwide and domestic, would lead most of us to conclude that cycling for a living is not realistically in our future.

So what if I told you that I could get you a paying cycling job tomorrow? That you would enjoy the consummate cosmopolitan benefits just as other top cycling pros do. And to top it off, even though you’ll be riding 6-8 hours per day, you’ll never have to tackle a hill and headwinds will be as rare as a 12 ounce Ruth’s Chris ribeye. Furthermore, you’ll never have to answer to a surly directeur sportif who doesn’t even speak your language, never have to sacrifice your legs for an ungrateful prima donna team leader and never suffer the ignominy of watching an Italian gregario who has been latched onto your wheel for untold kilometers suddenly bolt by you to win a Grand Tour stage that so rightfully belonged to you.

(more…)

Tags: 16th street mall, bicycling, company, Denver, driver, fun, future, Main Street Pedicabs, pedicab driver, pedicab drivers, Pedicab News, pedicabs, professional cyclist, street pedicabs, traffic

BY NICK BOHNENKAMP
Of all the things happening during the DNC, I have been given the task of rounding up a group of volunteers to pick up trash, using pedicabs, from the seven FreeWheelin’ Way to Go bike stations in Denver. And let me tell you, it’s pretty rad. It’s all part of the 1000 Humana/Bikes Belong bikes that are now in place. The picture is of me getting rad on the pedicab. These things are so much fun to ride.

Tags: bikes, Denver, DNC, freewheelin, fun, Pedicab, Pedicab News, pedicabs, picking up trash, volunteers