An occasional update on items from the Velo-city.
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A GYM ON WHEELS
From Grist:
Biking for transportation appears more helpful in losing weight and promoting health than working out at the gym.
… According to Australian epidemiologist Takemi Sugiyama, lead author of a recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, “Commuting is a relevant health behavior even for those who are sufficiently active in their leisure time.”
Analyzing the research, The Health Behavior News Service notes, “It may be more realistic to accumulate physical activity through active transport than adding exercise to weekly leisure-time routines.”
The four-year study of 822 adults found that people commuting to work by car gained more weight on average, even if they engaged in regular exercise, than people who did not commute by car. The authors of the study recommend creating more opportunities for everyone to walk or bike to work.
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FROTH AND SPITTLE
From Ken Ohrn:
Witnessed by your faithful scribe today at Union and Hawks in Vancouver, location of a nefarious, infamous, budget-busting, coffer-collapsing bike pump. Actual people actually using it! In fact, a line-up. Where will it lead? My Lord – pretty soon, there will be bicycles everywhere.
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Not only does the City cater to those stinkin’ bicycle people, 
but look at this shameless pandering to THIRSTY people and PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SIT!
In the same park. Why can’t they bring their own water bottle and chair. Where, oh where will it end!
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IS ROAD NARROWING GOOD FOR CYCLISTS?
In London, maybe not. From ibikelondon:
… there simply isn’t room enough for wider pavements, two separated cycle lanes, two lanes of traffic and two rows of parking. The cycle tracks being built are woefully inadequate; narrow, within the dooring zone of the parked cars, and ridiculously short before they spit you back in to the road from behind some parking. (They were also, in the original plans, quite fantastically weavey, though having inspected the site yesterday it seams the engineers have at least been able to roll them out in a straight line, contrary to the initial designs.) 
If roads are going to be narrowed by creating cycle tracks then that’s fantastic, but as every campaigner will tell you cycle tracks need to be wide, continuous and safe. As it stands the new tracks that have been built on Bethnal Green Road are so narrow they will not be able to accommodate existing levels of cycle traffic, and will only serve to create antagonism between cyclists and drivers when cyclists (rightfully, I think) choose to stick to the main carriageway.
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Bicycle pumps are a gateway drug and I, for one, strongly object to such a negative influence preying on our young people. 😉