End Pavement

I happened to catch an episode of “Dogs with Jobs” on the National Geographic Channel that was covering bloodhounds in England engaged in a traditional fox hunt — minus the fox and plus one human.

As this BBC News article describes it,

Drag hunting is the sport often cited by members of the anti-bloodsports lobby as the alternative to chasing foxes with hounds.

The activity involves hunting down a live human being, who has taken on the challenge of running the equivalent of half a marathon over open countryside - with a pack of hounds hot on their heels.

I imagine that would quite the workout. And of course, there’s many treats and much tail wagging at the end of the day, rather than blood and dead foxes. ;)

Fox hunting was banned in the UK in 2005.

Very thought-provoking essay over at Bike Commute Tips — “Bicycling against car culture” — in which this amazing tidbit resides:

One of the challenges is, of course, the hegemonic dominance of the automobile in American culture. The U.S. automobile industry spends $17 billion each year on advertising–by comparison, almost double what the federal government spends on transit ($9 billion)–to promote the supposed ego-satisfaction benefits of their product.

From afar, you see big changes happening in places like London, San Francisco, and elsewhere. Is there any chance for a car-cultural revolution in the entire US, or will they keep it going as long as the oil holds out?

Redlands, California, has been leading a local effort to repurpose and reclaim greenbelt areas, including the Orange Blossom Rail Trail Project. In yesterday’s Redlands Daily Facts, there was a story about some organized community outings called “Trails at 10.”

“Hikers, cyclists hit the trail Saturday morning”

Hikers, cyclists and public officials gathered Saturday morning to kick off a group of events intended to get the community excited about the city’s hiking trails.

“Trails at 10″ is a series of outings sponsored by the Redlands Conservancy and the Orange Blossom Rail Trail Project that gives residents a chance to experience the trails of Redlands firsthand. This year’s first “Trails at 10″ event took place Saturday, when hikers and cyclists enjoyed the Santa Ana River Trail.

The “Emerald Necklace” mentioned in the story refers to the idea of encircling the city in greenbelts. They are also talking about the possibility of hooking the trails up with the Metrolink system, which will be pushed out to Redlands someday. Hopefully sooner rather than later. ;)

C.I.C.L.E. today points to a cool-sounding event a week from this Friday, on Groundhog Day. ;)

BikeWinter, Los Angeles’ only homegrown, grassroots, bicycle festival is set to begin again - and everyone’s invited! The festival will get rolling on Friday, February 2, 2007 with a nighttime party in Santa Monica following the Santa Monica Critical Mass ride. After the opening night party, the festival will continue across Los Angeles with daily bike events for nearly two-weeks. A full schedule of rides is available at http://bikela.org