Cycling for Fun and Profit

Since I don't have anything particularly exciting to write about photography today (nope, I haven't given it up, I just don't feel like writing about it), I'm writing about something related to another pursuit of mine -- cycling. I have taken a quite a few pictures of bicycles and while cycling, too, so to keep it slightly on-topic I'll illustrate it with them and add a few tips for successful photography off a bike.

With the price of oil steadily marching towards the hundred-bucks-a-barrel limit, all kinds of formerly crunchy-granola concepts like energy conservation and biofuels are suddenly being taken very seriously by Men in Suits. One such crunchy-granola concept, at least in certain parts of the world, is cycling as a serious form of transport. It has a quite a few advantages -- it's zero-emission, quiet, inexpensive, doesn't use any fuel, and does marvels for your health, assuming you manage to stay in the saddle most of the time and keep a helmet on in case you don't. It's also faster than transportation by car... if you're in a congested urban area. Besides, it's fun, and bikes are lovely enough to make the inner gearhead in all of us rejoice. So if you've already gotten your dream camera, built up your collection of lenses and tripods, built your very own photo workstation and backup system, directing your gearheadedness towards something that actually has gears (most of the time) could be fun. If you're a complete newbie to cycling, read on -- this little article is for you. On the other hand, if you're French or Italian, go read something else; there's nothing I can tell you about bikes that you don't already know, besides which you'd probably disagree with much of what I have to say, and I don't want your hate mail, thank you very much.

"Beirut by Bike: For A Better Environment." Beirut is one place where it takes balls to bike -- the traffic is not exactly friendly. Then again, if you know what you're doing, I bet you can really slice through the congestion...