Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)Photo: Thomas Le NgoWhat is a sensible political reaction to rising gas prices? Standing around shouting "Drill, baby, drill"? Or offering material support to commuters who increasingly opt for public transportation or biking to work? Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who often sports a bike pin in his lapel (and rides a bike to work himself), is taking the second approach. This week he is introducing legislation that would help people who want to drive less -- without costing the government any more money. His proposal is the Commuter Relief Act. It would expand tax credits "for individuals …

This is the sixth column in a series focusing on the economics of bicycling. Miles Craig of Portland, Oregon applied for an hourly call center job at movie rental by mail empire Netflix last January. "My phone interview went incredibly well," he said. "And the lady said, ‘Well, let's get you in for a face-to-face interview. What time can you come in?'" Craig mentioned casually that he'd be using a combination of bicycle and transit to get to the interview and, if he got the job, to work. That was when things started to go downhill. "She got very subdued …

A chic couple in Amsterdam.Photo: Marc van WoudenbergCheck out our Cycle Chic slideshow. Back in 2006, Mikael Colville-Andersen took a picture in Copenhagen of a group of bicyclists waiting for the light to change. One woman in particular stands out: smartly dressed, wearing a stylish skirt, she is silhouetted against the light, poised to move forward. Colville-Andersen, who blogs at Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic, says this is "the shot that launched the movement" of Cycle Chic (yes, he's trademarked the phrase). What is that movement about? Well, here's how Marc van Woudenberg, of kindred spirit Amsterdamize, explained it to …

The Cycle Chic movement, started by Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagen, took off in 2006. It’s about the "rehumanification" of cycling. Open your closet, find something you like to wear, get on the bike, and go. Learn more.

Think you've got a good idea of what a New York firefighter is like? Or a New York biker? Well, get ready to reexamine some of your stereotypes, if you've got 'em. Sarinya Srisakul is the FDNY's first Asian-American woman firefighter (she also happens to be a vegan). She rides her bike to work 10 miles from Elmhurst, Queens, to the East Village in Manhattan, because it gets her there faster than the subway, it keeps her in shape, and she loves it. Srisakul's story is the first in a series Streetfilms is doing for Bike Month in New York …

It's pretty impressive that we're still chugging along on human-powered vehicles only a step more high-tech than a velocipede -- olde-tyme bikes look basically like the ones we've got today. Why improve on perfection, right? Well, maybe just for the sheer badassery of it. At least, that seems to be the theory behind the Alpha, a high-tech bike designed by UPenn students that is basically a jetpack on wheels. The Alpha is an engineer's wet dream. Among its features: Lightweight carbon-fiber frame (lighter than a steel frame, even with all the added gadgetry) Onboard computer and handlebar display with real-time …

No war for oil, and no action for climate, says Ron Paul.Photo: Gage SkidmoreRon Paul kicked off his presidential bid on Tuesday, in the customary loosey-goosey exploratory-committee way. As standard-bearer for the libertarian wing of the Republican Party, the U.S. rep from southeast Texas has a small but diehard following. His fans will make some racket in conservative circles, as during his 2008 run, and he still won't have a chance in hell of winning the GOP nomination, as during his 2008 run.  Paul's government-can-do-no-right philosophy leads him to oppose energy and farm subsidies -- something many green-minded people can …

This is the fifth column in a series focusing on the economics of bicycling. Libya. Bahrain. Iraq. Afghanistan. Canada. Fukushima. North Dakota. The Gulf Coast. Pennsylvania. Each of these stories stands alone as an urgent parable about our increasingly fragile reliance on affordable, plentiful energy. Take them together, and the myth of abundant fuel that our economy relies on falls to pieces all at once. What if there were some source of energy that could replace a substantial part of our current consumption? One that didn't rely on coal, or on corn, or on fast-track investment in renewables? One with negligible …

Speeding to its destination.Photo: Mikael Colville-AndersenSo the Danes do bicycles better than just about anybody else in the whole wide world. We knew that already, thanks in large part to the efforts of Mikael Colville-Andersen, who blogs at Copenhagen Bicycle Chic and Copenhagenize, documenting his city's stylish and sensible bicycling populace. The latest entry on Copenhagenize takes bicycle culture to a whole new level. It is a cargo bike custom-designed for a local sperm bank in the shape of ... a sperm cell. Colville-Andersen writes: Nordisk Cryobank (European Sperm Bank)is one of Europe's leading sperm banks and the company was …

College acceptance letters should be piling up right about now, and the League of American Bicyclists has put out a list of the country's most bike-friendly universities. Here's the top 12 (the ones they rated Platinum, Gold, or Silver): Platinum: Stanford University Gold: University of California, Davis University of California, Santa Barbara Silver: California State, Long Beach Colorado State University Portland State University University of Arizona University of California, Irvine University of Minnesota, Twin Cities University of Oregon University of Washington University of Wisconsin, Madison So while the ivy-covered halls of academe on the East Coast tend to dominate academic …