Bike Talk - A radio show dedicated to the idea that for public and planetary health we need to prioritize public transportation by bikes

Nick and Taylor ride Joe Borfo’s Tandem in Griffith Park

Latest Episode

Welcome Home 26/28

July 17, 2026

Taylor completes his bike journey from California to Michigan and is met by his 101 year old father, Irving “Irv” Nichols, who still drives. This sparks a discussion of the possibility of a future where Autonomous Vehicles are required with our Bike Lawyer, Jim Pocrass.

Listener Email- Mitch Hull of Battle Creek offers Taylor a place to stay and help with his bike.

13:37

Taylor’s day is saved by Rick, mid-michigan bike advocate and urban planner, who lets Taylor draft behind him.

15:06

Why Autonomous Vehicles won’t make us safer, with Peter Norton, author of Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High Tech Driving.

20:09

An obituary for 77 year old Charlie Cunningham, mountain bike pioneer, by Jim Cadenhead, who interviewed Charlie’s wife, mountain bike pioneer Jacquie Phelan, for Bike Talk.

38:18

Jim also reflects on the killing of Louisa Gag, a longtime street safety advocate and transportation planner, who was on her bike in Boston when hit by a truck driver.

39:25

Taylor gets a tour from curator Alyssa Young at the Deke Slayton Memorial Space & Bicycle Museum in the self proclaimed bicycling capital of America, Sparta, Wisconsin.

41:30

Taylor interviews a group of older e-bike riders on getting e-assisted through the famous pitch black tunnels of the Elroy Sparta trail in Sparta.

49:06

Taylor reflects on his trip.

52:40

AVs, biketour, ebike, trafficviolence
Ride Safe 26/27

July 10, 2026

Back on the bike and headed East in Minneapolis, Taylor finds out what’s next from Brian and Mary Georgia on day 33 of their ride West from the Outer Banks of N.C.

2:23

Tom O’Brien goes over the 2-day ride Nick’s about to do on the Western New England Greenway, a bike-friendly route from Norwalk, CT to Canada.

6:09

Listener emails: a boost from Baltimore Fred, concerned Karen in L.A., and Jens in Norway on the politics of bikelash.

9:00

Families For Safe Streets on who they are, their Stop Superspeeders laws in 18 states, their framework requiring Autonomous Vehicle travel to be as safe as air travel, and increased insurance requirements in D.C. With D.C. FSS chapter leader Sam Trumbull.

16:19

News: Conservationists ride 2,500 miles for whooping cranes. Cape Verdeans in New Bedford, Mass. celebrate 51 years of independence with their 47th annual community bike ride. Edmonton, Canada bike path plans hit resistance from parking advocates. The US Transportation Secretary will redirect $1.73 billion in Biden-era grants away from establishing “DEI bike lanes” to build car infrastructure.

30:25

Taylor talks with Minneapolis bike advocates Laura Mitchell, Luke Van Santin and Brett McGraw about whether there are too many bike advocacy organizations.

33:08

Fellow traveler Jake Hess on the transition back to normal from a big bike tour.

39:56

advocacy, bikelash, greenway, Speed, tour
26/26 Taylor’s Trip Interrupted

July 3, 2026

Taylor unwinds with Dylan, Laura, and Brett Mcgraw after they escort him into Minneapolis.

2:38

Taylor talks to Jules, Mel, and Brian at Minneapolis’ People’s Pride Ride.

10:01

Taylor talks to Christina, a Hennepin County DOT Bike & Ped planner, at the Minneapolis Pride Ride.

16:28

Taylor talks to the manager at Venture Bikes, more than a bike shop in Minneapolis.

21:05

Advice for a listener, Kimberly, planning a bike tour in North Dakota.

24:15

News: Carlsbad launches an online portal to report dangerous e-bike riders.

Virginia and Arizona will be the first states to incorporate speed-limiting devices for dangerous drivers.

The Dutch National Soccer team bought 17 bikes from a Kansas City shop (after Momentum magazine ranked the 16 World Cup venues by bike access and KC came in last).

28:50

Families For Safe Streets released a framework for regulating autonomous vehicles like the aviation industry. Marco Connor summarizes the framework.

31:21

Taylor meets Bob, a rider touring America from East to West coast.

45:18

AVs, tour
26/25 Virtuous Cycle

June 26, 2026

Highs and Lows- Shane, a rider who’s fresh off a double century in North Dakota, lifts Taylor’s sagging spirits.

1:48

Bike mechanic/ owner of Battle Road Bikes Jim Cadenhead advises Taylor on his stuck shifter.

9:45

News: A cop hits a rider in a protected lane in Brooklyn. California denies LA’s request for more time on its street improvement projects. This year’s UCI Mountain Bike World Series will finish in Lake Placid. Lime beats world bikeshare record during the USA-Australia 2026 World Cup match in Seattle.

15:30

A new study by Marcel Moran shows protected bike lanes increase ridership, unlike sharrows and painted lanes.

18:50

Preserving Safe Bikeways SB 569, Sponsored by the California Bicycle Coalition, would make it a little harder to rip out bike lanes that took years to build. With Andrew Wright, Communications Director of the California Bicycle Coalition.

30:26

Host of Rolling Thru, a PBS bicycle travel series exploring climate solutions, community and culture from Buffalo to Brooklyn-Patrick Kelly.

34:45

Taylor meets 71 year old cross country rider Kay, again.

50:15

bikelane, mechanic, protected, tour
26/24 Creative Approaches to Open Streets

June 18, 2026

Still touring, Taylor finds the Stray Bullet Restaurant in Ovando, MT and talks with the owner, Leigh Ann Valiton.

2:39

Taylor gets his shifter fixed by Brandon on his last day wrenching at Bighorn Bike Shop in Great Falls, MT.

7:43

In a NY Minute, Streetsblog NYC Editor Gersh Kuntzman explains how Knicks fans reclaimed NYC streets from cars.

10:30

News: Driver kills kids on bikes on an unprotected path in the Netherlands. A student bikes from Pennsylvania to Texas to root for Japan in the World Cup. Fans bike 11,000 miles from Argentina to the World Cup in Texas.

11:37

Chicago Bike Grid Now! organizer Chris Gentry on a die-in and rides in memory of Riley O’Neil, a Complete Streets planner who led Chicago’s bike parking program and was killed after being doored in an unprotected bike lane.

13:00

Creative approaches to funding open streets events from the pros who organize open streets in LA, Minnesota, San Francisco and NYC: John Surico, Max Musicant, Dr. Adonia Lugo, Tafarai Bayne, Darin Ow-Wing, and Yuliya Flynn. Executive produced and hosted by Karen Douglas.

17:00

Taylor gets tips on where to eat and camp in Fort Benton, MT. from Tim.

54:10

openstreets, protected, tour
26/23 Car Supremacy

June 12, 2026

Who can you sue when an AV hits you? “Everyone,” says our lawyer, Jim Pocrass.
4:52

Taylor, still on his bike tour, reaches Adventure Cycling Headquarters in Missoula, Montana and gets a tour of bike “Mecca” from Customer Experience Coordinator Josh Bowden.
13:04

News
CDOT employee known for bike safety work killed in a painted bike lane. Seattle teacher killed biking where a planned bike lane had been cancelled. Las Vegas Advocates map bike racks.
11:09

Car supremacy: Deconstructing the ideology driving our modal hierarchy, a study by Ashton Rohmer.
19:15

NYC’s 72nd st. 2-way protected bike lane wins the Manhattan Community Board 7 vote, but the backlash at the meeting says a lot.
35:28

Taylor meets cross country riders Jenny and Vince in Stites, Idaho.

48:55

AVs, bikelash, carsupremacy, roaddiet, tour
26/22 Touring Together

June 5, 2026

Taylor with his friend Marc Gomes on the unexpected beauty of Eastern Oregon and the dynamics of long-distance riding with an old friend.

Eurosports Bike Shop in Sisters, Oregon 4:58

The Good Bike Company Prineville, Oregon 9:39

Jalet Farrell at the Spoke’n Hostel, a five star, donation-based hostel in Mitchell, Oregon

10:32

News: Deadly Queensboro Bridge crash raises questions about enforcement. A court just decided how much foot movement counts as ‘pedaling’ an e-bike. Wildlife impacted by oil spill in LA River.

17:07

Dan Langenkamp talks about getting the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act into the Federal Transportation Reauthorization Act. The bill is named for Dan’s wife Sarah, who was killed by a truck driver while riding in a bike lane. It highlights the need to fill gaps in biking and walking networks and makes it easier for states and local governments to use Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) dollars to build safe bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure.

19:15

Another email from Baltimore Fred and one from Nick’s mom, both rooting for Taylor on his ride.

29:00

Irwin from the Netherlands rides with an American flag since getting hit by a car in Kentucky.

30:22

Advocates declare a Traffic State of Emergency in Los Angeles. We talk to Damian Kevitt of Streets Are For Everyone and Jonathan Hale of People’s Vision Zero.

35:28

Taylor and Marc meet Kay Schuster, woman who rode coast to coast in 1976 at 21, and is riding again at 71.

51:27

bikeshop, policy, touring, visionzero
26/21 Bike People Are The Best

May 29, 2026

Taylor meets a guardian angel, Sherry, who breaks wind for him on her ebike, and her partner Cindy, who drive him and his bike 60 miles

1:29

Taylor meets a good bike Samaritan, Henry

7:30

News: Our first look at transportation reauthorization, a Massachusetts Micromobility Bill, San Jose cyclists may soon have to share bike lanes with DoorDash delivery robots, and LA says it needs six more years, more staff for mobility projects that got $100M from state

10:07

Will protected bike lanes and pedestrian features on Chicago’s Archer Avenue survive the impatience of drivers through the construction process? -With Dixon Galvez-Searle of the Southwest Collective.

12:40

How San Francisco is responding to a 32% growth in biking and ebikelash in the state of California, with Robin Pam of Streets For All, Brett Thurber of The New Wheel, and Claire Amable, Advocacy Director of the SF Bicycle Coalition.

29:45

Taylor talks with Hiker Lars and biker Hugh in Humbug State Park. All three took advantage of “hike and bike,” California parks’ inexpensive, no-reservation policies.

45:02

bikelash, bikepacking, bikepeople, protected
26/20 What We’re Up Against

May 22, 2026

Taylor’s Ride.

Taylor tours the Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame with Ross, the Curator.

6:40

Taylor interviews the Elk County Postmaster, WarmShowers.org host Judy Bonney.

12:32

Two anti ebike bills were defeated in California. With Kendra Ramsey, Executive Director of the California Bicycle Coalition

17:06

News: Sacramento deploys AI in parking enforcement vehicles to detect bike lane violations.

Illinois transportation bills aim to address speeding and bicycle safety.

NYC is transforming 10 miles of roadway in Brooklyn into giant ‘bike boulevards’.

Mexico City sex workers oppose the World Cup bike lane.

21:47

We must change the incentive for a driver to flee a hit and run while under the influence, says Jim Pocrass, our bike lawyer.

24:24

A third option with more trees, fewer cars, and not as many through streets for NYC’s Park Avenue redesign, by Miser, Micromobility NYC Reddit Moderator. With Gersh Kuntzman, Streetsblog NYC Editor.

30:15

ebikelash, hitandrun, redesign, tour
26/19 Bike The World

May 15, 2026

Despite fierce opposition from Beverly Hills NIMBYs, the Los Angeles D Line can now take you from Downtown LA to Beverly Hills faster than anything except a helicopter, Joe Linton, Streetsblog LA Editor, reports. As proof, Streetsblog LA will host a race between a cyclist, a driver, and a D Line rider.

3:15

Stacey’s News:

It’s now illegal to block bike lanes statewide in Colorado. Police in one Colorado town launch a tool to report illegal E-bike and motorbike activity. Amazon stops illegal e-bike sales in California.

11:35

Taylor gets one last session on bike tour readiness before his SF to Michigan ride from the Adventure Cycling Customer Experience Coordinator Josh Bowden.

17:10

P.L. and Kristen Meindertsma of Cycle 5 To Survive are making good on their pledge to bike five continents over five years while raising $500,000 from each of 5 different charities.

31:22

Bridge Street Elementary parents Lauren Kaskey and Howard Moore start a bike bus to their Northampton, Massachusetts elementary school for Walk, Bike and Roll Day.

47:55

With Bike Talk co-host and Livable Communities Initiative co-founder Lindsay Sturman.

bikebus, bikelanes, touring, transit