Miscellaneous Online Resources

Some of us remember life before the Internet! How did we do it? Regardless, now that we have it, there is no reason not to make use of it. Keeping in mind that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet, here are some general online resources that one or more of us can recommend as more or less trustworthy. (We cannot vouch for any other sites that these sites refer you to, however.)

• List of trails from Portland Trails organization. Not all are bike trails.
  
• The Maine Department of Transportation's Biking and Walking section
  
• Summary of and links to Maine's bicycle laws
  
• Plan your route with this Google map utility, which allows you to map your desired path and shows you the mileage.
  
• Bikes as Transportation, by Mark Stosberg, is a nice 'blog about the experience of and requirements for using bikes for transporatation. A nice intro to what makes a bike a great commuter, as opposed to just adequate, is here.
  
• Bicycle Fixation is "for the practical and passionate cyclist...it is about urban bicycling & culture; sprawl & suburbs; sustainability; politics, paradigms, place; and planetary community." It also has a neat feature of displaying random pictures of transportational cyclists on their homepage, and you can quite easily submit one of yourself (I did)!
  
• Bicycling Life - An article repository dedicated to the bicycle as transportation as well as recreation.
  
• Bikes at Work - a great site dedicated to using your bike for profit or labor, including hauling heavy stuff and running a bike-based businesse such as a delivery service or bicycle rickshaw.
  
• BikeForums.net - a huge discussion forum with hundreds of members all over the world and over a dozen boards on all aspects of cycling
  
• BikeJournal.com - A great place to record your rides, with details from weather conditions, elevation, heart rate - all the stuff that the data geeks are into recording! If you join, be sure to record your mileage to our club!
  
• Sheldon Brown's Bike Articles - A vast collection of articles detailing many of the more technical aspects of bicycles from one of the "wise old men" of cycling, with an emphasis on mechanics, but covering other topics as well
  
• The "Sport Utility Bicycle", a.k.a. the Xtracycle, is one of the more innovative solutions for carrying things and people on your bike
  
• Transportation Alternatives in NYC is one of the largest and most successful bike advocacy groups in the world.
  
• A well-balanced, IMO, article on the pros and cons of bike lanes.
  
• The Dilemmas of Bicycle Planning, by Paul Schimek of MIT. A must-read for city planners and engineers!
  
• Any Road - This is just a song I like about travelling, by George Harrison. I think it would make a good anthem for bike commuters.