Ben Chambers

A friend asked if getting hit by a car gives my work any more legitimacy and I jokingly said that I got some street cred but my phone corrected it to “I got some street red” and honestly that’s more accurate

Me: oh nooo, my Bluesky post crossed over to Reddit and now my bosses and the public are going to be so mad Top comments on Reddit:

I do have to acknowledge the most twisted comment on Reddit. Man, riding around town, figuring out which cars to run over me. I dunno if I have the patience or fortitude to learn that skill.

Very delicately got out of bed this morning, patted myself down, gave it a minute to see if any new soreness had developed overnight. Nope! Knocking on wood that holds true and counting myself even more lucky. Also ordering a new helmet and glasses.

This is me doing a quick body scan this morning

So it happened. Today I got hit by a car while riding my bike. I’m ok. One gnarly cut on my nose and some road rash on my face arms and knees. I’ll probably be pretty sore and bruised tomorrow, but avoided any major injuries.

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Once CPD follows up to share contact info, I’ll be reaching out to her. She owes me some fresh handle bar tape. But I also want to invite her to join the City Market bike ride on Saturdays at 10. I want to show her and everyone that biking can be safe and fun and community.

Oh, also should mention, my bike is fine aside from the bar tape. Her car: passenger side of the front bumper was pulled off by my bike. My bike beat up a car.

I am incredibly lucky and grateful to come away from that crash with only minor injuries. And so was she. I could be angry, but I’m also feeling a surprising amount of empathy for the person who could have killed me.

She’s trapped in this cruel, car-centered world too. And maybe she just realized it. I hope she does.

I was riding down Maury when a car in front of me suddenly turned into the parking spaces in the shopping strip. She thought she had her blinker on. She didn’t see me behind her but honestly didn’t even think to look.

She was with two friends, all young, recent UVA grads. They were scared to death, watching me trying to stop bleeding out of my face. They stayed with me through the EMTs and police and my wife showing up.

It is funny how often the algorithm tells me to watch the music video for Genesis “Turn It on Again” and I know it keeps recommending it to me because sometimes I click it. But why? Why have I entered this specific whirlpool? How are there no others, just this one?

We're starting our crosstown bike bus pilot (pilot!) officially tomorrow. Look for me out there in a bright yellow shirt, riding back and forth in the W Main corridor.

Looking at the weather forecast, you’ll actually see me in colder weather gear tomorrow, no t-shirts

We're starting our crosstown bike bus pilot (pilot!) officially tomorrow. Look for me out there in a bright yellow shirt, riding back and forth in the W Main corridor.

Eventually, this is going to be one way that the City keeps tabs on the big utilities project in the W Main corridor (starting next summer) and helps folks understand how to get across town east-west on bikes safely and through any needed detours.

In the meantime, we'll be doing planning to figure out what eventually what replaces what's there. It'll help to have more eyes on the street while we do that. I'll be out there, as will my team. I hope you'll join us. See you tomorrow and every Tuesday going forward.

USA is the best road cycling team this year, very surprised and impressed

18 Sept

No bike bus tomorrow. I’m done with testing the schedules, it’ll work. We’re going to officially launch in October, with a lot more advertising, maybe some official partners, and some free first-run Bike Cville t-shirts. The crosstown bike bus will happen on TUESDAY, starting 10/6

18 Sept

There’s another new bike bus that’s supporting elementary school kids going from Westhaven to Trailblazer Elementary one Friday every month. I want to be able to have my team support that bike bus too, which is part of why the crosstown is moving to Tuesday

11 Sept

No I can’t speak French

Ben Chambers reposted

David Zipper

@davidzipper.bsky.social

10 Sept

New study finds the social cost of driving a car 1 km—including pollution, crashes, infrastructure, and noise—is more than *triple* the private cost paid by the car owner. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

27 Aug

Back at it tomorrow morning, riding my bike back and forth across town. Come find me, for a fun ride, for your commute, or just to say hi

29 Aug

Confession: I technically had a crash this morning. A big beetle flew into me while I was climbing slowly, I tried to swat it off, slow-motion steered into a curb, and ended up on my ass in the softest grass in someone’s yard on Chesapeake St. No injury, I was giggling brushing myself off.

29 Aug

There was a couple walking their dog about 100 ft up from where I landed and I definitely startled them

23 Aug

Late August thunderstorm that gives us just enough rain without knocking out the power while putting on a sweet light and sound show, no notes, I have a covered porch and this was my favorite tv show this month

20 Aug

No bike bus testing this week. I got a rough summer cold. Hopefully back at it next Friday.

Tonight a bar I haven’t been to in 3+ months handed me a pair of AirPods that I lost the last time I was there. Didn’t even recognize the bartender, but as soon as I walked in, he knew I had lost the AirPods that were sitting by themselves for months by the glasses behind the bar

I don’t know whether I want anyone to make a big deal over the speed limit on Melbourne Rd being dropped to 25 mph finally or maybe I should just let it happen and see how people naturally respond to new signage

Internally, got some feedback that we should announce it, but like, literally the change is signage, it announces itself, right?

But also, hell yeah, I want everyone to know that my dude Kyle just did this, so proud, gotta tell people that, that doesn’t go on the sign

12 Aug

The downtown mall crossing at 4th St should be closed 10am to 4am. Everyday. Not just summer Friday nights and August 12th. When people are using the mall, cars (and delivery trucks) shouldn’t be, especially at the 4th St crossing.

6 Aug

Running the same schedule for the bike bus testing tomorrow, come find me anywhere on the route

Ben Chambers@bench.bsky.social

Updated schedule for the Cville bike bus testing, starting tomorrow morning

30 July

Updated schedule for the Cville bike bus testing, starting tomorrow morning

30 July

We've had an intern out on W Main counting bikes and scooters. He's still compiling the data into something presentable, but one clear pattern he saw was spikes of activity around the :40 of every hour, heading westbound to UVA. So I adjusted the schedule to meet up with those spikes.

30 July

Again, not an official project of the City, nothing to announce yet, still making tweaks, but please join me at any route along the way as we work on this idea.

24 July

Oh boy there’s a flaw in my early morning Friday bike bus- Thursdays are usually the busiest, most exciting part of my week and it’s really hard to wind down to be ready for a 6:20 start time

24 July

I am definitely still going to be out there on this schedule, come find me

24 July

I made it to the start line, hoping the polka dots give me energy

23 July

Richard Carapaz, the Ecuadorian Eagle, El Jaguar de Tulcan, did some very good biking today

23 July

I love his insane nicknames and when he attacks on mountain stages

The past few months, I've been tinkering with an idea for how to show people how to ride safely together across the City and provide a way to communicate detours for cyclists during the upcoming W Main utility work: a weekly bike bus on Friday mornings

17 July

Week 1, Loop 1: already a detour, amazing! Construction related to the Verve has Emmet closed between JPA and Stadium, so detouring this morning up JPA, right onto Montebello Cir to get to Stadium, turn right on Stadium and go downhill onto Emmet. Plenty of slack in the schedule to make it on time

I've been testing the timing/routing on my own and we've had an intern out taking bike counts to get some "before" data, as a baseline for the bike bus, the utility work, and whatever facilities we end up putting down on W Main after that work is done

Before trying to make it into a real program, I could use some help testing how it works when other people participate, sort of a soft launch. Not trying to promote it widely or officially yet, but join me if you want to help us make this a useful tool for cyclists in our community

We are in a blessed era of road cycling for spectators. It is a rest day of Tour de France and every team has a ton of behind the scenes YouTube videos. No need to wait for a documentary or clip show or Netflix series. Teams are competing for fans directly and it rules.

Also, I am watching every single one and trying to figure out how to make my big break to manage a professional road cycling team. I think I could do it.

5 July

Watching the TdF from an aerial tram, I have achieved peak transportation nerd