Charleston Bicycle Lecture Series
Thu, February 18, 2010 The City of Charleston Civic Design Center together with The Clemson Architecture Center at Charleston are jointly working on a project to improve and encourage cycling in Downtown Charleston and the surrounding area.
The reasons why Charleston is considered an ideal cycling community
• Good weather
• Flat Topography
• Compact Metropolitan Area
• Historic streets handle bikes better than automobiles, and bikes create a street atmosphere that is close to the pre-auto context.
The City of Charleston was built in the 1700s and 1800s.
Its streets are narrow which adds to the historic charm of the place.
Distances are relatively short and can easily be undertaken on foot or by bicycle.
There are already horse drawn carriage rides for those who want to go on a guided historic tour.
As a part of this year’s plan, a Spring Lecture Series is being held.
I am scheduled to speak on Thursday evening, February 25th, at 7:00pm. The venue is upstairs in the Southend Brewery, 161 East Bay Street, in Downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
Admission is free, and the event is open to local cyclists and anyone else who might be interested. Refreshments will be served, and there will be a cash bar. (It is a brewery after all.)
My presentation is titled, “The Bicycle: Evolution or Intelligent Design?” A somewhat tongue in cheek title to a subject that I hope will be entertaining as well as enlightening.
I did a similar talk at the Cirque du Cyclisme some three years ago. I have now expanded on the subject. I will show that the bicycle, one of the most efficient machines ever built, had no clear single inventor, but rather has been a steady evolution, often influenced by tradition, and changes brought about what was fashionable at the time.
I will have examples of my past work on display. If you live in the Charleston area I would love to see you there.
Reader Comments (11)
Sounds fascinating Dave. If you're going to be using powerpoints or anything like that and you wouldn't mind, I'm sure your readers would like to check them out. Or if you made your talk into a blog post later on, I'd really like to read it.
echo mander, Dave. I'm in Lexington, VA. Very similar thing with the streets on a smaller scale, and hopefully we are getting towards the point of starting some studies. What can be a frustrating place to drive is quite a nice place to ride, I suppose a bicycle being closer to the pace and turning radii of a horse.
Of course, we need triple cranks. We prefer the term 'alpine' in lieu of 'granny'. In any event, whatever you can post up would be appreciated.
Thanks for introducing me to the City of Charleston. It sounds like a great place and especially nice for cycling. Good luck with your presentation next week. I was honestly just wondering the other day about who go credited for the design of what we call a bicycle today.....now I know. Thanks.
Charleston is indeed a lucky city to have you Dave. Your experience(s) and your ability to express yourself could make a real impact in an area not known to be cyclist friendly.
Skylab,
Thank you, but actually it's the other way round; I'm lucky to have Charleston. It is a wonderful place, and I have some wonderful friends here.
Dave
Dave,
Could you put it on Youtube or likewise? Would love to hear you talk.
-Ron
Cozy Beehive
Definitely Dave, put your presentation on youtube and link your slides from your website, p-l-e-a-s-e. All communities need to hear what you have to say. Thanks!
Ron and Jack,
I realize YouTube is the way to go and I have been thinking about it for some time now. However, I don’t want to do it half-assed, it means buying new equipment, and learning new skills. Bear with me and it will be happening at some point.
Dave
You're killing me here... I managed to visit Savannah a few years ago, but didn't make it up the Charleston... some other time I guess!
Anyway, I'll be a broken record: if you have a write-up of your speech or anything like that, I'm sure we'd all love to read what we won't get to hear.
Thanks for a terrific presentation this evening, Dave. Enjoyed meeting you and Kathy, hearing your thoughts, and seeing the bikes! It was a great addition to the series.
Best,
-Michael
Dave,
Please do share your presentation. I was intrigued by the title alone but not able to make it to the event.
Jason