As many of you know, I have a real soft spot for traditional steel frame bikes and so I always feel somewhat justified in my “curmudgeonly-ness” when I have the opportunity speak with a master frame builder who is still practicing the art of building steel bikes.

Bicycling started out as a “working class” sport and those who supported it were working class folks.  Today, we hold our custom frame builders in high esteem at the same time that the craft of building steel bikes tries very hard to fade into history.

Framebuilder Paul Gibson not only doesn’t want to see that happen, he is actively doing things to ensure it won’t.

Paul is now the proprietor of Ellis-Briggs Cycles, the 90-year-old British bicycle company, founded by brothers-in-law Leonard Ellis and Thomas Briggs in 1936. (Yes, this makes it 90 years!) Their vision was to create high quality lightweight racing frames. 

Through the years, there have been many changes in the custom bicycle business and Paul is hoping to preserve the traditions by teaching the skills to build lugged, steel frames as well as keep the long heritage of the craft alive and well.

While our conversation isn’t terribly long, it is full of juicy nuggets of interest from the history of the company to Paul’s desire to develop a curriculum for students – especially students who aren’t inclined to sit in a classroom day after day but rather wish they could learn some hands-on skills.

I’ve had so many conversations about the art and science of building steel frames over the years and always appreciate someone who is still immersed in the craft.

You can follow and help support Paul’s Patreon at patreon.com/ellisbriggs.

Log onto his website, ellisbriggscycles.co.uk for a deep dive into the company and what Paul is up to now.

In my Substack post about Tucker Schwinn’s new book, Closure – The Final Days of the Waterford Bicycle Factory – I said I had hoped to be able to speak with him directly.

That happened over the past weekend, and I wanted to share that conversation, even though this will be a short podcast episode.

Tucker is the son of Richard and Debra Schwinn.  He grew up in the world of Waterford Precision Cycles and when the announcement of the closure of the factory was made and even before, decided to use his photography degree to document everything – from the eyewash station to the paint booth and anything in-between.

From beautiful descriptions of some of the photos to allowing others to just stand alone, I think the book is a must-have if you are a collector of bicycle related keepsakes.

My relationship with the Schwinn’s goes back a long time and, while I lament the loss of the factory and the beautiful frames produced there, the book helps to cement some of the memories in a way I hadn’t expected.

I’m really pleased to welcome two great guests to the show today.

The first is not new to TOC, and in fact has been someone I’ve not only spoken with in the past but have also referred to many times on episodes where he doesn’t even appear.

I love catching up with Strong Towns’ founder Chuck Marohn because I always experience an enlightening and encouraging conversation.  Today is no different.

In this episode we cover a myriad of topics from the Ride for Life Rally that was held in D.C. to Chuck’s thoughts about how we might be getting our advocacy for cycling and walking wrong by looking to the Federal government for help as well as his thoughts about how we can all be part of a Bike Walk Revolution.

Once you hear it, you can’t un-hear it. It makes so much sense. And it just might spur you to action.

In the second half of the show, I speak with Esther Walker, the executive director of Outride.

Founded in 2012 by Specialized’s former CEO Mike Sinyard, who suffers from ADHD and found that riding a bike helped him to focus and learn, Outride started by investigating how bike riding could become an important part of a comprehensive therapy program for kids with ADHD.

Today, in addition to their extensive research, the organization has grown by leaps and bounds as their “Riding For Focus” program has spread to hundreds of schools across the U.S. positively impacting thousands of middle-school kids.

Every time I think our issues with cars vs cyclists are getting so much worse, which of course they are, I come across something that is even more dreadful!

Seems that Canada – a place where I would have thought cyclists would be not only safer but encouraged – is definitely not that!

In my conversation with David Shellnutt, The Biking Lawyer, I learn that there is not only open hostility to cyclists, but the police seem to be complicit in making cyclists “pay” for infractions while drivers’ who have been issued tickets find themselves with no consequences whatsoever. David has good things to talk about though too, including a program he started during the pandemic that is still going strong today.

In the second half of the show, we feature the first of our holiday giving segments with Bill Nesper, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists.

The LAB does some great things – from offering a multitude of helpful options to get involved on a local or national level to helping make our communities more bicycle friendly, which in turn makes them safer.  The LAB also hosts the National Bike Summit where, as a delegate of your community, you have the opportunity to make your case for legislation directly with the officials who can make those votes happen.

This episode was going to be an audio with commentary for my Substack.  But, as often happens when I speak with Joe Lindsey from the Escape Collective, the conversation becomes so interesting that I just couldn’t see NOT sharing it on all my platforms.

Another reason I wanted to share this with everyone is that Joe, is an expert on competitive bike racing, which I am not, and since the 2025 continental and world races are pretty much over, I figured it was time to review them.

We begin with a short discussion about this year’s World’s, which for the first time was held on the African continent.  Political for sure; but all seemed to go well.

Not so with the Vuelta A Espana as Joe and I move into a conversation about the Israel-Premier Tech team and how politics and protest, which have always been a part of bike racing, has now reached a level that is truly dangerous to the riders, the sponsors, and the sport itself.

Since Joe and I spoke, much has happened, both in the Middle East and with the team itself.  Premier-Tech pulled their sponsorship, saying that “the core reason to sponsor the team has been overshadowed to a point where it has become untenable.”

Sad to say the least, but I think you will hear some good reasoning in my conversation with Joe.

As we cover some of the women’s racing from this past season, we get into the topic of fueling and weight.  Ugh!

Weight is an especially tough topic for women – just look at the endless ads for weight loss and what defines beauty in all forms of advertising.

But there has been a seismic shift in thinking about fueling for bike racers and with that a shift away from just focusing on weight to the importance of nutrition.

Joe also talks about course design as it relates to the physique of a rider.  Certain courses do favor a light, sprite rider while others offer advantages to a different body type. 

And then there is course design as it relates to the safety of the riders.

We get into the weeds a bit with the UCI vs SRAM dispute about gearing as the discussion runs headlong into where the UCI should focus its work and what might happen if everyone rode the same bike – much like stock car racing. So you see, it’s a solid discussion and I hope you enjoy it.

We read or hear about corruption from a lot of places and when I came across a story from Kevin Duggan from Streetsblog NYC about a prominent family in Brooklyn NY that bribed officials to kill a protected bike lane, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to find out more.

The Argentos are big-whigs in the Greenpoint District of Brooklyn, NY – many high-profile television shows are shot on their “Broadway Stages” properties. 

This past August, they were indicted for bribing the mayor’s assistant with not only money, but a cameo on an upcoming show episode. Ah, vanity!

It’s a juicy story that is still unfolding and we’ll talk more about with Kevin in just a moment.

Then, in my conversation with Sarah Davis, the active transportation senior planner for the City of Cleveland, we unpack the Cleveland Moves initiative supported by Mayor Justin Bibb. 

While Cleveland’s population was in decline for several decades, it recently seems to be trending upwards again. 

But one of the consequences of fewer people and cars is that perception that you can go faster on the roads.  But the greater speed has resulted in the horrific statistic of 75 traffic fatalities in 2024.  Bad stuff!

Sarah will give us the lowdown on what Cleveland Moves is and some of the good things that have been happening in Cleveland in the past few months.

Scott Tong is one of my favorite NPR hosts. Most days, along with Robyn Young and several other Here and Now folks, I listen to Scott on WKSU, our local NPR affiliate.

Over the past year or so, I’ve heard Scott talk about riding his bike, crashing his bike, and more recently, training for a long-distance cycling event.

So I reached out to him, and he was happy to talk about his riding experiences, the bike he rides – which is only one of my all-time favorite brands – and the event he was training for with his brother-in-law and his wife.

My first guest, Scott Tong, is wondering whether he might be getting too old to ride his beautiful Serotta Road bike and I assured him he is not!

It is true that while training for a long-distance event a couple of years ago, he fell and broke his collar bone and this year, while training for the same event, his wife fell and broke HER collar bone.

Still, he’s really not that old and he likes to ride!  He got back on the horse and completed the Seagull Century in Maryland right after our conversation.

If I were to ask you if there is enough parking wherever you go, what would you say?  Probably – No.

But what if I told you there is actually too much parking in many places, and that parking in general is poorly managed by most cities?

That’s the starting point for my conversation with the president of the Parking Reform Network, Tony Jordan, an organization that educates the public about the impact of parking policy on climate change, equity, housing, and traffic.

From the bizarre parking codes for every conceivable building, business, and residence, to a need for rethinking the miles and miles of concrete that take up precious land and contribute to climate issues, Tony Jordan helps to answers my many questions, and helps to give us actionable ideas to make our parking, driving, and especially biking and walking concerns better.

And for my extended conversation with Tony about how bicycling and parking reform are connected, log into my Substack entry.  It’s a little bonus track!

This episode of the podcast offers up a short discussion with Bicycle Retailer’s EIC Steve Frothingham about U.S. Customs and the seizing of containers from Taiwan manufacturer Giant.

Earlier this week, in a surprise move, US Customs officials seized containers from Giant, the world’s largest bike mfg, over unspecified forced labor accusations.

In an effort to find out exactly what that meant, besides holding up shipments at the ports, I rang up Steve Frothingham, EIC of BR&IN.

His explanation, which was as up to date as of a few hours before we talked, made quite a bit of what was happening clear, but also left me with a lot of questions that I’m hoping will get answered in the next day or so. 

We also talk about tariffs – which unfortunately is becoming a daily topic.

Then I have a very interesting conversation with PRX’s “The World’s” global transportation correspondent, Jeremy Siegel about how Helsinki made it to the top of the Vision Zero with NO traffic deaths for over a year!

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the car and heard Jeremy Siegel, The World’s Global Transportation Correspondent say that Helsinki had reported ZERO traffic deaths for over a year. 

Being a Vision Zero hopeful for the Cleveland area and never having heard of any major city, let alone a country’s capital, say that no automobile, cycling, or pedestrian fatalities had occurred seemed amazing.

I came home, re-listened to the piece on their website, and then contacted Jeremy.

Here is how they did it…

Shannon Binns didn’t make a plan to come to Charlotte, NC and stay; yet here he is more than 15 years after starting his not-for-profit organization “Sustain Charlotte.”

Shannon started out in engineering, did some overseas volunteering, and finally decided that environmental science and public policy were where his interests really lay, leading him to a master’s degree around the age of 30.

Landing in Charlotte, which was growing at breakneck speed – but without a lot of planning – he discovered he absolutely had to buy a car to get anywhere when he moved into a suburban neighborhood without a bus route, sidewalks, or heaven forbid, a bike lane.

Shannon also realized that unlike almost all other major cities in the U.S., and what made Charlotte so unique, was that it has no lakes, rivers, or an ocean front

What it does have is trees – and lots of them.  Charlotte is situated in the middle of a forest.

Then he saw the 25-year study that showed a full 50% of the tree canopy had been lost to development, and that, coupled with the lack of infrastructure for anything besides automobiles made him realize that he wanted – needed – to help.

And so, Sustain Charlotte was born.

It’s kind of a special episode for TOC because on September 4th, I will celebrate 15 years of TOC podcasting.

From my very first guest, frame builder Ben Serotta, until today, when my guests are far afield from frame building, I’ve had the privilege and honor or speaking with so many interesting, smart, talented, and accomplished people.

And so much has changed in the podcast space over the years.  This show started out as not only a podcast, but also a 1-hour radio broadcast.  Now we use the Zoom platform to record my conversations as well as see my interviewee – all in a simple and easy to run format.

I think it’s made a positive impact on the work, and I thoroughly enjoy the visual as well as the audio. I’ve learned audio editing and mixing and am actually thinking about video editing as a wintertime project.

But mostly, I’m looking forward to the next year of great conversations and hope you’ll come along for the ride.

My first guest is a photographer – but not just any photographer.  She’s a cycling photographer who follows mostly women’s racing, often on the back of a motorcycle.

There just a few women who cover racing with their cameras, but Eloise Mavian is one of those elites who do.  Her photograph of Demi Vollering appeared on the cover of the new magazine, Fausto, is how I learned of her and her remarkable story.

Eloise Mavian grew up in the photography business.  Her father had a photo shop in San Marco Square in Venice, Italy and it was at his hand that she learned the ins and outs of the photography world. She went to the University of Visual Arts to study photography and even enrolled in a videography discipline; but her first love is the camera and still photos.  Then there is  her daring willingness to sit on the back of a fast-moving motorcycle – rain, sleet, or sun – which makes her not only a great photographer, but a wicked bad ass!

In the second half of the show, I speak with Scott Reigle.  He’s the Senior Transportation Planner for the Binghamton Metropolitan Transportation Study in Binghamton, NY.

Our family has a personal connection to Binghamton and when I was sent an article about a cool event that takes place there each year, I thought I would learn more about biking and walking in this Upstate University town.

Scott Reigle has been the Senior Transportation Planner in Broome County where Binghamton, NY is located for over 30 years. When it comes to transportation – by any means – he knows the area inside and out. 

He was around when the federal government ushered in the1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, – often referred to as IsTEA – which finally offered a major change to the way transportation planning and policy was approached, including giving metropolitan planning organizations significant powers.  Case in point giving the BMTS, the ability to implement a newly developed pedestrian and bicycle plan for the greater Binghamton area.

I think our conversation might pique your interest in taking a ride if you’re in the area.