Bikes mean better business, the five E’s of becoming a bike-friendly campus, bicycle taxidermy, and more

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The Velo Room at an apartment complex in downtown Denver - The Denver Post

* Bike-friendly housing pops up in Denver.  The Denver Post reports that as apartment complexes are sprouting up all over the Denver metro area, many of them featuring a new amenity: bicycle-maintenance rooms.

* SF Gate spotlights some of the nation’s most bike-friendly university campuses, and the Five E’s needed to become one – Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation.

* Bikes mean better business, the MinnPost reports. Over the last few years, Minneapolis has invested heavily in biking, creating a network of off-street trails criss-crossing the city, adding 180 miles of bike lanes to city streets with plans to double that, launching one of the country’s first large-scale bikeshare programs, and creating protected lanes to separate people riding bikes from motor traffic.  “Biking is definitely part of our strategy to attract and retain businesses in order to compete in a mobile world,” says Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak

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Pictures courtesy of bloon design

*Here’s a neat DIY project/Christmas wishlist item from bloon design: a mobile picnic station.

* Portland-based communications consultant Leslie Carlson says public skepticism about bike projects around the country is simply a sign that bikes have become part of the political back-and-forth – and she provides four strategies for fighting back.

*As e-bikes continue to gain momentum around the world, Al Nordin, president of NuVinci’s bike division,  is convinced it’s only a matter of time before the market for electric bikes in North America develops into a thriving category.

* Speaking of e-bikes, Seattle E-bike is hosting a Black Friday E-bike parade.

* Agence France-Presse reports that the Dutch cycling utopia is being threatened by own success.  “In a small country where bicycles outnumber people by 1.2 million, the Dutch have simply run out of space to accommodate the five million cyclists who take to the road every day,” the article states. “turning commuting in major cities into a nightmare.”

* A student of the Royal College of Art has come up with a “loving and lasting solution for your mechanical bereavement” – Bicycle Taxidermy.

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Picture courtesy of bicycletaxidermy.com/

* What do super cyclists Levi Leipheimer, Rebecca Rusch, Tom Danielson, Kristin Armstrong, cycle blogger Eldon “Fatty” Nelson, and actor Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy) do for some extra training? They do a donut race for charity! Watch the video, here.

* Transportation Alternatives created this little video titled “Rolling”, a feel-good short film about the benefits of bicycles.

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