AMERICANWAY

ITINERARY { TR AVEL } Cycle in the City { By Ken McAlpine } There was a time when biking in the world’s cities was the domain of bike messen- gers and a handful of steely-nerved citizens. No more. From Barcelona, Spain, to Paris to Washington, D.C., bike-share programs are rolling full bore. Yep, they’re green, but they’re convenient too: Wheel door-to-door and let everyone else claw for parking. Just buy a pass online or at the bike station itself, and go. In Washington, D.C., $4.50 buys you a 90-minute spin around the city and the priceless satisfaction of pedaling past drivers stewing in traffic. (Tip: Short-term usage fees can add up, so renting by the day is often cheaper.) Here are some of our favorite spots worldwide for biking on the go: DENVER This was the first U.S. city to launch a large-scale, citywide bike-share program. Buy passes online or at the B- cycle stations. (303) 825-3325, www .denverbikesharing.org WASHINGTON, D.C. Capital Bikeshare has more than 110 bike stands through- out the nation’s capital and neighboring Arlington, Va. (877) 430-2453, www .capitalbikeshare.com AUSTIN, TEXAS If you’re looking to ride all day, renting a bike may be cheaper, and Barton Springs Bike Rental offers a fun twist: guided tours by conventional and electric bike. (512) 480-0200, www .bartonspringsbikerental.com CHICAGO B-cycle’s rental stations, avail- able from May to September, are clus- tered along the lakefront. Buy a one-day pass for $20. (773) 672-2000, www .chicago.bcycle.com LONDON Locals call them Boris bikes (af- ter the mayor, Boris Johnson), but you’ll recognize them as Barclays Cycle Hire. Transport for London continues to build cycling lanes (superhighways) into central London. 011-20-8216-6666, www.tfl .gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11598.aspx MONTREAL The Canadian city has some 400 BIXI stations that operate from April through November. This summer, BIXI also debuted in Toronto, Ottawa and Gatineau. (514) 789-2494, www.bixi.com { COOL } Supporting Japan { By Abby Hoeffner } When the ocean invaded Japan’s shoreand nuclear reactors burned after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake shook the east coast of Honshu on March 11 at 2:46 p.m., the world watched, helpless. A week later, a Briton living in Japan — known only by his Twitter handle, Our Man in Abiko — had an idea. He tweeted, “I want to compile a book of quake ex- periences and publish it like within a week and donate all the profits to Red Cross. We have the technology.” Dan Ryan, one of the book’s editors, likens the dispersing of those 142 char- acters to a whisper stream. Within 15 hours, Our Man in Abiko had 64 submissions. Hashtagged on Twitter as #quakebook during the project, 2:46: Aftershocks went from concept to com- pletion in just over a week and includes contributions from Yoko Ono, William Gibson and Jake Adel- stein, as well as essays and photographs from survivors in Japan, journalists who lived through the disaster and people across the globe who were affected in some way. Every penny from sales goes directly to the Japan Red Cross (even Amazon is donating its typical cut). Within its pages, words of reflection on the Japanese earthquake and its aftermath include those of an octogenarian encourag- ing younger generations; a father of a young child describing the uncertainty and the second-guessing of evacuation; and a Canadian who looks into the eyes of those around him after the first shock waves subside and, for the first time in eight years, doesn’t feel like a foreigner. The raw emotions of these deeply personal accounts come together in the little e-book that could — help, that is. 2:46:Aftershocks:Storiesfroms Earthquake($10) is available both as a Kindle e-book and in paperback at Amazon.com. theJapan 18 JUNE 15, 2011 AA.COM/AMERICANWAY

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