Getting the average commuter to consider riding a bike is a difficult thing because it comes with negative perceptions. It looks slow and dangerous, cyclists come off as snobs, and it requires effort, which leads to sweat, a very un-businessperson-like accoutrement.

Cycling has to remove as many barriers as possible to make it easy in order to encourage more butts in the saddle. This is getting more difficult as Wisconsin sinks further down the list of "Bike Friendly States." Not too long ago, we were at the top of the list, but due to the decreased funding for bicycle infrastructure we have sunk to number 8. The miniscule amount of money that was already granted is being robbed to build a few feet of extra freeway.

All told, not ideal. But even with reduced infrastructure funding (number 8 really isn't that bad, considering), there are still a lot of benefits of riding a bike and perhaps it's time to reconsider the incorrect perceptions.

Sure, driving a car might get a person within their destination faster, but it doesn't consider the time it takes to find parking. Riding a bike might look dangerous, but it is actually significantly safer than driving a car. Cyclists may seem like snobs (especially from behind the wheel) but talk to most of them and you'll find people who are happy to share their passions, and happy to see more cyclists on the road.

And the sweat? Well, that might be mostly unavoidable, but there are some ways to regulate that, either with riding when it's cooler, riding slower, packing an extra set of clothes, or, if you're lucky, taking advantage of on site showers.

And there are still a wealth of hidden conveniences that come with riding a bike. Sometimes they just have to be demonstrated, and Bike to Work Week, which runs from May 13-18, is like a crash course in finding out what the city has to offer.

Don't feel like you need to ditch your car. The overall goal is participation. Don't feel bad if you can't ride all seven days, but don't…

If you think fixed gear bicycles are not for you, I may have found the fixed gear bicycle just for you. You might think fixed gears are inferior bicycles compared to most other bicycles. They brake worse. They don’t shift and they don’t coast. They come with a sheen of smugness that is hard to buff out.

But it’s hard to deny they aren’t pure fun.

And that’s precisely why your next bike should be the Fyxation Quiver, a Milwaukee-designed swiss army knife of a bike you can ride into the future. The Quiver is a do-it-all, ready-for-anything bike. It is designed to be a fixed gear, a road bike, a cyclocross bike, and if you blur your eyes a little bit, it might even be able to pass as a mountain bike, too.

The Quiver manages to be everything to everyone without feeling like a kludge.

"The Quiver really represents a shift in design for road and commuter-type bikes," says Fyxation owner, Nick Ginster. "It was purpose built to accommodate the varying styles of today's riders."

The frame starts out as one would expect, with 4130 chromoly tubing in "a traditional double triangle design with a horizontal top tube, aero profile fork and horizontal dropouts to easily accommodate a singlespeed, fixed, or internal gear hub."

But here is where it gets interesting. "The Quiver also ships with our proprietary derailleur hanger and removable cable stops so it can be built up as a geared road bike with front and rear derailleurs."

Additionally tire clearance allows for anywhere from the skinniest tires to beyond 45mm (which is basically reaching for mountain bike territory), and the stays are drilled for racks and fenders. Another bonus: it was designed with Wisconsin climates in mind. "We expect that this bike will be ridden year round, so we amped up the corrosion protection by coating the frame inside and out with an highly corrosion resistant electro-deposited undercoating."

So what does this mean for you, dear friend, who is in the market for a do-it-all bike? I…

The Milwaukee Bicycle Collective is currently overhauling its youth program, and to celebrate it is giving away 15 brand new bikes thanks to help from Potawatomi Bingo Casino's Miracle on Canal Street and OnMilwaukee.com. 

The 15 winners will also receive a light set, a lock and a helmet. Fifteen additional winners will receive a set of lights, a lock and a helmet.

Normally at the Bike Collective, all of the bicycles in stock are donated. Instead of throwing away a bike when kids break or grow out of it, their families will drop it off to be fixed for others to use.

But kids are hard on their bikes, so often while they remain structurally sound, they tend to bear gratuitous evidence of their former lives. The youth volunteers usually don't mind the scratches and dings too much, and they are happy to just have a bike. But there is something nice about starting out fresh.

Entering the contest is simple and requires three parts. First, write a story or essay that has something to do with bicycles. It can be any length, but the entrant should still work to impress the judges. The essay can be about anything as long as it expresses your feelings on bikes.

Second, draw a picture that has something to do with bikes. The picture can be about anything as long as there is a bicycle in there somewhere.

Finally, an entry form must be submitted with the essay and drawing. The entry form can be downloaded here. If you cannot print the form a hand-written form will be accepted. Full details and official rules can be found at bikecollective.org/contest.

Entries must be submitted or postmarked by Monday, Nov. 26, which is the Monday after Thanksgiving. Winners will be announced Dec. 3.

Programs are always changing at the Bike Collective as it searches for the best way to create incentives for youth and adult volunteers. Historically, the youth program has always been treated the same as the adult program, with a volunteer work trade: volunteer for an hour and get an hour's …

The folks behind Beintween have a way with words, and according to them Matireal is a win-win-win-win-win situation.­

Between being an artistic installation, a hazardous waste removal system, a provider of measurable carbon offset, a funder of manufacturing jobs and a catalyst to help integrate the city, Keith Hayes and Rob Zdanowski, founders of Beintween.org and the brains behind the ARTery, have lofty goals for their new project, Matireal, a "creational" trail. But now they need your help.

First, let’s define some of that:

• Beintween: A social and special network started in 2010 dedicated to improv(is)ing spaces to build community, whose agenda is to make the most of leftover time and space. You may be familiar with Beintween's last project, the pop-up tire swing park under the Holton Street Bridge.
• Matireal: A geo-textile made up of local flora, stone and discarded tires that can transform an environmental nightmare into an ecological dream and inspired a new park called the ARTery.
• the ARTery:  A linear park project being planned by beintween for the old rail corridor between East Townsend Street and Capitol Drive, in the Harambee neighborhood of Milwaukee. "We see this as a creational trail, not a recreational trail," says Hayes, who asks, "What sort of things can we create to stitch these communities together, which right now are terribly segregated?"

Simply put, Beintween wants to see Matireal laid as the surface of the ARTery recreational trail.

Got it? Good.

The city and many private property owners have been very cooperative with the project so far. The owner of the rail land, Brian Monroe of Earthbound Development, has been including a plan to integrate neighboring school LAD Lake into the ARTery while Mayor Tom Barrett is working with the city to acquire land use before the year's end. Even the Department of Natural Resources is interested in seeing where the project goes. "I thought they would require 10 years of research," Hayes joked.…