Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
November 12, 2025 In the northeast part of Washington, D.C., a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to mark the opening of a segment of the Metropolitan Branch Trail that is between the city’s neighborhoods of Fort Totten and Takoma. The public officials taking part in the Wednesday ceremony for this 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) portion of the Metropolitan... Continue Reading →
October 29, 1927 In the Canadian province of Ontario, about 15,000 people turned out for the opening of a bridge in the Greater Toronto Area. This bridge, crossing the Don River, was built to serve as a link between the town of Leaside and the township of East York. “The whole of the bridge is... Continue Reading →
October 26, 1881 Racing cyclist Louis Bastien was born in Paris. He established himself as a formidable and highly competitive cyclist while he was still a teenager. At the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, Bastien won a gold medal for finishing first in the 25-kilometre (15.5.-mile) race. Bastien was also an accomplished fencer. He died... Continue Reading →
September 17, 2001 In northeastern England’s ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear, a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists in the city and metropolitan borough of Newscastle upon Tyne (more simply known as Newcastle) was opened to the public. This bridge, crossing the River Tyne, serves as a link between the major arts and cultural center... Continue Reading →
September 10, 2010 A major milestone for bicycling in the Washington, DC., area took place when Capital Bikeshare (abbreviated as CaBi) made its formal debut. At the time, this system had a grand total of 400 bicycles at 49 stations. Ashley Halsey III vividly described the launch of CaBi in the next day’s edition of... Continue Reading →
July 20, 2016 In the Canadian province of British Columbia, the soft launch of a public bicycle-sharing system in the city of Vancouver began. A bicycle-sharing system is mobility service in which bicycles are available for shared short-term use on a low-cost basis. The version of this system in British Columbia’s most populous city is Vancouver... Continue Reading →
June 25, 2011 A dedication ceremony was held for the Peace Bridge in the city of Derry in Northern Ireland. This 771-foot (225-meter)-long bridge, which crosses the River Foyle, was built for pedestrians and cyclists. The bridge serves as a link between Ebrington Square, a public space, on the east bank of the river; and... Continue Reading →
Racing cyclist Coryn Rivera Labecki was born on August 26, 1992, in the city of Garden Grove, California. She grew up in the nearby city of Tustin. Both of Coryn’s parents were Filipino immigrants; her father Wally Rivera had been born in Tondo, a district of the Philippines’ capital city of Manila, and her mother... Continue Reading →
May 12, 1937 Beryl Burton, who became a prominent racing cyclist, was born Beryl Charnock in the Halton district of the English city of Leeds. She would spend most of her life in Morley, a market town and civil parish within Leeds. It was her husband Charles Burton who introduced her to the world of... Continue Reading →
May 6, 2015 In the state of Western Australia (WA), a bridge in the suburb of Maylands was officially opened. (Maylands is about 2.8 miles [4.5 kilometers] northeast of Perth, the capital city of WA.) This vehicular bridge carries Seventh Avenue in Maylands over both a segment of the Midland line, a suburban rail service... Continue Reading →
