…a car in every driveway
The Mellow Velo garage: Two mountain bikes, one road bike and one single speed. Not pictured: the Felt (on the trainer) and the Cannondale (on loan in Washington, D.C.)
Nights and weekends mean open garage doors. Overheated air must be flushed out and lawn tools must be brandished in an attempt to revive drought-stricken lawns. Take a walk around the neighborhood, and it soon becomes apparent that almost everyone owns a bicycle. Parents, kids, you name it – there are bikes in the garages.
Take that same walk around the neighborhood. It also becomes apparent that almost no one is out riding those bicycles. Even if they wanted to, where would they go? Why would they ride? Our neighborhood consists of a single street. The road to our homes is busy, under eternal construction and – even if it were ridable – goes nowhere interesting or safe for the casual cyclist.
Much of the city, especially the suburbs, is laid out in this manner. Roads are not accessible, and neither are destinations. While this doesn’t mean much to hardened “PRO” riders breaking their teeth on the grit of exposed access road shoulders or to those of us willing to drive 20 minutes to find deserted, beautiful backcountry roads, it doesn’t invite kids to put down their Wiis and play outside.
That families still buy bicycles is a good sign. Ridership is engrained in our culture, although nowhere near to the cycling culture in Europe (in countries where it’s actually a practical mode of transportation). But it is a sign of hope that the average person continues to value two wheels. Even if they’re rarely ridden in most places, I’ll take that as a start.
3 responses so far ↓
Suitcase of Courage // July 17, 2009 at 2:36 pm |
Boy, you guys are ahead of us – we have only 2 road bikes, a hybrid and a MTB.
You’ve hit a nerve though with what you’ve observed in the neighborhood. It’s all fine and dandy to say “Bikes Belong” and “Share the Road” – I’ve done that myself lots. But the reality is that, at best, the motorists are distracted and not paying attention and, at worst, actively against bikes being on the road. Either way it makes the roads less inviting and dangerous.
We’ll never be the Netherlands, but sheesh – we need SO much more driver education. And stiffer penalties for motorists who hit cyclists. Gotta change the attitude about the roads and make them more inviting for all those families that have bikes to ride.
Sorry – I’m preaching to the congregation. It’s just that a teammate got hit while on a training ride on Wednesday – and that’s on our relatively nice roads. I don’t know how you guys do it considering the conditions where you ride.
the village scribe // July 17, 2009 at 5:30 pm |
Terrific picture, Mello, and your observations are spot on. I’ve been asking folks lately what their reservations about riding are, and, more importantly, what can I (and we as a cycling community) do about those reservations. I’m wondering more and more if the answer, in part, isn’t a pledge on the part of more experienced riders to ride with less experienced riders, whether to work or for a recreational ride, until they feel comfortable.
Wicked sorry to hear the news about your teammate, suitcase. Is she/he OK?
10thousandfeet // July 17, 2009 at 7:00 pm |
Sometimes I don’t know how all eight of my teammates and I made it 3,300 miles last summer with only one person getting run off the road by an errant car (he was pretty banged up, but just became our permanent SAG wagon driver for a few weeks). We had a few near misses, but nothing serious or even worrisome.
Unfortunately, my governor, Rick “goodhair” Perry (whom I greatly dislike) recently vetoed a safe-passing bill that had nearly unanimous support from both houses of Congress and both parties. It would require motorists to take more responsibility to avoid hitting cyclist, motorcyclists, runners and the like. He said it placed TOO MUCH responsibility on drivers.
No one understands why he vetoed it. His explanation makes little sense. Granted, some cyclists ride stupid, but it’s almost impossible to win an argument that a car intentionally did not move out of the way.