This post comes from many years of personal experience and from my time here in Canada.
I've been a cyclist for most of my life. I first sat on a bicycle with training wheels when I was 4 and rode without when I was 6. I've fallen off more times than I can remember and I have a nice collection of scars to show for it, I have scars on my right knee when I wiped out on a corner I turned too fast, the index finger of my right hand is deformed thanks to a wipe out when I was trying to show off, my left shoulder has a pink patch where I crashed on a roundabout and slid along the road for 20 meters. I've even broken a bone cycling, well, I kinda broke it, the x-ray was inconclusive but it looked like I had a chip off one of the tarsals in my right foot. That one happened when I wasn't paying attention and tried to ride across a crossing when it wasn't my right of way and a slow moving car collided with me.
All told I've been cycling for more than 30 years and I'm pretty decent at it, on a mountain bike with road tyres I can manage 18mph average speed at a push, or a more leisurely 15mph average without pushing myself too hard.
With that told, I'd like to talk about cycling, cyclists and why its not the solution to our transport problems, at least not yet.
Cyclists fall into a number of categories;
Poor,
Fitness,
Recreational,
Environmental,
Childhood,
Professional.
For most of my cycling life I fell into the fitness category, most recently I've also entered into the environmental camp, as cycling, when used as a main mode of transport around an urban environment, is a very ecologically friendly way to commute.
For most people cycling is a childhood thing, you learn as a kid because its what you do, its a way for you to go visit your friends who live more than a short walk away, its a way to go to the store, to go someplace other than home when you don't have to carry much or have too far to go. Most kids grow out of this, especially in the western world, by the time they get a driver's license, or their parents decide its too dangerous for them to be out on the road without the protection of a car's steel/aluminium/carbon fibre shell.
For some, like myself, its a fitness issue, you cycle to keep fit, you can also use that aspect as a way to travel around, but in the fitness category you'll travel further than most on your cycle. I've ridden 70 miles in a day, just because. You'll also commute on your bike because it keeps you fit, saves you money and is ecologically sound. This group of people, like myself, will cycle most of the year and most of their lives.
Some people look upon their bicycles as a purely recreational tool, they'll strap their bikes onto the back of their SUVs or 4X4s and head off to the wilds where a cycle trail awaits them, they'll cycle around for a while, have some lunch, cycle some more, then strap the bikes back on the vehicles for the drive home. The bikes are then stowed again until the next time the whim takes them.
Professionals are a small extreme group, the cycle courier, the pro/am athlete (road racers, bmx riders, mountain bikers, bike trialists) and the rarity, a job that makes you cycle, e.g. police initiatives. People in this group are either forced into it (cops) or they are driven by the need to ride, live to ride, ride to live. It doesn't matter to them what the weather, what the time of day, they ride for riding's sake, some get paid, many don't.
Environmentalists cycle to prove a point, "look at me I'm saving the planet", sometimes this is true, when they eschew anything with an engine. They make a life choice to prove a point to the rest of the world. This works well in a city where you can travel short distances to find everything you need, but in rural areas, not so much, still, its a start I guess. Politicians have polluted this group of course, they show off their greenness by riding around the city, with 5 bodyguards, 3 cars with all their staff and documents, helicopter escort, you know the kind of thing, typical political hypocrisy masquerading as caring for anything but their own image.
Now I get to the poor. For much of the world, where annual wages are minuscule, where you can barely feed and clothe your family, where a motor vehicle is a lifetime's earnings, the bicycle can be (but not always) a life line, a way to transport goods to and from markets, to travel to and from work, to carry your family. Asia is the perfect example of the bicycle as mass transit. Its almost a unique situation which is slowly dying off as Asia's massive population gradually earns more, pulling themselves out of poverty and rising to moderate (by western terms) affluence.
In the western world however the poor who cycle tend to be those of a "ghetto" persuasion. Those who's lives have been "wasted" in crime, drugs, anti-social behaviour, or just never cared to better themselves in the lands of plenty. These people cycle their ghetto bikes, contravening any laws of the land, not caring about their personal safety, let alone the safety of others. They will ride at night, without lights or reflectors, on the streets or pavements (sidewalks) with total disregard for anyone or anything else. This is the group that above all else who give cyclists a bad name.
The problem for cycling as a solution for traffic emissions and congestion? Well there's the image problem for one, some see it as a childish pursuit that should be abandoned when you're capable of owning a vehicle and there's the "ghetto" types, who paint an extremely poor image of the cyclist. Add to this the fact that motorists feel entitled to the road, hate to share it with other vehicles, let alone human powered bicycles. As a cyclist I've many times been close to death thanks to a motorist who either didn't care to look out for me, or had no regard for my life whatsoever, only my own ability to protect myself on the road has kept me safe.
Until there's an overriding incentive for people to get out of their cars and onto bicycles in a safe(ish) environment, it won't happen, it may never happen if alternative fuels for vehicles actually turn out to be the solution that most of us hope they can be, but certainly not yet and not for 20 years possibly.
I hate to be negative, because I love cycling, but its a fact of life, a few people using a 140 year old technology won't change the world, unfortunately, but for the time being, I'll keep cycling and looking out for myself.
I've been a cyclist for most of my life. I first sat on a bicycle with training wheels when I was 4 and rode without when I was 6. I've fallen off more times than I can remember and I have a nice collection of scars to show for it, I have scars on my right knee when I wiped out on a corner I turned too fast, the index finger of my right hand is deformed thanks to a wipe out when I was trying to show off, my left shoulder has a pink patch where I crashed on a roundabout and slid along the road for 20 meters. I've even broken a bone cycling, well, I kinda broke it, the x-ray was inconclusive but it looked like I had a chip off one of the tarsals in my right foot. That one happened when I wasn't paying attention and tried to ride across a crossing when it wasn't my right of way and a slow moving car collided with me.
All told I've been cycling for more than 30 years and I'm pretty decent at it, on a mountain bike with road tyres I can manage 18mph average speed at a push, or a more leisurely 15mph average without pushing myself too hard.
With that told, I'd like to talk about cycling, cyclists and why its not the solution to our transport problems, at least not yet.
Cyclists fall into a number of categories;
Poor,
Fitness,
Recreational,
Environmental,
Childhood,
Professional.
For most of my cycling life I fell into the fitness category, most recently I've also entered into the environmental camp, as cycling, when used as a main mode of transport around an urban environment, is a very ecologically friendly way to commute.
For most people cycling is a childhood thing, you learn as a kid because its what you do, its a way for you to go visit your friends who live more than a short walk away, its a way to go to the store, to go someplace other than home when you don't have to carry much or have too far to go. Most kids grow out of this, especially in the western world, by the time they get a driver's license, or their parents decide its too dangerous for them to be out on the road without the protection of a car's steel/aluminium/carbon fibre shell.
For some, like myself, its a fitness issue, you cycle to keep fit, you can also use that aspect as a way to travel around, but in the fitness category you'll travel further than most on your cycle. I've ridden 70 miles in a day, just because. You'll also commute on your bike because it keeps you fit, saves you money and is ecologically sound. This group of people, like myself, will cycle most of the year and most of their lives.
Some people look upon their bicycles as a purely recreational tool, they'll strap their bikes onto the back of their SUVs or 4X4s and head off to the wilds where a cycle trail awaits them, they'll cycle around for a while, have some lunch, cycle some more, then strap the bikes back on the vehicles for the drive home. The bikes are then stowed again until the next time the whim takes them.
Professionals are a small extreme group, the cycle courier, the pro/am athlete (road racers, bmx riders, mountain bikers, bike trialists) and the rarity, a job that makes you cycle, e.g. police initiatives. People in this group are either forced into it (cops) or they are driven by the need to ride, live to ride, ride to live. It doesn't matter to them what the weather, what the time of day, they ride for riding's sake, some get paid, many don't.
Environmentalists cycle to prove a point, "look at me I'm saving the planet", sometimes this is true, when they eschew anything with an engine. They make a life choice to prove a point to the rest of the world. This works well in a city where you can travel short distances to find everything you need, but in rural areas, not so much, still, its a start I guess. Politicians have polluted this group of course, they show off their greenness by riding around the city, with 5 bodyguards, 3 cars with all their staff and documents, helicopter escort, you know the kind of thing, typical political hypocrisy masquerading as caring for anything but their own image.
Now I get to the poor. For much of the world, where annual wages are minuscule, where you can barely feed and clothe your family, where a motor vehicle is a lifetime's earnings, the bicycle can be (but not always) a life line, a way to transport goods to and from markets, to travel to and from work, to carry your family. Asia is the perfect example of the bicycle as mass transit. Its almost a unique situation which is slowly dying off as Asia's massive population gradually earns more, pulling themselves out of poverty and rising to moderate (by western terms) affluence.
In the western world however the poor who cycle tend to be those of a "ghetto" persuasion. Those who's lives have been "wasted" in crime, drugs, anti-social behaviour, or just never cared to better themselves in the lands of plenty. These people cycle their ghetto bikes, contravening any laws of the land, not caring about their personal safety, let alone the safety of others. They will ride at night, without lights or reflectors, on the streets or pavements (sidewalks) with total disregard for anyone or anything else. This is the group that above all else who give cyclists a bad name.
The problem for cycling as a solution for traffic emissions and congestion? Well there's the image problem for one, some see it as a childish pursuit that should be abandoned when you're capable of owning a vehicle and there's the "ghetto" types, who paint an extremely poor image of the cyclist. Add to this the fact that motorists feel entitled to the road, hate to share it with other vehicles, let alone human powered bicycles. As a cyclist I've many times been close to death thanks to a motorist who either didn't care to look out for me, or had no regard for my life whatsoever, only my own ability to protect myself on the road has kept me safe.
Until there's an overriding incentive for people to get out of their cars and onto bicycles in a safe(ish) environment, it won't happen, it may never happen if alternative fuels for vehicles actually turn out to be the solution that most of us hope they can be, but certainly not yet and not for 20 years possibly.
I hate to be negative, because I love cycling, but its a fact of life, a few people using a 140 year old technology won't change the world, unfortunately, but for the time being, I'll keep cycling and looking out for myself.
1 comment:
I seem to have the same problems as you have when faced with irate motorists who don't view Bicycles as legitimate transportation. Mostly I use my bike as transportation to and from work.
Blog of a disocntented conforming non-conformist
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