If you haven't hung around me lately, you might not know that I am geek. Well I have always been a geek, and I am sure everyone knows it, but now my geekiness has taken on new form.
You see, I think cars are the downfall of urban life. I am a bicycle person. And besides that, I think we should put more money toward transit, make cities more friendly for pedestrians, and even more importantly plan development so that the things you do everyday are within biking are walking distance. Also, I read blogs with names like Treehugger, Streetsblog and PlaceShakers.
And the worst part is that it isn't enough to just read this stuff I have to try to indoctrinate everyone else too.
So, let me tell why bikes are great. According to the League of American Bicyclists, 40% of all urban trips are less than 2 miles long. Yet 90% of them are made by car. What would happen if some of those trips were converted to bicycle trips? I'll tell you what would happen: we would save money on gas, put less pollutants into the air, there would be less dependence on foreign oil, less traffic, AND we all might get a little healthier. Well we wouldn't want that, now would we?
Wouldn't it be great if we had even a few more people making some of their everyday trips by bike?
To quote treehugger:
We’re not talking about spandex-clad “cyclists,” but more “people who ride bikes.” There’s a difference, because we’re not talking about sweating-for-50-miles cycling. We’re talking about rolling-to-the-corner-store biking, pedal-to-a-playdate biking, and glorious rolling-down-a-dusty-road-on-a-hot-summer-day biking. If we want to cut carbon emissions, decrease obesity, and stop air pollution, then we need more people-who-ride-bikes."
You see .... more people riding bikes is the answer to all the planet's woes.
Are you surprised?
I told you I was a geek.
One of the things I love about where we live is that I am a 10 minute bike ride from the mall, the library, the grocery store, my dance class, and a lot of other stuff. Now if only I could convince my kids to ride with me.
And on that note I will show you my bike. The basket was an Easter present and the fenders were a Mother's Day present. It is a work in progress, but I like it, and it gets me where I want to go. Maybe some day it will be purple with flowers, who knows.
3 comments:
Sometimes I do a lot of biking locally, since my town has nifty bike trails all around. But sadly, sometimes I don't.
My workplace is only 4 miles away, and they have just opened up a bike lane all the way there. I'm trying to decide if I could manage to bike there in a timely manner. Probably could, it is mostly downhill. It's the getting back home again uphill that would be challenging. Go bikes!
I think its brilliant and you have inspired me. I'm gonna ride my bike more. I like riding my bike, I just forget about doing it.
I love my own bike. It is old and rusty, but it is purple and teal. Nothing beats that. And I can go super fast. The only problem is that Every errand I need to run is 15 minutes away by car. So I can only ride for fun. Lots o fun.
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