For the complete article:
Seven
Ways to Help Folks Fall in Love with Cycling
TYEE LIST #14:
Wheels got you reeling? Notes on pedaling's softer side.
Traveling
the world's great bicycle
cities, I fell in love
with cycling. The ease, safety, convenience… (dreamy sigh).
But as my six-month
love affair came to an end and I returned home to Seattle, I began to realize
the reason for my infatuation: cities like those in Denmark and Holland simply
make themselves lovable. They don't just build cycle tracks; they inject fun, whimsy,
compassion, and even romance into cycling.
Certainly, many
Cascadians love their bikes, but more of us would if we learned these lessons
on cycling's soft side from the world's active-transport capitals.
- Human powered is romantic. I bike home from work with my boyfriend almost every day, and it's one of the best parts of my day. We talk about what we see along the way or what smells are coming from the Hostess Cake Factory. When it's sunny, we sometimes stop for a beer along the way. When it's a crisp winter night, we stop and watch the ships pass under the Fremont Bridge. When it's raining, we talk about what kind of soup we want to make for dinner. Biking together through the elements bonds us in a way that would never happen if we were strapped into a car. Throughout my travels, I saw all kinds of romance on the cycle tracks -- teenagers kissing at stoplights in Paris, older couples holding hands while pedaling in Amsterdam, and a post-wedding getaway bicycle in Copenhagen. The average U.S. worker now spends about 48 minutescommuting each day. Despite the billions of hours we collectively spend commuting, we don't often talk about the way our transportation choices make us feel -- physically or mentally. Maybe we should.
- You don't have to be a "cyclist" to ride a bike.Recreational sub-cultures have owned cycling in North America for a long time. That's starting to change and it's an important cultural shift. "None of these people consider themselves cyclists," Andreas Hammershøj from the Danish Cycling Embassy explained to me last June as we stood on a sidewalk watching swarms of Copenhageners pedal across the Dronning Louises bridge, as 10,000 to 30,000 do daily. "These are just people getting to work, school, or the grocery store," Hammershøj said. It turns out there are Cascadians who, like Copenhageners, would like to get from A to B on their bikes but don't ever want to ride a century. (They might not even care to know what a century ride is.) That's fine. You don't have to identify with the recreational side of cycling to use a bike for transportation. Just ask Blake Trask, the Statewide Policy Director of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington. "I'm not much of a cyclist. I just ride my bike to work most days."
- Remember kickstands? Henry Cutler, the Dutch-American owner of WorkCycles in Amsterdam, is convinced that urban cycling will explode once Americans get off high performance bikes and on to bikes that are upright, comfortable and utilitarian. "Americans ride bikes that are like race cars; Dutch bikes are like Honda Civics and mini-vans," Cutler joked last July as I admired his fleet of practical bikes. They come outfitted with child seats, baskets, bells, chain guards, and front and rear lights powered by your pedaling. Oh, and kickstands: Why don't bikes have kickstands anymore?Tom Fuculoro, author of the Seattle Bike Blog, got it right when he wrote recently that buying a bike ought to be more like buying a car. "Most people aren't fascinated by the technical aspects of car engines; they're sold by the sunroof or cup-holders." David Schmidt, owner of The Dutch Bike Shop in Seattle reports that the useful bike trend is gaining steam. "Ninety per cent of our clients haven't ridden a bike since they were kids. They're rediscovering cycling because it's fun and simpler than driving. These aren't the crusader commuters. They're just people who want to start biking to the grocery store."
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