Bicycle Musings

Triggered by another unfortunate conflict between myself as a car commuter (still need to in current job circumstances) and a bicycle, I thought I would lay out a few thoughts related to the current state of cycling from someone who is both a cyclist and a driver interacting with other cyclists.

Firstly, let me go on record as a strong and vocal advocate of cycling as an important means to reduce VMT and commute to work. Where, weather permitting, this is feasible, infrastructure should be rapidly built to accommodate and encourage this activity. Places such as Portland, Madison, and Davis show what can be accomplished here. I am a professional urban planner who has worked for several decades to ensure that bicycle facilities are considered in the transportation planning process.

I used to cycle frequently as a teenager with a pretty nice aluminum rimmed 1975 Raleigh Super Course. After my second bike was stolen at college, I was bikeless for nearly 18 years until I recently bought a fairly affordable ($800) road bike. My first widening of the eyes occurred as I was researching bikes and noted that there was no price equivalence between the bike I used to own and anything resembling that bike today. To approximate that $400 bike might require an investment of $1100 or more.

I rode in cutoff jeans and a ragged t-shirt and a pair of Adidas Vienna's but that would only elicit stares today as one needs the entire wardrobe of jersey, shorts, socks, gloves, helmet, and shoes with an outlay of hundreds of dollars to be part of the crowd. My observation is that cycling has morphed into an exclusive club-like social activity with standards for acceptable wear, behaviors, insider knowledge, and other mores. This is problematic because to have cycling acceptable as an across the board alternative to driving would require buy-in from all social groups. As I observe it, cycling today certainly does not seem approachable to the "common" person. One last note along this line relates to how many cycling jerseys worn by roadies are plastered with commercial insignia similar to the Sunoco stickers displayed by cars owned by NASCAR fans. Do we really need to be rolling billboards for these corporations?

Another issue I want to note, and this of course will ID me as an "outsider", is that of cycling etiquette. I ride my bike as far to the right on the pavement as I possibly can both for safety on the narrow New England roads I dare travel and also as a courtesy to drivers who need to get around me. I am particularly sensitive when hearing a car approach from the rear and move to the side quite consciously. I also stop at all stop signs, observe all yield signs and obey traffic requirements as State law requires. So let me throw it out there and ask as respectfully as I can of other riders, "why do I seem to be one of the few who acts this way?"

So often as a driver, I come upon cyclists riding two or three abreast in the narrow, windy roadway, taking up the entire lane, fairly slow on the uphill, forcing a cuing of several cars for quite a while before the cars, one at a time, must find a suitable straightaway to pass by going entirely in the opposite lane (often illegally with a double stripe). Could someone please explain this behavior to me? I have experienced it too often for it to be a coincidence. Relevant to me, Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter 85, Section 11B require riders to obey all traffic laws including single file riding unless passing (but I often see this violated as noted above).

I am also curious to have someone explain to me why so many cyclists charge full speed through stop signs without so much as a sideways glance. I can only surmise that they choose to break the law to maintain the hard earned momentum that cars use petroleum to obtain. It still appears to be dangerous and careless as well as illegal, immature, and uncivil.

On occasion, I have vocalized my dismay to cyclists who have exhibited the behaviors I have observed only to be rewarded with a middle digit and some more profoundly juvenile vocalizations. This only solidifies my feelings that many (but of course not all) cyclists today are spoiled and elitist. Thus my strong suggestion....to encourage cycling to be ubiquitous and egalitarian, these behaviors and mores need to be eliminated. Otherwise I see a huge social barrier to the change in culture necessary to get people out of their cars and on bikes.

One final point. If you are a cyclist and see justifications for the behaviors I describe and the gear that you display, please feel free to respond and enlighten me. However, please do this in a civil and mature manner and not what I often observe behaviorally from many cyclists in my community. This is really a question of civility and inclusiveness and successful relocalization requires these behaviors in droves.