I too read that stupid letter to the editor. Actually- the big problem here is that our country is not awakened to the idea of separated , dedicated bike ways for people who bicycle all of the time for transport.[ Except maybe in NYC]..For instance- Im never going to cycle on Penn Avenue SE coming home with 3 cases of beer & groceries in my bike baskets- you simply do not cycle on Penn avenue with cargo going slow unless you are into suicide- which Im not - you cycle on the sidewalk and use your bell to warn people you are coming along.The whole approach to cycling infrastructure in the USA is geared towards the male super techno jock racer elite who basically have tried to strangle anyone else from cycling or impinging upon their all important right to cycle in the roads with traffic.This needs to change. New bike lanes should be on sidewalks - separate from walkers and cars.And cycling should be allowed on downtown sidewalks until they build dedicated bikelanes or bikepaths.I will not carry a ton of art supplys home from Utrechts on my bike and ride on the roads downtown.It is too dangerous. I also have 2 bells on my bike- which few racers seem to have.Bike racers are assh*les , in my experience. Those drivers SHOULD be yelling at them.
The Post's editors published the letter because they agree with the sentiment, even if they know the writer (who is obviously a selfish moron of the first order)got her facts wrong. Post editors, even those who live in the City, live autocentric lives and rarely, if ever, bicycle or walk. They are the type of people who drive an SUV from their home near a Metro station on Capitol Hill or Bethesda to their office downtown on 15th Street. Plus, their jobs and paychecks are reliant on continued advertising by car dealers and suburban homebuilders, the biggest proponents of automobile dependence and dominance.
RG- you are awesome. Keep those bright comments flowing.....
1. W -- you need to get a bike trailer for beer and art supplies.
2. RG, you are so right. (And I know this but have to balance the access I have to some Post journalists, along with my outrage. When I point out the crap, it does have impact... at least on occasion.)
R-
I have plenty of good basket capacity on the existing cargo bike .
My next cargo bike will be a LongJohn Velorbis from Denmark/Germany -the real deal of all cargo bikes -but first my new Biria is yet to arrive.
Yeah- those WaPo people need to stop harassing us cyclists- they are so "progressive" but yet cannot change themselves. Sad but true..
http://www.velorbis.com/velorbis...elivery-
bicycle
my sister- who lives in Oklahoma City and cycles everywhere- is evidently the first cyclist there to own a Velorbis. She didn't get a Long John- but she did get a "grannie" style Velorbis. A company in Mass. will ship them to your local bike shop. However- Capitol Hill Bikes- which caters mostly to racers & techno -jocks- will not do this. Actually- they are not very good with repairs either.They lost my business...too bad- they are very close by - at one time I can recall there being 3 bike stores/ shops on Capitol Hill- back in the 70's.We need some more competetion.
http://www.biria.com/bicycles/eb/
this bike has a step thru frame- again- style over speed. Although it is not a heavy bike, it is a triumph of real urban/town cycle design.I'm making the prediction that the "men's" bike with it's ridiculous "castration bar"- will become obsolete- as it is totally and structurally un-necessary and in some ways actually dangerous.Step through frames are the ultimate in cycling ergonomics.I'm getting one of these in just a few weeks.
The urban bike shop that I envision would sell both, trailers, and other types of workbikes.
I wrote that paper (in a blog entry), not knowing about Transportation Alternative's 1993-1999 paper on the ideal "Bicycling Blueprint" for NYC.
http://www.transalt.org/files/re...rces/blueprint/
Yeah, those letters are atrocious. Here's a simple answer to these simple people:
Let the gasoline tax pay for every cost associated with driving. Highway police? Gas tax funded. Medical bills from car wreck? Gas tax. Electricity for streetlights? Gas tax.
It wouldn't pay for one day of the real costs of driving.
Besides, I'd be willing to bet the average income of bikers is higher than that of the drivers, do we really want to start saying that those who pay more in taxes are owed more in public services?
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