Bike to Work Week into Bike to Live Life
I’m thrilled to see so many people out on bicycles today either as a daily mode of transit or especially for this 2008 Bike to Work Week. I just rode up from the Statehouse and I am glad to report to you that today, like everyday, is a wonderful day to be on two wheels. I want to thank the organizers for this opportunity to speak about a few things close to my heart.
So first things first, why should we all hop on bicycles instead of walking, busing, driving or maybe someday taking the train? Don’t all of these forms of transit have their place?
Absolutely they do. Unfortunately our society has put such a stigma on all of these forms of transportation EXCEPT for driving that the others have been neglected. This week is all about removing that stigma from bicycling – although obviously walking and riding the bus deserve to have that stigma removed as well.
This year we’ve seen an amazing response to the call for people to ride on Bike to Work Week. There is one very real reason for this – gas prices are already pushing the $4 a gallon mark which suggests a reality of them reaching up over the $4 a gallon mark during the summer. Over the past 7 years we have seen oil prices soar while investment in public transit and alternative transportation options plummet. We must turn this trend around. I suggest we look for the opportunity in what otherwise might feel like a helpless situation.
The prices are now at such a point that the neediest of our community have hit the brick wall; they literally can not pay for gas at this price and are going to start falling deeper into social systems or worse yet, through the cracks in these safety nets. Many people have chosen to believe that this is a personal responsibility issue; that it isn’t a concern of theirs because they can still pay $4 a gallon.
As our social institutions overcrowd there will be greater burden placed on everyone; services that the broader public rely on will also become burdened and all along fuel costs will continue to rise. Abatement of fuel taxes will, at best, only provide for very short term relief. Eventually, perhaps as soon as next summer, we will be looking at $6 a gallon. At that point many of the people sluffing off the $4 a gallon gas will also be hitting that brick wall.
For this reason let’s make time work for us all. Instead of waiting to hit the brick wall; waiting for that morning you wake up and realize you can either put gas in the car to get to work or else you can feed yourself or family; let’s start making some options for ourselves.
When I started riding my bicycle to work a few years ago it was difficult. I weighed 250 pounds and had recently given up smoking. I wasn’t sure how to deal with freshening up for the office and I wasn’t good at fixing my bike on the road if I broke down. I didn’t have any friends in my same situation; I just had a desire to get healthy again and save money. I’d always enjoyed bicycling and thought it was a natural fit. Waking up at 6am, dragging myself into the shower, and then getting onto a bicycle for the 30 minute ride into work was extremely tough to get used to. I found that one way to ease myself into the routine was to pedal a mile or so to the bus stop, put my bike on the front, and ride the bus into work. That way I didn’t have to worry about being too sweaty when I got to the office and I could get a good ride in on the way home from work.
After a month or two of this I realized that I was fit enough that, by wearing appropriate riding clothes, I could ride into work faster than I could bus in. I also figured out some very simple strategies for cleaning up when necessary once I got to work. With this I found it was simple enough to get along even on days when there is inclement weather. Wet from sweat or wet from rain are very similar at that point and riding in the rain can honestly be fun sometimes, particularly on a warm spring or summer day.
Now, my job takes me off site from time to time which requires some planning but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. In most situations meetings can be scheduled to make for fewer trips back and forth between locations, often other people are also traveling to the meetings which makes for carpooling opportunities, and in worst case scenarios I will ride my motorcycle instead.
I tend to broadcast my commitment to cycling. Everyone at work knows that I bicycle commute and while I have plenty of environmental stances that favor bicycling I don’t stand on that platform as my main reason for riding. I’ve found that, when trying to convince others to ride, they are already thinking of ways to evade your line of reason. Labeling you as a “crazy environmentalist” is one way for them to easily write you off. I’m not saying that is fair, just realistic. I think the best way to win people over is just by letting them see you live a normal life; without a car.
In fact many people at work wouldn’t know that I bicycle to work if I didn’t mention it whenever it seemed appropriate. I think that’s one key to selling the idea to people. Most people feel like they are going to have to make a radical change in their lifestyle to use primarily alternative forms of transportation but that just isn’t true. Granted, there are people who have chosen to live way out in the exurbs which have committed themselves to driving a car for now – but the bulk of central Ohio’s population lives here in Franklin County and thus is well within the range of using bicycle and COTA for their travel needs. The biggest struggle is for people to change their minds, to decide that now is the time to explore their travel options, not later when they are too far invested in car culture to change.
I want to sort of wrap things up by talking about what changes I’ve noticed this week. On any given day I can count on having at least 2 near misses due to cars not paying attention to me on the road. This week I had 4 on Monday alone, one of which I am certain was intentional. The thing is that, well, over this week those were the only near misses that occurred. Whether it was the media push about bike to work week, the gas prices finally getting to people, or just dumb luck I’m not sure. I can attest to the fact that I’ve been getting passed by people more respectfully this week. I’ve also seen a ton of new riders out there which has been great. As a team lead for my office’s bike to work weak team I’ve heard from a couple of the participants that they’re already looking forward to next week when the weather is supposed to be even nicer. These are people who prior to this event hadn’t ever ridden to work on their bicycle and now they’ll be doing it daily. That’s an amazing change of mind right there.
The news this week continued to cover the fact that gas prices are climbing and they continued to provide cheats for how to increase mileage in your car. What was finally on the table along with that though was an actual call for people to start cycling. There wasn’t a lead in to the story about being the oddball bicyclist, there was just the reality that bicycles are transportation – and they even pointed out that bikes are meant to be in traffic, not on the sidewalks.
All of these changes, all of these changes of mind. I think this is what can happen when we all get together and show our community that we can be that change we want to see. I encourage everyone to continue using alternate transportation until the day comes that we can drop the word alternate and just call it transit.
Bike to work week is a catalyst, it is an event, or group of events, which can create such change that someday we’ll all just know of it as bike to live life.
