Today’s Topic – Bike Friendly?

My fair city is pursuing “Bike Friendly City” status within the League of American Bicyclists. Phase one (1), whatever that is / was, has been completed, and now the City is onto phase two (2).

This phase involves filling out a questionnaire regarding all sorts of “bike related about your city” questions. The dude from my fair city ram-rodding this pursuit filled out the questionnaire and then forwarded onto some of us (us being the dudes on the City Bike Committee, some City employees, and some other interested bike types) for comment.

I read through the questionnaire, I made some comments, and I sent it back. It was interesting. The questions were interesting and the answers provided were interesting. It made a dude think about bike stuff in new ways, some. I was pleasantly surprised to see questions regarding singletrack opportunities in the questionnaire.

This process got me thinking about how bike friendly, or not, my fair city is. Not in regards to League standards, but in reality based standards. My answer to the question of “Is my fair city “bike friendly?” is yes and no.

In my travels I can pretty easily find quick, easy, and safe ways to get almost anywhere I want or need to go. However, once the S.O. started biking to work (every now and then), I’ve been introduced to portions of my fair city that I would not remotely consider “bike friendly” as I provide escort service.

When I consider these parts of the city that I don’t feel safe or comfortable riding in I see two (2) things. The first (1st) is, if I don’t feel good about riding in these areas, a newbie would probably be terrified and give up bike commuting completely. The second (2nd) is if only portions of my fair city are bike friendly while others are hazardous, it is my opinion this is an “all or nothing” type of thing in that the city is friendly for all bike commuters regardless of where they live and work or it should be consider “not bike friendly” in the eyes of the League.

Granted every city, even Portland, even Minneapolis, have areas that are not a good place to bike. However, the sections of my city that I feel are unsafe or confusing or have some major aspect that make them “not bike friendly” is quite far spread.

So, it will be interesting to see what the League’s take on this city will be. I know my views, and they are my own. Personally, I’m anxious for $4.00 per gallon gas, or more, to force the bike friendly issue into the forefront. It will then become an actual important issue and elevate it above “résumé padding” for this city, or any other.


Ride On.