Bike to work week


Bike to Work Week 2008 has garnered much attention as oil prices rise and green consciousness is all the rage. The week, which is still going on, is promoted by the League of American Bicyclists and hopes to raise awareness and interest in 2 wheeled transportation. I'm not sure if Sean Connery or Superman are members but I would welcome it.
Not much organization up in my neck of the woods although I have seen quite a few bike commuters. The rack at work was nearly full last week. Gas is inching its way to $4 and I suspect more will get the bikes out. I'd say we have a 65% bike friendly community. The only negatives are lousy community snow removal and aware drivers. The city does a great job at clearing the streets but the sidewalk clearing is crappy. The city mandates that residences are responsible for snow removal on the walkways but rarely have I seen it enforced. There a residence next door to me that only cleared the walkway 1 or 2 times. It makes for really difficult riding when the streets are too busy.
I've been looking at getting a bike trailer so to ultimately make my auto nearly obsolete except for long excursions. The trailers on the previous website are pretty hardcore. There is even a testimonial on the site that says somebody moved a refrigerator with one. I might just make one myself although I have come to like the Wike. They have an inexpensive kit that looks fine.
Finally, I will also put a plug in for Carfree Cities. The New Urbanists must be behind this carfree stuff. Really I think this is possible. Maybe not across the board but doable in certain locales. Their premise is a bit radical for even the liberals in these states. Europe probably is thinking of legislating these ideas. As I mentioned in the Train Day post, our forebears did away with possibility of fast and efficient mass transit by unleashing the consumerism on post-war America. Now that sound pretty ominous, but I will also add that from their vantage point in history that appeared to be just and fair after America suffered through the depression and the war. But I am going beyond what I desire to say- let's think multi-modal efficiency. Bikes for the short distances. Mass transit for longer. I could probably do carfree. I'm nearly 75% there. Who knows maybe even Phil agrees with me. He once had a bio-diesel vehicle.
Slan.

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