More on Bike commuting

Running with the alternative transportation trend for today I figured I would pass along a pretty comprehensive article on bicycle commuting.

Yesterday I was chatting with Ted of Rockitecture fame about the stigma of being a bike commuter in today's autocentric society. He had mentioned that since he had started cycling to his new job on the other side of Cleveland from where he worked he felt that driving had become a burden and felt out of sync with that whole realization. It was a thought I had shared with the MarJ a couple of weeks ago when I realized that the only time I really drove my car was to move it from one spot on the street to another to avoid getting a parking ticket. Driving had become a huge, unnecessary and expensive burden and the complete joke of the situation is that to continue automobile ownership one had to have some sort of copious funding.

"Isn't it amazing in our country how driving is just... i mean... how could you not like driving? The idea of someone just being like, you know, I really don't like driving... its inconceivable.

Sam sent me this really decent short article yesterday about sociologists just now realizing that there are (at least) two classes of bike commuters, those that do it by choice, and spend a ton of money on epq. and gear and those that bike b/c they don't have a choice, and the divide between the two. It briefly went into how in our society for the lower class the idea is get those people into cars rather then to teach them proper bike maintenance and car, along with the rules of the road while on a bike. Only once you have become an yuppie urbanite does it become socially acceptable to forsake the car. And even then...

it still continuously blows my mind how the simple act of riding a bike to work/around town can have this deep social meaning and be seen as this act that personally challenges notions of everyday life people would never consider otherwise. " ~Ted

Which is interesting, that a choice of conveyance could impart some sort of deeper social meeting when what it really boils down to is simply getting your butt from one location another in a relatively controlled manner. Of course some justify their purchase of hybrids by pointing out the social statement of strategically purchasing a more expensive auto if only to raise awareness, or as some put it, to justify the "smug" factor which I have heard applied to cyclists as well.

Personally I don't want to get into the argument of what driving what type of car defines what person as. My main concern is getting myself with what stuff I need from one location to another in a quick and easy manner that just happens to be good for me and incidentally, the city and the planet. So that may make me seem a little smug, but I suppose that what a smile on a passing face looks like when someone is stuck in traffic thinking about how much gas they are wasting.

resources:
how to commute by bike with tons of links and pointers (thanks to Grist)!