http://www.bikerfox.com/

I haven’t been interviewed yet, but most people think I’m doing it for the environment.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s a benefit, but I’m really being selfish by commuting by bike. I don’t think any journalist would use me as their subject after interviewing me. They’d go find another cyclist. I do it because it’s fun, it saves me money, and because I can get more work done in a day when my co-workers leave me alone since half of them think I’m a lunatic.

It appears that rationality just doesn’t bring in the readers.

So my suggestion is simply this – tell people that riding a bicycle is fun! Adults should grab at every chance that life offers to have a little bit of fun. No one arrives at work marveling about their drive on congested streets. But cyclists arrive at work energized and refreshed.

So tell those media types that the REAL secret to bicycle commuting is that we’re just kids at heart, out riding our bikes for the sheer joy of it, and we intend to keep it that way.

I’ve been interviewed by local newsapers – the Boulder Daily Camera and Longmont (CO) Times-Record News – about various cycling subjects: commuting, legislation, bicycle safety, etc. I was in the rolodex as a source at both of these papers as some sort of “expert” because I happened to have a cycling website.

Papers tend to use the same sources. Here in Silicon Valley, the papers always quote Gladwyn D’Souza so I guess my days of fame are over — at least until I move back to a smaller town.

It helps if you know bike shop owners/managers really well. Papers usually call bike shops and ask if they know anybody that can be interviewed about bike stuff. I intend to post an article Someday Soon Now about how to talk to newspaper reporters. Reporters write that bicycling is horrible because that all they hear from bicycling ‘advocates.’