Suburban style development is inhospitable to bike commutes in general.. We need to work on new urbanist style developments in the U.S.

I’m one year away from going to college, and I hope to move to a more urban city and get involved in the biking and new urbanist movements. New urbanism seems to be getting much new interest in the country.

Even my friends at school tell me that they would love to live in an urban environment like in the movies they see. I feel so disconnected in the suburbs, everything is characterless, you have to drive to get anyway. Roads are disgusting looking… there are tons of cracks and tar to cover up cracks because there isn’t enough money or effort to fix the roads. There are way too many roads to maintain… which is way suburbanism is illogical

Anyhow…we had heard that the economy was expected to slow down last year. To guard against this, we skipped the multi-thousand dollar bikes and stocked our floor with plenty of entry level commuter-priced bikes. When the dust settled at the end of the year, we were left with a floor full of entry to mid level bikes….and all of our bikes priced from $650 to $1000 (Canadian, don’t forget) were completely sold out. Local department stores remained overstocked all year. The reason for this might be that we saw plenty of people who decided that if they were going to invest in a bicycle for daily use, they were willing to spend more than normal. This also applied to people we sold to who would normally go to Walmart. We are already seeing the same spending trend again this year. There is very little interest in a sub- $500 adult bike thus far.

My favorite was right after I moved here: I was on a road that has a middle turning lane and so has plenty of room for cars to get around me. As a car passed me, though, I heard someone yell–in a thick Southern accent–”Get on the sidewalk, dumbass!”

So, while I hope that bicycling as a mode of transportation continues to catch on, in many parts of the country the biggest obstacles remain these: car-centric attitudes and lack of infrastructure.

I know that not everywhere in TN or the South is like where I live–cities like Chattanooga are promoting bike commuting. It’s just quite shocking to move from progressive, environmentally-conscious NH to regressive, I-love-my-truck-and-guns TN.

I don’t think it’s all due to the economy, the slight upswing in it seems to be helping. Bikes seem to be BIG this year though, and it’s fantastic to see!

-Peak oil – the US hit it in 1970

-Global warming – but people have to get out of their boxes to notice.

-Never ending wars in the oil regions- but they want to be able to support their addiction cheaply.

-Obesity – I honestly think door mirrors are a thing of the past.

-Congestion – parkway – the name finally makes since

-Price of gas – went up 400% in one decade – see never ending wars

-Changing weather patterns – ask farms about lack of rain in many places.

For me it didn’t take seeing to many of these for me to wake up…. Still I get bullied by so many lawless motorists as it seems to be an escape for a moment to know there metal box gives them power….

In Minneapolis they have lots of non-motor trials, but they are not for transportation as they often have fences block access to streets unless they are main roads that are only for cars. Still you can ride for miles and not access a grocery store on many of them… More proof that the bicycle is a useless toy… So, I have to ride to work and stores on roads where motorist do everything they can to support the government, at least I get a good laugh…

I remember talking with my dad a couple years back after one of his trips to Norway, he told fuel was going for around $6/L (equiv) and this was in an oil producing country (He worked for a company that supplies fluids for oil drilling). He suggested that the bulk of the difference may have been taxes. Possibly going towards social programs and infrastructure maintenance/improvement. He mentioned the number of people he saw riding and walking and taking advantage of public transport. We own two cars, neither of which I find as enjoyable or as fulfilling as riding my bicycle. I don’t ride really for sport, but I get a huge charge out of hauling in the recycling or wrestling the bike home loaded with groceries. Who needs a car?

Maybe a change in the economy would spur more local producers to sell locally, directly to the consumer. Farmers markets and the like become something regular here, not a novelty. Maybe less driving the 30 miles to the closest “mega-low-mart” I can’t speak for those in metropolitan areas, but maybe; here in this area. It could bring about some much needed change.