Bikes!
Last week was bike week!
While I was a less-than-avid road cyclist before leaving for Copenhagen this past semester, the reality of making cycling a mode of transport in all of life's situations, seemed like a distant fantasy. My route to school included an intersection with a major highway, and even shorter trips held as much percieved danger--with my own accident which totalled both involved cars 5 minutes from home as proof. But life in Copenhagen, where I biked to school and around the city nearly everyday, showed me that it is beyond a possibility, and absolutely within my power to make it a reality in Dallas, Texas--reigning 'Worst Cycling City'.
On Wednesday evening, I hooked my road bike into my homemade truck mount (picture below), and drove to the local bike mart, where I had signed up for a free Repair and Road Rules clinic. I think most bike shops will offer something of this sort--it was only an hour long with time to practice the repair and maintenance under instructor supervision. With only seven other attendees, I felt comfortable fumbling over repair practice, knowing the teacher was close by. I consider this the first of many intentional steps to integrating cycling into my lifestyle and hopefully coming to a point of confidently relying on low-emission transport for more and more of my travelling needs.
But this clinic was just the beginning! Over the holiday season, I bought a cruiser bike off Craigslist and with a bit of adjustment and an added basket, voilà! I was ready to take to the streets and public transit like a .....novice? Hah. The picture above is my bike hanging in the designated cycle car of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit. A 'car' on the rail will have one space with two hooks and a bit more open space for cyclists to have their bikes. (Arriving trains will announce the number of 'cars' they have--I think the norm is two)
I designate every Friday as a day for personal rest, and last week I decided to take my bike on the train and read a bit at the park in the arts district. The trip was undoubtedly a success, and it was a beautiful day. Nice guys even helped me hook my bike on the trip both ways--with one of them even giving up his own hook because all (meaning both) were occupied! Hooray for bikes!
"At a time when fossil fuel, pollution and problems with climate
and health are increasingly becoming a global challenge,
giving higher priority to bicycle traffic would seem like an obvious step to take.
We need good cities to bike in and there are many cities
where it would be simple and cheap to upgrade bicycle traffic."
(Cities for People, 183)