Thursday, September 3, 2009

Biking to work!

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” H.G. Wells.

Well perhaps H.G. wasn’t necessarily speaking of these people:



Yes, that's Russel Crowe and Leo Dicaprio smoking and pedalling.  But hey - at least they are biking to work.  As we all should be! 

September is the Way To Go To Work month in CoMo and simultaneously the No Car, Low Car and Whoa! Car program. Obviously, these endeavors are designed to get people out of their cars and onto other modes of transportation, (preferably bikes). I think maybe we need some motivational slogans to go along with these programs to kick it up a notch, though.   My humble submissions:

“It’s harder to eat that Krispy Kreme riding to work on a bike, than in your minivan.”

“Your breakfast was raisin bran and two cups of coffee. Why fumigate your car on your morning commute when you can ride your bike and cropdust?”

“Bike commuting: A perfect excuse to wear spandex at the workplace.”

I am obviously not alone in trying to come up with novel marketing schemes for the bike commuting initiative as this was recently posted on CraigsList:


The Tribune is running a blog to allow people to share their experiences with bike commuting, and the entries are already spanning a range from the flowery (posted Sept 1):

Morning Haiku by Windy
“I hear the whisper
A leaf under my bike tire
Listen, and nature talks.”

to the competitive (posted Sept 1):

Competitive juices flowing by Tanners
“I was just starting out on my commute this morning and taking a left turn at the bottom of a hill, a bicyclist in a yellow windbreaker passed me going straight. We met again on West Boulevard as she passed. I decided I had to keep up with her so I pushed it a bit harder than my usual pace but she still maintained a comfortable distance ahead of me all of the way to campus.”

A few comments:

Regarding the haiku. Is there an extra syllable in that last line? Ah screw it – I failed 17th century Japanese poetry, anyway. Windy – you keep on rocking your bike commute AND your haikus!

Regarding the competitive juices. Apparently it was Windy that dropped Tanners like a dirty diaper on the morning commute. Windy, I think appropriate etiquette would have been to pass on the left and slow to a speed that would have allowed Tanners to draft. We’re all on the same team here, kids.

Remember what being too competitive can lead to. You might win the race – but….

1 comment:

  1. I think it was Windy who thanked him for stopping at a stop sign, not the one who dropped him on his commute. That's how I understood her comment anyway.

    Cyclists stopping at stop signs? Stop the presses.

    ReplyDelete