I Don't Want To Be A "Cyclist"

I was thinking, the other day, as I sipped a cup of coffee and watched a lady park in front of Kaladi Brothers, that we don't think of people who drive cars as "automobilists" or even "drivers". We make no mention of someone's mode of transportation unless it is other than by automobile.

This was not always the case, of course. A hundred years ago, in a big city, people would turn to watch an automobile as it chugged down the road, hoping to get a glimpse of the wealthy and/or famous person inside. And, in a small town, all commerce might cease, temporarily, when an automobile made an appearance. Shopkeepers would leave their businesses and join the townspeople on the sidewalk to see such an unusual sight.

Now, I'm not saying that those days will ever come again, in our lifetime. If they do, let's hope it is a gradual transition, and not precipitated by some combination of natural or man-made disasters which plunges us out of the world as we know it and back into the pre-auto age. Our economy, indeed the world-wide economy, would collapse in such a case. We are entirely too dependent on cheap personal (oil-fired) transportation and cheap commercial (oil-fired) transportation to be able to change overnight without grave consequences.

I do hope, however, that bicycle use continues to increase as the availability of cheap oil decreases. I do hope that, within my lifetime, bicycles will cease to be a novelty form of transport here in the good ole U. S. of A.

As it is now, people in my office are completely baffled when I show up on my bike. In the summer, they can't believe I would choose to ride in the heat. In the winter, they are stunned that I would leave the house in the cold.

I point out to them that I have often mountain biked in Moab when the temperature on the Slickrock Trail was well over 100 degrees F, and that I have ridden many times in below-zero temps. Eighty-five or ninety degrees just doesn't phase me, and it's easy to stay warm while pedalling in 20 to 30 degree temps.

What shocks them is that I ride such a great distance (8-1/2 miles, each way!) on a bike. My goodness!

Even with 13 stoplights (and I have no idea how many stop signs) between here and there, I average 35 minutes, each way, on the bike. Again, I point out, that 100 mile road rides and 75 mile mountain bike rides are easily done by even an old man such as myself. Seventeen miles in a day is not a big deal.

But, what it comes down to, is that the people I work with just can't comprehend going anywhere under their own power. Of course, our business is building and maintaining highways (Colorado Dept. of Transportation), so I guess they are predisposed to think of transportation in terms of "Motor" vehicles.

And, that brings me (finally) back to the subject of this post: I hope that bicycling will eventually become mainstream enough that people no longer have a special name for those who ride. Because, if they don't think of us as "different", then, perhaps, we will finally be seen as "equal" while on the road.

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