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Let's Ride Year-Round
http://www.bikeblog.us
I ride my bike to work because I think it’s a better way of getting to work. Sometimes I take the bus, like when my car is broken down, or the weather is very bad, or I have a cold. (I like taking the bus, though, because while I’m waiting downtown for my connecting bus, I get about a half-hour of reading done that I otherwise don’t fit into my day.) I also like to listen to other people on the bus. But I’m straying from my point. Sort of. The folks on the bus I take to work are apparently not automobile owners. A lot of the people I see on bicycles at 6:30, 7:00, or 7:30 in the morning are also apparently not automobile owners. But I don’t think that the people on the bus (at least not the bus I take) or the people I see biking to work in the morning are willingly not automobile owners. I think if someone gave them a car, paid their insurance, or forgave their DUI convictions, whatever it takes to get them off the bus, off the bike, they’d be back in the driver’s seat of that car without a second thought about the bus or the bicycle.
What I’m saying is there are two kinds of bicyclists: Intentional Bicyclists and Circumstantial Bicyclists. I’m an intentional bicyclist, as you can tell from what I’ve been writing about. I like to ride my bike, and I often choose it over other forms of transportation. Not everyone who rides a bike feels that way about riding their bikes to work.
I’m not sure where I’m headed with this point, with the distinction I’m making between these two types of bicyclists. Maybe I’m still observing, and I’ll come up with a good theory or opinion or something later. But for now, I’m thinking about the folks who want but can’t afford to get a car. Have you seen news reports about bicyclists getting killed by cars or trucks? I am not 100% sure about this, but I think most of the bicyclists killed on the road are not Intentional Bicyclists. Why is that? I don’t think the folks who are riding their bicycles to work because they have no other options are taking the same level of precautions that Intentional Bicyclists are taking, like helmets, for one. Lights, for another. Even if the sun is still up, and it’s just very cloudy, I turn on my bike lights–especially the bright red blinking light on the back of my bike. I want to be seen, I want the cars and trucks to steer around me. I don’t think Circumstantial Bicyclists have that same plan. Why, I don’t know. I have an idea, but saying it out loud makes me sound like a snob. Well, if the shoe fits: The guys riding bikes because they have to, because they can’t drive a car, are not making the kinds of decisions that would get them to put lights on their bikes and wear helmets either. So watch out for them. Drive your cars and trucks carefully, because there are bicyclists wearing dark clothing, riding bikes with no lights or even reflectors.
Doubting Thomas
http://www.doubtingthomasblog.net
I decided to name my blog to “doubting Thomas” partly because my name is Thomas, and partly because I think the double-meaning of the phrase is interesting. (In other words, it could be (a) I’m Thomas, and I am skeptical of what other people are touting as “truth”, or I am doubting; or (b) if readers don’t believe what I write, they are doubting me, doubting Thomas.)
