Many thanks to James over at bicycle design for pointing out a recent article in House and Garden by Sue Halpern and Bill McKibben. I agree with James that it is wonderful to see an article in a general interest magazine drawing attention to how easy it is to hop on a bike and get started.
The article includes realistic comments about the challenges we face, like infrastructure:
“it’s not just conditioning that influences our behavior; it’s infrastructure, too. Or, rather, the absence of infrastructure.”
…and a few comments from Elizabeth Preston of the League of American Bicyclists:
“People have to not feel frightened to get on a bike”
A nice quote in the wrap-up:
“Here in Vermont, we have to get our satisfaction in other ways. Like slowing down to smell our neighbor’s lilacs as we go by them, and getting in a workout when we go for the mail, and lightening our carbon footprint by using less gasoline. We may never pass any cars, but even so, we’ll surpass them all.”
Photograph from the article is by Nigel Cox