Friday Fun: Detroit Bike City

We were inspired and impressed with the bike culture that has emerged in Detroit and we wanted to share it with you.  Happy Friday!

Off the Freeway

Today's guest blog post was written by former Bicycle Alliance staffer Mark Canizaro of Seattle.  This was originally published in July 2005 on his personal blog.

I work at a bicycle advocacy organization. Among my tasks is answering telephone and email questions about bicycling in general and frequently those are about possible routes.

Today I got a request from a father in Bellingham who had a wonderful idea as a parent. His son graduated from high school last month and is heading off to college next month. As a way of symbolizing the rite of passage, and a (possibly last) chance to spend some time together, they decided to bicycle together to Washington State University in Pullman. I thought it was a great idea. (He seemed to need my encouragement.)

Neither are serious bicyclists, but they've been enjoying riding together the last year or so and decided to take on this very big undertaking (It's 400 miles or more). His reason for calling was a routing question. He said,

"I know we go down Interstate 5 100 miles to Seattle, get on Interstate 90 and go east a couple hundred miles, but I don't know where to go once I get out towards Spokane. Can you tell me what turn to take?”

There was a long, long pause as I gathered my thoughts and prepared for a nasty conflict.

The route he was suggesting, 5 to 8 days of really miserable riding on Interstate freeways, was awful. This is not that unusual. Many people forget to stop thinking like a car when they get on a bike. Still, I was shocked... and nervous. I had a good suggestion for that last day of riding, (there is also a major highway similar to his suggestions) but I also had a half-dozen much better routes to suggest for the first week.

I took a deep breath and started in... Stevens Pass, North Cascades Highway, White Pass, Chuckanut Drive, The Skagit Valley, The Centennial Trail, back roads, country roads, bike trails, away from the highways. Quiet roads.

I finished my monologue and prepared for the response. People get very defensive about routes and it's a strangely common reaction to be pretty angry at the suggestion of quieter routes.

I was met with silence. A long silence. A concerning silence. I wasn't even sure he was still there.

Finally he said,

"I'm really embarrassed, I've lived here my whole life and it never occurred to me that there was any other way to get to Seattle except on I-5... of course it would be nicer to ride on some of those other roads."

And why don't more people bike?

I've had the same experience in Seattle with new or prospective cyclists asking me about routes around town, assuming that the ONLY option was the nasty, clogged, smelly, loud, intense, motor filled arterial. Forgetting that the quiet streets, the neighborhoods, the pleasant and interesting streets even exist. Missing the point.

Cyclists need to stop thinking like cars. Actually I think everyone: city planners, drivers, developers, pedestrians, EVERYONE needs to stop thinking like cars, but it's amazing how often I see cyclists stuck in that car-think.

Where do the Children Play?

Last summer, Bicycle Alliance staffer Seth Schromen-Wawrin created a digital story that recalls how wonderful it was to explore his neighborhood by bike as a child and asks why he doesn't see kids doing this today.  Seth made this video in a workshop for the Mapping Our Voices for Equality project in King County.  We think it will bring back fond memories for many folks so we'd like to share it.

   

Biking and walking are part of the transportation mix in rural America

I’ve lived the majority of my life in an urban environment—but not all of it.  For about ten years, I lived in Athens, Ohio—a college town with roughly 22,000 residents in the rural southeast corner of the state.

As a college student, I lived on or close to campus and walked or biked to classes.  The university campus is located adjacent to the uptown business district so I also walked or biked to my part-time job, shops and entertainment. 

After graduation, I moved to a north end residential neighborhood and went to work for a local non-profit agency.  My job required traveling a three-county region so I seldom biked to work, but I frequently saw my neighbors walking and biking to their jobs at the university or uptown.

Athens residents bike and walk to work in large numbers.  The city’s 2010 non-motorized transportation plan revealed that nearly 3% biked to work and 42% walked.  That’s astounding!

But guess what?  Walking and biking is not unusual in small town America.  While few communities—large or small—have a non-motorized mode split like Athens, a new report reveals that biking and walking count as a significant means of transportation in rural areas.

ActiveTransportation Beyond Urban Centers: Walking and Bicycling in Small Towns and Rural America, produced by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, dispels the commonly held belief that only city folk bike and walk.  From the report:

Due in large measure to lack of heavy traffic, smaller towns offer viable choices for people of all ages to travel without climbing into a car.  Parents are more likely to let younger kids bike to school or baseball practice, while seniors feel more comfortable strolling to the library or local café.  Many small towns and cities developed prior to World War II were originally designed with pedestrians in mind, so taking a walk downtown or riding a bike for exercise feels safe.

Modest investments to improve biking and walking safety, such as building a sidewalk or sidepath, can be beyond the budget for small towns with declining populations and limited economic opportunities.  The very programs under attack by Congress right now, Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School, can be critical funding resources for rural communities.  Download the report to learn more about biking and walking in rural America.

Slowing down is gaining momentum



Pedbikeimages.org/Dan Burden

Last year, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington championed a bill that would give cities and towns the discretion to set speed limits to 20 miles per hour on non-arterial streets.  The bill passed 92-0 in the House but ran out of time in the Senate Transportation Committee.  We are leading the charge again in 2012 for SHB 1217, the Neighborhood Safe Speeds Bill.

There are many benefits to passing the Neighborhood Safe Speeds Bill.  It allows local governments to determine safe speeds for local streets, and it removes the additional costs and red tape currently required by the state.  Reduced speeds improve neighborhood safety and save lives.  Making neighborhood streets safer can encourage physical activity and active transportation, resulting in a healthier society.

The desire to slow down our communities is not unique to Washington.  In Idaho, local jurisdictions have the capacity to set lower speed limits on portions of state highways that pass through residential, urban or business districts to enhance safety.  New York City established its first “neighborhood slow zone” earlier this year.  20’s Plenty for Us is the British movement that has successfully campaigned to lower residential speed limits in cities and towns. 

Writer Will Doig took an in-depth look at the resurging popularity of slower streets in a Salon article published last week.  In his article, Doig observed:

Now, gradually, the pendulum appears to be swinging back toward slower streets, partly because walkable neighborhoods and urban density are in vogue again. A lazy streetcar, a strolling pedestrian or a languidly pedaling bicyclist are all signs that neighborhood life in that area is healthy and abundant. They indicate that you’re somewhere that’s packed with businesses, parks, playgrounds — things that people want to stop and use — and, in circular fashion, they encourage even more of that stuff to be built.

Support Complete Streets for Spokane

All of us use streets, right?  We use streets to get to work, school, run errands, and to visit family and friends.  Sometimes we move around our community in cars, but we also use transit, walk and bike on our streets.  And sometimes we reach our destination using a combination of these modes.  So it stands to reason that we want streets that safely accommodate us whether we’re walking, biking, taking transit or driving a vehicle.

Many folks in Spokane have that expectation.  A steadily growing group of Complete Streets advocates in that community convinced Spokane City Council to pass a resolution in April 2010 to develop a Complete Streets ordinance.  Great news!  Sadly, over a year later, citizens are still waiting for City Council to enact the ordinance.

Complete Streets Spokane advocates are turning up the heat.  They are circulating an online petition urging City Council members to pass the Complete Streets ordinance.  They have also created a Complete Streets Spokane II group on Facebook.

The Bicycle Alliance of Washington was one of the first groups to raise the Complete Streets banner in our state and we encourage our Spokane members to sign the petition.

Seattle Road Safety Summit on October 24th, 2011

Monday, October 24th, the Mayor and City Council will be convening the first in a series of three road safety summits. The meeting will be held in the Bertha Knight Landes Room at City Hall (on the ground level when entering from 5th Ave--600 4th Ave Seattle, WA 98104). The Mayor's office released a 'save the date' announcement, although the time of the event has not yet been announced.

The Mayor recently wrote this in a blog post:
"A transportation system with no traffic fatalities or serious injuries, where all users share responsibility for their safety and that of others they encounter in their travels. Can we do it? As a community we must try," http://mayormcginn.seattle.gov/street-safety-summit-coming-in-october/

We encourage participation in this event and are hopeful that there are some substantial and postitive developments that emerge from the summit.

Dispatch From The SPC: Density Is Good For Our Health!

This piece was originally posted on Monday October 10, 2011 on Citytank
http://citytank.org/2011/10/10/dispatch-from-the-spc-density-is-good-for-our-health/

Dispatch From The SPC: Density Is Good For Our Health!

by Kadie Bell Sata

Editor’s note: This is the first installment of an ongoing series of dispatches from the Seattle Planning Commission.

Thornton Creek in Seattle's Northgate neighborhood

The way Seattle is planned and ultimately shaped has an immense impact on the health of the population living, working and playing within its bounds. There are numerous reports and articles that cite residents of Seattle as being healthy overall compared to others across the nation. However, our area experiences vast health inequities. The disparities in rates of chronic disease in low-income and communities of color are the result of preventable, systemic, unjust social and economic policies and practices that create barriers to opportunity.

While many feel these health problems are the result of individual behavior, the issue must be considered in a larger context. Individuals make decisions based, at least in part, on their environments. If residents live in an area where it is uncomfortable to engage in daily physical activity because they feel unsafe due to traffic speeds, noise, a lack of appropriate infrastructure or perceptions of crime, they are less likely to participate in the physical activity needed to live a healthy life.

The update of Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan and the work the city is doing in Transit Communities such as Othello, Mt. Baker, Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill, Roosevelt and West Seattle provide a primary vehicle to address barriers to opportunity. By creating healthy, sustainable and livable communities which provide housing opportunities not only for the privileged, but also for residents across the spectrum, we can ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to choose healthy behavior for themselves and their family.

Vancouver, BC: the Dorothy Lam Children's Center, the Elsie Roy School, and the playground in David Lam Park, with Yaletown in the background; photo by Catherine Benotto
In order to accomplish this goal, the City of Seattle should increase development capacity within close proximity to high capacity transit, schools and parks, and discourage development in areas which lack the essential components of livability or are in areas that can lead to poor health outcomes, such as freeways or places that don’t have access to open space, playfields, community centers, etc. We must plan communities where people can comfortably and easily walk, bike and ride transit to their meet their daily needs, such as their job, school, park and grocery store. Ensuring these opportunities for current and future residents can help to address some preventable health problems such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer.

Planning was once closely allied to the profession of public health in addressing concerns of population well being, safety and welfare. Over the course of the last century, planning and public health have diverged into separate disciplines lacking institutional ties. Emerging threats to public health arising from community design decisions are revitalizing the ties between the two disciplines. Seattle has played a key role in use health and equity to inform planning and investments. However health indicators reveal that there is more work to do.

KADIE BELL SATA is a member of the Seattle Planning Commission. She currently works for Public Health – Seattle & King County on a federal chronic disease prevention initiative. She has experience in health policy, social and racial equity as well as environmental sustainability. Community activities includes youth mentorship, neighborhood advocacy and serving as an affiliate instructor at University of Washington’s School of Public Health.

Strategic Plan Adopted: shift gears, refine focus, and embrace new goals

Bicycle Alliance Strategic Plan Approved

Creating the 2011-2016 strategic plan was a herculean effort that began at a meeting in the cafeteria at the House of Representatives in March of 2010 and culminates this Thursday, October 6th with a party to celebrate. Stop by between 5-8pm at 309A Third Avenue.

Last year when I attended the National Bike Summit and the Alliance for Biking and Walking board meeting, I learned that there was grant funding available to plan and implement a strategic plan. The Bicycle Alliance applied for and was awarded the grant which included support for staff reorganization, and development of a draft mission, vision, and values document early in the spring of 2011.

In April, 40 stakeholders from all across Washington including representatives from health organizations, elected officials, bike clubs, planners, board members and staff, came together for two days to help the Bicycle Alliance shift gears, refine its focus, and embrace new goals for the organization.

Thanks to the many people who contributed to this plan, and who will provide guidance as we begin implementation.

VISION:
By 2020, bicycling is an everyday, mainstream activity in communities across Washington. Bicycling is recognized, accommodated and funded as a legitimate and essential mode of transportation. Washington residents embrace a healthy and active lifestyle that includes safe and convenient active-transportation options. As a result, Washington communities enjoy lower health-care costs, a cleaner environment and more transportation choices. Washington is a national model for innovative bicycle-friendly transportation facilities and programs.

MISSION:
The Bicycle Alliance of Washington advocates for a bicycle-friendly state, educates people of all ages to increase transportation safety, develops more inclusive communities for cycling, builds a coalition of organizations, and seeks to make bicycling accessible to everyone.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
• Bicycling is healthy, safe, affordable, and fun.
• Everyone should feel safe while riding a bike.
• Everyone has a right to transportation choices.
• More people bicycling more often make roadways safer for bicycle riders.
• Education, legislative changes, and improved infrastructure increase bicycle ridership rates.
• The bicycle provides a simple, elegant and inexpensive tool to achieve multiple goals.

GOALS:
G-1 The Bicycle Alliance of Washington shall develop and implement strategies that effectively increase bicycle ridership and helps Washington State achieve the highest bicycle ridership rate in the country.

G-2 The Bicycle Alliance of Washington shall develop and implement outreach and communications strategies that: emphasize bicycling as an everyday activity, successfully encourage more people to “go by bike,” and make bicycling appeal to a broader segment of the public, so that bicycle ridership more closely reflects the state’s demographic diversity by 2016.

G-3 The Bicycle Alliance of Washington shall continue to actively develop and pass strong, relevant legislation on behalf of bicycle riders and pursue increased funding to improve the environment for bicycling in Washington.

G-4 The Bicycle Alliance of Washington shall cultivate strategic and mutually beneficial partnerships with: State, county and municipal governments and organizations that advocate on behalf of bicycling, active transportation, health, the environment, diverse communities and business by 2016.

G-5 The Bicycle Alliance of Washington shall aggressively take action to increase the organization’s membership and unrestricted revenue each year.

The Bicycle Alliance board of directors voted to approve the Strategic Plan, objectives and tasks at its August board meeting. In the next steps, staff will develop action items for top priority objectives as part of the 2012 work plan, recognizing that every objective may not be addressed with an action plan until 2013 or 2014 based on resources. The plan document can be found here: http://www.bicyclealliance.org/aboutbaw/Strategic_Plan_10042011.pdf.

Calling all artists and bicyclists: Share the Road t-shirt design contest

Now more than ever, we need to promote the message of “Share the Road” to increase safety for all roadway users.  The Bicycle Alliance of Washington invites you to put your creativity to work by entering our Share the Road t-shirt design contest.  Deadline is October 14, 2011.

Share the Road is more than a public campaign to increase awareness and safety.  It’s the law.  RCW 46.61.755 states:

Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this chapter, except as to special regulations in RCW 46.61.750 through 46.61.780 and except as to those provisions of this chapter which by their nature can have no application.

In 2006 the Department of Licensing created the special “Share the Road” license plate which reminds motorists and bicyclists to share the road. Proceeds from the sale of this special plate support the advocacy and education programs of the Bicycle Alliance.

In communities throughout Washington, transportation departments post signs to remind road users to share the road with each other.

You can help us take this message another step further by submitting a design for our Share the Road t-shirt design contest.  The winner will receive a $100 REI gift card.  Contest details are here.

SPD Says Call 911 When a Motor Vehicle Driver Acts Aggressively Towards You as a Bicycle Driver

One morning this week while riding to work at about 7:00 AM I was aggressively cut off by a car driver. I was travelling south on 5^th Avenue at about 17 MPH in the right curb lane approaching the Pine Street intersection (at the south end of the monorail in Seattle) and the driver of a late model white Subaru Impreza (WA ABW 3335) aggressively merged into my travel lane forcing me to brake and move towards the curb. I slowed and honked my air horn. After she passed through the intersection she turned her head back to look and flew me the bird. The driver was a brown-haired middle-aged woman.

I moved out of the roadway onto the sidewalk and looked for paper and pen to write down the plate number and vehicle description. Somehow I didn’t have anything to write with so I memorized the plate number. I didn’t think that I should call 911, and that was my mistake.  

Later after getting to work and navigating the Seattle Police Department directory and automated phone system I talked to a human on a non-emergency line. She was very helpful and told me that I should have called 911 even though there was no physical harm or explicit verbal threat. She said if I had called immediately they would have put out a call to officers in the area and looked for the driver and vehicle, come and talked to me etc.

I am not a vindictive person, nor overly oriented towards crime and punishment but I did want to seek some recourse after being run off the road. So, if you find yourself in a similar situation, go right ahead and call 911 immediately and make a report.

Keep the situational awareness up and the rubber side down. Happy urban biking!

What's a cyclist to do?

Help me out, fellow cyclist.  I'm feeling like an unloved step-child these days.  In a span of about ten days, an angry motorist hurled obscenities at me and told me to get off the street (a familiar but by no means an everyday occurrence), a motorcyclist reacted in similar fashion (a first) and a belligerent pedestrian demanded that I remove myself from a trail (another first).

I am not a rude, scofflaw bicyclist.  I stop at red lights and stop signs.  I do something many motorists fail to do--I signal my intention to turn and change lanes.  I take the lane when I need to and, when appropriate, I move to the right so as not to impede other traffic. 

In spite of my reasonable behavior, I occasionally get yelled at by a motorist.  So I wasn't  too phased last week when an oncoming motorist rolled down his window and yelled,  "F#$%!@ cyclist!  Get off the street!"  I gave him my usual response.  I smiled and waved.  

I repeated this reaction a few days later when a motorcyclist yelled at me as he buzzed by.  I have never had an encounter like this with a motorcyclist and was puzzled by his behavior.  In fact, I usually feel a kinship with motorcyclists on the road.  We can wave as we pass and converse at traffic lights.

I also consider myself to be a courteous trail user.  I don't buzz by other trail users at breakneck speed. I either ring my bell or call out to warn others of my approach.  And, if a trail is overcrowded with people on foot, I move to the road or dismount and join them as a pedestrian.

But I was totally taken aback a couple of evenings ago when an oncoming pedestrian deliberately stepped into my path and told me to get off the trail.  I stopped within inches of him, stared back in silence and didn't move.  "Bikes belong in the street," he growled at me before moving on.  Oh yeah, I thought to myself.  Tell that to an impatient motorist.

Am I paranoid or is there an increase in hostility toward bicyclists?  There's always going to be an angry motorist.  I'm more troubled by this recent show of anger from other road users.  Maybe the motorcyclist was having a bad hair day (do they get helmet hair too?).  Maybe the pedestrian had just experienced a close call with another cyclist.  Maybe the planets are out of alignment.

I'm not accustomed to getting berated for riding my bike by so many in a short period of time when I'm not doing anything wrong.  I don't like to respond to anger with more anger.

So what is a cyclist to do?

Biking with my Councilman

I was biking along side one of my City Councilmen a couple weeks ago, updating him on how our Complete Streets Policy Development workshop went. We talked about some of the local streets that seemed, in my mind, incomplete and some fixes that may or may not work. I thanked him for his support of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and told him how great it was that he not only supported the concept of bicycling for transportation, but that he himself was a cyclist. How important it is that he can relate to the issues that come up and see firsthand what it is that we are talking about when we speak of streets that don't work well for bicyclists.

Now how did I get so lucky as to bike along side my Councilman? Well, everybodyBIKE organized a series of 17 Summer Rides that take place every other Friday and Sunday. These rides have been phenomenally successful, ranging in participation from 10 -100 people! Participants also vary in age from little kids in trailers to 80 years old. There are cruisers, mountain bikes, road bikes, people in spandex and bike shoes, as well as dress clothes and heels. It's a wonderful mix of people who are joined together for a common love, bikes.

I hope that your town has a similar ride, it may not be as extensive as the Summer Rides, but it's a great way to meet new people, and possibly chat with your elected officials.

Bicycle Commuting Tips

This is a mish-mash of tips, some commonly heard and some less-so, that I have come to over three decades of riding bikes. The intention is to include a mix of tips that might appeal to a wide variety of folks with a broad set of interests, skills and commute routes. Have fun and get out there on your bike.

Be attentive and be safe

--Situational awareness is of central importance when travelling by bicycle

--Look out for turning traffic (in front of you, on-coming traffic and from side streets)

--Don’t ride in the door zone

--Be visible, with good lane positioning and brightly colored gear

--Take the lane when you need to for safety reasons

Keep it fresh, mix it up

--Vary your route. Especially on your ride home extend your ride along a fun or scenic route.

--Ride different bikes. If you have more than one bike, don’t always commute on the same one.

--Wear different clothes, shoes and helmets on different days and in different seasons.

Have a snack

--If you like trail riding, find all the little bits of singletrack anywhere near your commute. In fact, just this morning I snacked on a little stretch of trail as I detoured around a construction zone.

--Stop and smell the flowers along the way. Take a deep breath at a scenic vista. Practice tai chi at the local park. Or meet your friends for coffee en-route to work.

Be imaginative

--Create your own mythologies for inspiration…just remember to NOT really believe in them

--A healthy fantasy life can help your psych to ride. For example, when you mount your bike you might become a bicycle/human cyborg or a two-wheeled centaur whose mission is to ______________. Just don’t explain that one to your boss, the police or your significant other.

Be well-equipped

--Have the right gear for the job. Carry a pump, tube, patch kit and mini tool and know how to use them

--If you are riding in Minneapolis in the winter, studded tires might be in order

--If you are commuting through a Pacific Northwest winter, you really ought to have fenders

--In Honolulu or Houston hydration and sun protection are key

Get better

--Learn more about bicycle mechanics so that you are more self-reliant on the road

--Improve your handling skills. For example; learn how to bunnyhop so you can more safely and easily avoid road hazards.

--Learn traffic law for bicycles and follow the rules. Become a better bicycling ambassador

--Take a safe cycling skills course

Get hooked

--Keep riding when the fall and winter weather rolls in. If you ride through fall and winter it is much easier to ride in the early spring too. We readily adapt to the gradual changes in weather as we ride daily throughout the year. Inertia plays an important role in our habits.

--Get multi-modal on it. Use transit and bikes together where possible to extend your “cruising range.”

Celebrating Everyday Bicycling

Bike to Work Month is great! Bike to Work Day is great! These encouragement events increase bicycle ridership and illustrate the potential for every month to be bike to work month and every day to be bike to work day.

pedbikeimages.org/Laura Sandt

Bike to work month ended May 31st and here in Seattle summer is upon us. The seasonal uptick in bicycle ridership in Seattle is in full swing. While more bicycle riders on the road make the roads safer for bicycle riders, more bicycle riders sharing the same marginalized urban spaces require an extra measure of care and cooperation by and on behalf of bicycle riders.

Commuting by bicycle is a highly utilitarian form of bicycling, an everyday expression of mobility, autonomy, play and perhaps most importantly, inter-dependence. In the realm of utility cycling safety always trumps marginal improvements in speed—prudence beats haste every time when it comes to everyday bicycling. Hasty passing and maneuvering in the context of a busy bike lane or roadway is risky and reckless behavior. Anyone who rides a bicycle on the road knows that there is a special type of vulnerability that bicycle riders experience in traffic which points to the importance of minimizing risk for oneself and other bicycle riders. Bicycle commuting should be playful and cooperative, not competitive. A cooperative attitude encourages the safety of all road users. Shaving a few micro-seconds off of your commute does not rationalize or justify endangering or disrespecting other bicycle riders.

Hazards of urban bicycling that are created by bicycle riders include tailgating, dangerous passing and other commute-racer behaviors—DON’T be one of the hazards to other bicycle riders. To see the hazards generated by bicycle riders from a diversity of perspectives, I polled my co-workers about their least favorite bad behaviors by cyclists and I have listed them below. This is a partial list, including some of the worst offenses, but it is certainly not exhaustive:

• running red lights
• splitting lanes
• splitting two cyclists
• jockeying up to the front at a red light (passing those who are already queued up)
• riding the wrong way (against traffic)
• tailgating cars or other bikes
• sneaking through 4-way stops out of sequence
• passing pedestrians and other bicycles without warning (neither bell nor voice)
• ringing the bell excessively or aggressively at pedestrians and other bicycle riders
• riding with headphones or earbuds
• squirelly and unpredictable riding
• silent drafting (and slingshot passing)
• passing on the right (especially without warning)
• wearing too much lycra, especially racing uniforms (nurtures an exclusive rather than inclusive environment)
• switching from “vehicular mode” to “pedestrian mode” at will

Being considerate to fellow road users is not only good for others around you, whether they be travelling by bicycle, car or bus, but it is also good for you. The commute is not a race and fully embodying that reality will reduce your stress levels and improve your commute.

Everyday year-round bicycle commuting is not practical or feasible for everyone. Being hard-to-the-core as a bike commuter is commendable and if you are hardcore about your bike commuting, great, but don’t beat up on the fair weather riders too much. In regards to the benefits of bicycling for the greater good, it is most productive to take the seasonal gains in bicycle ridership from fair weather riders in stride and continue to encourage bicycle commuting and utility riding.

It is high time we forget the embittered attitude of the dreary and wet winter commute and celebrate the dry weather and corresponding increase in bicycle traffic; it is time to leave behind the exclusive and competitive attitude and embrace an inclusive and tolerant attitude towards your fellow bicycle commuters. Riding on the streets involves sharing space with other vehicles, both motorized and human powered. In the good humor and good spirit of springtime cheer, let us be patient with our fellow road-users and remember that Bike to Work Month is really just the opening of the floodgates for bicycle commuters in Seattle. So play nice, won’t you?