Feel good about riding your bike, whoever you are and wherever you are.
For those of you that ever felt silly while riding your bike, especially in the United States. Yes, we do feel that way here in cities like Anchorage, Miami, Houston and others where the motor vehicle is king. Those cities might have many other wonderful things, but pedestrian friendliness is not one of them. To make my point more clear, in case any of you out there wants to prove me wrong, I will give you an example. It is 7:14 and you start work at 8:00am. You are all dressed up for your presentation. You put your briefcase on the rack or the front basket and start pedaling towards the office. Everything is nice and dandy and you appreciate that sense of freedom, but more than that, you feel goooood about being able to commute without adding one single molecule of CO2 to the atmosphere; in fact you wish your neighbours saw you so you can shove it in their faces that you don't need that brand new Ford Explorer or 4-Runner to move around town. That's all perfect until you get to the stop light. As you have to stop and the cars start to pile up next to you with your suit and tie, you start to sweat, but not from pedaling. Now tell me if that hasn't happened to you. That is how it feels like to commute to work in cities like Orlando or Detroit.
For those of you that ever felt silly while riding your bike, especially in the United States. Yes, we do feel that way here in cities like Anchorage, Miami, Houston and others where the motor vehicle is king. Those cities might have many other wonderful things, but pedestrian friendliness is not one of them. To make my point more clear, in case any of you out there wants to prove me wrong, I will give you an example. It is 7:14 and you start work at 8:00am. You are all dressed up for your presentation. You put your briefcase on the rack or the front basket and start pedaling towards the office. Everything is nice and dandy and you appreciate that sense of freedom, but more than that, you feel goooood about being able to commute without adding one single molecule of CO2 to the atmosphere; in fact you wish your neighbours saw you so you can shove it in their faces that you don't need that brand new Ford Explorer or 4-Runner to move around town. That's all perfect until you get to the stop light. As you have to stop and the cars start to pile up next to you with your suit and tie, you start to sweat, but not from pedaling. Now tell me if that hasn't happened to you. That is how it feels like to commute to work in cities like Orlando or Detroit. 
Traffic makes you feel silly because all those people are looking at you and you know what they are thinking. "Who, in their right mind would bike to work on a suit and tie?" Well YOU DO, so what? I think when that happens to me. You are the ones that should feel silly driving those gas suckers and getting fat as you pollute my air. You are the silly ones paying those huge car loans and $4+ per gallon of gasoline for a car that holds 7 while only you are seating on it. Me? I only consume what I need, I exercise, feel good and don't work for my car to look good in the parking lot.
So, having said that, I will show you how cool the bicycle can be. So cool that even the ultra Beatles thought it was a cool way of riding. Enjoy :)
These are the Beatles in the Bahamas while filming Help in 1965. Not the best experience for them since Director Richard Lester throughout the whole movie, made them feel like a bunch of extras. How silly do you think John Lennon felt while kissing Yoko Ono? Do you really think he cared? I don't. The other pictures of the Ringo or Paul are not from that time.
Thanks to:
Boston Raleigh Users Group
Corbis
Beatles day by day
piubici.tumblr.com
KPBS
Greenmuseum.blog
DL1.blogspot.com
Bikes and the City
john Lennon Quotes.net
Movie Moron
Thanks to:
Boston Raleigh Users Group
Corbis
Beatles day by day
piubici.tumblr.com
KPBS
Greenmuseum.blog
DL1.blogspot.com
Bikes and the City
john Lennon Quotes.net
Movie Moron
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