Quit Whining, Start Biking!

In an economy addicted to oil, bicycling is a political act...

I've been a little lazy about bicycling lately. My big excuse: too busy with finals to take the extra 40 minutes to ride my bike to town and bike for class or errands. It doesn't help that it's been raining, either.

So I can sympathize with my fellow Upper Midwesterners who say rural distances and weather make bicycling an impractical option.

But then I happen upon this MSNBC article about a surge in bicycle sales and repairs. The story byline: Bismarck, North Dakota. The article refers to Barry's Bikes in Bismarck, a shop that opened in April and sold twice as many bikes as owner Barry Dahl planned in the first month. The article points to 48-year-old Mark Krenz, an auto-parts store owner who just bought a new bike and is getting in shape for his "hilly commute" (there are hills in the middle of the prairie -- Bismarck is on the Missouri River). The bicycle business is brisk even farther north in Minot:

Rocky Schell, owner of Val's Cycle in Minot, said this may be one of the best years in the history of the shop, started by his father in 1960.

It's seeing a spike in the number of tuneups and repairs, which had been declining for the past 15 years. Schell said he's also selling lots of bike trailers designed to haul children — customers are using them for groceries instead.

A big percentage of Schell's customers haven't been on a bike in decades

"I'm seeing more people my age or older coming in," said Schell, 51. "The college-age kids to 30-year-olds aren't the ones coming in. They still want to drive" ["As Fuel Prices Surge, Bike Business Rolls Along," AP via MSNBC, 2008.05.11].

See -- bikes aren't just kids' toys. The older folks may be getting the message sooner than the young'uns that bikes are the literal way to go, even up here on the prairie.

But what about that weather?

Steve Stelton, 47, of Bismarck, was inspired by Greg LeMond's 1986 Tour de France victory and has been commuting year-round ever since. He said he's physically fit because of it and has saved "a ton of money on gas."

Stelton, a printer, doesn't let North Dakota's cold, windy weather slow him down. He said he's ridden to work on snow-covered roads when the wind chill temperature was 40-below zero.

"If you waited for a bluebird day to ride to work in North Dakota," he said, "you'd never do it" [AP 2008.05.11].

Let's see... today's weather: 70 degrees, SE wind 20-30 mph... time to bike to town for milk!

...say, instead of letting TransCanada use eminent domain for private profit, maybe we should require TransCanada to build something that the general public could make immediate and direct use of: how about we require TransCanada build a bike trail right on top of the Keystone pipeline route?