For the 2-milers
This is Emily.
She cuts my hair in the classic Lulu haircut.
She also plays some music:
Note: Artistic liberties were taken in this rendering. I have not seen her play in person. For all I know, she could play music like this:
But she probably doesn’t.
Emily rides a bicycle too. When she heard I had a bike blog she wanted to be in it. She wants to represent the people that bike only 2 miles a day. She wants to stress that she doesn’t wear spandex and doesn’t do crazy 45 mile bike rides in the heat like a certain client of hers who was just bragging to her about it. That client can no longer speak for the ordinary cyclist apparently. Emily doesn’t have a car and biking is a quick affordable way to get to work or to the park with the kids. And it’s also fun to bike super fast. She also wants to point out that just from biking a few miles around town she’s getting pretty toned up.
And another thing. She wants to put the word out that she hopes certain cycling folk don’t do anymore nude rides. Because this is the face she will make:
I don’t judge Emily for “only” riding 2 miles a day. So why is she judging me for a 3 mile commute and the fact that I enjoy, and am proud of, going out on a semi-regular basis and doing 30-60 miles in a day? And why is she insisting she’s the keeper of the definition of an “ordinary cyclist”? Talk about arrogance.
“I’d like to stress” I don’t appreciate Emily judging me for the functional clothing I wear, or the kind of riding I do. And that my commute is, in fact, about 2-3 miles each way – same ballpark as Emily. So despite the fact that I then twice-a-week-ish I get on my road bike and go 30-60 miles, most of the time I spend on the bike is exactly like Emily – getting around town or to work.
Seriously, what is it with cyclists feeling so threatened by sport riders? Or assuming that we’re all arrogant, judgmental, smug jerks…when in reality, it’s the others, like Emily, judging us? And getting all smug…for…not being us?
Many of us love bikes in general, support newer riders, ride cruisers or clunky commuters when we’re not on our nice road bike. We do silly rides like jingle/halloween/midnight rides. We’re often the people most passionate about getting others to ride for transportation or sport, help people change flats on the side of the road, dispense advice to our friends on facebook…and we’re often the people who show up to those community meetings for bike lanes and whatnot. We’re trying to do good, because we love bikes.
Seems Emily does too. So how about embracing that and being satisfied with it? You know, a little camaraderie?
Sheesh!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/3819299427_455e5f09c3.jpg
Hi five
I’d bet there are more Emily’s than the others. That is certainly the case in Dorchester. The City woefully undercounts riders there because they’re looking for folks who commute into Boston and not folks riding across town to the bodega or contractor’s office to work. And I don’t think they count sidewalkers either who make up a sizeable percentage of local riders.
I bet there are- right now I know several people who bike only in their immediate neighborhood and never make it across town, let alone out to the ‘burbs. But it makes sense since most trips people make (by car, foot, bike) are in that 2 mile range. So if a person doesn’t have a job across town they could easily go under the radar. (And also go under the radar with awareness of road rules, cycling issues, and resources available to them since they may not identify strongly as a cyclist and seek out info on their own.) Do they really only count those commuting into Boston?
This is a problem in Portland too – the bicycle counts we do, though they are at quite a few places around the inner part of the city, are ONLY during peak commute hours – so all the people riding from their home to go see a movie, to go out to eat, to go to the grocery store, the doctor, etc aren’t getting counted most of the time, and I think there are probably as many people only making those types of trips by bike as there are people going to work and back by bike, and not all of those people overlap, for sure.