Making Friends and Influencing People: Bike Month Do's and Don'ts

Here's two juxtaposing stories from opposite ends of the earth. In Sydney, Australia 50 cyclists are attacked by an apparently road-raging 34 year-old during rush hour, potentially derailing the chances of an Olympic hopeful. Meanwhile, in L.A., 30 cyclists attack the freeway system in some mis-guided attempt to demonstrate against 'The Man', or some such anarcho-hipster drivel. Our stance: There's far more effective methods of promoting cycling as an alternative means of transit - pissing off a bunch of wage earners simply trying to get home in Friday rush hour traffic is NOT one of them. If you set out to anger people as a way of getting attention, the net result is a lot more pissed off ragers like the a-hole in Australia, endangering riders who may not have had anything to do with the absurd stunt/protest ride on the freeway.

While all this energy is spent on stupid stunts, our governator is shutting down 48 State Parks. Just in time for summer, no parks and less lifeguards - brilliant. Stop the madness and sign this petition!

Comments

[Morgan Strauss]

Thank you for posting about our event. However, what i feel like you neglected to take into account--something that i completely neglected to mention in my post--is that we would never organize a ride to congest the freeways or to anger wage earners. We TAKE advantage of DAILY traffic. Traffic continues to move at its same old sluggish pace whether or not we ride through it.

Also, we do not harass drivers, if anything we try to entertain them and cheer them up with our clown costumes and capes...a lot of cyclists really loved it.

Your site is great by the way...i am adding you to my blogroll.

[Flunky Carter]

Morgan is absolutely correct. The rides are meant to show (insert spectator here) that bicycles are a more efficient form of transportation in areas where there is a congestion of motor traffic.

[sumadis]

thanks both of you for the comments and the praise for the site. I understand where you're coming from, and certainly people need to smile more, yes we all take advantage of daily traffic when we commute by bike. from my perspective, a lot more negative reaction comes as a result of actions like this, and when so much explaining is done of how it's meant to be a positive thing, maybe the effect isn't as great as the intent. further, ok, your on the shoulder of the freeway, representing cycling as an alternative to the folks stuck in their cars - what happens when an emergency vehicle needs to haul ass up the shoulder running hot? 'cause that's just one of the naysayer responses that an event like this is gonna generate. that and so many other things make me feel that civil disobedience as a way of promoting cycling is having more adverse effects than good ones.