So, remember how I said I was happy to find a bicycle enthusiast's blog here in Dallas? His mission is to make Dallas more bicycle friendly, starting by establishing more bicycle lanes in the Oak Cliff neighborhood (everyone who came to the wedding – the Belmont Hotel was in this neighborhood). As a former Amsterdamer, Luzerner, and Bostonian in their own turn, ALL of which have more bicycle lanes than Dallas (which is not hard (and I still think Boston has a long way to go compared to Cambridge)), I agree that I felt far better about riding in all of those cities than I do here and it has EVERYTHING to do with the bike lanes, so I'm on board with his efforts. Mind you, I am talking about 15 years of my life here – not just a bit of time when cycling as a way of life was a novelty.
Any long-time resident of this blog knows that since I moved here, I have ridden much much less. Which is to say, not at all. Which has been really hard for me. In all the above cities, I biked to work or to errands exclusively – I mean, unless it was raining or snowing REALLY hard. Then I would begrudgingly take the bus or metro. But yeah. No car at all. I biked miles a day. I had one major accident, and that was because I was drinking too much, so totally my bad (I never biked drunk again). But here? Not a mile. On any of the four bikes we own from living in more bicycle-friendly cities. They just sit there.
I know I need to really kick my ass to just get out there. But I also think Dallas drivers are among the WORST I have ever seen. So would I, an intermediate commuter cyclist, feel safer with bike lanes? Hell yes. It isn't a cure for poor driving, but it would certainly keep drivers somewhat aware that cyclists are on the road, right? I'm not saying one must abandon all due diligence, but in a city where there are almost no cyclists, having some indication on the road that they may be there can't be a bad thing, right?
Well, thanks to this nice person's blog, I've discovered that there are actually people out there who actually are anti-bicycle lanes (????). Have I lived under a rock? I don't think so. Seriously, I've been in a lot of places and met a lot of different kinds of people but this is a new one for me and IT BLOWS MY MIND. Like Sarah-Palin-supporters blow my mind. I'm flabbergasted. Like, even if you think lanes lull some riders into a false sense of security, you are seriously against them EVERYWHERE? Wide boulevards where there is lots of room? Main thoroughfares through downtown?
I guess those Dutch are pretty dumb! IMAGINE: A health care system that works, and lots of bike riders! Sounds terrible, I guess.
The worst part is that thanks to this blog, I found out that the Bicycle Coordinator of Dallas is one of the anti-lane enthusiasts. Wow. I seriously have no words. This is just stupidity to the nth degree, but given the way DISD and the city council are run, I can't expect much better out of this city. Not to mention his blog is absolutely fantastical. Comparing bike lane enthusiasts to parents of failing children? Really? I declare that metaphor officially stretched. Is that an elected position? I HAVE TO KNOW.
More reasons to keep our three year plan to leave here in mind. But I seriously wish Manny T Moto the best of luck. Being bicycle-friendly is one of the top things I'm looking for in a new city, and one of the main reasons I will move out of this one.
