Practical cycling in 2011

My main steed

I just finished reading The Cyclists Manifesto  which is not nearly as militant as sounds.  In fact the message of the book is quite simply that you already need to get to point A to point B, so why not do so in a way that's affordable and healthy?  The book also details the history of how bikes led to the creation of the automobile and explored how and why cyclists get such a bad rap at times and why they are often seen as smug scofflaws.

A bike is at its core simply a transportation device.  Yet most cyclists in the United States don't use them for anything more than recreation.  I am guilty of this myself.  When I first really got into cycling a couple of years ago, I spend hundreds on what I read online were absolute necessities to riding.  Clipless pedals, jerseys, lycra shorts, special shoes, special gloves.  It was only a month after buying a hybrid that I had to go out and get a fast bike with drop bars.  I knew I probably was going overboard but I had a new hobby that I loved and it brought a lot of real tangible benefits to my life.

Yet I never really got the hang of using my bike as a transportation tool.  Sure I commuted to work a dozen or so times.  I'd hop on my bike to go pickup chinese food and or a coffee.  I'd ride to check out neighborhoods I'd otherwise be driving around in.  But the vast majority of my transportation still involved the car and it still does.

Well I'm hoping that 2011 (when it gets at least a little warmer) will be a little different.  I don't have any lofty goals but I hope to bike commute more and use my bike more for practical reasons.  It's not always the easiest choice, but it's definitely the healthiest, smartest, and most fun choice.  In the St. Louis area, I can bring my bike on any metrobus and metrolink train so there's really no reason I shouldn't make most of my alone trips by bike other than laziness.  I also love cycling and it's one of my absolute favorite things to do so why wouldn't I do it more?  The change of clothes and dealing with the occasional annoyed driver are worth the vast benefits cycling gives me.  I hope to reap a lot more of those benefits this year.

Blind optimism vs. unrelenting negativity

I started a blog because thoughts of urbanity swirl through my head almost constantly.  I needed a depository for these thoughts so I can see how they (and I) have evolved over time.  The problem with blogging versus writing this stuff down in a personal journal is that my thoughts are public, for all to see.  Of course that's the whole point of blogging, to let others read what you have to say.

The big issue is that when you have an audience, you tend to create a message tailored to your audience.  My blog is still fairly new and I don't think I have any audience really at this point.  But when I write, I am already thinking about what people who come across this will think, as if one part of my brain is rebutting the other.

This leads to how I want to find the  "voice" for my blog, and what I want my ultimate message or "theme" to be.  I want to promote St. Louis as a growing, thriving, and wonderful metropolis.  I want to show people how great St. Louis really is and how despite its problems, it is on a major upswing.  I want to lay a verbal smackdown to the "negative Nancy's" who are too ignorant to appreciate what we have here.

Yet I also want to be thoughtful, pragmatic, and realistic lest I lose credibility and come off as someone who has their head in the clouds.  Needless to say, I've found this middle way somewhat difficult to articulate.  This balance became obvious to me when I wrote a post on why St. Louis isn't the most dangerous city followed by one where I felt it was worth mentioning that crime is way too high and, at times, out of control.  Another urban related thing I've gotten into recently is urban photography.  It is striking how clear a photographers intent comes through the pictures he/she takes.  I've seen collections that make St. Louis look like midtown Manhattan and others that make St. Louis look like Detroit.  But it's rare that you will see vibrant pictures with beautiful architecture on a sunny day next to an abandoned warehouse on a winter evening.

I want to show both, but in a positive context.  The most important thing St. Louis could do is bring in more people.  Not just from the suburbs but from all parts of the USA, and all corners of the world too.  There are millions of people out there who love old urban cities, beautiful brick buildings, and are full of big ideas.  I don't think St. Louis is on their radar for one reason or another.  All of the St. Louis-related blogs and websites will hopefully show them what we have and convince them to at least come here and check us out.  My fear is that the massive amounts of negativity on some sites will deter some people from making that leap.  Those of us who want to see St. Louis thrive need to cancel out much of that negativity and highlight the myriad of good things happening.  If we do so in a way where we can accept our faults while highlighting our strengths, then we will have hit the sweet spot.

That's what I will continue to try to do.


-Joseph