The Way We Roll

During the next 12 months, bicycle advocate Anthony Siracusa will ride on four continents.

Siracusa was one of 40 college seniors awarded this year's Thomas J. Watson fellowship. Under the fellowship, he will travel around the world to study bicycle cultures.

"I just decided that I was going to try and understand what bicycling communities around the world were composed of," he says. "None of the cities selected were created as bicycle cities. I'm interested in how cities reinvent themselves into more livable, more walkable, bike-able places."

Siracusa will start his journey in Copenhagen, a city where 50 percent of travel is done by bicycle.

"They try to grow that 10 percent a year. That's the goal. They don't always reach it, but that's the way they roll," he says. "There, you're not a bicyclist. You're just a Dane. Here, you're a cyclist first. There, it's just a way of life."

From there, he will head to the Netherlands and Germany before going to Melbourne, Australia, where "bicycles outsold cars for the eighth year in a row."

Then he'll spend time in Hong Kong and Beijing before ending his trip in Central America. Under the guidelines of the fellowship, Siracusa is not allowed to return to the United States for a year.

"What I'm after is nothing short of personal transformation. I've lived here my whole life," Siracusa says. "I think being away will help put things in perspective for me."

Siracusa's other dream is to help transform Memphis into the premier Mid-South city for cycling in the next 10 years.

"I hope to lend additional credibility for the bicycling and walking movement and, ultimately, about livability," he says. "For the sake of the city and its longterm health and sustainability, we need to begin sooner rather than later."

"We're not talking about investing trillions of dollars. We're talking about small modifications that can change this city in fundamental ways."

Siracusa will leave Memphis in early July.

Bicycling's Worst

Bicycling Magazine has released its best cities for cycling and guess what?

Memphis ... Not on the list.

Actually, the Bluff city did make one of their lists ... the one of the worst cities for cycling, along with Miami and Dallas.

Here's what they had to say:

"No bike lanes exist within the city limits of Memphis. And the city government, comprised of layers of bureaucracy, has repeatedly ignored or rejected requests from bike clubs, shops and other organizations to create facilities. For example, in 2005 the Tennessee department of transportation and the city engineer's office conducted a study of Walnut Grove Road, a main artery in Memphis which leads into Shelby Farms Park, a 4,500-acre urban park run by Shelby County. The study concluded that the road would be unsuitable for bikes, and recommended a few simple changes to its design to accommodate a bike lane. The lane would allow access to the park for bikes, instead of just cars. Officials promised to explore a plan, but new curbs, gutters and sidewalks were built without explanation, effectively eliminating the possibility of a lane."

I don't know much about cycling or whether this is a good city for it (the presence of Memphis drivers alone makes me nervous ... ). However, I will mention one thing: There are now bike lanes striped on Shady Grove, which means there ARE bike lanes within the city limits.

Deemed "still the greatest" cities for cycling were Portland, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boulder.

Bike Path

It couldn't be helped. After I read about Outdoors Inc. Annual Cyclocross Championship, I had to see it for myself.

So Sunday morning found me at Mud Island's Greenbelt Park, coffee cup in gloved hand, watching some truly amazing cyclists peddle up hills, glide down them, jump off their bikes (without stopping) to run up another hill with little obstacles, and then jump back on their bikes and ride away.



"Part of the sport is getting off the bike smoothly, because you come into the dismount going 15 to 20 miles per hour," Outdoors Inc. owner Joe Royer was quoted as saying in this week's Flyer. "Riders have to go over the hurdles, which are about 15 inches high, and then get back on the bike while they're still running. ... It's a very hard sport."

No doubt about that. Have you seen the hills at that park? Very steep. And I don't know how many laps the riders had to do, but it was definitely daunting.

After walking down close to the river to see the hurdles at the far end of the track, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to walk back up the hill, much less run up. Carrying a bicycle. And jumping over foot-high hurdles.

But it was a beautiful day and a great race. It doesn't look like the 2008 results are in yet, but here's a link to more information, if you're interested.

Wal-Mart Shopper Strips Down?

The Consumerist is one of my favorite blogs (tho, for the life of me, I can't figure out why) and today they have a little bit about a Wal-Mart shopper who wasn't allowed to bring her $600 bike into the store.

Because there were no bike racks at that particular location, the cyclist thought she'd just take the bicycle with her into the store, something she'd done in the past. But a Wal-Mart manager argued that she couldn't bring it into the store because the store sold bicycles.

From her posting on Bike Forums:

"I was starting to get really frustrated since I had ridden all the way there seemingly for no reason, so I asked her if they also sold shirts in the store. She said yes so I took off my jersey and said well then I'd better not bring this in either. She got kind of flustered and said that it was a different situation but couldn't explain why. So I said that if they also sold shorts in the store that I'd better not wear those in either and I took off my shorts. Same goes for the shoes and sunglasses. Now I'm standing there in my spandex and a sports bra and I ask here if I can leave my things behind the customer service counter where they will be safe until I finish making my purchases and she said that I couldn't come into the store without shoes on, to which i responded 'but I certainly can't wear shoes into the store because you sell those here and someone might think I've stolen them.'"

On a related but unrelated note, writer Shara Clark has a story in the upcoming issue of the Flyer about a proposed Wal-mart at Houston Levee and Macon and the Cordova residents who oppose it.

For all the suburb-bashers out there who are thinking to themselves "Have you seen Cordova? How can they be against Wal-mart?" — don't worry, your worldview is safe. It's not that they don't like Wal-mart, per se, they're worried that the new Wal-mart might put one of the old Wal-marts (like the one on Germantown Parkway) out of business.

And a big box is one thing; an empty big box is another thing entirely.

Put the Pedal to the Mettle

Like all the other alternatives, bicycling has been in the news recently.

NPR's Ari Shapiro recently rode with Portland congressman Earl Blumenaur on his morning commute to the Capitol.

Blumenaur, the head of the bipartisan Congressional Bike Caucus and the man behind a new global climate change bill, has been riding his bike to work for 12 years. In fact, he says, he didn't even bring a car to Washington at all.

"I've never had to look for a parking space in Washington, D.C. I've never been stuck in traffic ... ever," he tells Shapiro as they ride together.

When asked about the effect of high gas prices, Blumenaur almost audibly shrugs and says that's a choice people are making. Shapiro presses him, saying that there are communities where people can't ride a bike wherever they are going.

But Blumenaur disagrees, pointing out that 20 percent of all trips taken in this country are a mile or less.

And hey, if a politician can do it ... there has to be hope for the rest of us.

And be sure to look for the Flyer this weekend — we'll have a story on alternative forms of transportation, including bicycling, buses, and light rail.