Unfortunately, the wind was roaring up the plain and directly into my face Tuesday as I labored through a 10-mile commute on my bicycle. But I felt a sense of accomplishment upon arrival, and the workout provided me with an extra energy boost for the rest of the day.
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As one of my bosses pointed out, I saved only about a half-gallon of gas. But that would grow to a full gallon by the time I rode home, which could add up to some significant savings over the course of days and weeks.
It's enough of a savings to boost bike sales, said Hal McKnight, who runs the Wheeler Dealer bike shop in northwest Oklahoma City.
"Big-time. Definitely,” McKnight said. "Through last year, we're seeing a lot of people getting into bikes. Originally it's to get healthier, then because of gasoline prices.”
This is Bike to Work Week, and Friday is the fourth annual Central Oklahoma Bike to Work Day. Oklahoma City, Edmond, Guthrie, Moore, Norman and Yukon will mark the event with special rides.
For more information, go to acogok.org.
McKnight, chairman of Oklahoma City's Trail Advisory Committee, said increases in the area's cycling community combined with growth of the city's network of bike trails will make the metro a more cycling-friendly place.
My experience with local motorists has been nearly always positive. One driver even stopped Tuesday morning to let me claim a lane as I approached a stop light at Memorial Road and Sante Fe Avenue. McKnight said his experiences in sharing the road with cars and trucks have been similar.
"We're Oklahoma City; not New York City,” he said.
Sure, riding a bike can be inconvenient. I carried my work clothes in my backpack, and my commute was about four times longer than it takes by car.
But it's an interesting and healthy experience. Meanwhile, my colleague Jim Stafford, who rode the bus to work on Tuesday, arrived at the office about an hour after I had showered, dressed and sat down at my desk.
One tip for aspiring two-wheeled commuters: Don't ride into gale-force winds the day after donating blood.
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Well sort of. Sinking the car as a transportation option all together is more to my taste, because they create such an unattractive world. I prefer to put more money into mass trans, such as high speed trains (I rode on one in Spain for a 230 mile trip the took about two hours door-to-door), and considerably less on cars and all the ugly, expensive infrastructure necessary to support car culture. Never think that car culture isn't heavily subsidized. I would prefer that subsidy apply to mass trans. It's a better option in the long run, and not nearly so damaging.
Sounds like we don't have much to disagree about then. Here's to the invention (or reinvention if you believe certain rumors and blogs I've seen) of the electric car with a 70+ MPH cruising speed and a 300 mile range. Generally, I believe in Capitalism, so my hope is that someone finds a way to navigate patent law and make money manufacturing the car. Once that happens, we'll have it... and we won't even have to pay more than we already do for cars.
Grant, Interestingly, you have focused on the last sentence of my response, which to my mind is the least important. For the record, I avoid riding a bicycle on the busiest streets. While I assert my rights, one also has to use reason, and I have an abundance of that. As to the rest of your response, I am aware that I live in a country with some absurd practices regarding food and goods production, and I unavoidably must be part of that culture sometimes. I live in a beef-producing state, and yet the beef in the typical grocery store is shipped in from Minnesota or Colorado at great cost. I live in a wheat-producing state, and yet the English muffins I eat in the morning come from New Jersey. However, I am at least aware of this absurdity and have taken steps to shop locally, including exploring a food co-op and shopping at farmer's markets. The important part of my response is that we live in an almost unbearably ugly, energy consuming world, shaped largely by by our forced allegiance to a one-note transportation system assiduously promoted by the oil and automobile lobbies since World War II. If a spate high gas prices can curb the production of ugliness and reduce our energy consumption by getting people out of their cars and into some other form or transport, then some good will come of it.
Ona. I'm not criticizing one's right to ride a bike. I'd like to more often. And, I suppose you technically do have a right to the road. But like I said, when you are biking and I'm driving - if I make a mistake and hit you, I kill you. If you make a mistake and I hit you, I kill you. There is a reason why I can't ride a 4-Wheeler or a go-cart to work. Why??? Safety, for me and others. Even though I'm just as visible on the go-cart, and can drive at a closer-to-traffic flow speed than a bicycle, the go-cart is illegal and the bike is legal. One absolutely has the right to ride a bike on the street, but they take their life in their hands, and they force me to take their life in mine. There ought to be some alternatives. And, before you get all self-righteous about those "gas guzzling behemouths," keep in mind everything you own and use, every place you go, everything you eat, required a gas guzzling behemouth somewhere in its history. We can certainly do much, much better at oil consumption, but don't get all self righteous on the topic. Unless you are already living in a field somewhere, using leaves for toilet paper and eating potatoes and grubs you grew yourself, you are a "gas guzzling behemouth" yourself... only fractionally less than the guy driving the Hummer.
The silver lining of high gas prices is that people might have to rethink how they travel, in personal automobiles, and how they live, in sidewalkless, far-flung uglyburbs accessible only by car. Only a grassroots effort based on need will break the back of the automobile and oil lobbies, whose influence starting 50 years ago killed mass transit in OKC and nearly everywhere else. These powerful forces have given us an unspeakably ugly, big-box, concrete world so unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists that people drive 50 feet from one store to another because the environment is inhospitable (purposely so) to any other mode of travel. If high gas prices halt the creation of such an ugly, car-based world then some long-term good will come from short-term hardship. I bought a commuter bicycle last week. I plan to commute on it as much as I can. And yes, I do have just as much right on the road as any four-wheeled gas guzzling behemoth.
Jokelahoma cares nothing for anything non-automobile. There are barely any sidewalks for people in wheelchairs, bike lanes for bike users, HOV lanes, or rail transit. They believe in oil consumption. Needless to say that the price of gas is so bad that they can't even keep their school or city buses running. Time to get rid of the hillbillies in office. We no longer live in the 60's on Route 66 and cheap gas.
I'd love to ride a bike more often, but there aren't many places to do so that are safe. I refuse to be one of those "I have just as much right to the road as cars" bicyclists. I find that incredibly rude. See, the thing is, if I'm driving and I screw up and I hit you, I kill you. If you screw up and I hit you, I kill you. I can't win. Plus, if an elderly person in a cadillac was driving down Broadway (in Edmond) in any of the lanes at 20, you'd say they were dangerous and backing up traffic. A bicyclist is no different, but that happened to me the other day. He's riding right in the middle of a lane, unapologetically making the road unsafe. He could have chosen any of dozens of other routes. Sure I honked and yelled. What OKC needs to do is create bike routes on rail road right of ways and put designated bike lanes in the shoulder of roads that have a wide enough shoulder. It'd be easy. It just needs to be a priority.
OKC is not prepared for people to ride their bike to work. In more bicycle friendly cities companies provide showers and lockers for those who ride in. If you ride 10 miles one way into work you are going to smell like ass. You can't just go out and say "ride to work" like they are doing.
It's the hillbillies running our City Council that came up with that idea. With our gas prices the way they are, they're destroying our mass transit center for a bigger highway so we can keep right on driving.
Ride a bike to work week! What a joke! I live 28 miles from work. It would probably take me all day just to get there. Why not just lower gas prices and then go to the gym if you want to be healthy! Give me a break. What moron came up with this barbarick idea. If you have a death wish ride your bike to work, because you probably will be run over on your way there or home!
I have been cycling in OKC since the late 80's and have to say that this is one of the worst cities to ride a bicycle in. Over the years I have been cursed, swerved at, had everything imaginable thrown at me, I have been spit on and have even had a gun pointed at me. I do obey traffic laws but have also seen many that bust right through stop signs and lights. This city has a ways to go before it will ever be considered "bicycle friendly". A lot of it is redneck mentality and ingnorance to bicyclist and pedestrian laws.
I've seen the majority of bicycle riders obey traffic laws. We all need to change our driving habits with the understanding that bicyclists and pedestrians are a part of the daily commute.
Not totally sure about the healthy part. I've yet to see a bicycle rider stop at a stop sign or red light. If more people take up this way of transportation we will see an increase in car vs. bike wrecks. We are already seeing an increase in car vs. motorcycle wrecks.
•Always wear a helmet.
•Wear appropriate shoes and comfortable clothes in bright colors that enhance your visibility.
•Before riding, inspect your bike for safety and
mechanical concerns.
•Plan and know your route by walking or driving it first. Select a route that uses less-traveled streets and avoid busy roads and intersections.
•Obey all traffic laws — stop signs, traffic lights, and other posted signs, signal turns, lane changes and stops.
•Continuously scan for traffic, look for road hazards, and ride in a predictable manner with the flow of traffic.
•Ride with the flow of traffic as far to the right as practical unless passing or turning.
•Be aware of turning automobiles, buses making frequent stops, passengers exiting parked vehicles, vehicles exiting driveways and pedestrians.
•Carry drinking water, emergency maintenance tools and a mobile phone.
Source: Association of Central Oklahoma Governments
See video of Business Writers Don Mecoy and Jim Stafford as they took alternative modes of transportation to work Tuesday.
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Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.