Why Not a Bicycle?

Someone by the name of Matthew whom I'm not particularly sure which Matthew it be seeing as I know about fifty of them and the fellow didn't leave a proper email address posed the question why not a bicycle? For the sake of a better blog entry, I'm assuming the posting Matthew is not from New Hampshire and thus should not already know better.

In theory, I like bicycles. I daydream about a world in which people cycle to work... and then realize I've superimposed footage from movies shot in San Fransisco. The trouble is here... unless you're a person who really loves to cycle... there's a couple reasons why cycling as your primary mode of transportation is a little impractical.

Desirable destinations here are not necessarily close together... When I think of areas where I would like to go in the city, I'm talking within a 5 to 10 mile range of things. When I think of things being in bicycling range, I'm talking 2 to 4 miles (though, I'm so out of shape that going 1 mile would probably knock the wind clear out of my sails).

Roads here are not designed with cyclists in mind. Many roads do not have a shoulder for cyclists to travel with at least a little bit of margin for error... and many motorists aren't terribly cyclist friendly. It's damn near impossible to get anywhere around here without a little bit of route driving (which the ones that don't have shoulders are the ones that are the most dangerous). Bike paths exist, but most of them were designed for recreational bike riding, not practical riding... They don't go anywhere useful.

Then, there's the weather. A good portion of the year, it's too cold to ride a bike or the roads are too snow and icy... and that not having a shoulder issue? Even worse. With snow banks, your roads are narrower than usual.

Cycling as transportation up here is generally reserved for bicycle enthusiasts.