Comments on: Pain

By: Andy Cline

Andy Cline — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:17:41 +0000

Keri… Good questions. I have no good answers. But I’m thinking this is an issue we need to address in Springfield. Yes, I’m also interested in an exchange of ideas about how to reach them. Step one for me will be a little ol’ fashioned shoe-leather reporting.

By: Keri

Keri — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:34:10 +0000

I look forward to your coverage of this next year. The category of utility cyclists who ride out of necessity is a worthy topic. They make up the majority of crash victims because they are the least knowledgeable about safe cycling.

Imagine how much easier and safer their transportation would be if they had properly-inflated tires, working gears, lights, a bike that fit, the saddle-height adjusted so they weren’t destroying their knees… and a minimal understanding how to ride so that their commute wasn’t a war zone of constant conflict and close calls.

I’d be interested in an exchange of ideas about how to reach them with educational messages. What’s the delivery system? What’s the message they’d be receptive to?

By: pam

pam — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:39:09 +0000

The only folks I’ve seen on my 10-15 degree mornings this week are those I suspect to be in your third category. This morning I was nice and toasty, thinking to myself how much better my ski gloves worked this morning than my normal gloves. Just as I rounded a curve, here comes a guy with only a hooded sweatshirt and no gloves. It was 14 degrees out for goodness sakes, my hands would be so painful I wouldn’t be able to grip the bars. Wondered if he even has warm clothes or maybe he didn’t have far to go. Bike or no bike, today is a hat and glove day for most people.

By: Andy Cline

Andy Cline — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:32:45 +0000

Tracy… Yep. This is an issue I plan to cover in some depth after the first of the year. I see a great opportunity here both to help people who need it and to leverage our demographic profile (a lot hourly-wage workers making below the national average) into more support for cycling community wide.

And welcome back from your vacation. I trust a fun time was had by all

By: Tracy Wilkins

Tracy Wilkins — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:27:00 +0000

Ahhhh…. You’ve touched on something that’s been apparent to me for a while now… and perhaps might be Springfield’s ugly little secret. You’re right about the working poor…I think there are three classes of commuters in Springfield. 1) Those of us who ride a bike to work by choice. 2) Students who may be biking a few doors to a few blocks (and are those without gloves and hats) 3) Those folks who ride a bike out of necessity.

I see the latter category quite often riding around town on a beater bike from Wally World that doesn’t fit them very well. If they’re out after dark (or before daylight), they don’t usually have any kind of light, and never wear a helmet. They wear whatever gloves and stocking hats they might (or might not) have.

One day when I was in a retrospective mood, I tried to ask myself whether they would consider themselves to be a cyclist the way I coonsider myself to be one and decided they would not. I decided that a lot of the folks I see riding are just people trying to get by. That makes them no less worthy of safe passage, proper safety education, and adequate facilities to support their journey, but in the end, I suspect they are probably more interested in their destination than the journey itself.