Originally Posted by
grolby
It's an article of faith among a certain set of utility riders that this is the "problem" with bicycling, that everyone thinks it requires special shoes and spandex and great fitness. And if only the roadies would stop riding around in their spandex and the industry would stop trying to sell things to them, people would suddenly realize that cycling can be done in normal clothes and then people would be riding bikes everywhere. As someone who actually does do the large majority of his miles on a road bike in spandex, this idea is really frustrating because it's just so obviously complete baloney. People GET that you can ride a bike in normal clothes. The majority of people who ride bikes are doing it on hybrids in street clothes. This just isn't the problem. Countries that are well known for having large cyclist mode share in their cities, such as the Netherlands, are also countries where the sport of cycling is much more mainstream and there are just as many people riding around with special shoes and spandex there as there are here. Probably more.
The factors that make bike commuting so unpopular here are many and complex, but I would start with two basic facts. First, that people here do not believe that riding a bicycle on the roads is safe. Second, that riding a bicycle, period, is seen as weird, and is actually getting more and more weird as time goes by. These days children aren't even allowed to ride their bikes to school (see point number one), and are increasingly shuttled everywhere by their parents in cars (again, supposedly for safety reasons). None of this is the fault of people riding bikes recreationally. But I can tell you, no matter what kind of riding you happen to be doing at any given time, people think you are weird and a jerk for supposedly endangering yourself. This has been especially absurd with the last few weeks of snowfall here in Boston, with people I know getting called names for riding their bike. We can be concerned for the future of all types of cycling, recreational and utility, for as long as this continues.
I agree with almost all of this but I'm not sure that it's getting more weird to ride a bike, at least not everywhere in the US. There are the beginnings of a turnaround and I'm actually pretty hopeful that recent generations will see at as more normal. As a group they seem to be less enamored with cars than I and my friends were at that age.
Back to the article, the situation particular to Shoreview and suburbs like it, it is a fair question whether commuting by bike is a reasonable goal for the vast majority of its residents. But I think it would have nice benefits for a lot of them if they could, - even if they had to ride a more performance oriented bike and had to change when they get work. However, even biking for local trips presents problems in places like that because there just aren't that many local trips. The article talked about kids riding to school, but there aren't neighborhood schools in Shoreview. There are two elementary schools in town. The middle schools and high schools are in other suburbs that aren't necessarily close.
FWIW, the first car I owned when I moved to Shoreview had no A/C and vinyl seats. Talk about back sweat. It wasn't so long ago that even cars weren't the climate controlled bubbles they are today.