Yield to Life indeed

Don't worry: Yield to Life isn't some cryptic attempt to proselytize. In the traditional sense anyway. Time-trial monster David Zabriskie has decided being hit three times by cars was enough. So he's starting a public-education campaign to educate both cyclists and drivers.

Such efforts are not new. The League of American Bicyclists, for instance, talks a lot about cycling safety and works to train members to train the general public about how to ride safely.

Zabriskie's message isn't just share the road, but "to promote positive attitudes toward cyclists and replace any hostility that exists between motorists and cyclists with understanding, respect, and appreciation for all life on the road. Safety for every cyclist is the top priority of Yield to Life."

He, and the rest of us, have a lot of work to do. When I talk with noncycling friends many of them believe bikes shouldn't be on the road. I can usually bend that attitude even if I can't break it. I hope Yield to Life can provide me more ammunition as well as leverage Zabriskie's stardom and experience as someone who understands better than most that going for a ride should not just be a desperate attempt not to die.

Existence of cycling confirmed

According to today's New York Times. Well, in Portland, Ore. anyway. Other less authoritative sources, such as The Bicyclist, Bicycling magazine and the League of American Bicyclists had previously raised suspicions. Next step: prove that these machines and their users can be found elsewhere.

League gets ass in gear

I never got a reply to my e-mail to the League of American Bicyclists (as memorialized here) but apparently our friends there got a clue and figured out that they had bungled form letter they had provided so cyclists and others could nag their U.S. senators and representatives to support a change in tax law that could benefit cycling commuters and our employers. The league has since corrected its letter and reposted it. If you are so motivated click here and tell our legislators you a share of what's ours. Hooray for the league — and I'm sincere in my thanks for a nifty, legislator-customizable, online form letter — but two weeks to change it to include the right bill numbers?

Welcome to BikeFriendlyville

Or welcome back, anyway. The new issue of American Bicyclist, the house organ of the League of American Bicyclists, arrived today. This issue's theme is the league's Bicycle Friendly Communities program, of which Cary is one at the bronze level. Fifty-eight municipalities throughout the United States have made the cut at some level. The league first recognized Cary in 2003. Town efforts have include a bicycle-education video produced in English and Spanish, the Cary Cycling Celebration, wide outside lanes or striped bike lanes on all collector streets and thoroughfares and a requirement that new developments include bicycle parking facilities. The wide outside lanes are the real deal and allow me to be passed safely when both cars and I are hauling ass.
Living in one of the great 58 is pretty cool but I also know from visiting my mom in Fort Collins, Colo., a silver-level community, that there are more possibilities. Fort Fun practically insists that you pedal and accomodates bicycles on the road so effectively that efforts here seem primitive. Cary has a ways to go to reach those heights.

Do a little work to get what's yours

Here's how a couple of phrases could end up paying off big time for those of us who ride to work. Legislation rolling through Congress would extend the definition of transportation in tax law to include bicycling. That change would allow employers to offer certain benefits — that could even include cold, hard cash — to employees who cycle to work.

This sounds similar to a system that's been in place in Great Britain for some time. Of course, if it's as similar as I think it is, employer participation is voluntary. Tell your senators and representative you think this change would be a good idea. This has the tire marks of a League of American Bicyclists lobbying effort all over it.

My plan had been to post this a week ago and include a link from the league leading to prewritten letters that could then be sent with a handful of mouse clicks to our senators and representatives. However, reading through the league's letters, I noticed that they were using bill numbers from the last session. I e-mailed to point this out but never heard back. Maybe it was my smart-ass comment about Mark Foley having been a sponsor in the last session (I did not say a pedophile can't like bikes or that he could not offer me a financial incentive to ride to work). A check today reveals the league has removed the prewritten letters from its site instead of correcting them. Anyway, if you're feeling compelled to prod your elected officials, the correct bill numbers are S. 858 and H.R. 1498.

Friends in low places

I know a local guy who's a transportation planner who's famous for his e-mail blasts on, predictably, transportation and planning issues. He's nice enough to include me, so here's an article he sent today from Governing magazine that fits with cycledork's passions. If bike friendlier muncipalities are your sort of thing, complete the survey noted in this public service announcement from the Town of Cary regarding updates to the town's transportation plan. Make your opinions clear. To see how the League of American Bicyclists considers these matters, check out its page and links on Bicycle Friendly Communities — of which Cary is one. Even though there's been support for cyclists from Cary for the past several years, it's up to us to make sure that help is maintained or improved.