It amazes me the one thing you don’t want to say when advocating for more bicycling is “because it’s fun.” But why is that? Sustainable Cities And Transport makes some very interesting points which I’ll quote and add a few thoughts of my own.
But what if it’s entirely legitimate to want your cities to have enjoyable things in them?Gasp!
And if you think that Being a Fun Thing isn’t more important politically than Being an Important Thing, look at stadiums. There is nothing more settled in the policy research than stadiums. Cities always put more money in than they get out.
One unspoken item in opposing to bicycling seems to be “but commuting should be miserable or at least boring as heck..” Really, that’s the best you can do in supporting motoring centric infrastructure? Sadly the reality says yes, that is the ultimate achievable goal in urban transport… at least till you introduce bicycling and then all that changes.
But before bicycling can be a viable form of transport uber-fitness is required. At least that’s what the really out-of-shape crowd would like you to think, at least that is my impression as some of the most vocal anti-cycling are well, take this one for example:
Robert ”I can’t support bike lanes” Ford
And of course there is the one line zinger guaranteed to put cyclists in a bad light … “the Lance Armstrong wannabes”… oh the burn, seriously? Granted social norms dictate to get your exercise in a gym and not on the public street and then if we were to stress “but it’s fun” that would by like saying it’s fun to go play in traffic, totally unacceptable by today’s mores. But shouldn’t fun+functional transport+fitness be more something of admiration and not of scorn?
One of the inspirational things of volunteering to help at a biking event is not seeing the uber-fit come in early but the Joe average come in last after 10 hours in the saddle and after riding 100 miles with a smile on their face. Now I have to pause here and ask who in their right mind would be motivated to spend 10 hours in a gym? Or driving a 100 miles just for fun, let alone paying good money to do so? Yet if you are a charity charging people to ride their bike 100 miles is a great way to raise money. Again, it is all because biking is fun and riding a 100 miles is within the ability of a healthy adult, sure you may have to work up to that level from where you are at but you don’t have to do crazy pro racer type training to get to this level.
100 miles by bike… think about it… now think how people think you can’t go as far on a bike as you can by car. OK I hear a few “but cars do go farther then bikes” out there which I will counter with think about driving from Baltimore to D.C. to see the Cherry Blossom Festive or to see the fireworks on the 4th of July, would you do it? Typical answer is “But the traffic and the parking is a nightmare, so no.” But with a bike there is no traffic nor parking problems, and that’s another point, the “ideals” of motoring do not fit the reality of too many people also doing motoring and we just cannot accommodate all those cars.
Biking to D.C. is one of my favorite things to do and I have seen the Cherry Blossom Festive and the fireworks on the 4th of July in D.C. all by bike and all very enjoyable. We have reached a point where people who bike do more and see more then people stuck with just the automobile as their only solution to travel. Why is this? Because biking is fun, going places is fun and life is just more enjoyable when it is fun. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, that sums up cycling nicely.
But biking is still fun at the end of it all. It is indisputably fun. Bikers indisputably derive value from their biking. When was the last time you heard the argument go like this:You: “Biking is great, I really enjoy my commute.”
Opponent: “No, you’re wrong, you don’t enjoy it.”Never, that’s when. Your and others’ enjoyment is–after all of the noise–the core value that can not be discredited.
Quotes and title from: https://lisaschweitzer.com/2011/07/26/what-if-biking-being-a-fun-thing-is-the-important-thing/oldId.20110806012551807