Site your source and don’t use wikipedia, check out where I ascertained my facts: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/the-8-best-bike-friendly_n_648233.html#s114485
Well Europe you’ve done it again. In my weekly perusing of the internet, I discovered Boulder did not make the “World’s 8 Best” bicycle friendly cities list. Shamefully, we were beat out by a bunch of fancy Europeans, with their chic socialist cloths, and tightly rolled cigarettes. Now, now, pick your chin up Schleck. Unfortunately we came up short this year, but if we keep our heads on a swivel and play an offensive game, Boulder may be in the running next summer. To give us the edge, we shall take notes from cities like Bogota, Trondheim, and Amsterdam, all communities committed to rad ideas worth adopting.
First let’s visit Columbia, where cyclovia originated, a popular movement rolling across the world. In Bogota everyone rides, personal vehicles remain scarcer than a polar bear on Palin’s property. The bicycle programs lack the smug Euro-freshness, but the cyclist reigns supreme.
Each week in Bogota the city closes miles of roadways and bans cars from travel. I heard a rumor cyclovia’s coming to Boulder, and if confirmed we’ll surely catch the eyes of next years Top 8 Cities Committee (whoever these people are.)
Oslo, nice job Norway; your fare city of Trodheim impressed me more than your jagged fjords, tasty halibut, and uncanny resemblance to Vikings. Trodheim devised a solution for navigating bicycles through hilly and mountainous cities. A cyclist merely slides their foot onto the track and glides upward, all while never getting off the saddle. It tickles me imagining a downhill world; it’s my new counterpoint against people who believe the bicycle will never be America’s primary form of transportation (an argument I refine daily.)
I’m inspired when cities like Amsterdam boast over 50% cyclist rates. Wonder if Boulderites parked their Subaru’s and adopted a stricter cycling routine? People in Amsterdam must breathe a kinder air; since their infrastructure caters to bicycles, parking garages facilitate 20,000 wheels, and the laws on our (the riders) side.
Hopefully Boulder city planners continue adding paths and bike lanes, helping close the cyclist to driver gap. However, it all depends on community support; so remember, friends don’t let friend drive cars.
If our momentum continues forward and our chain doesn’t slip, (sorry, another bad jab at Schleck) we’re likely to join the club. I’ll cherish the day my eyes meet a flowing, traffic sea of cyclists. Fortunately, we have the infrastructure, and our cities onboard; we just need to maintain support. Like truing a wheel, tiny adjustments and gradually the wheel recovers center. Our city, like the wheel, must constantly refocus and find effective ways of integrating bicycles, for god’s sake we have a Huffington Post Poll on the line, oh…and a chance to be Euro-fresh.
