DnvrFox

BTWD - Bike to Work Day - DRCOG - Denver Regional Council of Governments

They asked for suggestions. Here was mine:

Many folks who are retired use their bikes for errands, transportation, etc., yet, BTWD seems entirely focused on those going to work and back. Also, many folks who work out of their homes also use their bikes for errands, recreation and the like.

Today, I rode 30 miles on errands and to the swimming pool for a swim. I ride about 125 miles per week, reducing my car use. I am 72.5 yo.

It would be nice to have this type of use recognized by DRCOG.

qcpmsame 

Good for you Denver, I couldn't agree more.

Bill

CB HI

Denver, sounds too much like a whine.

The retired folks have the best deal during BTWD. The workers still have to get to work on time. The retired can plan their BTWD around stops at Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Begal Shop, Bike Shops, etc. for all the free and/or reduced priced stuff. You have time for a break waiting in line for the free stuff at each stop. The workers, if lucky, only have time to stand in line at one stop.

Terex

If you want your own "holiday", you should propose it. If you start tacking on everything else you can think of, it will dilute the original intent of the "bike to work" initiative.

It's like "take your daughter to work" day. The original intent was to have girls of about the middle school age go to work with one of their parents so they could see what "work" really meant, and hopefully give them some something to aspire to. Then the parents with boys cried foul, and wanted the boys included. Then the parents with kids in grade school said "what about us??", and got their kids included. It eventually devolved into a lost work day, with a bunch of 7 yr. old kids running around the office.

Don't let "bike to work" turn into a bunch of 7 yr. old kids running around the office.

DnvrFox

1. We only have one stop. All the rest of the stuff you mentioned - they don't do that here.

2. Sounds like you are bent out of shape about retired people.

3. Whine?? ANyone else think that what I wrote is a whine?? Seems to me that by recognizing what retired and other folks do, they might encourage more of it. Isn't that what it is all about?

billydonn

One vote for "not a whine". Didn't seem at all that way to me.
And +1 for bent out of shape.

tsl

And it sounds to me like you have a chip on your shoulder about working people.

Look, DF, I know that because of your son, you're a tireless advocate of inclusivity WRT access rights for the handicapped and disabled. Bravo! I support you in that. I too am all about inclusivity in nearly all things. But I recognize that there are limits.

I think you've gone a bridge too far in thinking Bike to the Pool should be included with Bike To Work. Unless you're the lifeguard.

Retired folks enjoy many rewards from society that working folks do not. I don't begrudge that, and I hope those rewards still exist for me when it's time for me to retire.

Bike to Work Day is about rewarding people who still work and bike to work. Retirees have plenty of other rewards, let us have one for ourselves, okay?

And I say this as a car-free cyclist. I'm very far beyond you in reducing my car use. I eliminated mine 13 years ago. I still don't think "Bike to the Pool", or "Bike to the Grocery Store" or "Bike to the Dentist" should be included with "Bike To Work". And I do those things too.

DnvrFox

Looks like I opened a Pandora's Box here. Yeow!! However, this has NOTHING to do with my sons and my advocacy, and let's leave that out of this..

2manybikes

Does not seem like a whine to me. They asked for suggestions, you sent an intelligent suggestion. I'm sure there are plenty of unintelligent suggestions. It would be fun to see some.

qcpmsame 

I have to stick with my initial reply. Not whining to me, either.\\

Bill

Dudelsack 

I don't get this controversy. Tell me what I'm missing.

Frankly, I'm a bit chapped that they don't recognize the "Bike to Dairy Queen" day. I've really puts a lot of work into it. I'd like to receive some love please.

DnvrFox

I believe that folks who "Bike to Work" consider themselves a bit special - rightfully so - and they may feel as if recognition to other bicyclists for their accomplishments is horning in on "their" day. However, my belief may be wrong!!

Hey, I used to "ride to work", but never felt it was a proprietary activity. And if those 7 year-olds are riding around on bicycles, then that is fine with me!!

Terex

prathmann

The group running Bike to Work Day in the SF East Bay area specifically mentions riding your bike for any transportation trip as making you eligible to enter their contest drawing and to stop at the assorted 'Energizer Stations' set up along popular commuting routes.

DnvrFox

Heresy!! But you know those folks on the west coast . . . .

jdon

I don't get it. Does being a participant in BTWD absolve one from paying taxes or something? Is it just recognition? Why not just make it a way of life for ones own good and blow off the special day.

DnvrFox

Around here, it is used as a technique to get more people to bicycle to work - a day of emphasis. We have a "stop" about one mile from our house, and I always ride there just to say "Hi!" to several folks I know who stop for bagels, juice and coffee, along with brochures and a bike repair stand and person, and T-Shirts. We get a fair amount of folks such as me - retired, working from home, etc., who join in the festivities.

There are stands like this throughout the metro area.

My suggestion is that they broaden the emphasis of that day. It seems my suggestion is highly controversial.

jdon

Ah, I see. They probably should rename it to be more inclusive. Ride A Bike Day may be better.

NOS88

I'm confused, again. I thought that when the League of American Bicyclist (LAW at the time) proposed and promoted "bike to work" day it was part of a larger effort to promote cycling in general, and to show that cyclist have legitimate rights to the road. My remembrance was that there was a concern that cycling would only be seen as recreation and not transportation. I don't see what Denver proposed as being out of line with those objectives.
I'd like to make a second point, if I may. It may be somewhat self-defeating, for society as a whole, to perpetuate the notion that some groups have more, or should have more rewards than others. It pits us against one another. Do "working people" have benefits that retirees do not? I would suspect some do. Do "retired people" have benefits that workers do not? I would suspect some do. Why not hold a more inclusive view. That is we are collectively cyclists? As John Rawls put forth in his work on social justice: To determine whether any particular system of collectively enforced social arrangements is legitimate, must look for agreement by the people who are subject to it. If we allow ourselves to be split over such a minor issue (my opinion), we make it easier to have more and more restrictive rules placed on us.

Dudelsack 

You is smart, you is kind, you is important...

Forgive me the snark. Sometimes I just can't help myself

DnvrFox

Just label me "confused . . . . "

10 Wheels

Yes ...Whine.

berner

Wow. It's been a long hot summer. This type of weather seems to promote the 'middle-east effect' in people.

Dudelsack 

It's a line from "The Help". Google the phrase and it will take you to a YouTube link.

I think, generally speaking, the less external validation I need, the better. To the Zen crowd it's called "detachment", to Judeo-Christians it's called "humility and charity", and I'm sure other traditions have their own version of it.

I tend to seek external validation the most when I'm depressed or really hurting. Just saying'.

I'd ride my bike even if there weren't a "National ain't cyclists cool or what Day".

DnvrFox

Just label me "still confused . . . . "

But, then, I am a pretty "concrete" kind of person. I almost failed philosophy in college. Never could figure it out.