I was thinking that I wanted to do more than post opinions to other bicyclists on this forum, in order to make Minneapolis a place where more people ride, and the bike is nurtured as a viable form of transportation. What do you guys do towards similar ends? What would have the greatest impact? How much time do these activities take out of your busy lives?

What I do is small but over time I've made some impacts...

1) Find out if there is a government body that deals with bicycle and/or pedestrian issues. These are typically called BAC or BPAC (Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Comittee). I am a member of the Broward County BAC. A lot of this is blowing off steam but on occasion I get to point out problem areas and sometimes the state and county fix them! Also showing interest is something the road (state/county/city) like to see. You are a cyclist and can explain to them why a design is a problem for you. Sometimes they don't see it because they are not all cyclist.

2) When possible volunteer to do civic bicycle stuff like kid bicycle rodeos. They are a drag on your riding time but if you can at least do one a year then you will make lots of good contacts with county/city officials and also probably law enforcement officers esp bicycle officers.

3) Try to set up a promotion for bicycle week. For us here in South Florida the month of May is too hot so we are working on doing it during March.

4) Join a bicycle club and try to motivate them to help with the above causes.

5) Never let the above get in the way of your personal cycling goals

I think one of the biggest things I do is to commute to work on my bicycle. People think it's hard, and it's not. I do discuss this with co-workers, and a few have started too.

I am the Transportation Coordinator for my company. Each year there is a week called "Car Free and Care Free" which promotes the use of alternative transportation modes. I've made sure that our company participates, and last year several people won prizes for their use of alternative transportation modes (bicycling, riding the bus, walking or car pooling).

I've cleaned up two trails sections near on on my route for commuting. This becomes a private thing that I simple do to help my own commuting, and it will help others too.

I've shown a little-known bicycle path to people who wanted to bike, but were not aware of it. This helps get around some highly car-traffic streets, and therefore reduces the risk to the bicyclers.

I've promoted the use of helmets every chance I get, from telling some parents of very young bicyclists not to forget their helmets to discussing helmets with people who ride. I've participated in several discussions on this topic in these forums too.

I've helped some neighbor kids with their bicycles, ensuring that they are adjusted correctly for the kid's size (it's amazing how fast they need more adjustment) to airing up tires to assisting with mechanical problems.

It's not much, and I hope to get more active this year, but it is something.

John

Each of you, Preston and John, say that you don't do much, but it sounds like a lot to me! I think you're awsome. All the projects seem important and no one thing takes too much time out of your lives.

I have two boys, 8 and 9 years old. Most of my bike promoting is with them and with my coworkers. Otherwise I've brought a broom in a trailer to sweep up broken glass on the Greenway( a path between home and work). Thats about it for me, so far. You've given me some good ideas, though. I hope we hear more.

Given my preocupation with my children, I will probably add something that I can involve them in, to some degree.

Hmmm, interesting one. I feel the need to make a couple of comments here. Firstly, I have different ideas on what makes for safe cycling to many people on this board. You won't see me riding a bike path because I find them dangerous. Another issue I have found with trying to promote cycling is that it's basically impossible to try to convince someone to do something they really have no desire to do unless you're a slick salesman -- and I'm not.

As a consequence, I try to focus on little things which perhaps may not get noticed, but which I believe make a difference. I've offered advice and assistance to many inexperienced cyclists whom I've met on the road or helped with a basic repair (I don't consider myself an expert mechanic by any means, but I've helped people make it home). I do little pieces of volunteering for Bicycle Gold Coast when time allows. I also lead numerous Bicycle Gold Coast rides, showcasing some of the lesser known areas around here that are really great for cycling.

Perhaps I'm not going to change the world, but is the world really there for the changing?

I write to the local papers and my letters get posted in the "editorial" section of the newspapers. I've written about the lack of bike racks at the train station, the vandals who destroy my bike.

The last critical letter I wrote that's getting printed next week was the decision by the city counsil to speed up red lights that will enable the motorist go travel faster down our streets! I live in a town where the lights have a 90 second headway giving seniors plenty of time to cross the street. Were're now going to have a 30 second headway which means the motorist will have more time to travel longer distances thus increasing the overall speed of city traffic! I fully expect to see more accidents and deaths on the boulevard.

I believe that one does make a difference with the little things. So I want to thank you for doing what you do, in that far off land of yours.

What I do is pretty little. Let's face it, occasionally carting a broom over to the Greenway to sweep up glass, isn't a big deal, but I figure that if the bike path is free of trash, glass, and grafitti, while gussied up with flowers and stuff, it will be more inviting, and used more. Maybe some people who would be scared to do city biking, would find that the path is perfect for them, because of what I and a few others do.

By the way, here, most bike paths have two lanes for traffic to go each dirrection, and there is always a walking path separated from it. Maybe these are different than the bike paths to which you are acustomed, and would like them.

Because I think that biking should be promoted( which does take some salesmanship), and made easier to do( which takes political action), I hope that the bike community works toward these goals. I want to do a little more than I already do, and I like to hear what others are doing, to give them 'Hurrahs!', hence my post.

As for you, ya big gorilla, don't sell too short your contribution!

They have the same paths here. Again, the idea is fine in theory, however, the same lawlessness that causes problems on the road also causes problems on the path. About the only difference between the two of them in my view is that I at least have more space on the road in which to deal with it.

Chris,

Let me tell you of the differences I see between the bike path I take (and work on occasionally) and the road with a bike lane that would be the alternative. On the path, I see no car, and have no car conflicts. The path goes from a back road to a parking lot, bypassing a very busy 4-lane road. I rarely see anyone on this bike path, and almost never another bicycle. It is usually deserted. There are a couple of hazards; a sign in the pathway narrows it significantly, there were blackberry vines on the path, and other brush. I got rid of the brush and blackberry vines, so those are no longer there.

The road in question is the funnel which is fed by four different parking lots. The bike lane on this road must cross four entrances/exits from these parking lots, which can hold about 1000 cars. All these cars are impatient to get out into this 4-lane road, and they usually do not completely stop at the stop sign. The lots feed the road from both sides of the road (with a like number of cars in the parking lots). The road with the bike lane makes a wide turn to the right, going downhill, so that it is impossible for a bike rider to be seen until he/she is within about 50 yards of the parking lot's feeder road. If the person is looking to the right, and not uphill, first, then the bicycle rider would be almost upon the car before the car could/would see it, probably after the car had started to exit the parting lot onto the road. At that place, the bicycle rider must either continue in the bike lane, to the stop light, wait for the walk light and go across the road as a pedestrian, or move across two lanes of traffic (with the feeder road in front of him/her) to the turn lane to turn left on the main road.

Now, given these circumstances, which would you choose? Does this match your vision of a bicycle path in your area? Would you take the hazard of a sign in the path, and a possible person on the path once a week, or try dodging cars coming out of the roadways from all those parking lots?

Let me tell you, it took me a lot of time to find this route, and it has allowed me to continue riding to work. If I had to ride the same route that almost killed me one and three-quarters of a year ago, I may have given up commuting to work. There is two other roadway rides to work, but one funnels a busy road across a small bridge, and the other skirts the area I had my accident on; it has less conflicts, but lots and lots of traffic. So given your experience, what would be your answers to my questions?

John

I'm about to go for a ride, so I really don't have time for a long-winded reply right now. All I'll say is that using a bike path implies a certain amount of faith in drivers because it assumes they will actually stay within the confines of the road. This simply is not the case around here.

It's not just overhanging branches on bikepaths I have issues with. It's also the broken glass, the exceptionally poor lighting at night (a problem given the types of areas through which people choose to build these things), the fact that they tend to have far more intersections than the adjoining road (all with "cyclists must dismount to cross road" signs), the broken glass, the uneven slabs of concrete that trap wheels and cause crashes.

I will also add that there are many many areas that bike paths simply do not go. If I ever need to go to one of these areas (such as my place of employment) I simply do not have the option of riding the bikepath. If I'm going to have to join a section of road, my experience of over 120,000km of riding tells me it's much safer if I'm already on the road. And yet people ask why I do not use bikepaths?

Given that situation, I'll take my chances riding on the road, where I feel they're pretty good all in all (and certainly better than any alternative I've heard yet). It should be pointed out that an old commute of mine used to go past the two biggest shopping centres in the southern hemisphere, and I never had a problem with traffic. In fact, my current commute still goes past no.2 on that list.

We can only do what we can, and if riding is all you do, that's a lot better than not riding and driving instead.

If you ride every day, talk about it if people ask about it.

Learn about your local advocacy organization. If they promote what you think are good ideas, give them your support.

Always write to media that present misinformation about cycling. They like to stir things up and will likely show a cycling viewpoint if there is a point.

Just riding, especially in the winter, before I rode in the winter I would see people doing it and would wonder just how much Prestone or Zerex they had consumed that day. So I tried it found it wasn't cold and never quit.

I talk to non-riders all the time and they think i'm dumb to ride. When i ride people look at me and laugh at my shorts. The bm xer's make fun of my helment. I'm not helping.

My public relations policy is based on attraction, not promotion.

I write a daily journal online (blog) in which I discuss routes, equipment, and current events relevant to bicycle commuting in the Harrisburg, PA metro area. I promote the blog in various ways online and through print, and I hope that readers will get inspiration to ride, and point-of-view that will enable them to understand and appreicate bicycle commuting as a viable option in my region.

oh yeah, I also model correct behavior while on my bike.

I try to help as much as I can.

To me, the safety thing is being pounded into everyone as much as possible already, so i look at it form a different perspective, the "pain" aspect of cycling.

Too many think cycling is painful, and often their pain is either form maladjusted gear, or trying to do something their bike is not equipped for.

My number one gripe is people who say they that bike riding is too exhausting but they don't have some sort of binding device on their pedals. I tend to reccomend half-clips to them. They are very cheap ($6 for a good set), and the gains from a good set compared to price is possibly the highest gain of any upgrade you could do to a bike. Given their benefit is not as much as true toe clips or slipless systems, but most riders are more willing to use something they can use their normal street shoes with.

The other being the seat. I see too many cruiser seats on road and mountain bikes, along with the rider who complains of rump pain. I usually reccomend a split saddle for that, and for those on a buget, just a simple MTB saddle (I sold the OE one from my diamondback to some guy for $5 a month ago, and everytime I see him he thanks me for it).

Of course I have to mention lights...it may be safety..but it's comfort too...nothing is comforting about running over sweer grates and such, or even branches. A good light can fix that...plus at night it's the law.

Then the water bottle bit...two bottles. I keep one on my bike to drink form WHILE STOPPED. The other is in my pack in case I wear out the one in my bottle holder. Hydration = comfort.

Basically those who have followed my advice later told me it made a huge difference in the way they view cycling. To me having a few say that is reward enough. I may not be a lobbyist or even politically involved in this, but least we can do is show people the right things to do with their bikes, so they can get the most out of them...and who knows...maybe they will pass the word on too?

It's Dead Jim I'm a Doctor not a Web Designer