Ok, let me it put it this way. For me right now, this is the most accessible sample of the types of people I need to reach - people interested in cycling, especially those with sufficient interest in safety and advocacy to go to a forum like this. My primary goal here is not to change the cycling world, yet, but to see if I can learn how to get others to change the cycling world. In that sense, I must plead guilty to accusations of my VC evangelism. I hope some day to get to the point where I'm ready to package my lessons in a book that will be a significant influence. For now, I'm just trying to see what approaches get people thinking, and what approaches backfire (I've found plenty of the latter as you know... hopefully I'll be able to avoid all of them in my book).

I must say I'm very pleased with the VC poll. Two years ago before I ever posted here, I wonder what percentage of the participants even heard of VC. I guess some searches might help ascertain that. Anyway, now we have half saying they are full-fledged vehicular cyclists (whether they actually are is a different story, but that they think they are is the major battle, for as you know I believe it's mostly about attitude).

There are people like Longhorn. We can make a difference one cyclist at a time. Maybe Longhorn will join his local advocacy group, and could end up making a pitch for training some day. He could end up Chairman and setting the agenda to focus much more on getting more members certified as LCIs, and pitching their training program to the public through the LBSs, rather than spending all their time on which 25 mph streets need bike lanes first.

Even folks who disagree with me now, might be sitting in an advocacy meeting some day in the future and notice that, indeed, they are spending 90% of their time talking about paint and paths. Perhaps, with a seed planted in these forums, they'll start questioning on their own how much, if any, good that really does for cycling.

Did you, Gene, always ride OUTSIDE of the bike lane like you did on Miramar Road last Sunday? Were you always as aware of the debris and rubble collection characteristic of bike lanes as you are now (hub cap, cable)?

I don't have a complete plan on how to change our culture to accept the value of training for cyclists. But I do know that it's never going to happen unless, first, leaders in the cycling community accept the value of training for cyclists, and that that's never going to happen unless there is a way that cyclists like those that visit this forum can be persuaded of the value of training for cyclists, and that's what I'm trying to learn how to develop here.