Being a person with a minor in Statistics, I know that a personal observation is often useless, but I would be interested in where you extrapolate these numbers from...

I have lived in California and Pennsylvania within the last 10 years, and those numbers do not seem indicative of either of those areas, nor do they seem indicative of any areas I have visited.

Frankly, I would be surprised if either the Bay Area of California, or NE Pennsylvania even had a bicycle for 30% of the residents... I might find a bike in 30% of homes if I were to check the garages and sheds, but not for each person in the house, possibly one for the kids in 30% of homes.

I know I spent hours each week in my neighborhood in CA doing a 2.5 mile loop as part of my rides and I rarely saw another bike even though I passed well over a hundred homes. I would ride 15 miles on the Bayside trail and see an occasional bike... but most times I would only see the tracks in the trail from another bike.

I can do a 2 hour out and back on a popular MUP in the WB area for cycling (the levee) in my area and only see a handful of riders.

I bought my house partly because it is on a popular road for cycling, and I have to be doing yard work for several hours to see more than a handful of cyclists on a good day.

Yet, if I walk the four flights of stairs at work (which is rare due to arthritis) I almost always see someone else...

Among the people I work with (about 80) I know of 3 cyclists, 2 roadies, and 1 mountain biker, and that counts me. There are a couple of others who have dabbled, and a few more who have considered it. Many know I cycle because it is unusual. This was also the case in my workplace in California, although there were a few more cyclists in the population. It was still a low enough number out of 300 people that someone I didn't even know sought me out for advice when he decided to buy a bike. One of my best friends at work did own a bike, but hadn't ridden it in 20 years.

In California, I attended a church of 25 adults on a typical Sunday. There was one other person that rode a bike briefly (probably about a month) during the 3 years I attended that church before his bike was garaged.

Am I really that unfortunate in who I hang out with???

Am I really that much of a statistical outlier???

If (using your low number) 20% of the population rides bikes regularly, where are they???

Maybe you are not talking about the US population... I guess the Dutch, Chinese and some other nations could be skewing everything...

Off the top of my head, there are reports from The Nation Bicycle Dealers Association, there was the report I linked, and my governments transportation department running public transit that produced a report on bicycle usage in our most populous region. Keep in mind, these numbers are not hard and fast, ridership varies from area to area, and the point is, a large group of people cycle. Cycling is a very popular activity and often ranks in the top below walking in terms of participation.

I often like to point out that in peaceful Canada, hospital admission due to head injuries originating from assault are often four times more frequent than the same from riding a bicycle. Just how many people get involved in fights vs. ride a bike?

Tough question if you're talking about Saturday night on Granville St!

Seriously though, you have a good point.

Great report "Do the Math", "Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure" and "Obesity Prevention" are some of the best sections I've read on their respective topics. RTC is vital to the slow, but continuing acceptance of cycling as a transportation alternative that works and a primary form of transportation that can happen.

I was also happy to see you folks in the past get some participation in other projects you do, like the GPS mapping project that Frederick was working on.

Thank you; and I hope to visit you folks someday in DC.