Well, notice I said that she herself was from Georgia. I think even a native, but I'm not sure. And probably half kidding. Anyway, I'm sure it varies according to your exact location. There's places here in Maine where the same might be true, and places where it wouldn't.

For me, going sans auto is all about freedom. I've turned my back to the vast majority of American values (consuming, cars, clothes, vanity, and that crazy idea of working 50 weeks a year). Except for my job, I have nothing holding me down. No car payments, no insurance, house payments, not a lot of possessions. That's freedom to me.

I once heard maturity define as the ability to deny yourself pleasure.
In my case, I'm trying to be financially mature.
Not buying all this crap now to have awesome time later.

So I guess I'm "pro rad adventures" and "anti-2 thousand pounds of metal."

Plus, I like the eco-friendly, no blood for oil, question combustion, no less SUV, give me latic acid or give me death, hippie type benefits of riding.

peace, love, and all that *****,

Sean

Yeah, I live with my mom too.

Agreed.

You can't stop making political statements, even if you wanted to avoid making a statement.

Some of us made political statements a generation ago by marrying outside of our race, or by trying to live in certain neighborhood. We were just minding our own business, but that's not what "everyone else" thought.

Same with cyclists.

for the record, it's a detached garage from the main house...so technically not in the same house :)

Commuting is great fun & it keeps me trim & young at heart. If there is a political statement it would be: Just saving a bit more oil for the Bradleys & A10s! Or how about: You're not getting any gas tax money from me, so find some other way to fund your social engineering.

Rosa Parks was NOT an unintentional political figure, she had been involved in the struggle for civil rights for years, and made a definite, intentional political statement by not getting up.

(sorry I know this is way late and off topic, sorries)

hmm. not in the sense that i imagine i'm having some kind of dialogue with the ambient culture. not even in the sense that i feel like i'm having a monologue at them. definitely i don't bike in order to communicate with anybody, which is probably a good thing. but sure; at the same time i know perfectly well that they see me out there and it manifests something to them. i don't engage or invest much in what that something might be, since i have no insight and no control over their interpretation. i've found out several times how wrong i can be making the same interpretations of other bike commuters; many of them have motives that mean nothing to me and some have motives i really dislike. and the ones who have the same motives as mine about bike commuting could still turn out to be people i wouldn't cross the street to spit on in some other equally relevant political/social context. i guess at the least i do make a manifestation of possibilities to the general world. but every driver who goes by me is doing that too; they're displaying that it's possible to own/drive x or y car in x or y manner. doesn't make me go back to the drawing board on my own life and values when i see that.

on the other hand, i frequently give my fellow adults too much credit for having expanded their mental horizons and view of the world from where it was set for them in junior high, so maybe i'm wrong and i'm more of a message than i tend to think.

My son in Colorado makes his political statement by driving 3 hours to the mountains so he can ride his bike.

He hee! I'm glad you took that for the joke it was. I caught some criticism from the guys at work for that one. They felt it was mean-spirited. Advice for the masses: When you strike out from home to make a big name for yourself in the world, don't get married, lose your job and move into your parents house with your new bride and 9 bikes. Hurts the ol' self esteem. :(