Originally Posted by SamHouston

About 6 years or so ago myself and a half dozen others wondered how many commute to work downtown in Houston. We kept our eyes peeled on our routes in and while working and while going home. We notated bikes at the racks and their riders and cross referenced to make sure we weren't double counting. We kept it up for two and a half weeks until we were sure we had everyone we could count. (it was late marchish, which is pretty hot in Houston but still just the 80s when hot)
Now we counted downtown as the area between Pierce Elevated and Congress (except also all of the courthouses on the north side of Congress as well as police and county stuff) and 45 and 59. We later discovered we'd missed some late night riders to St Joes Hosp, about 5 of them all immigrant workers.

The original tally was 29. Add the 5 hospital workers for a total of 34.
That's in a city with a pop of 4.9mil in it's greater metro area.
Over half a mil converge on the downtown area to work each day and 34 rode bikes.

That's Houston

I hope it's improved since then.
Now that didn't include ourselves or our compadres. If you added in the bike messengers it came to around 84 bike commuters.
Mostly you only see poor recent arrivals on bikes on their way to work, especially in the barrios. Most cyclists drive somewhere to do it recreationally. There are 2-3 organized roadie rides that take you through parts of the city, including the Death ride which is a popular roadie training group that I think is organized by West End Cycles.
But really, unless there has been some weird law passed that would require Houstonians to lose weight while not driving it's got fewer commuters per capita than most anyplace.

Don't get me wrong if you wanted to establish a bike related industry there, people do buy them, lots! We're just not sure what they do with them all.

Originally Posted by alanbikehouston

I often wonder why so many adults do NOT ride a bike. I live in a town where it is possible to ride 365 days a year, yet among adults over the age of thirty, probably less than 5 % or so of adults ride a bike on a regular basis. Many of those "non-riders" spend big money on health club memberships, to sit indoors on a pretend bike.

I see some adult non-riders when they come into a bike shop. They can seem embarrassed. A bit like a nun who has wondered into an "adult" bookstore by mistake. They say stuff like "I'm kinda thinking of getting a bike, but I don't know if you have any bikes for someone like me, and I don't know if I can afford it".

These non-riders seem intimidated by the image of cycling promoted by the BLL crowd with mega-buck pretend race bikes wearing BLL clothes, official shoes, and fancy helmet. Some folks develop the sense that riding a bike requires being a 25 year old male who weighs 150 pounds and who has $2,000 in his pocket for bikes, clothes, and gear.

The BLL guys in Houston ride in groups of five, ten, or twenty. "Joe Average" and "Mary Middleaged" have gotten the notion that riding a bike ALONE is perhaps illegal, or at least, highly uncool.

Do the BLL "pretend" racers outnumber the bike riders in jeans and t-shirts in Houston? No. However, a guy riding along in blue jeans just fades into the background of the chaos of bumper to bumper traffic in the world's most motorized city. But, ten guys in a pace line with shaved legs, tight shorts, bright yellow shirts, red aero helmets, and "Bug from Mars" sunglasses would get noticed even in the middle of the "Gay Pride" parade. They are the public "face" of cycling that has the greatest impact on non-riders.

In order for riding bikes to become something that MOST adults do everyday, the "Poster Boy" for cycling needs to be changed from "Lance Armstrong" to "Mary Armstrong". She is a slightly chubby fifty year old lady who rides wearing jeans, an old tee-shirt, and sandals. And, the "poster" should show Mary riding to her job with her briefcase strapped to the back, or returning from Krogers with a basket full of groceries.

There is a "chicken and the egg" thing that keeps the MAJORITY of adults from riding a bike. Most adults would be willing to do it, IF they saw the majority of their friends and neighbors doing it. If it looked "normal". If it had nothing to do with "racing". If it had to do with with easing the pace of life, relaxing, getting fit, and enjoying life in the slow lane.

Originally Posted by caloso

Monday through Friday, I ride my bike to work, but.... several times a week, I take a 20 mile detour as a training loop on my race bike, wearing the full spandex costume.

Saturdays, I join a weekly group ride that's basically an ad hoc road race, but .... on the way home I usually stop by Safeway for a small bag of groceries or the tacqueria.

So, I ride my bike nearly everyday: training, racing, commuting, running errands. Am I a jerky weekend hobbyist? Or a paragon of virtue transportational cyclist?

I am neither and both. I am a Cyclist.

Originally Posted by Feltup

What does this have to do with my statement?

Originally Posted by alanbikehouston

. . . These non-riders seem intimidated by the image of cycling promoted by the BLL crowd with mega-buck pretend race bikes wearing BLL clothes, official shoes, and fancy helmet. . . .

The BLL guys in Houston ride in groups of five, ten, or twenty. . . .

Do the BLL "pretend" racers outnumber the bike riders in jeans and t-shirts in Houston? . . .

Originally Posted by Daily Commute

Forgive my ignorance, but what's "BLL"?

Originally Posted by Feltup

What does this have to do with my statement?

Originally Posted by billh

Is this thread still going . . . who started this lame thing?

Originally Posted by caloso

I think BLL stands for Be Like Lance.

And thanks for pointing out the ambiguity caused by my missing subclause. Anyway, all this thread does is make me want to avoid St. Louis.

(They probably don't have a decent tacqueria there anyway....)

Originally Posted by alanbikehouston

I often wonder why so many adults do NOT ride a bike.

Originally Posted by billh

But hey, we had Mark McGuire! Even changed the "Mark Twain" highway to "Mark McGuire" highway. Now that we know he's a frickin doper, might have to switch that one back!

Originally Posted by feltup

What does this have to do with my statement?

Originally Posted by SamHouston

From Mark Twain to Marc Maguire?

Mark Twain / Mr Samuel Clemons? Hucklebery Finn? Pudd'nhead Wilson? Tom Sawyer for Christ Sake!?!

Marc Maguire? "I hit um balls witum stick here, doin it lots, yep" (no he's not that dumb but he would be standing next to Clemons)

Ok name a highway after him if you want, but don't do something like that, dissing a figure like Twain for an athlete? That's just uuughly.

Originally Posted by pletcgm

Status is the answer! A lot of people think that if they are seen on a bicycle, then other people will look down on them. Specifically, people will think they couldn't afford a car. Second, "it's out of the norm!" They do not want to be seen as different. They want to fit in with the rest of the crowd.