Confessions of a non-avid cyclist

Every public input process about a new bike lane has one: an “avid cyclist” who pipes up to criticize the proposal. Claiming to speak from the generalized cyclist’s point of view, she or he will say the bike lane shouldn’t happen because it’s not necessary, it’s redundant, or it gets the balance wrong between cyclists and drivers and will result in dangerous conditions (disregarding the extensive evidence that bike infrastructure improves safety for everyone).

But a fully-connected bike network isn’t designed for the elite or avid cyclist. There aren’t very many such riders. They already ride a lot and (mostly) feel OK about it, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Finally, many “avid cyclists” see it more as recreation than transportation. Both are valid, but the fun value in cycling can obscure its public value for human mobility.

A safe bike network makes it possible for more people to bike — people with limitations that may be easier or harder for others to see. People like me.

Backpedaling into biking

I ride a bike nearly every day in DC. As the District Department of Transportation makes headway on its plans to build out a fully-connected network, I’m fortunate to feel safe most of the time. But owing to balance issues and a chronic injury, I’m far from a confident cyclist.

Reluctant to forgo the comfort of my training wheels, I didn’t ride a bike at all between ages 7 and 11. At that point, my actual grandma shamed me into it by taking a spin on the pink beach cruiser she had bought me years before. As a teenager, I got a nasty scar from a fall (I did mention balance issues), but I still biked from time to time for fun.

Living in London as a young adult, my sole foray into urban biking was trying to use it to commute to work one day. It scared me so much that I made my then-boyfriend bike it back out for me the next day. As the London bikeshare scheme expanded, I was skeptical. “This bikeshare thing scares me. You don’t want people like me biking in the city!” I used to say, using self-deprecation to mask my fear of accidentally wobbling into traffic at the wrong moment. There weren’t nearly as many protected lanes back then as there are now.

In my early thirties, I sustained an injury — not from biking — that would affect me to this day, making it harder to take part in a lot of exercises I once enjoyed, including biking. All of a sudden, I was unable (I still am unable) to start on hills or to lead with my left leg. I’m fortunate that the issue doesn’t cause constant pain the way it used to. It still made riding a bike both a mental and physical challenge that I lacked the confidence to tackle.

But when I moved to DC in 2014, my interest in biking to commute was re-piqued, both by the increasingly decent infrastructure in the city and a WABA class specifically geared (ha) toward women. Though I’m not capable of every ride I want to take (my one attempt to ride with a kid on the back ended in near-defeat), I now use a bike to get around more than any other mode besides walking.

Why do I bike even though it’s a bit complicated? It’s a reliable way to get around. I like the gentle exercise and the outdoor time. I acknowledge some joy from the fact that if I’m biking, I’m shouldering most of the cost of my trip rather than foisting externalities on the rest of society in the form of air pollution, health issues, congestion, danger, and the huge amount of public space every individual car requires. But I’m not sure that motivates me so much as that as long as I feel safe, it’s usually the best, most efficient option for me. In other words, it’s transportation.

Everyone’s capabilities and risk calculus are different. We need to let go of the false trope that making space for safe cycling entails an inherent trade-off with the needs of folks of different abilities, including seniors and children.

Safe infrastructure means cities where cycling is possible for everyone, and not a Darwinian club.

Who can benefit?

Older people can be among the biggest beneficiaries of a low-stress network. My parents happily — not avidly, they own no lycra to my knowledge — often bike in their mid-70s. Cycling has increased in recent years among older adults. But data on these patterns fall far short of what we need to understand them as most analysis of these modes centers on commuting trips, leaving out many older (and younger and disabled) people on the move.

Young people, too, benefit from opportunities to bike safely, both thanks to the wider health benefits of physical activity and their ability to experience their communities without being killed, injured, or traumatized. DC has a fantastic program, started in partnership with WABA, teaching every second-grade class a hands-on (legs-on?) unit on cycling. My own second grader just wrapped up his unit and they had a blast. That means nearly every kid over age 8 in DC has the skills to ride. They just need safe spaces to do it.

Bike infrastructure has the dual benefit of getting more people of all stripes on bikes (which benefits even non-riders in terms of emissions, safety, and traffic) and tackling equity issues, opening it up as an option to under-represented groups like women. Safety is what women ask for when it comes to cycling; the same, one imagines, as any other group.

That’s why NACTO calls an all-abilities bike network — one that is safe, comfortable, and equitable for a variety of “types” of users — a critical tool for urban mobility.

A bike lane network for the rest of us

Can everyone ride bikes? No. Not everyone can drive either, whether due to cost, ability, age, or something else, so that’s not the relevant question. Most of us will reach a point when we cannot drive at some stage in our lives, whether permanently or temporarily. The question is, how do we create a variety of ways for people of differing abilities to move around and participate in public life? Isn’t that what cities are for?

For many who don’t bike–not all–the answer to why they don’t bike is that they don’t feel safe doing so, which is one problem that an all-abilities bike network can help solve.

That’s why it puts a smile on my face every time I see bollards and curbs being put down by a department of transportation. I imagine people who don’t match society’s idea of a paragon of physical strength who can now choose to ride: young children can. Older people can. People who aren’t men, often more risk-averse in cycling choices, can. People of lots of different abilities can. That’s only made possible with every block of protection.