Yeah, that headline got my attention too. Bike Advocacy from the NRA Playbook is the title of an interesting new post at Commute by Bike written by corporate attorney and bike commuter Tom Bowden. I definitely agree that the various subcultures within the cycling world can sometimes be counterproductive to the goal of getting more people on bikes. I also believe that bicycle advocates (perhaps myself included) tend to get preachy and somewhat condescending when discussing the virtues of pedal powered transportation. Instead of standing on a soapbox and telling people about the health/environmental/financial benefits of riding a bike, we need to remember to sell them on the fun factor. Almost everyone remembers the joy of riding a bicycle as a kid, so tapping into that feeling is the best way to convince those who haven’t ridden as adults to give it a try. As the article suggest, “don’t paint (cycling) as extreme, radical, hip or too intellectual. Just ride.” If we ever want cycling to truly be a mainstream activity, that’s a basic idea that we need to keep in mind as we communicate with others in our communities. Riding a bike is fun…and all of those other benefits are just a bonus.
Thanks to Richard at Cyclelicious for pointing me to the Commute by Bike post. I recommend that you add both of those blogs to your feed reader if you haven’t already.
No comments:
Post a Comment