I see why people don't ride bikes much around here!

[Bouncy Ball]

I decided to ride my bike yesterday, inspired by a thread in here. My daughter and I took off after school and rode the seven or eight blocks to the library. It's one of the only places we can go safely, as there are sidewalks the whole way and we only have to pass one major road.

We get there only to discover there are NO bike racks! NO BIKE RACKS!!! WTF??? So where are we going to lock up our bikes? There is literally no place suitable, so we lock them together and just stand them up near the library and hope they don't get stolen together. It's a good U-shaped metal lock.

They didn't get stolen. And we wore our backpacks to carry home books in. I have to say, besides worrying about them being stolen it was a great time. My butt hurts.

But no bike racks? So I emailed the main branch and our branch this morning to ask them why. Haven't received a response yet. Surely they have the funds for a simple bike rack.

No wonder people don't bike around here. In most places, you are taking your life in your hands because of no access to bike lanes or sidewalks, then when you get where you are going, no way to lock it up!

We need a bike-friendlier city. When they were widening one of the major thoroughfares in my city five years ago, I got together over 2000 signatures on a petition for bike lanes. I presented it to the city council. They didn't even CONSIDER it. Didn't even discuss it. Just said, "Thanks, but no." WHY? They wouldn't even give me a reason why.

(Edited to correct silly spelling errors, because my brain is apparently not on yet.)

[LynzM]

1. No demand = no supply

Sadly... it's not ingrained as part of our culture, and like you said, that means that people don't want to consider it, or do thinks adaptively to accomodate it :(

On edit: Good for you guys for doing it, though! Glad you had a fun and safe trip! :bounce:

[WindRavenX]

2. Why do you hate America?

Shouldn't you be using a SUV to get to places?
And a library? My god, are you, like, a communist or something? :P

[Bouncy Ball]

5. I know, and I checked out three books on KNITTING!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. One of them is called "Stitch-N-Bitch Nation" and it's written by a woman who has a PhD in Women's Studies and edits the magazine BUST and lives in New York! I MUST be an America-hater, to be checking out such books!

No seriously, I am so itching to start on another knitting project I can't stand it, but I have to wait to get paid, because I need smaller needles and new yarn. Le sigh. I'm making a hot pink sleeveless, punkey-looking sweater for my daughter. Really thin and you wear it over a black t-shirt.

Sorry, I got to rambling, and this probably doesn't interest you in the least.

[WindRavenX]

6. oooo I want that sweater!

:D
I didn't know you knitted- kewl!

[Bouncy Ball]

9. I taught myself a couple of months ago.

My first project was a scarf knitted from this multi-colored very chunky fuzzy yarn. Did it with GINORMOUS needles, so the stitches are huge. SO cute, if I may say so!

Now I'm hooked. It's like crack to me. My hands are dying to knit. It's meditative.

Come ON payday! Momma needs needles! LOL!

[Bouncy Ball]

15. WindRaven!

I found a picture of it! It looks purplish in the picture here, but it's actually a hot pink. Or whatever color I want to make it.

[madinmaryland]

11. Thanks for the info.

My wife and I have this running joke about whether she is stitching or bitching. Her mother actually started the joke a few years ago.

:rofl:

[Bouncy Ball]

12. ...

http://www.bust.com/knithappens/thebook.shtml

[madinmaryland]

20. Thanks, i found the web site and sent it to her.

Haven't gotten a reaction yet.
:scared:

[Bouncy Ball]

22. Her two books are actually quite good and funny.

It's her books I learned how to knit from, because her instructions were easiest to follow and her illustrations were REALLY good. And I am NOT good with doing things with my hands, but I understood it!

There are Stitch-n-Bitch groups all over the nation (and internationally). There's one in Dallas I want to join. They just get together at a coffeeshop, stitch and bitch!

LOL, sounds like it'd be up her alley.

[Squatch]

3. You are putting your life at risk riding a bike in SE VA.

People use bike lanes as lanes for turning or overflow vehicular traffic.

[Pinata Monkey]

4. hehehe

In St. Louis...we'd have a monthly ride...we'd take up the whole road to show people that bikes are vehicles...used to piss alot of folks off...but even the cops were behind us 100%.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

7. You should come up here and ride!

We're having lovely spring weather, there are bike trails in the city, bike lanes and plenty of bike racks.

Of course, if you have to ride a bike in Boston traffic, it's pretty much suicide, but biking along the Charles and the Minuteman bike path is wonderful!

[crispini]

8. If you wanna do some bike activism,

I have some good resources for you. There's a guy called PM Sumner who is the Bike Plan coordinator for the City of Dallas. He can come and talk to a group about bike commuting and can give you some good advice. Even though you're not in City of, I bet he'd help. I also have an email addy for a guy named Bud Melton who was instrumental in the development of the Katy Trail. There's also a statewide lobbying organization for biking, the Texas Bicycle Coalition. And there's a full time bike-ped coordinator at the NCTCOG who's a good resource.

Dallas proper is actually a really good city for biking -- mostly flat, with a grid system of small side streets. The on-street bike trail system is pretty good and it's a shame more people don't know about it. And they're going to hook up White Rock trail to Katy trail pretty soon. Neat stuff!

[Bouncy Ball]

10. I guess I should have known about them when I was trying to get

my city to put in bike lanes, though I don't know if they would have listened to anyone on that. I just wonder why the anti-biking prejudice? It was really surprising to me. I thought they'd go for it, especially with over 2,000 signatures!!!

If you would, PM me some information for those guys. Or can I just google their names? With gas prices going up, we have to do something on a community scale.

[Bok_Tukalo]

13. Stop complaining. At least you have a library.

<Bedford resident>

[Bouncy Ball]

14. Y'all don't have a LIBRARY?

Please tell me you're kidding.....

[Bok_Tukalo]

16. No joke

http://www.ci.bedford.tx.us/Departments/administrative_services/library.htm

[Bouncy Ball]

18. What happened? Why did they close it?

What is the nearest city with a library branch and are Bedford residents allowed to loan from them?

Wow, how sad....I am assuming city budget problems?

[Bok_Tukalo]

21. Recent property tax rollback

The citizens voted for it.

I don't know about surrounding cities' policies about allowing Bedford residents to use their facilities. This is a recent development. I will probably try Grapevine (theirs is very nice and I used to live there).

[Bouncy Ball]

23. Well, again, that's just completely sad.

I'm thinking about the kids in Bedford over the summer, too. No library to go to to check out books, DVDs, VHS tapes, books on CD or tapes, etc. The kids around here always go to the library in the summer, especially if it's raining, LOL.

[cheezus]

17. trees and signposts

i actually prefer them to bike racks

[Bouncy Ball]

19. There were no trees or signposts to use.

There WERE trees, but they are all so new, so young, they are practically saplings, so that was no good. I guess in a few years the trees will be hardy enough to use as bike racks, but I can see people being very rough with them, too.

[cheezus]

25. yeah, i figured as much.... it IS pretty obvious

locking two or more together works fine for us... people around here steal bicycles for joyrides rather than profit

[Left Is Write]

24. Fortunately, biking is pretty popular around here.

There are bike lanes and/or sidewalks 'most everywhere.

[Bouncy Ball]

26. As Napoleon Dynamite would say "Lucky!"

And hey, you'll be tickled by this: I had a dream last night that my daughter was the same age she is now (10), but she pierced each of her ears about fifty times and had earrings all OVER her ears and was wearing this nasty thick black eyeliner ALL over her eyes and wouldn't listen to a word I said to her. And it was one of those vivid dreams where you don't realize you are dreaming. God, it was frustrating. When I woke up, I was MAD at her, LOL!

I go out in the living room and she's out there looking sweet watching "I Love Lucy" and asking me if I slept well. And there I was mad at her because of a dream.

[Left Is Write]

29. Yeah, I'm a little tickled by that.

:D

[Bouncy Ball]

27. DUPE!

[skygazer]

28. I was surprised when I moved to the Bay Area

to see how bike-friendly it is here. Most major roads have bike lanes and there are many bike paths that go through some really nice places. And there are bike racks at many public places but not all. One place I'd like to see racks is at my job where several people bike to work but have to get creative to secure their bikes.

A lot of people ride bikes around here and it results in conflicts sometimes. Many car drivers are not very courteous and there are plenty of bike riders who are not as well. Of course, the bike riders come off worst in those situations - a guy was killed by a hit and run driver not long ago on a straight and wide stretch of road where he was riding single file in a bike lane. :wtf:

Much different from most of the other places I've lived.

[GOPisEvil]

30. No bike racks is (insert diety of choice)'s way of telling you to...

...MOVE TO AUSTIN!!!

:P

[Bouncy Ball]

31. How did I know you were going to say that?

I was sitting in my class last night, bored to tears by the professor's lecture on inferential statistics, and I was totally fantasizing about moving there. Beautiful home in Hyde Park (hey, it was a fantasy, ok?), riding our bikes everywhere, listening to live music every other weekend, etc etc.

Then we had to get in groups and work on a project and my little dream bubble burst. :-(

[GOPisEvil]

32. Yeah, Hyde Park is dreaming...heck, *I* dream about Hyde Park.

But Austin (particularly Central Austin) is VERY bike-friendly.

[MissB]

33. Do you have a Kryptonite lock?

When you said u-shaped, I sorta shuddered. You know they've figured out how to pick those with a Bic pen.

Yet another reason to move to Portland. We're wayyyy bike friendly.