Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Thu, 02 Aug 2007
The Cascade Bicycle Alliance and seattlelikesbikes.org set up a protest ride yesterday, around Fremont. Since it was so close to home, and is actually an issue I care about, I decided that, for the first time in my life, I would join in on a protest. It was helped along by the insistence that people behave legally, and by the fact that we'd be doing exactly what the city was asking us to do in order to demonstrate why it wasn't safe.
The experience itself was basically pleasant, riding around with a bunch of other bicyclists. What I found interesting was the number of people who were waving and cheering from the sidelines. Normally, I think of protests as being this big obnoxious crowd of people that nobody likes (thanks to going to Evergreen). I also think of them as being fractured and ridiculous, where you get people with "Free Mumia" signs at an abortion rally. Huh?
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Anyway, it was pretty cool, and I was pleased with how it went. I don't think it changed anyone's mind, but it was fun to do, and it probably opened the eyes of at least one or two car drivers. Opened them to what, I'm not sure, but hopefully to the existence of bicycles on the roads.
I only made a few laps, as I was meeting up with some friends who'd stopped half-way through to prevent a minor medical problem from turning into a big problem. Even so, I got to ride with some interesting people, and chat with them. Notably I rode the whole thing with someone who works next door, at the new Google office in Fremont. I also ended up riding with a pair of women, with whom I discussed cycling clothes and our decision to ride in whatever we were wearing rather than donning the spandex costume -- it really made a difference for me, and allowed me to ride daily. One of them was wearing mid-calf high, strapped motorcycle boots! Definitely not what you normally see on bicyclists.
So, yay for seattlelikesbikes.org for organizing a legal and safe protest, which effectively demonstrated why they were protesting. It was better than most, and I'm glad I participated. I hope it made a difference, but I'm not holding my breath.
Posted at 12:19 permanent link category: /bicycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater