Encourage the next generation of cyclists, Colorado
“Passing on your left.”
I fear that expression. It usually means some fitness nut is about to blow by me on the bike path. The phrase haunts me more often now that I’ve gained a few pounds and stopped exercising regularly (not necessarily in that order).
As I lumber along on my iron donkey, others cruise past me on $3,000 bicycles with enough warp speed to qualify for the next “Star Wars” movie.
Coloradans are crazy about cycling. I came back to my home state this winter to find a guy pedaling his fat-tire bicycle through nearly 6 inches of snow while I struggled to crosscountry ski through the stuff.
Crazy Coloradans will pedal up the 14,000foot Pikes Peak on Barr Trail (rated “The Most Dangerous Mountain Bike Trail in the World” by Singletracks.com), commit $100 million to develop 5,000 miles of bike trails over the next four years, and serve as guardians of not only the Capital of Cannabis but also the Primo Place for Pedaling.
With this bounty for bikers, Colorado currently wears the yellow jersey in a worldwide movement to promote cycling as a way of reducing traffic, obesity and pollution. In 2001, only four cities in the world had bike-share programs. Now more than 855 have them.
After zipping around Denver as a kid on a bright blue bicycle, I now pedal between yellow taxis on my way to work in New York City, earning a workplace nickname — Mike on a Bike. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg made massive investments in New York’s biking infrastructure, it’s still hard to beat the network of trails that meander along Denver’s creeks toward the Rocky Mountains. I’ll take the gurgle of streams to blaring horns any day.
In the last few years, I took my bicycle to other countries to see how they compared to
my home state. I coasted along the cliffs of Ireland, cruised around the islands of Croatia, and biked 500 miles on the roads of Latvia, Estonia, and Russia. I can tell you now, Russian drivers don’t love American cyclists. Colorado wins.
While my Colorado childhood experiences turned me into a lifelong cycler, a new generation of American kids are slipping from the biking peloton.
The number of children who regularly rode bicycles plummeted by 21 percent between 2000 and 2010 (even as the total number of children increased 3 percent). They’re increasingly satisfied staring at screens in the back of their parents’ cars.
In 1969, 48 percent of children bicycled or walked to school. That percentage has dropped to just 13 percent more recently, according to the National Center for Safe Routes to School.
By contrast, the generation that used to bike to school in the 1960s has still not hit the brakes. According to the Glucksin Townley Group, male boomers (aka “Geezer Jocks”) are among the most active bicyclists in the country. The older they get, the more they ride, with the average annual number of riding days for adult male cyclists increasing from 45 days among men aged 18 to 24 to more than 87 days for male riders ages 75 and older.
Bicycling is not just for kids anymore.
While this is commendable, the old folks should do a better job of drafting for the next generation of cyclists. Cycling shops have become increasingly focused on higher-margin adult bikes (Hermes now offers an $11,000 hipster bicycle), and most bike-share programs exclude kids under the age of 15.
To combat these trends, parents in Washington state started an informal “bike train” to encourage their kids to ride in groups, and Cleveland has a growing “bike to school” challenge with rewards for frequent riders.
Even small initiatives like these make the cycling community more complete.
So next time I hear the phrase “Passing on your left,” I hope it comes from some kid heading to school or a “Star Wars” screening. Then I wouldn’t feel so bad.