Relative Something

The month of July, to me, means Tour de France. The attention this particular bike race draws is unmatched by any other, and the camera angles provided on the television coverage are astounding. It feels like you are right there to witness every aspect of this race. If you have ever spent long hours on a bike, you can sense what the professional racers are going through. It adds a lot to the experience of watching the broadcasts of the stages.

There is no denying a positive effect that watching the race inspires in us novices when we get off the couch and out on our own bikes. In our minds, it seems like our riding is pretty much the same thing as what we’ve seen of the race, just on an entirely different scale of difficulty. Those racers function at a level that is worlds beyond what the rest of us experience.

Moving from bike racers to the general population, there is a significant difference of abilities in the full spectrum of bike riders in a community. Too often, I feel like the act of riding a bike gets generalized when it comes to making decisions about design of roadways and trails. The same thing seems to happen for people developing opinions about riders and their behaviors. As I ride my bike to and from work, competing with rush-hour traffic  and struggling to navigate the variety of hassles –natural and man-made– that tend to get more annoying each day I face them, I find myself doubting that anyone beyond a select few really understands what it is like.

One obvious hazard is caused by drivers who take offense at sharing the road with cyclists. That is compounded by road shoulders that have suffered from neglect to the point of being unrideable. Many a day of commuting, I find myself wishing I could bring along a city planner on the ride and let them experience what it is like to ride with a purpose, at 16 or 18 mph, and dodge damaged asphalt, sand piles of runoff from rain showers, broken glass and debris, and encroaching overgrowth of vines and tree branches, to finally reach a busy intersection with no button to trigger the light to change.

If I was simply out enjoying a stroll on my bike, I would not likely choose these routes. Kids playing on their bikes don’t ride these routes. Bike trails to the park are a wonderful idea, but they don’t support riding at commuting speeds and rarely lead to the obvious destinations of someone riding to work. I wonder how many of the people who question why a cyclist would ride the road, instead of a trail, in communities where there are many cross streets, have ever pedaled their bike at 18 mph. It’s a no-brainer, trust me.

It may not be the Tour de France, but biking to work can be its own endurance test. I don’t have what it takes to race. Some days, I find I don’t even have what it takes to bike to work. In July, I find plenty of inspiration from seeing what the professionals endure, to help me push on against the relative hazards I face.