Shifting it Up a Notch

For a long time I've wondered exactly when people in cities (slash everywhere) would get fed up with driving. When their bellies would hit the dashboard from sitting in traffic so many hours a day while sipping their frappucinos and they'd abandon their cars on the street and finally shake free of the vehicular shackles of the automobile. Heavy orchestral music in a crescendo, as they all march off into the horizon, shedding with each step their hideous American masks of gluttony and self obsession.

Sigh.

However subtler, the climbing gas prices have had some of this effect. People are ditching SUV's, while they still can and lo and behold! Hummers may actually go OFF the market. It may be as close to an apocalypse as we'll ever get.

Photo courtesy PennsylvaniaForChange.Blogspot.com

Philadelphia has finally appointed a Bicycling Ambassador Coordinator, behind most other modern cities. Her name is Breen Goodwin and she comes from that great cyclist haven of the west, Portland. Personally, I think this bodes well. Sometimes (only sometimes) Philly could use a little more Portland, and most often when it involves our bicycles.

And the Daily News ran a little strip about safety tips for newbie commuters in our city. It's really pretty good for the Daily news and I think very funny. See if you can spot Curtis of Via Bicycle...



I've also found myself riding behind GrownUp-Little Kid tandems sometimes in traffic and sometimes in Fairmount Park. Both instances are equally awwwww inducing, though I saw one in the bike lane on the Walnut Street bridge at rush hour in February and that pretty much beat all. I didn't get a picture back then, as photography en route is tricky, but the frequent appearance of them around town lately has made this snapshot possible. The heroism of them lies in their advertising quality of biking as a safe and normal activity to motorists and teaches kids how to be brave and safe at biking in cities. Both things we're going to need more of as these times of pricey petrol persist.