Ok, so I bungied a tripod to the back of my bike, made a video of my ride, and then went a little nuts with iMovie. Lets just say that this set-up is non-ideal, and I'm not exactly an auteur. But here's my video. Look, ma! A video!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
On sidewalk riding
The other day the Press Citizen published a letter to the editor from a visually impaired woman who is annoyed by bicyclists who ride on Iowa City sidewalks. Like all PC articles, it'll be taken down in a day or two, so I'll reproduce a bit here:
I am visually impaired. I am now afraid to walk alone on the sidewalks of Iowa City for fear of being hit by bicyclists who feel they have the right to ride their bicycles anywhere they want.I have been side-swiped and knocked down by a bicyclist riding on the sidewalk in front of the Old Capitol Mall. It is noisy downtown and difficult to hear at times. I did not hear the bicyclist barreling down the sidewalk that day. I was too traumatized, at the time, to discuss whose right was violated that day. Today I am taking my stand and telling bicyclists that pedestrians have rights, as well as they do.
She has a really good point. Lots of cyclists in Iowa City ride on the sidewalks. It's not fair to pedestrians. It's not safe. It's bad.
But here's the problem. Iowa City has a system of mixed-use paths, which are supposed to be used by cyclists as well as pedestrians. These paths are marked on the bike maps that the city distributes. The MUPs are designed to be safe for cyclists, partly because they rarely intersect with roads. There's discrete signage for cyclists, reminding us to stop or yield at intersections and telling us to walk our bikes across some bridges and tunnels. But otherwise, the mixed-use paths are indistinguishable from sidewalks. I don't think that most pedestrians are clear about whether they're on a sidewalk or mixed-use path. I'm also not sure that most cyclists are aware where the MUPs stop and the sidewalks begin.
This creates two problems. The first is that pedestrians get annoyed at cyclists who are legitimately, safely using mixed-use paths. I'll admit that cyclists don't always behave appropriately on paths: I've seen cyclists riding three abreast, taking up the entire path, forcing pedestrians to step off the path to let them pass. I've seen cyclists overtake pedestrians without slowing down or giving warning. I try really hard to share the path with pedestrians, who have just as much right to be there as I do. But I've also seen a lot of rude and unsafe behavior on the part of pedestrians, many of whom meander rather than staying to the right, play their iPods too loud to hear approaching bike riders even when we slow down and signal that we're passing, or allow their leashed dogs to cross the path, creating a giant trip wire for approaching bicyclists. And then they glare at me when I startle them by riding past them when they haven't heard me call out "bike on your left" over the din of their iPods. I think that pedestrians think of the paths as sidewalks, and they might change some of their behavior if they were more aware that bike riders were entitled to be on the paths.
And the second problem is that I'm not sure that bike riders are aware that they shouldn't be riding on ordinary sidewalks. Because the mixed-use paths aren't really marked as such, I think some cyclists might be under the impression that in Iowa City, the done thing is to ride on sidewalks. They don't realize that it's totally cool to ride your bike on the MUP on north Dubuque street and totally uncool to ride your bike on the sidewalk in front of the Old Capitol Mall.
I think this could be resolved if there were better, more visable signage on the mixed-use paths. And it's probably also worth pointing out that cyclists would be a lot less likely to ride their bikes on the sidewalk in front of the Old Capitol Mall if riding your bike on the street there weren't quite so scary.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Brief Chic Interlude
So I know I'm not supposed to be blogging about fashion, but I am going to take a brief break from being unchic so that I can link to the Etsy shop of CJH Jewelry. Cara Hamann makes jewelry out of recycled bike parts, and she lives in Iowa City! If you happen to be a fellow IC resident, you can apparently buy her jewelry at Geoff's Bike and Ski.
Another nifty Iowa bike-related company that I just discovered is MK Fenders. Seriously: aren't these beautiful? I am not currently in the market for gorgeous wood fenders that cost $200, but if I were, I would definitely be looking at MK Fenders.
Another nifty Iowa bike-related company that I just discovered is MK Fenders. Seriously: aren't these beautiful? I am not currently in the market for gorgeous wood fenders that cost $200, but if I were, I would definitely be looking at MK Fenders.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
The guru of Cycle Chic, as you may know, is a guy named Mikael Colville-Andersen. He's the brains behind the smarmy hottie-on-bicycle-ogling blog Copenhagen Cycle Chic and its less-popular, less-leering cousin, Copenhagenize. This guy annoys me for any number of reasons. But today I want to talk about how he annoys me because he refuses to acknowledge that the whole world is not Copenhagen.
Today, Mikael Colville-Andersen has taken it upon himself to lecture us about the difference between bike commuting and bike culture. The basic difference is that bike commuters are bad, while bike culture is good. The substance of the difference is a little less clear to me. Bike commuting, which characterizes bike riders in North America, focuses on riding your bike to work. Bike commuters also advocate for showers that bike riders can use once they get to work, and they wear special clothes when it's cold. In bike cultures, people ride their bikes everywhere, not just to work. They ride their bikes to shops and restaurants and nightclubs. They also don't care about showers and don't wear special cycling gear in bad weather. Cycle culture is what we should all aim for, while cycle commuting makes bike riders a small, specialized, embattled subculture.
I will freely admit that I'm a bike commuter. I occasionally stop at a restaurant, bar, coffee place or shop after work, but fundamentally I ride my bike to my job. Further, in the summer I take a shower when I arrive at work. Finally, I wear special cold-weather cycle gear in the winter. I wear long underwear, high-tech hiking socks, ultra-warm boots, a warm sweater over my normal sweater, and two pairs of mittens that I bought at the hunting/ farm supply store. Truly, I am a bike commuter and hence represent everything that is wrong with American bike riders.
Mikael C-A would say that the difference between me and him is cultural. The reason that I only ride my bike to work, value showers in the summer, and wear long underwear is that I'm a victim of bad American culture, whereas he is blessed to be a beneficiary of awesome Danish culture. The only reason that Iowa City is different from Copenhagen is that people in Copenhagen are just kind of personally superior.
And the thing is, that's bullshit. When I left for work this morning, it was about about 5°F (-15°C). [Note: I started this post a couple of days ago. But this morning, it was even colder than that.] That, it turns out, is colder than *it has ever been in Copenhagen in the month of December.*. No really: today was just a random, slightly-cold day, and it was significantly colder than the record minimum for Copenhagen in December. In January, the average low in Copenhagen is -2°C, and the average low in Iowa City is -11°C. It's really considerably colder here than in Copenhagen. And that's why I wear long underwear in the winter: not because of culture, but because of climate. In the winter, I bike to work in the bitter cold, and long underwear and extra socks mean that biking in the bitter cold doesn't hurt.
Similarly, I value showers because it's really hot and humid here in the summer. In July, the average high here is 31°C (87°F). The average July high in Copenhagen is 22°C or 71°F. I don't need showers when it's 71°F, either. Again, the issue is climate, not culture.
And finally, there's the issue of commuting versus riding your bike to do all your daily business. For some reason, Mikael C-A seems to associate commuting with long distances and fast riding, which is weird. That's not the way it works for me. My job is located downtown, which is two miles from my home. The reason that I commute is that it's actually not a very long ride. There are some other places downtown to which I ride my bike. I stop fairly frequently at the yarn store, the bookstore, or the coffee and gelato hut. But like a lot of American cities and towns, my city does not have an entirely thriving downtown. There is no grocery store downtown. There's no place downtown to buy socks or underwear. Most of the businesses downtown are bars, restaurants, and luxury stores, and I don't actually do that much business in bars, restaurants or expensive boutiques. None of my friends live downtown. I do most of my shopping and socializing much farther away from my house, and it's a lot more convenient to drive than to ride a bike.
My city is engaged in a bit of a debate about how to revitalize downtown, which for a while now has been given over to bars that catered to underage drinkers. The city recently voted to ban underage people from bars, and a lot of those establishments are closing down. A lot of us really hope that new businesses will open up there and that they'll fill more diverse needs and serve a more diverse clientele. I hope that happens. It would go pretty far to transform me from a bike commuter to a participant in bike culture. But that's not something that I can accomplish on my own, overnight. Again, the problem is that Mikael C-A expects us all to behave like we live in Copenhagen, even when we demonstrably don't.
Mikael C-A has this weird notion that culture is an independent variable, which has nothing to do with the specifics of the place in which it's found. There are superior cultures, and all that inferior people need to do is improve their virtue and emulate their betters. He flatly refuses to believe that different bike cultures might make sense in different places, depending on factors like climate, terrain, or density. It's bizarre and frankly a little frustrating.
Update: Today Mikael C-A has informed us that we really don't need studded tires since nobody in Copenhagen uses them. This is illustrated with videos of people riding on absolutely flat streets. I'm wondering if he'd feel differently if he had to ride down the steep, not-well-plowed hill in front of my building every morning!
Today, Mikael Colville-Andersen has taken it upon himself to lecture us about the difference between bike commuting and bike culture. The basic difference is that bike commuters are bad, while bike culture is good. The substance of the difference is a little less clear to me. Bike commuting, which characterizes bike riders in North America, focuses on riding your bike to work. Bike commuters also advocate for showers that bike riders can use once they get to work, and they wear special clothes when it's cold. In bike cultures, people ride their bikes everywhere, not just to work. They ride their bikes to shops and restaurants and nightclubs. They also don't care about showers and don't wear special cycling gear in bad weather. Cycle culture is what we should all aim for, while cycle commuting makes bike riders a small, specialized, embattled subculture.
I will freely admit that I'm a bike commuter. I occasionally stop at a restaurant, bar, coffee place or shop after work, but fundamentally I ride my bike to my job. Further, in the summer I take a shower when I arrive at work. Finally, I wear special cold-weather cycle gear in the winter. I wear long underwear, high-tech hiking socks, ultra-warm boots, a warm sweater over my normal sweater, and two pairs of mittens that I bought at the hunting/ farm supply store. Truly, I am a bike commuter and hence represent everything that is wrong with American bike riders.
Mikael C-A would say that the difference between me and him is cultural. The reason that I only ride my bike to work, value showers in the summer, and wear long underwear is that I'm a victim of bad American culture, whereas he is blessed to be a beneficiary of awesome Danish culture. The only reason that Iowa City is different from Copenhagen is that people in Copenhagen are just kind of personally superior.
And the thing is, that's bullshit. When I left for work this morning, it was about about 5°F (-15°C). [Note: I started this post a couple of days ago. But this morning, it was even colder than that.] That, it turns out, is colder than *it has ever been in Copenhagen in the month of December.*. No really: today was just a random, slightly-cold day, and it was significantly colder than the record minimum for Copenhagen in December. In January, the average low in Copenhagen is -2°C, and the average low in Iowa City is -11°C. It's really considerably colder here than in Copenhagen. And that's why I wear long underwear in the winter: not because of culture, but because of climate. In the winter, I bike to work in the bitter cold, and long underwear and extra socks mean that biking in the bitter cold doesn't hurt.
Similarly, I value showers because it's really hot and humid here in the summer. In July, the average high here is 31°C (87°F). The average July high in Copenhagen is 22°C or 71°F. I don't need showers when it's 71°F, either. Again, the issue is climate, not culture.
And finally, there's the issue of commuting versus riding your bike to do all your daily business. For some reason, Mikael C-A seems to associate commuting with long distances and fast riding, which is weird. That's not the way it works for me. My job is located downtown, which is two miles from my home. The reason that I commute is that it's actually not a very long ride. There are some other places downtown to which I ride my bike. I stop fairly frequently at the yarn store, the bookstore, or the coffee and gelato hut. But like a lot of American cities and towns, my city does not have an entirely thriving downtown. There is no grocery store downtown. There's no place downtown to buy socks or underwear. Most of the businesses downtown are bars, restaurants, and luxury stores, and I don't actually do that much business in bars, restaurants or expensive boutiques. None of my friends live downtown. I do most of my shopping and socializing much farther away from my house, and it's a lot more convenient to drive than to ride a bike.
My city is engaged in a bit of a debate about how to revitalize downtown, which for a while now has been given over to bars that catered to underage drinkers. The city recently voted to ban underage people from bars, and a lot of those establishments are closing down. A lot of us really hope that new businesses will open up there and that they'll fill more diverse needs and serve a more diverse clientele. I hope that happens. It would go pretty far to transform me from a bike commuter to a participant in bike culture. But that's not something that I can accomplish on my own, overnight. Again, the problem is that Mikael C-A expects us all to behave like we live in Copenhagen, even when we demonstrably don't.
Mikael C-A has this weird notion that culture is an independent variable, which has nothing to do with the specifics of the place in which it's found. There are superior cultures, and all that inferior people need to do is improve their virtue and emulate their betters. He flatly refuses to believe that different bike cultures might make sense in different places, depending on factors like climate, terrain, or density. It's bizarre and frankly a little frustrating.
Update: Today Mikael C-A has informed us that we really don't need studded tires since nobody in Copenhagen uses them. This is illustrated with videos of people riding on absolutely flat streets. I'm wondering if he'd feel differently if he had to ride down the steep, not-well-plowed hill in front of my building every morning!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Some Unsolicited Advice for My Employer
Officially, my employer is hugely supportive of bike commuting. I work for a university, and the official line is that the university thinks that bike commuting is just swell. There are two big reasons that the university officially would like people to bike to work and class. The first is that we have a pretty major parking shortage, and it's in the university's best interest to encourage people not to drive. The second is that the university is trying to hold the line on health insurance costs, and they're encouraging people to exercise because it's seen to promote long-term good health. Officially supporting bike commuting is only one of a whole slew of programs designed to encourage healthy habits and alternative transportation choices.
The problem is that, for all the official pronouncements of support for bicycles, my employer doesn't actually do much to encourage people to bike to work or to support those of us who already do commute by bicycle. They do provide outdoor bike racks, and they have a link on their webpage to the city office that allows you to register your bike, so it can be identified if it gets stolen. They have a couple of events for Bike to Work Week. And that's it.
So anyway, I had some thoughts about things my employer could do that would really support bike commuting.
The problem is that, for all the official pronouncements of support for bicycles, my employer doesn't actually do much to encourage people to bike to work or to support those of us who already do commute by bicycle. They do provide outdoor bike racks, and they have a link on their webpage to the city office that allows you to register your bike, so it can be identified if it gets stolen. They have a couple of events for Bike to Work Week. And that's it.
So anyway, I had some thoughts about things my employer could do that would really support bike commuting.
- Change the bike website
On their website, my university has a handy page for bike commuters. Unfortunately, it's basically useless, and the tone is overly negative. Essentially, it treats bike riders as pests who need to be educated about how not to bother other people. There is a list of bicycle regulations (example:"Reckless operation of a bicycle is not permitted."), and a list of fines and other consequences for cyclists who fail to adhere to these regulations. There are some insipid safety tips (examples: "Share the roadway and walkways" and "slow down when riding near pedestrians.") The websites for car and bus commuters don't take this scolding tone, and they provide useful information. Bike commuters should be provided with concrete, accurate tips about how to ride safely, information that acknowledges that we are as likely to be the victims of traffic violations as the perpetrators. Lecturing us about "sharing the roads and walkways" is not nearly as helpful as pointing out that it's almost always a bad idea to ride a bike on a "walkway" and that you're more visible to turning trucks if you ride in the middle of the lane, rather than trying to "share the road" by hugging the curb. - Allow bike commuters to register with the Parking and Transportation Office
The university offers benefits for people who participate in their bus and carpooling programs, something which is possible because the Parking and Transportation Office knows who those people are. Carpoolers are permitted to register, and bus riders sign up for discount bus passes through the office. Bike commuters should have the same opportunity to make ourselves known to the transit people so we can get some benefits, too. - Extend the emergency ride program to bike commuters
The university has a program that offers emergency cab rides to bus riders and carpoolers who need to get someplace quickly. If you take the bus to work and your kid gets sick and needs to be picked up from daycare, you can get a free cab ride to the daycare center and then home. The idea is that people drive to work because they worry that they otherwise won't have flexibility in the event of an emergency, and free cab rides take care of that problem. Bike riders aren't eligible for this program. We should be. It's true that a bike is more flexible than a bus, but bike riders could still find themselves needing to go a long distance or pick someone up. - Showers
In my perfect world, bike commuters would have free access to showers. That's probably not going to happen. The only showers are in the gym, and the gym recently started charging people to use their facilities. I suppose that maybe they could make an exception for registered bike commuters, but given that there's been a lot of controversy around the decision to charge for the gym, I think they probably wouldn't. What they could do would be to make some adjustments in the program that provides low-price gym memberships to faculty and staff. Right now, you can only get a cut-rate gym membership if you sign up for an entire year. Since many bike commuters only need showers in the summer, it would be helpful to offer cheap gym memberships on a monthly, not annual basis. They could also offer us a discount on locker rentals. - Bus passes
Ideally, it would be awesome if bike commuters were allowed a few free bus rides every month, which we could use in case of bad weather. That's probably not going to happen, so I'd settle for a change to the reduced-price program for bus commuters, which gives users unlimited free bus rides for $10 a month. At the moment, you have to opt in for a full year. I don't use my bus pass at all in the summer, spring and early fall, but I get a lot more use out of it in the winter. It would be great if bike commuters could buy the $10 monthly bus passes on a monthly, rather than annual basis, so we weren't paying for months when we don't need to take the bus.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
More on the Politics of Representation
Thanks to my bike-commuting co-worker, I recently discovered a new bike magazine, Bicycle Times. I bought issue #8 to read on the plane to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. And before I launch into this rant, I should note that I just subscribed to the magazine and am, in general, a big fan. It's aimed at casual and commuter cyclists, and it's a lot more relevant to me than most of the macho, racing-or-trail-oriented bike mags. They review products that I might actually buy. They have articles on subjects that interest me. They don't treat women like afterthoughts, and they don't assume that women riders are primarily interested in fashion. Really: it's a good magazine. You should check it out.
But I've got to say that the magazine made me think a little bit about the racial politics of the current bike resurgence in America. Put bluntly, in this issue of Bicycle Times, bike riding is very white. And I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with that.
This first occurred to me because there are two "international" stories in the current issue. One, which I found really compelling and informative, is about cycling in the Netherlands. You can read it in blog-post form here. The author accompanied a bunch of public officials from Northern California on a week-long trip to the Netherlands to learn about Dutch biking culture. Dutch people are treated as agents: they have a point of view, opinions, and practices that are worthy of emulation. The article has lots of good points about Dutch bike culture and how it might or might not be transferable to US cities.
The second story, "Storming the Dominican: my ride in the rain", can be found in blog-post form here. (Interestingly, it seems that a fair amount of Bicycle Times's content is culled from blogs.) This is a travel feature about a bike trip in the Dominican Republic. Like most travel journalism, this article ignores the perspectives of local people, except to note that the nameless local guide is "filled with admiration and apprehension" at the bike tourists' decision to ride in a downpour. Dominican people exist here only in very limited roles: they provide the bike tourists with authentic and traditional local foods, they give the bike tourists an opportunity to reflect on their good fortune to live in a wealthy country, and some local small children "r[u]n along next to us like we were riding in the Tour de France." Do people in the Dominican Republic ride bikes for fun or transportation? Is there anything that we can learn from Dominican bike culture? Who knows? There's no discussion of cycling in the Dominican Republic, because the article treats that country as a place for wealthy Americans to go on vacation, not as a place that has a cycling culture of its own.
And I actually think this is part of a pattern. Increasingly, American cyclists associate functional bike-riding with Europe and focus exclusively on cycling culture there. We utterly ignore cycling cultures in developing countries, except when we discuss developing countries as destinations for adventure travel. You can see the results of that in this comment in response to a post about opposition to bike lanes that appeared on the feminist blog Feministe:
This person assumes that riding a bike is a privilege and that people in New York who favor cars over bikes may be immigrants from "countries where bikes aren't affordable or available." This is fairly bizarre: in every country in the world, bikes are cheaper than cars. In many developing countries, bikes are a major mode of transportation for poor people who can't dream of owning a car. In China, where members of the middle-class are increasingly abandoning bicycles in favor of automobiles, working-class people are more likely to embrace electric bikes, which are cheap and efficient and allow people to use the extensive system of bike lanes to bypass car traffic.
And yet when people in the US extol the virtues of cargo bikes, we're a whole lot more likely to illustrate it with a picture of a bike rider in the Netherlands than with a picture of a Chinese cyclist.
When they exclusively emphasize European cycle culture, publications like Bicycle Times contribute to a picture of cycle culture that is very, very white. In fact, if this issue of the magazine is anything to go by, it's almost exclusively white. There's one person of color in a picture that illustrates the story on the Dominican Republic, and I think there may be a few people of color in the background of the Dutch story. A reader sent in a picture of his daughter, whose race isn't readily apparent from the photo. There's one Asian person in an advertisement for handmade bike clothes. And other than that, every single person in every editorial and advertising photo in the entire magazine appears to be white. What kind of message does that send? Is that really how we want to represent bike culture in the US?
It seems to me that this depiction of bike culture, both in the US and globally, is kind of exclusionary. As the Feministe comment shows, it can also contribute to bike riding's unfortunate reputation as an elite activity, which doesn't serve us well in debates about whether governments should devote scarce resources to bike infrastructure. I think it's worth giving some thought to how to represent both global and domestic bike culture more inclusively.
But I've got to say that the magazine made me think a little bit about the racial politics of the current bike resurgence in America. Put bluntly, in this issue of Bicycle Times, bike riding is very white. And I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with that.
This first occurred to me because there are two "international" stories in the current issue. One, which I found really compelling and informative, is about cycling in the Netherlands. You can read it in blog-post form here. The author accompanied a bunch of public officials from Northern California on a week-long trip to the Netherlands to learn about Dutch biking culture. Dutch people are treated as agents: they have a point of view, opinions, and practices that are worthy of emulation. The article has lots of good points about Dutch bike culture and how it might or might not be transferable to US cities.
The second story, "Storming the Dominican: my ride in the rain", can be found in blog-post form here. (Interestingly, it seems that a fair amount of Bicycle Times's content is culled from blogs.) This is a travel feature about a bike trip in the Dominican Republic. Like most travel journalism, this article ignores the perspectives of local people, except to note that the nameless local guide is "filled with admiration and apprehension" at the bike tourists' decision to ride in a downpour. Dominican people exist here only in very limited roles: they provide the bike tourists with authentic and traditional local foods, they give the bike tourists an opportunity to reflect on their good fortune to live in a wealthy country, and some local small children "r[u]n along next to us like we were riding in the Tour de France." Do people in the Dominican Republic ride bikes for fun or transportation? Is there anything that we can learn from Dominican bike culture? Who knows? There's no discussion of cycling in the Dominican Republic, because the article treats that country as a place for wealthy Americans to go on vacation, not as a place that has a cycling culture of its own.
And I actually think this is part of a pattern. Increasingly, American cyclists associate functional bike-riding with Europe and focus exclusively on cycling culture there. We utterly ignore cycling cultures in developing countries, except when we discuss developing countries as destinations for adventure travel. You can see the results of that in this comment in response to a post about opposition to bike lanes that appeared on the feminist blog Feministe:
Anyway, I would be interested to know how many of the people who want bike lanes are native NYCers vs non-NYC natives. Or even among people who come from countries where bikes aren’t affordable or available.
I kinda feel that my love for biking is a reflection of my privilege–my privilege of being able to grow up in a town where it was safe for a kid to learn how to ride a bike and ride it wherever to her heart’s content.
This person assumes that riding a bike is a privilege and that people in New York who favor cars over bikes may be immigrants from "countries where bikes aren't affordable or available." This is fairly bizarre: in every country in the world, bikes are cheaper than cars. In many developing countries, bikes are a major mode of transportation for poor people who can't dream of owning a car. In China, where members of the middle-class are increasingly abandoning bicycles in favor of automobiles, working-class people are more likely to embrace electric bikes, which are cheap and efficient and allow people to use the extensive system of bike lanes to bypass car traffic.
And yet when people in the US extol the virtues of cargo bikes, we're a whole lot more likely to illustrate it with a picture of a bike rider in the Netherlands than with a picture of a Chinese cyclist.
When they exclusively emphasize European cycle culture, publications like Bicycle Times contribute to a picture of cycle culture that is very, very white. In fact, if this issue of the magazine is anything to go by, it's almost exclusively white. There's one person of color in a picture that illustrates the story on the Dominican Republic, and I think there may be a few people of color in the background of the Dutch story. A reader sent in a picture of his daughter, whose race isn't readily apparent from the photo. There's one Asian person in an advertisement for handmade bike clothes. And other than that, every single person in every editorial and advertising photo in the entire magazine appears to be white. What kind of message does that send? Is that really how we want to represent bike culture in the US?
It seems to me that this depiction of bike culture, both in the US and globally, is kind of exclusionary. As the Feministe comment shows, it can also contribute to bike riding's unfortunate reputation as an elite activity, which doesn't serve us well in debates about whether governments should devote scarce resources to bike infrastructure. I think it's worth giving some thought to how to represent both global and domestic bike culture more inclusively.
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