Thursday Thoughts: Bootstrap Problem

P1:  “I’d like to ride my bike more, but there’s no place to ride around here.”

N1:  Sure there is!  It’s legal to ride on the road.

P1:  “But there are no shoulders here!  The roads are narrow.  The drivers are all really bad.  Have you heard about that thing..?  It’s called the Comet something?”

P2:  “I only do group rides.  It’s safer in groups.”

N2:  Large group rides tend to antagonize motorists.  Then the motorists tend to take it out on the next solo cyclist they see.

P2:  “Right.  That’s why I do group rides.  I don’t want to be alone around the cars.”

N3:  If we could get more riders out there, then we’d have less automotive congestion.  Bikes don’t take up as much room as cars.

P3:  “Yes you do!  You’re slow, in the way, and you run through stop signs as if they weren’t there!”

P4:  “I’d ride to the gym if I could, but there’s too much traffic.”

P5:  “I’m stoked!  A bunch of us are going to go over to the ride at (insert name of any town) and join their ride.”

N5:  Why not ride your bike locally?  The road connects to your driveway.

P5:  “But I don’t have any place to ride around here.”

 Seriously, folks, what do we do about this?  How do we break out of the cycle?