Imagine if our president today, our nation today, felt this way about bicycles. This simple pleasure JFK felt then is still felt by a select few, the green, the naturalists, the money-savers, the competitive, the thrill seeking, the commuter. But in a nation ruled by immediate gratification, using your own power to propel yourself to a destination is not common place. Cycling, in a sense, is the worlds most widespread underground sport, if simply for the fact that “I hope my pant leg doesn’t get caught in my chain,” is not something most people think about on their way to work.
“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the human race.” --H. G. Wells
The world is in a strange and scary place at this moment. Oil is being used up by the millions of gallons, America is dependant more on oil and war than any other nation in the world--which may be slightly contradictory to our remaining a superpower--and the most popular car of 2007 was the 19 MPG Toyota Camry. Ralph Nader once said that “If, during the Second World War, the United States had retooled its factories for manufacturing bicycles instead of munitions, we’d be one of the healthiest, least oil-dependent, and most environmentally-sound constituents in the Nazi empire today.” While we are not a part of a Nazi Empire, and most believe that this is a good thing, the first part of Ralph’s quote rings true. If as many people rode bikes as arms were produced for WWII, America would hardly have any dependency at all on foreign oil. As a side note, it couldn’t hurt during the whole “obesity epidemic” either.
“Consider a man riding a bicycle. Whoever he is, we can say three things about him. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. Most important of all, we know that if at any point between the beginning and the end of his journey he stops moving and does not get off the bicycle he will fall off it. That is a metaphor for the journey through life of any living thing, and I think of any society of living things.”--William Golding
We can keep the man moving on the bicycle (metaphorically, of course) and we can keep this world alive through the hard times ahead, with your help. Want to stick to your 11MPG SUV? Donate your old bike to Bicycle Works and give someone else a chance to make a difference. Want to ditch the gas guzzler and ride to work or for recreation? Come in and find something you like. But keep in mind, these things will be handy to have when gas prices hit $9.00 a gallon.
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