Bike Riding Alive and Well

After this year's The Tour Day France, I wondered what the impact of all the drug stories would be on cycling, in general. I'm sure there were similar thoughts at other bike companies and bike industry rated companies.

This weekend, I was pleasantly surprised during a road trip and now I know - bike riding in the US is just fine. I don't know how many youngsters are going to turn to bike racing, but bike riding is just fine.

I was traveling down Rt. 95 from Massachusetts to Connecticut (and back) this Saturday. I went to visit my best friend and her family - I don't get to see her much since she lives in Boulder, but she visits family in CT a couple of times a year and I never miss an opportunity to see her.

As I was driving down the highway, with the music on, enjoying the absolutely perfect day (blue skies, big puffy white clouds, clear air...and traffic that wasn't stopped!), I started to notice something...bicycles...everywhere. No, people weren't riding them (we're on the highway remember) but they were being carried in twos, threes, fours, fives and even, in 2 cases, six bikes at once! It seemed like every 10th car or so had bikes attached. All kinds of bikes - mountain bikes, kids bikes, road bikes - all sizes and shapes. I couldn't believe the volume of bikes I saw all the way from Mass, through Rhode Island and through CT.

It was reassuring to see all those bikes and think about all the fun adventures people either had had over the last week with them, or were headed to have on vacation with them that weekend. I just hope that when these groups got home they would ride as much as they did on vacation - take a Tour Day Neighborhood every day - or at least on the weekends, when there is a little more time.

When I got to CT, we took my friend's little boy to a big, huge park with ponds and bike paths and he started to count the bike riders that went by us...1...2...3...4...he got up to 10 before he got distracted by the lily pads (hey, lily pads are cool to a kid who isn't five yet). But, still, we were only in that particular spot for 10-15 minutes and I counted 20 people on bikes riding around the park. Again, good reassurance that bike riding is just fine!