This article is excerpted from an interview with the author in The Roanoke Times.
Having a bike culture means that a community recognizes and respects the use of a bicycle as a transportation option, regardless if one rides regularly or not.
It means bicycles are regularly used for utilitarian as well as recreational purposes, and it means that there are cultural and social events that celebrate bicycles as part of the fabric of the community in the same way that other arts, cultural, outdoor, and similar elements are. It can mean that the use of the bicycle is considered a creative act, but it also recognizes that bicycles are pretty pragmatic machines and that the use of them can be pretty pragmatic.
One way to think about it is this: A bike culture is one in which riding a bicycle is a pretty ordinary, unremarkable thing to do.
The Roanoke Valley has made significant strides over the past couple of years. Its strengths are still in recreational cycling, which makes sense given the region’s outdoors focus and outdoor amenities. Road riding and trail riding for sport is huge in the area, and deservedly so.
On the utilitarian side, we are making progress. The region has made many investments in on-road and off-road infrastructure — particularly in the city where riding for transportation makes a lot more sense. The greenway system is a bicycle superhighway for both recreation and transportation, and particular segments of it — such as between Roanoke Memorial Hospital and Wasena Park — can see rush-hour congestion as commuters and enthusiasts share the narrow strip of asphalt.
We have lots of events that celebrate or integrate cycling, particularly during bike month. Cycling is actively supported by our local governments, law enforcement, and even business community as leaders like Carilion Clinic have worked to promote cycling both internally and in the community. While utilitarian cycling is in its infancy, it’s growing steadily.
To create more of a bike culture, we need to keep doing what we’re doing. The growth of cycling goes hand-in-hand with the investment in infrastructure, so we need to keep building greenways and creating safe space on our roads for cyclists with bike lanes and other infrastructure.
We also need to keep having fun with bikes. We need to make it easier to get to some of our existing signature events by bicycle by providing bike parking, bike valet, and even special incentives to encourage people to ride. (After all, a major gripe about events — especially in Downtown Roanoke — is parking, so why not encourage people to ride to events to ease up parking demand?)
We also need more bike events that aren’t endurance races or trail rides, more that are irreverent or social or more about connecting cyclists together than challenging them or their bikes (though certainly there’s a place for that). Some current examples are the annual Tweed Ride organized by local fashion photographer David Verde, the Bike Shorts Film Festival, the Night Rider’s Ball, and Starbomb.
We need to see lots of different kinds of people riding for lots of different reasons — from hard-core road cyclists in their lycra, to guys like me riding to work in a tie, to families riding with their families to picnics or an afternoon at the museum.
There are a lot of good, obvious reasons to get more people on bikes. It’s better for the environment, it saves families money, it’s better for our roads and traffic congestion and traffic safety, even for people who never ride a bike. It makes for a healthier community.
However, I think one of the more important reasons is that when you ride a bike — when you’re back to moving through your neighborhood and city on a human scale at a human speed rather than speeding through it wrapped in steel at 45 miles an hour — you are going to connect with and experience and value your community more.
You’ll get to know your neighbors better. If I ride by someone on my way in to work in the morning, I can wave and say “good morning” and they’ll wave and say “good morning” back. You can’t do that in a car, and I think it’s a shame we’ve lost a lot of that connection to our communities.
Besides, it’s just more fun to ride a bike. You’re happier. Frankly, I think bike culture just means that we’re all friendlier and more patient with each other. I can’t see a downside to that.
Photo from the Roanoke Tweed Run bicycle ride by randomfoundobjects.