What Happens When Cyclists Finally Fill a Room?
Today I showed up for a group ride called Wednesday Morning Velo that leaves from North Boulder. As the organizers reminded people to be safe on the roads, many people turned on flashing bike lights, (I did too, but I think I forgot to turn it off and it is probably still flashing on my bike in the garage now...), and we left town. Shortly outside of town I made small talk with another rider who asked, "Have you done this ride much?"
"This is my first year, but I've been joining almost every Wednesday. You?"
"This is my second time out with the group. It is quite big. There must have been about 100 people there this morning."
Now, I don't have the exact numbers, but we did split across four different groups and I would agree with the assessment that there were at least 100 people in total—cyclists who set an early alarm and were on their bikes, ready to pedal out of town via North Broadway at 6:30 a.m.
The ride this morning fit my energy levels perfectly and I was happy to be in a pack. Briefly, I was even in the best paceline I've been in since I was a pure cyclist in 2014. Then I came home to shower and my mood shifted every so slightly because I got to thinking about this past Monday night.
Monday night was a Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) Meeting in Boulder. The hot topic up for public comment was a redesign of North Broadway because the asphalt has reached its lifespan. North Broadway is the same road that all 100 cyclists this morning had to ride on, at least in some small section because we left from the coffee shop on that same stretch of road. At Monday's meeting, all the public comments were from bike commuters and recreational cyclists, urging the city to chose protected bike lanes over simply adding two feet to the width of the current bike lanes. Whatever the city creates, it is expected to last 40 years. This is the last redesign of North Broadway that some of the riders out there this morning will see in their lifetime.
And while Monday's meeting went well because the support was overwhelmingly for better vulnerable road user infrastructure, guess how many people showed up to that TAB meeting? Fewer than 25 people including Kennett and myself.
Do you see where I am going with this? This is one of the main roads out of town for cyclists, and while I easily see hundreds of people riding on a sunny, summer day on Broadway, we couldn't even fill the seats at a TAB meeting.
To be completely fair, I understand that I don't have children to take care of in the evening. I also know that everyone has their own passion and just because mine is cycling advocacy, not everyone's is. A variety of passions in a community is important. For instance, we had a friend over for dinner who told us about the store Refill Revolution in Boulder and gently reminded us that we could be doing a better job reusing, as opposed to just recycling, in our house.
Still, if someone is passionate about cycling, then I believe they need to take a greater interest in cycling advocacy out of self-preservation. Reminding fellow riders to be safe and to turn on their bike lights is small in the grand scheme of safety. To make monumental changes I believe we, as vulnerable users of the road, need to ask for better infrastructure. No, we need to demand it. And show up en masse.
