I watched “Return of the Scorcher” today, it’s a short documentary film about the bicycle and how great it is.  It was released in 1992 by a guy named Ted White, who I believe was based in San Francisco.  The 28 minute film consists of interviews of bicycle folks from around the world.   This movie is where the critical mass movement got its name from.  In one scene Ted White is explaining how the roads in China work, a mixture of bicycles, motorcycles, cars and trucks swarm the streets, when enough cyclists are at an intersection they use their combined “critical mass” to stop traffic and move forward.

While I recommend this movie to anyone, I have to say I wouldn’t exactly call it great.  It suffers from lack of focus, interviews seem to be almost randomly arranged, and there is little support given to the claims that the creator makes.  His central thesis seems to be that bikes will save the world, and make everyone’s life better in the process.  While I’m not that kind of zealot I think he makes some good points. 

Ted takes a romantic view of the cyclists swarming the streets in China, talking about how magical it is for them, and how they seem to have the perfect life.  Riding their bikes to work for poor wages everyday, I doubt its so romantic for them, and I wonder how many wouldn’t trade their bikes for cars if they could afford it.  In the years since the film was made car sales have exploded in China.  In 2009 they purchased 13.6 million cars, 3 million more then the US.  Where the Chinese really blow us away is electric bikes.  They bought 21 million of them last year.

One of my favorite parts of the movie comes from an interview with a Michale Replogle, the president of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.  “Infrastructure tells you what to do,” he says, he goes on to explain that the way we build our transportation system defines what kind of choices we make in traveling.  While I think that infrastructure responds to the wants of the users and not the other way around he does have a point.  If infrastructure conducive to cycling was created there would probably be an increase in cycling, but who’s going to fund it? 

Ted is critical of American cycling culture which hasn’t really changed much in the last 18 years.  The biggest difference is the waning population of the mountain bike, oh and he talks about the need for having cutting edge bike technology, like the new 18 speed drive train.  He claims in the US bikes are nothing but toys for kids and adults, recreational machines that serve no necessary purpose.  I’m the kind of rider that Ted is critical of.  I don’t commute to work on my bike, I don’t run errands on it, heck I don’t even ride my bike without lycra shorts and special shoes, its all fun and games for me. 

The movie got me thinking of living without a car, could I do it?  The answer is not unless I wanted to massively change the way I live.  I don’t think I could ride my bike the 30 miles to work everyday.  I couldn’t quickly and easily go places I want to go, I couldn’t throw big items in the back seat, and I’d have to brave the elements in winter and rain.  This is all beside the point, I don’t want to give up my car, I like it.  I have a lot of respect and admiration for the people with the discipline in live their life car free, but I’m perfectly happy riding my bike for fun and driving everywhere else.

Before I go I want to mention one place I would rearrange my life for.  Years ago, when randomly web searching, I ran across a proposed car free city plan unlike any I’d seen before.  This city didn’t use bike lanes, but instead bike tubes.  Like elevated interstates these bike tubes ran allover the city both up and down, they were completely enclosed and split down the middle for opposing traffic.  Air was pumped through each side of these tubes to create a steady 25 mile per hour tail wind.  The air was warmed in winter and cooled in summer and had interstate like exits and on ramps to get you back into solid ground.  I tried to find the page again but had no luck; you’ll just have to take my word that someone dreamed up this idea. 

When I started writing for this blog I made a goal for myself not to get too personal. I figure people want to read about what the club is doing and not about me, but its that special time of the year when everyone makes resolutions to improve their lives and it's a topic I can't pass up.  45% of Americans make New Year's resolutions, the most popular being weight loss followed by exercise.  A little over half of these people break their resolution after six months, gives them plenty of time to mess up again for the next year. This topic is near and dear to my gut so it’s about to get personal. I want to write about weight loss, and weight in general as it relates to cycling.

 People are starting to wonder if I’m losing my mind, mainly my wife, but I’m sure there are others.  My life seems to have become focused on cycling during a time when cycling becomes an indoor soul crushing grind fest, or an outdoor activity for only the hardest of the hard, this is a time when cycling is usually the last thing on my mind.  And yet I have been to club meetings, race meetings, events, and planning sessions, I have been glued to my computer, writing emails, plans, making maps, and drawing jerseys until my head is spinning. 

On Tyler Hamilton's website http://www.tylerhamilton.com/cms/index he refers to the "healing power of the bike".  I agree with him completely.  Time spent riding a bicycle is time well spent.