Monday Morning Advocate

Advocacy: active support of an idea or cause etc.

Let's face it, there's not too many people out there that say they're happy when their weekend ends and readily welcome the return to work on Monday.

So on Mondays, the TC is going to try and challenge you. We'll bring you articles we've read, stories we've heard, or groups we know of that advocate cycling or use cycling to advocate their chosen cause. Think of it as saving the world, someone else, and/or yourself, one pedal stroke at a time.

As a TC reader, here's your opportunity to contribute. If you know of anyone, any group, or have some story you'd like to share, drop us a line (click "email me" under Granny's profile).

Ride A Bike/Make the Streets Safer for Cycling
In the March 26th-April 2nd special issue of US News and World Report (yes, we're a diverse group here at the TC, we do read more than cycling rags), Making America Better, Andrew Curry portrays two countries, Germany and the Netherlands, that have made cycling a priority. It's amazing that a country like Germany, which produces some of the nicest cars on the planet, has made cycling popular with commuters. For instance, in the city of Berlin, every 10th trip is made by bicycle. The city also boast more than 500 miles of bike lanes! America's equivalent is Tucson with 325 miles of bike lanes (compare that with a larger metropolitan city, Chicago, which hopes to have 315 miles of bike lanes by 2015).

In the Netherlands, cycling is even more popular with commuters, where city planners have the problem of creating space to accomodate over 20,000 bicycles left at the Utrecht train station on a daily basis.

It'd be easy for me right here to say, "Now go ride your bike to work." But with Americans its never that simple. We still need to learn to share the road with cyclist. Granny's first post, Urban Cyclist, examined the almost warfare like attitudes that pervade cyclists and motorists alike. The latest hot button on this issue revolves around a recent Critical Mass ride in San Francisco, where cyclists attacked a mini-van driver who had earlier knocked a cyclist off his bike and continued to drive onward.

Can't we all just get along!