Suffering the Newbies

Today is June 1^st, and it rained, which is surprising only because it is so unsurprising.  If you’re a commuter in Portland, you know what I mean: this has been the coldest, rainiest Spring on record, and frankly it has been miserable to ride through.  Nearly every day has borne at least the threat of rain, it feels like Portland has a new sister city in Belfast, Ireland.*  Sun block has been pointless; my skin has nearly the ghostly glow of those sea creatures who live so far below the surface of the ocean that their bodies become luminescent so they can generate their own light to see where they’re going.  If this keeps up for another year or two I won’t need bike lights at night.  Bike shop sales – so a friend in the biz tells me – are off 15%-18%, which leads me to the question: what are those fools who make up the other 85%-88% buying!?  Rain gear and inner tubes, that’s what.

* There is an old saying about Belfast: if you can see clouds coming over the hills it is going to rain; if you can’t see clouds, it is already raining.

It’s been hard to find a silver lining through all this rain, but a colleague I met changing out of our rain gear had this to offer: “At least the rain is keeping the amateurs off the streets,” he declared.  By amateurs he meant all the cyclists who swarm out of their garages when the sun comes out.  He was completely serious. 

He is not alone.  Having to put up with new cyclists is a constant complaint of the experienced cyclist: the tentative new rider whose is not sure where they’re going; the plodders who take up way too much room on the bike paths or lanes; the ones who are not prepared to handle the tribulations of cycle-commuting – who, say, don’t have a spare tube and don’t know how to fix a flat to begin with, but do know how to look helpless and pathetic as a way to induce you to pull over and change it for them. 

But the reason why Portland built a complex and highly effective cycling route network was to make it easy for a lot of people to ride bikes to where they’re going.  The system works really, really well; the number of cyclists has at least doubled in the past ten years.  The cycling route network is why. 

In a way it’s not fair to the old hand cyclists, the people who gritted their teeth for decades through crazy-dangerous intersections and got squeezed beside parked cars and curbs on unstriped streets.  A camaraderie developed among them, they shared the risks it took to do what they loved and valued.  I can understand an old hand being a little indignant about people who won’t ride without the network; why should the faint of heart enjoy the same benefits as the long-time warriors?  Do they even appreciate how hard cycling used to be in this town?

No, they don’t, and that doesn’t matter.  No one will be buying us a beer or a cup of tea for sticking out the tough years.  We will not be lauded for blazing the trails, except maybe in museums or in photos on the walls of bike commuter shops.  As more people discover the good thing we’ve known about all along, it’s kind of like having to share your favorite band after they become popular; you can’t stop the new fans from buying tickets to the shows.  But why would you want to?  Wouldn’t you want to see your favorite band finally get the money and recognition you’ve always known they deserve?

And isn’t it crazy for one cycling element to alienate another for such a reason; doubling or not?  There simply aren’t so many of us that we can afford to split into factions.  The high road would be for the old hands to welcome new recruits with enthusiasm, knowing they’ll get the hang of things and knowing that in less time than they imagine, there will be more dedicated souls riding and giving our city even more reasons to improve the network. 

If that doesn’t work, it may be time for the old hands to grit their teeth a little more, if that’s what they need to do.  The uniqueness of how they get around may be gone, but there is still that special feeling of riding; it’s still the coolest way to get around that there is.  For some, that will have to be enough.