For People Who Care
Greasing Un-squeaky Wheels: How plain, old oil will do more for cycling than the Tour de France
Hey all,
Here's an OpEd with a nod to "We Give a Damn" that I wrote a few days prior to the year's Tour de France.
Let me know what you think, thanks for reading -W
Greasing Un-squeaky Wheels
How plain, old oil will do more for cycling than the Tour de France
By Wendy Booher
GRENOBLE, France (July 1, 2008) - When the 95th Tour de France gets underway this Saturday, a rabid fraction of cyclists will rise early and go for a ride before tucking into a snack and putting their feet up to take in cycling's most hallowed race. With a blind eye, doping scandals and squabbles between the sport's global governing body and the Tour's increasingly imperialist organizers will get overlooked. Despite the crumbling pedestal onto which it clambers each July, the Tour retains a certain historic elitism, which has helped it to elude criticism.
Complaints include an obscene carbon footprint, which the Tour's official website audaciously boasts in its "History and Statistics" section (2,400 vehicles supporting 189 riders, that's nearly 13 cars per cyclist!); the siphoning off of talented US riders along with the dollars it takes to support them overseas; and a gaping disconnect with the cycling majority.
Way back in the balmy days of 2002, when fuel prices weren't nearly as heart-stopping as they are today, 57 million people, 27.3 percent of the population age 16 or older, rode a bicycle at least once during the summer, according to the National Survey of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Attitudes and Behaviors. I'll hazard a guess that most of those cyclists - especially women, who have never been granted entry into the race - are not bound for Tour de France glory. No thanks to the Tour, or perhaps more apropos: thanks to the soaring price of crude oil, these days more people are making the bike a solution to high fuel prices. It's absurd to think that what's needed is a $10,000 bike (or even a $1,000 bike) to make a conscious transportation choice, especially when, according to estimates by the Bikes Belong Coalition, 150 million American households already own perfectly decent, working bicycles. This brings up another type of oil, the kind that's purchased for a few bucks at the local bike shop and squirted on a bike's chain before pumping up the tires and throwing a leg over the saddle. We Give a Damn website (http://wegiveadamn.ning.com/), a networking site for people who care about the world around them and aren't afraid to say so, has even provided free video instructions on how to check over a bike for service needs.
In existential terms, a scrub, lube and maybe a tuneup will go a lot further than the Tour de France could ever hope to in reducing dependence on foreign oil, helping citizens save their hard-earned money (on a commute of 10 miles, bicyclists save roughly $7.50 and spare the air 1⁄2 pound of carbon monoxide emissions, according to SmartTrips.org), lowering nationwide obesity rates, improving workplace productivity by reducing the time spent stuck in traffic (50 hours annually, costing the US more than $63 billion in lost productivity and wasted fuel, according to the Texas Transportation Institute and the EPA/USDOT's Best Workplaces for Commuters Briefing, 2005), and helping people live longer (three hours of bicycling per week can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke by 50 percent, according to the League of American Bicyclists). To go the extra conscientious mile, responsible choices like environmentally friendly products (look up Pedro's brand bicycle care) help to minimize further impact to the planet.
Three years ago, bike advocates couldn't have asked for a better poster boy than Lance Armstrong, who won an unprecedented seven Tour de France titles and sparked a cycling trend before retiring in 2005. But guys like Armstrong only come around once a century and it will be a long time until cycling gets another hero like him. Even then, if Tour organizers have their way and succeed in controlling professional road racing, the chasm between Tour de France racer and citizen cyclist will be just as deep, wide and alienating as it currently is.
Now it's Big Oil, an uncomfortable bedfellow but nevertheless an ally for advocates who have campaigned tirelessly to get more people on bikes. Whereas the Tour's ostentation engages few, challenging the cost of fuel has mobilized many. However, a grand shortcoming of both professional road racing and bike advocacy has been how to transform a greater percentage of the population into cyclists. Since cycling is not a food chain (as some boorish cyclists would have you think), with pro racers in all their plumaged regalia at the top and commuters somewhere a bit further down, the more people on bikes the better. More cyclists tend to capture the attention of policy-makers; those cyclists who do choose to race begin to flood the talent pool from which Olympians are plucked.
The bicycle has changed little in design since it was introduced roughly 135 years ago. If there was a secret to getting more people on bikes, it's this: a quick maintenance check, some air in the tires and a shot of plain, old chain lube will transform the bike that's languishing in storage from an afterthought into a utility absent of prejudice and abundant in independence.
Here's an OpEd with a nod to "We Give a Damn" that I wrote a few days prior to the year's Tour de France.
Let me know what you think, thanks for reading -W
Greasing Un-squeaky Wheels
How plain, old oil will do more for cycling than the Tour de France
By Wendy Booher
GRENOBLE, France (July 1, 2008) - When the 95th Tour de France gets underway this Saturday, a rabid fraction of cyclists will rise early and go for a ride before tucking into a snack and putting their feet up to take in cycling's most hallowed race. With a blind eye, doping scandals and squabbles between the sport's global governing body and the Tour's increasingly imperialist organizers will get overlooked. Despite the crumbling pedestal onto which it clambers each July, the Tour retains a certain historic elitism, which has helped it to elude criticism.
Complaints include an obscene carbon footprint, which the Tour's official website audaciously boasts in its "History and Statistics" section (2,400 vehicles supporting 189 riders, that's nearly 13 cars per cyclist!); the siphoning off of talented US riders along with the dollars it takes to support them overseas; and a gaping disconnect with the cycling majority.
Way back in the balmy days of 2002, when fuel prices weren't nearly as heart-stopping as they are today, 57 million people, 27.3 percent of the population age 16 or older, rode a bicycle at least once during the summer, according to the National Survey of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Attitudes and Behaviors. I'll hazard a guess that most of those cyclists - especially women, who have never been granted entry into the race - are not bound for Tour de France glory. No thanks to the Tour, or perhaps more apropos: thanks to the soaring price of crude oil, these days more people are making the bike a solution to high fuel prices. It's absurd to think that what's needed is a $10,000 bike (or even a $1,000 bike) to make a conscious transportation choice, especially when, according to estimates by the Bikes Belong Coalition, 150 million American households already own perfectly decent, working bicycles. This brings up another type of oil, the kind that's purchased for a few bucks at the local bike shop and squirted on a bike's chain before pumping up the tires and throwing a leg over the saddle. We Give a Damn website (http://wegiveadamn.ning.com/), a networking site for people who care about the world around them and aren't afraid to say so, has even provided free video instructions on how to check over a bike for service needs.
In existential terms, a scrub, lube and maybe a tuneup will go a lot further than the Tour de France could ever hope to in reducing dependence on foreign oil, helping citizens save their hard-earned money (on a commute of 10 miles, bicyclists save roughly $7.50 and spare the air 1⁄2 pound of carbon monoxide emissions, according to SmartTrips.org), lowering nationwide obesity rates, improving workplace productivity by reducing the time spent stuck in traffic (50 hours annually, costing the US more than $63 billion in lost productivity and wasted fuel, according to the Texas Transportation Institute and the EPA/USDOT's Best Workplaces for Commuters Briefing, 2005), and helping people live longer (three hours of bicycling per week can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke by 50 percent, according to the League of American Bicyclists). To go the extra conscientious mile, responsible choices like environmentally friendly products (look up Pedro's brand bicycle care) help to minimize further impact to the planet.
Three years ago, bike advocates couldn't have asked for a better poster boy than Lance Armstrong, who won an unprecedented seven Tour de France titles and sparked a cycling trend before retiring in 2005. But guys like Armstrong only come around once a century and it will be a long time until cycling gets another hero like him. Even then, if Tour organizers have their way and succeed in controlling professional road racing, the chasm between Tour de France racer and citizen cyclist will be just as deep, wide and alienating as it currently is.
Now it's Big Oil, an uncomfortable bedfellow but nevertheless an ally for advocates who have campaigned tirelessly to get more people on bikes. Whereas the Tour's ostentation engages few, challenging the cost of fuel has mobilized many. However, a grand shortcoming of both professional road racing and bike advocacy has been how to transform a greater percentage of the population into cyclists. Since cycling is not a food chain (as some boorish cyclists would have you think), with pro racers in all their plumaged regalia at the top and commuters somewhere a bit further down, the more people on bikes the better. More cyclists tend to capture the attention of policy-makers; those cyclists who do choose to race begin to flood the talent pool from which Olympians are plucked.
The bicycle has changed little in design since it was introduced roughly 135 years ago. If there was a secret to getting more people on bikes, it's this: a quick maintenance check, some air in the tires and a shot of plain, old chain lube will transform the bike that's languishing in storage from an afterthought into a utility absent of prejudice and abundant in independence.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Pham on -
It's a great article and very well-written.
Maybe... if we can convince younger generations that cycling is "cool" and trendy, we can breed a new generation of cyclists into an eco-friendly high society (oh wait, my friend just told me track bikes and fixies are the new hot look). Omit my last remark.
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Permalink Reply by Eric C. on -
Selling something that is useful and practical is infinitely more difficult than selling something people don't really need. One of the first euro-style commuter bikes to hit the market from one of the big manufacturers was the Specialized Globe. It went over like a lead brick. Now that gas prices are ridiculous (or at least closer to as high as other places in the developed world), making the argument for useful and practical is a little easier. Margins are typically higher for lower-end bikes, so it seems many bike shops are having a good season. I'm sure shop owners don't miss spending countless hours with a customer over their $3,500 aerodynamic wonder, only to make almost no money when all is said and done with the salesperson's hours, the free swap on the stem, and labor on swapping out the bars and re-wrapping the tape and redoing the cables and housing because all of a sudden everything is too short. So, cycling may have had a great boost with the Lance Armstrong phenomenon. It was good while it lasted. But this business may be ultimately sustained by good old common sense and the sudden revelation that bikes are pretty simple and functional contraptions that just need to serve as basic transportation. I listened at a shop as a salesperson talked with a customer about making a large investment to go from his old canti-style brakes to something with more stopping power. No matter how you slice it, not a cheap project. Much to my surprise, the salesperson said, hey, you know what? yeah, v-brakes and discs are great, but if you're current brakes are functional, and meet your needs, there's no need to upgrade. there's a concept, putting the customers real needs ahead of the desire to make a buck. Nice.
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