Wow, when the media locks onto a story, they really go hog wild. Gas is down since the last Gas is expensive edition, but what is really cheap are stories about how expensive gas is getting people onto bicycles.
High gas prices are causing schools to cut back on busing, forcing more kids to bike. According to US DOT stats for kids living within a mile of school
51 percent... get there by car. Less than a third of them walk. About 14 percent of the students are bused to school and the rest use a bicycle.
That'll change.
There are stories on people with crazy long commutes,
he stands outside his north Georgia home most weekday mornings, bracing for his commute: A 42-mile round trip across winding rural roads, past farms and stores, through remote stretches and busy intersections.
people choosing a Sunday ride over a Sunday drive, and using a bicycle to mow your lawn.
More people on bikes means more business for bike shops.
Ken Hardin, who co-owns Hardin's Bike Shop in Muncie, said he and his partner have seen their store's sales grow by close to 25 percent compared with this time last year as high gas prices fuel interest in biking to work.
Which may not be so good. The tries I wanted are sold out, I've been waiting a month for a new cassette and I heard a bike shop in Oregon had to shut down for two weeks because they had sold all of their bikes.
Papers are trying to publish plenty of advice from how to commute to what to wear
-- Wear a brightly colored shirt, jacket or vest or something with reflective material or tape so that you're more easily seen by motorists.
And Kojo covered defensive biking.
Portland, like Barbara Mandrel, was country when country wasn't cool.
Americans want alternatives to traffic jams and high gas prices. Portland, Oregon, thinks it has found one: convincing residents to commute by bike. Cycling has doubled since 2001. And the city hopes this is just the beginning.
More people are switching out their SUV for an SUB.
And even "drive-bys" are switching to bicycles.
All of which is kind of amazing...but is the MSM missing something? Is this really all about gasoline and $$?
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