Lately, many antagonistic statements towards bicycles and their riders have perpetrated my ear canals; this pains my heart and stings my soul.
“Bikes are too fast and dangerous” to be on the sidewalks with pedestrians, but they are “too slow and distracting” to ride on the road with cars. Pedestrians argue to ban them from the sidewalks, and car drivers want them off the road.
Good logic and respect for history prompt me to argue the opposite: bicycles should be the sole means of transportation on the inner-city streets of Rexburg and campus sidewalks of BYU-Idaho. Pedestrians and automobiles should be banned.
This being the day after our nations anniversary, it is prudent to recall the role the bicycle played in making America
Most of us slept through history class; I wrote stuff on my desk with silly puddy and mocked my teacher’s over-sized tunic-shirts. But that’s what the internet is for: to catch us back up. So regarding bicycle history, one blogger points out, “The bicycle, quite literally, paved the road for automobiles. The explosive popularity of the human-powered, two-wheeled vehicle sparked road construction across the Western world’s cities.”
Starting with the velocifere of Count Mede de Sivrac and the Hobbyhorse of Baron Von Drais de Sauerbrun, the bicycle revolutionize the world. Evolving from its humble beginnings of intra-garden transportation to the elegant penny-farthing, a favorite of upper-classmen, to the modern cycles we enjoy now, the bicycle in all its many forms has proven implemental in American history.
Bicycle travel got in with the in-crowd in the late 1800’s and rapidly grew in popularity in the U.S. from then on. So much so that from the 1870’s to 1920’s bicyclitiers of all sorts joined together in the Good Roads Movement, calling on the government to build better roads for inter-city travel. This resulted in the decision of New Jersey to participate in road-building projects, becoming the first state to ever do so.
The two-wheeled vehicle emancipated the amercain woman.“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel." said Susan B. Anthony. All of you girls enjoying comfortable clothes and free movement can thank bikes: they cut a whole seven pounds of extra weight off from your garbs by providing women with a reason to free themselves of corsets and giant skirts.
Also, those guys that flew that airplane back in 1903- they were bike mechanics.
So, that being said, should we support and promote the bicycle simply out of respect for the past? Nay. My argument extends to the present benefits provided by the modern bicycle.
The bicycle is the most efficient major form of land transportation in the modern world. “It takes less energy to bicycle one mile than it takes to walk a mile. In fact, a bicycle can be up to 5 times more efficient than walking,” and many times more efficient than cars, says www.exploratorium.edu.. You can play with your suped-up 5.0 liter V-12 engine with hemi’s, and you can fill it up for $4 a gallon with all the gasoline this earth retains, but I’ll take my bike, I’ll fill power it with my own two legs, some local collard greens, and my momma’s granola. Let me repeat. Cycling is more efficient than all other major forms of on land transportation, including, walking, carpooling, trains, and even horseback riding.
I do not stand alone. Nation wide a trend strengthens. It grew out of a dream. A town is in production in South Carolina. A car-free town, with sustainable places for people to live, and to work, and to play. They call it Bicycle City. It is the first of its kind, but many more will follow, popping up all around the American countryside. This is the future of happiness.
The bicycle made America. Picture America without highways, without planes, and without women’s rights. If you can, then go ahead, get rid of the two-wheeled menaces; ban them from the sidewalks, and the roads, and from all places but the garage. Kick Mrs. Anthony out of the voting booth, throw the plane out of the sky, and toss the unsustainable resources of our gifted home atop the fire. But if you can’t, then let them stay, let them stay alone, to ride on the roads that they paved and the sidewalks that they once owned.
It is as Goldy Locks said: cars are too fast, walking is too slow- bikes are just right.
“Bikes are too fast and dangerous” to be on the sidewalks with pedestrians, but they are “too slow and distracting” to ride on the road with cars. Pedestrians argue to ban them from the sidewalks, and car drivers want them off the road.
Good logic and respect for history prompt me to argue the opposite: bicycles should be the sole means of transportation on the inner-city streets of Rexburg and campus sidewalks of BYU-Idaho. Pedestrians and automobiles should be banned.
This being the day after our nations anniversary, it is prudent to recall the role the bicycle played in making America
Most of us slept through history class; I wrote stuff on my desk with silly puddy and mocked my teacher’s over-sized tunic-shirts. But that’s what the internet is for: to catch us back up. So regarding bicycle history, one blogger points out, “The bicycle, quite literally, paved the road for automobiles. The explosive popularity of the human-powered, two-wheeled vehicle sparked road construction across the Western world’s cities.”
Starting with the velocifere of Count Mede de Sivrac and the Hobbyhorse of Baron Von Drais de Sauerbrun, the bicycle revolutionize the world. Evolving from its humble beginnings of intra-garden transportation to the elegant penny-farthing, a favorite of upper-classmen, to the modern cycles we enjoy now, the bicycle in all its many forms has proven implemental in American history.
Bicycle travel got in with the in-crowd in the late 1800’s and rapidly grew in popularity in the U.S. from then on. So much so that from the 1870’s to 1920’s bicyclitiers of all sorts joined together in the Good Roads Movement, calling on the government to build better roads for inter-city travel. This resulted in the decision of New Jersey to participate in road-building projects, becoming the first state to ever do so.
The two-wheeled vehicle emancipated the amercain woman.“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel." said Susan B. Anthony. All of you girls enjoying comfortable clothes and free movement can thank bikes: they cut a whole seven pounds of extra weight off from your garbs by providing women with a reason to free themselves of corsets and giant skirts.
Also, those guys that flew that airplane back in 1903- they were bike mechanics.
So, that being said, should we support and promote the bicycle simply out of respect for the past? Nay. My argument extends to the present benefits provided by the modern bicycle.
The bicycle is the most efficient major form of land transportation in the modern world. “It takes less energy to bicycle one mile than it takes to walk a mile. In fact, a bicycle can be up to 5 times more efficient than walking,” and many times more efficient than cars, says www.exploratorium.edu.. You can play with your suped-up 5.0 liter V-12 engine with hemi’s, and you can fill it up for $4 a gallon with all the gasoline this earth retains, but I’ll take my bike, I’ll fill power it with my own two legs, some local collard greens, and my momma’s granola. Let me repeat. Cycling is more efficient than all other major forms of on land transportation, including, walking, carpooling, trains, and even horseback riding.
I do not stand alone. Nation wide a trend strengthens. It grew out of a dream. A town is in production in South Carolina. A car-free town, with sustainable places for people to live, and to work, and to play. They call it Bicycle City. It is the first of its kind, but many more will follow, popping up all around the American countryside. This is the future of happiness.
The bicycle made America. Picture America without highways, without planes, and without women’s rights. If you can, then go ahead, get rid of the two-wheeled menaces; ban them from the sidewalks, and the roads, and from all places but the garage. Kick Mrs. Anthony out of the voting booth, throw the plane out of the sky, and toss the unsustainable resources of our gifted home atop the fire. But if you can’t, then let them stay, let them stay alone, to ride on the roads that they paved and the sidewalks that they once owned.
It is as Goldy Locks said: cars are too fast, walking is too slow- bikes are just right.
Couldn't agree more!
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