Musings

Since August I have been living car-free. This both an economic and an idealistic choice. I do not think that the convenience of a car makes the cost of owning worth it. I also would feel hypocritical arguing against car-centric development while contributing to the demand for it by driving a car myself. I have to admit that a have ridden in other people's cars pretty regularly, so I am not one hundred percent there, but I have tried to bike, walk, or ride the bus whenever possible.

Living on a college campus makes that easy since almost everything I need is within easy walking distance on campus. When I have ridden off campus, I have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly I can get places on my bike. Downtown is only about twenty five minutes away, and I can beat the bus, leaving at the same time, by at least ten minutes. Overall, Grand Rapids seems to be a bike-friendly town. My one complaint is that there are not a lot of people riding, so it can feel somewhat lonely being surrounded by cars. That said, I have yet to ride and not see another bike at some point, which is way more than I can say for San Antonio, where I lived before Grand Rapids.

In San Antonio, there is a decent mountain biking scene, and there seem to be quite a few dedicated road cyclists, but definitely no bike culture in the sense of biking as a way to get around in daily life. In the U.S. we have a good cycling culture; places like Crested Butte and Moab are great examples of that, but there is no comparable “100% Lycra Free” culture, to quote Amsterdamize. The city is starting a pilot bike share program, which should help. I am hoping to try it while I am in San Antonio for Christmas. I know these have pretty much been random musings without much point, but I hope they were interesting.