Is it just me or are there more people riding bikes around in slushy, snow buried streets?
It snowed more over the past few days, leaving deep, slushy ruts along the roads. And a man on a bike, laden down with groceries in a milk crate strapped to the back waved drivers around as he slipped along the snowy road. The man was bundled up in a thick, brown coat. His head was a mass of curls. He smiled and waved at me in my 98 Ford Escort as I made eye contact with him while he was passing in front of me at a slushy, gray intersection. He slowly peddled and slipped along through the deep, thick snow, stopping now and then to wave more cars around.
It's not like there are hordes of bikes in the streets. But more this winter. People, faded out by a curtain of snow, peddling across the icy bridge where the exit ramp from US 31 leads toward the commercial district...sliding their way down the narrow shoulder of a 45 MPH street. Or peddling the opposite way with a couple plastic grocery bags swinging clumsily from their handlebars.
Maybe it's occasion to be encouraged. More people riding bikes in the slushy snow of winter. Abandoning their internal combustion engines for some knobby tires on the mountain bike and thick, wind breaking gloves. Bundle up with a warm, home knit scarf and peddle four miles to the store.
Or maybe it's a lagging sign of economic hardship manifesting as cars, long neglected in maintenance, finally give up. A further obstacle to finding work, as easy transportation fades and 16+% unemployment persists.
Late this fall I saw a man riding his bike along small road. A little girl sat on what looked like a sweater on the wheel rim of a bike, holding onto her father's pants as they peddled someplace in a clumsy hurry in the cold.