Tahoe not among the top bike friendly locations
By Jayne Clark, USA Today
Missoula, Mont., and Durango, Colo., are the latest towns to make “gold” status in the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Communities rankings. The group’s annual list comes out today as a kick-off to National Bike to Work Week.
The program annually awards towns and cities with gold, silver or bronze status according to how well they promote cycling, provide infrastructure, enact pro-cycling policies and support related education programs.
South Lake Tahoe is known for bike routes that abrupty end. Photo/LTN file
With the latest round of entrants, the organization has now certified 214 locales in 47 states as bike-friendly. In general, communities in the Mountain West lead the pack.
In Missoula, protected bike lanes, signage, and new bike parking serve an estimated 7% of residents who commute by bike. Durango boasts 300 miles of mountain bike trails and a growing network of city bike lanes., and cycling is “integral to the town’s culture and identity,” the league said in a statement.
Just get your bike out of the garage
and come to the Spirit Parade tomorrow
4pm start at South Shore Bikes
lets set the World Record for the longest single line of Bicycles
Bike routes that abrubtly end are the least of So Lake Tahoe’s biking issues – the routing and poor condition of the surface of our bike paths (not to mention roads) is! We should stop looking for credit for the background scenery and face up to the fact most of south shore resembles a forested slum and we have our long standing slum land lord mentality to thank
On both a positive & negative note, any nudge in the direction of a ‘Bike-to-Work’ mentality is good – not as a “week”, but as a viable mode of getting around most of the time. . .
At least there are some out there getting another level of recognition, as just recently, none other than Davis, CA had a different rating (Platinum) over just ‘Bicycle Friendly’- so it’s good to see Golds in the mix. . .
As another example for Tahoe, Portland, OR has as many as 8% of the population (you do the math) commuting by bike, whereas TRPA, for example, has a “Bike-to-Work” day for employees.
As we are now in a phase of discovering how to revitalize the local economy, it has been noted that the demographics of cycling are way above that of skiing (for example), but our transit concerns still revolve around car-centric ways – 20 years later. . .
As they say in Montreal (after developing 450 miles of bike trails in the past 30+ years): “It’s not just sport, it’s transport. . .”
Tahoe should find its’ way to Platinum, like Davis. . .kudos to Mark for “upping the ante”. . .
How about just some sidewalks for the normal people?
Very much like Herber Hoover said about capitalism: “The only problem with capitalism is the capitalists”. Similarly, the problem with bicycles is the bicyclists. I worked very hard to support bike trails and after the hundredth bicyclist was on the road next to a bike trail, I lost interest. The bike community would do well to police their own about militant bikers demanding their place on the road. Just another minority that wants to take from the majority, IMHO.
Will the “longest single line of bicycles” be on the road interfering with traffic? Another Critical Mass event? Just what we need.
yo dumb I paid $1200.00 TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO RIDE IN THE SLOW LANE
I jumped thru more flaming hoops then you have ever seen, to get the permits to ride in the slow lane
with 917 of my close friends
maybe you need to get out of the car and look around
there’s more to life then driving fast and being angry
plus riding a bicycle makes you be like a kid, and everybody needs some of that
See you this afternoon Chief. I’ll be in costume so you won’t see me just my alter-ego! Thanks so much for putting together the event.
Hey dumbfounded,
There are NO dedicated bike paths here, they are ALL multi-use paths which means that walkers, baby strollers, skaters etc., etc. use these paths. If you are a bicycle commuter and you actually have a schedule for work or school or whatever, taking the “bike” path is just too slow with all the other users. Bicycles have ALL THE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES of a motor vehicle on the road. Just a quick history lesson, the League of American Wheelman (bicyclists were called wheelman then) was formed in 1880. Many pioneers in the auto and aviation industry came from the bicycling culture. The League was responsible for lobbying for roads to be paved so you can thank the bicycling craze (as it was referred to at the turn of the 20th century) for that!
You are right about one thing though…some bicyclists are too militant and need to share the road more graciously. The Share the Road slogan cuts both ways. Too many clueless, arrogant bicyclists ride the wrong way (facing traffic) and generally do things that a motorist would be cited for if caught.
If you think that the bike parade is a Critical Mass event, you haven’t experienced a real Critical Mass. There was a group that at one time wanted to stage such an event here in SLT, but cooler heads in the bicycling community prevailed and no such event occured. You’re welcome. Instead of griping about bicyclists, you might consider how large of a piece of our shrinking economic pie could be supported by a truely bike friendly community. More bikes on the road…preferably in marked bike lanes…means less cars, less traffic and a cleaner lake.
Thanks for a terriffic parade Chief!