” I would rather have every car on the road driven by someone who’s also texting before I’d want more rich, arrogant, ridiculously-clad cyclists in my way. And they will be in the way, because they’ll stretch the goodwill of the County Board like their spandex get-ups. “

That was the first of many, mostly negative comments on a story in the Muscatine Journal about marking bike routes on county roads.

I get hyperbole. Use it myself on occasion. You see, commenter “Dirk S.” doesn’t really want to see a lot of motorists texting while they drive. He probably can’t really pick a rich or arrogant cyclist out of a group, either.

The childish mockery of how people dress baffles me, though. It comes up often enough that I thought I might write about it here and point out some of the benefits cycling-specific clothing can provide. Maybe another time.

For now, as long as he sees me pedaling down the road and goes around carefully, I really don’t give a rat’s ass what he thinks of my shorts.

Ridiculous is in the eye of the beholder.

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Writing checks usually isn’t a lot of fun, but this morning I enjoyed writing one that will go twice as far as these things usually do.

It will be matched dollar for dollar by the Hawkeye Bicycle Association, which has pledged to spend up to $2,500 for each of two projects by matching members’ donations:

• Paving a section of the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.
• Installing “Share the Road” signs on Linn County roads.

I’m supporting both of those projects. One will make more of the historic trail more accessible and encourage people to get out and be active. The other will increase awareness and, one hopes, improve safety.

Thank you, HBA.

Pedal on.

Seven of my favorite reasons for cycling, from some pedaling people you might follow on Twitter:

@dudeonabike: I ride my bike so my kids know that they can too.

@GraphikDeziner When post 60+ mile ride you can totally have no shame in crashing out and watching trashy tv

@VeloBusDriver http://twitpic.com/ugg2e – So I can park closest to the front door at the mall!

@5minutecommute: Because on two legs I’m lumbering and awkward but on two wheels I’m grace and beauty.

@LACycleChic: Because when I don’t my daughter asks “why did we have to take the car?”

@CoyotesBike Riding let’s us know the real world at the right speed. Fast enough to see lots of places and slow enough to enjoy them.

@iws I can become a challenger, a sightseer, and a happy man immediately, when I ride.

You’ll find lots of other great reasons with the #whyweride hashtag.

Pedal on.

You can do all of this and more in your simple, natural state:

1. Make love.
2. Feel the paper as you read a book.
3. Ride your bicycle.
4. Skate on a frozen pond.
5. Stop by woods on a snowy evening.
6. Pitch a tent in a forest a hundred miles from anywhere.
7. Hear time pass.

So pick one…

Over a surprisingly good cuppa bike-shop coffee this morning, Derek Stepanek told me a story that fits right in with the #whyweride thing going around on Twitter. I had stopped by his office at Northtowne Cycling & Fitness.

He happened to mention that he’d bicycled five times as much in 2009 as he had in the previous several years. How did he manage that with the long days and weeks it takes to run a retail business these days?

By making it a family thing with his wife, Jodi, and their one-year-old daughter, Jocelyn.

The little one, he said, is so active she’ll probably be nicknamed “Tornado.” Getting her to settle down for a nap can be challenging, but the Stepaneks found that she would quickly nod off in their Burley trailer.

They racked up the miles on their bicycles – exploring trails and roads in the Cedar Rapids area – while she napped quietly, rolling along behind.

Yet another good reason to …

… pedal on.

If you’re not a Twitter person, or maybe even if you are, you may have missed this: #whyweride

It’s a hashtag, which people sometimes include in their posts – their  “tweets” – on Twitter. You can click on it in someone’s tweet and up comes every other message that includes that hashtag.

Image by Tony the Misfit via Flickr

You can put it in a search engine, too, which I did this morning. Click that big hashtag above to see the results. Some interesting stuff.

I first noticed the tag Monday evening and the discussion of whyweride was still going strong today.

Why do you ride? Be sure to include #whyweride in your response.

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The Hawkeye Bicycle Association will match members’ donations and give up to $2,500 to each of two fund-raising efforts in Linn County.

1. One is the Linn County Trails Association’s capital campaign to pave the Cedar Valley Nature Trail from County Home Road to Lafayette.
2. HBA members and other cyclists also are raising money to buy and install Share the Road signs on Linn County roads.

To make sure donations are matched by HBA, members should use the donation forms available on the HBA website. (Checks for both projects are payable to LCTA. You’ll see that on the form.)

If you’re not an HBA member (consider joining?) or you simply prefer to donate to the trail-paving project directly, go to the LCTA website and you can make your donation online.

In either case, donate by the end of the year to deduct your gift for tax year 2009.

Pedal on.

* * *

Full disclosure: I’m an LCTA board member and HBA member and want someone to buy me some trail paving and an STR sign for Christmas.

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Seven rides to consider for 2010. There are dozens of others, of course. These are just a few Mrs. Smith and I have experienced in one way or another:

1. BRR – The February ride from Perry to Rippey, Iowa. Don’t go just for the ride. Stay overnight. Party in Perry. Yes, it might be very cold.
2. RAGBRAI – Make no mistake: this is a big one. But you already knew that.
3. Ride the Rockies – OK, we haven’t done this one, but we were in Frisco a couple of years ago, mere hours after the ride started there. Doesn’t count? Well, maybe we’ll do it in 2010. Subject came up just the other day. We’ll see if it was idle chatter or not. (Friends who have done it say it’s a great time.)
4. SAGBRAW – Greatly enjoyed this several years ago, except for the rainy day in Door County and riding blind in the fog along Lake Michigan.
5. Swine Trek – An annual Eastern Iowa ride with several choices of routes and distances.
6. TOMRV – Good challenge in June every year, with an opportunity to do back-to-back centuries.
7. Tour de Wyoming – One that is definitely on my do-over list. Next time, Mrs. Smith can skip the emergency room visit for stitches in her foot and I’ll try not to get food poisoning and miss the last day.

Have any of your own favorites to recommend? We’re especially interested in finding three- or four-day tours. One of us has sworn off the seven-day RAGBRAI road show as just too much of a good thing.

Suggestions welcome.

I begin training, and this very week, for our planned, certainly hoped for, summit of Mount Rainier in June.

As consistent readers of this Blog are fully aware, I like to use three distinct phrases to describe dramatic events in my life…

And, they include:

Hors Catégorie

Hors Catégorie is a French term used in cycle races (most notably, the Tour de France) to designate a climb that is “beyond categorization”, an incredibly tough climb. Most climbs in cycling are designated from Category 1 (hardest) to Category 4 (easiest), based on both steepness and length. A climb that is harder than Category 1 is designated as hors catégorie. The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass.

As an extreme athlete, I specialize in attacking (running and riding) these types of grades.

Mount Rainier does not rate Hors Catégorie. But, we know this is going to be tough. And, an enormous milestone in our lives. I’ll admit apprehension. I don’t know if it might be fear. With transparency I submit this is a dimension of the effort that is new to me and warrants exploration. Could that be the truest test through this adventure?

Is this why Kobayashi Maru keeps creeping into my thoughts?

Kobayashi Maru

The Kobayashi Maru is a test in the fictional Star Trek universe. It is a Starfleet training exercise designed to test the character of cadets in the command track at Starfleet Academy. The Kobayashi Maru test was first depicted in the opening scene of the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and also appears in the 2009 film Star Trek. Depictions of the Kobayashi Maru test are a fairly popular subject in Star Trek literature. Non-canonical examples of Kobayashi Maru tests have been described in many Star Trek novels. The test’s name is occasionally used among Star Trek fans or those familiar with the series to describe a no-win scenario. As a cadet, Kirk beat the test by, essentially, cheating (he reprogrammed the game to fear him). However, he was awarded a citation for “original thinking”. Much like how Kirk cheated to win, characters are frequently depicted as coming up with very innovative or surprising ways of handling the situation.

Although I don’t consider myself a cheater. And, certainly the men around me must agree. I strive daily to be innovative, a thought leader, and tend to come up with solutions for problems that consistently stump others. I’ll attribute this to my career-path as an entrepreneur in naught but the truest sense.

Is my mind reeling with these thoughts because my subconscious is preparing me, some how, and in doing so, forcing my body to training limits I’ve not recently attempted? I know that I must be ready. There is danger, certainly. Yes, I must be prepared for many eventualities, including, as my family attorney advises me – demise.

This must needs lead me, and you’re coming with me, to…

Raison d’etre

Raison d’être is a phrase borrowed from French where it means “reason for being”; in English use, it also comes to suggest a degree of rationalization, as “The claimed reason for the existence of something or someone”.

The French concept is more elaborate than a simple statement. Once the reason an object exists is defined, criteria to measure the object’s degree of success can be enumerated. For example, a phone has the purpose of enabling communication between two people. Some phones meet that goal better than others. When measurable criteria are known, gaps can be identified that show where the particular object fails to meet the prototypical object’s reason for being. When gaps have been fully identified, strategies can be implemented to close the gaps and bring the object closer to the true fulfillment of its raison d’être.

In the truest sense of raison d’être, French philosophers lay an elaborate road map of descriptive text that contrasts the current status of an implementation of a prototypical object with the purist view of perfection that the object should achieve without the hindrance of imperfections. The philosophical road map brings to a crescendo the imperative urgency that motivates participants to immediately take the steps necessary to achieve all the intended qualities that an object was designed to exemplify.

There is no point to this post. It’s just me telling you like it is.

…well… That is unless you’re interested in knowing more about me. And, now you just might.

Perhaps this is another opportunity to kill the bear.

My Grandad said many things. All of them were terrific. One of them was: “Face your fears, lad, and do it anyway”.

Is fear, and the attempt to defeat it, representative of Hors Catégori?

Is simply facing it that Kobayashi Maru?

Is ever seeking ways to remember the face of my father that Raison d’etre, for me (we dare not blow it).

Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

Brian Patrick Cork

A few gift ideas for the cyclist in your life,
with a little wishful thinking thrown in…

On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the second day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the third day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the fifth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
five spa-are tubes,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the sixth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
six-packs of beer,
five spa-are tubes,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
seven’s latest road bike,
six-packs of beer,
five spa-are tubes,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the eighth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
eight contributions,
seven’s latest road bike,
six-packs of beer,
five spa-are tubes,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
nine RAGBRAI passes,
eight contributions,
seven’s latest road bike,
six-packs of beer,
five spa-are tubes,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the tenth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
ten biking movies,
nine RAGBRAI passes,
eight contributions,
seven’s latest road bike,
six-packs of beer,
five spa-are tubes,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
eleven months of sunshine,
ten biking movies,
nine RAGBRAI passes,
eight contributions,
seven’s latest road bike,
six-packs of beer,
five spa-are tubes,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me,
twelve Share the Road signs,
eleven months of sunshine,
ten biking movies,
nine RAGBRAI passes,
eight contributions,
seven’s latest road bike,
six-packs of beer,
five spa-are tubes,
four PowerBars,
three Clif Shots,
two aero wheels,
and a warm, brightly colored jersey.

© 2009 B.J. Smith

The City of Cedar Rapids put out two news releases on Tuesday asking for citizen participation in transportation planning: One about something called the Connections 2040 Visioning Forum and the other one about developing the Comprehensive Trails Master Plan.

Both seem like fine ideas. I’m all for public input.

A question or two, however:

• How will the vision from the Connections 2040 Visioning Forum on Dec. 3 incorporate the ideas for “trails and multimodal connectivity” that are being solicited on Dec. 7?
• Should trails not be considered part of our long-range transportation planning?

Aren’t these issues connected?

Maybe everything will come together clearly at some point, but a person does begin to wonder if our planners have a plan for comparing their plans.

Maybe I’ll participate in the “interactive exercise to design the region and future travel connections” on Thursday, and comment on the trails network online.

One comment might be: See suggestions made at the 2040 thing.

C’est beau ce titre de premier billet. Ca donne de l’espérance, ça fait retentir l’avenir avec tambours et trompettes. Faut juste que ça tienne ses promesses…

Je me souviens qu’il y a quelques années j’ai joué l’apprentie blogueuse et ça m’a plu. Donc je retente. Mais je me souviens aussi du boulot que cela représente.

On tachera  donc d’en faire un beau bazar avec des grandes réflexions inutiles et, je l’espère, du sourire.

After asking people on Twitter and Facebook yesterday to advise me on keeping a daily newspaper subscription, this morning I discovered at least one advantage of getting my news online.

I came across this article about our efforts to improve safety on county roads.

The advantage of reading it online?

Sometimes I forget how many ignorant and potentially dangerous people are hiding under rocks out there. Then the mostly anonymous, uninformed and often venomous commenters expose their contempt  and sometimes hatred for others, and I remember to be more careful.

You don’t get that immediate feedback in a daily newspaper.

Concerns about how tax money is spent certainly are legitimate, but inexpensive signage telling people to be careful isn’t asking much. We will have signs.

Wide shoulders might be a good idea in some places, and it’s responsible and smart for the supervisors to be looking into that concept. (It isn’t just cyclists who benefit from wider shoulders and better-built roads.)

It’s clear we have a long way to go to educate people about sharing the road. Some will never get it, so be careful out there.

Later, I’ll share some of what I heard about renewing my subscription to the daily paper. I don’t have to make a decision for a few days yet.

Pedal on.

Which Linn County roads should get Share the Road signs?

I’m helping HBA member Lisa Paulos come up with recommendations for this project.

Just add a comment. Thanks!

Don’t trust that little voice inside your head saying, “Don’t look back.” (Listen to that as you read on…)

Understand that Satchel Paige was wrong.

You have to look back – frequently – if you’re on a bicycle. At least a couple of dangerous sorts of things might be gaining on you:

• A speeding motor vehicle, whose driver is drunk, sleeping, talking on a cell phone, texting and/or doesn’t think you belong on the road…. (I could go on.)
• Another cyclist who is going to pass you without saying anything. (Don’t get me started on these people. How difficult is it to say, “On your left”?)

Since few of us are truly skilled enough to look over our shoulder without swerving into traffic, get a mirror.

Use it on every ride. Check it often.

Take evasive action as needed.

Live to ride another day.

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For the price of a bicycle tire, a few spare tubes or maybe a few pitchers of beer, you can help more people enjoy the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

Nature trail at County Home Road

Of course, you can donate $100, $250, $1,000 or more if you want. Think big.

Your contribution will help extend the paved portion of the trail in Linn County from County Home Road north to Lafayette – a 3.5-mile section most people have never even seen.

The Linn County Trails Association just kicked off a campaign to raise about $96,000 in matching funds for the project.

Think about it:

• Paving the way to Lafayette means no more mud or ruts in wet weather.
• You’ll be able to walk, skate or run farther down the trail while you’re pushing the kids along in their strollers on a nice, smooth surface.
• More people will use the trail, burning more calories and improving their health.
• More of the trail will be accessible to people who use wheelchairs and those battery-powered scooters.
• That pricey road bike you don’t like taking off the pavement? Less grit to pick up.

I’m hoping some entrepreneur will even open a new business there in Lafayette. People would ride their bicycles down the trail just to get a piece of pie. (You know you would.)

Every dollar you donate will be matched by six dollars from state and local agencies.

To donate online, visit the Linn County Trails Association’s website.

* * *

Disclosures:

• I’m happy to have joined the LCTA board recently.
• Some years ago, I rode my Huffy road bike on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail from Hiawatha to Center Point, a distance of about 13 miles. An out-of-shape, overweight smoker at the time, I barely made it while most of my friends had no problem. Four bicycles and many thousands of miles later, I’d be more than happy to talk about how that trail ride and others changed my life and helped me kick that old smoking habit. Smokers, you can quit, too.

Linn County supervisors heard from several cyclists this morning about ways to improve safety for cyclists on county roads. Some of that information was noted in this live blog by Adam Belz of the Cedar Rapids Gazette. (John Wauer was incorrectly identified by a live blog guest at one point as Dr. John Wollner.)  I’ll link to the Gazette’s follow-up story later if there  is one.

Short version of what went on: Supervisors seem willing to have private citizens pay for 10 or so signs. Linda Langston will be asking cyclists for input on where they should go. Supervisors long-term will consider wider shoulders on county roads to accommodate cycling.

I’ll add more later, and please comment as you see fit.

For the record, here’s what I said following Lisa Paulos’s opening remarks about HBA’s willingness to pay for some “Share the Road” signs:

I’m here as a Linn County taxpayer who spends a lot of time on a bicycle.

Sometimes I choose to ride on county roads to get to my destination. By taking a bicycle instead of a car, I save some money and get some exercise. I often spend that money on breakfast or lunch in another Linn County community.

All too often, other road users endanger my life, and the lives of others who are traveling with me, by passing dangerously close. Some seem to be ignorant of their responsibility as motor vehicle operators. Others don’t seem to care. Some do it deliberately to intimidate or run cyclists off the road.

In all of those cases, motorists need to be educated about their responsibilities and about the rights of other citizens who share the road.

This needs to happen before more people are seriously injured or killed by careless drivers.

Just as we have signs that identify no-passing zones and speed limits, and that convey other traffic-safety information, we need signage that reminds people that they are required to share the roads with others.

I urge you as our elected county officials to budget for, install and maintain “Share the Road” signs as you do other traffic signs – as a matter of public policy and public safety.

Individual cyclists and cycling groups have no obligation to raise funds to pay for public infrastructure like traffic signs. Still, the Hawkeye Bicycle Association has generously offered to pay for some of Linn County’s traffic signs by matching individual donations.

I encourage you to accept that offer, to budget additional funds for signs, installation and maintenance, and begin adding “Share the Road” signs to improve safety for motorists and cyclists alike.

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Westdale Mall removed its bicycle-parking racks because of vandalism, I learned in an email today.

And with Westdale housing Linn County offices, and the supervisors discussing bicycles and county roads in a few days, some people were wondering where they might put their two-wheelers should they decide to ride to that Monday morning meeting.

Solution? That’s what the email was about:

“The Bicycle Advisory Committee and Bicycle Ambassadors will provide bicycle parking for the Linn County Supervisors meeting on improving cycling on county roads, Monday November 16 from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. We will set up at the 130 entrance to the Linn County offices at Westdale Mall. (The mall removed all of their bicycle racks due to vandalism).”

Hoping to see lots of you there.

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If you’d like to find people who share your interest in running, cycling, training for triathlons or supporting our growing network of trails in Linn County, check these out:

• Cedar Valley Running Association (CVRA) www.cvra.net
• Hawkeye Bicycle Association (HBA) www.hawkeyebike.org
• Iowa Bicycle Racing Association www.bikeiowa.org
• Iowa Coalition of Off-Road Riders (ICORR) www.icorrmtb.org
• Kennedy Mt. Biking Club (Chain Gang) www.kenn.cr.k12.ia.us
• Linn Area Cyclers Bike Club www.lacbc.vpweb.com
• Linn Area Mountain Bike Assoc. (LAMBA) www.lambaonline.com
• Linn County Trails Association (LCTA) www.linncountytrails.org
• Midwest Xtreme Triathlon Club www.mwxtri.com

Thanks to the C.R. Bicycle Advisory Committee for putting the list together.

Have a group to add? Send it along.

Thanks.

A few dates to put on your community involvement and cycling calendar:

November 16: Linn County Supervisors

Get to this meeting to show your support for making our county roads safer. Details in this recent post.

November 17: Tower Terrace Road Open House

To make sure your input regarding bicycle facilities (lanes, sharrows, etc.) is considered in planning for the Tower Terrace Road extension, go to the stakeholder group Open House on Tuesday, Nov. 17. The MPO will be reporting on proposed alignments and previous feedback.

Your feedback matters. If people who think accommodating bicycles as part of traffic don’t show up, it’s entirely possible someone else will make the decisions.

Do you want to be restricted to sidepaths? I sure don’t. I think they’re dangerous, and I’m far from alone.

Date: Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Time: 6:00 – 8:00pm
Where: St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Fellowship Room
8300 C Avenue
Marion, IA 52302

RSVP by Nov. 13 to Tara Bradley (t.bradley@cedar-rapids.org) or by phone at 319-286-5161.

December 5: Holiday Parade

Light up your bicycle and join the C.R. Bicycle Advisory Committee and Bicycle Ambassadors in a holiday parade.

The parade starts at 6 pm at 6th Street and 2nd Avenue SE, proceeds west on 2nd Avenue, south on 2nd Street, then east on 3rd Avenue, ending at Greene Square Park. Requirements for riding in the parade with this group: headlight, taillight and battery powered Christmas lights on your bike, helmet (with antlers optional), bells on bikes (optional).

No Santa character costumes are allowed except for the official Santa in the last float. The theme for our group is “Every Season is Bike Season.” The theme for the parade is “Dashing Through Downtown.”

Please email Gina Weaver (g.weaver@cedar-rapids.org) if you would like to participate.

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“When you’re in your 60s, you may want to go out for a vigorous 30-minute walk, while when you’re in your 90s, you might try to lift your legs in a wheelchair.”

You can find those words of wisdom in a Chicago Tribune article. The source is Dr. Cheryl Phillips, president of the American Geriatrics Society.

Talk about setting the bar low.

When I reach my 60s and later years, I want to be on my bicycle. I’ve ridden with a lot of “seniors” and been dropped by more than a few.

A little walk is nice now and then, yes, but give me a road with some rolling hills and even a few hard climbs.

That will make a person feel like a kid again.

Linn County supervisors will be discussing cycling on county roads at their Nov. 16 meeting.

If you can’t make it that Monday at 9 a.m., Supervisor Linda Langston said at an open house today, be sure to let the supervisors know your thoughts ahead of time.

Meeting place: old Steve & Barry’s building at Westdale Mall – 2500 Edgewood Road SW.

They’re expecting to have some information about cost of bike lanes, signage, funding sources and I’m not sure what else. (The terminology can be confusing. If you see “trails” on the agenda for that meeting, it means bike lanes. Other times, it might mean “trails” as in Cedar Valley Nature Trail.)

You want improved safety on these roads, cycling public? Now’s the time to speak up.

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Cedar Rapids has been mentioned honorably by the League of American Bicyclists for its efforts to become bicycle friendly. The city came up just short of a bronze rating, the lowest Bicycle Friendly Community designation. (Iowa City did get a bronze, joining Cedar Falls in the BFC ranks.)

Downtown C.R.

Sounds about right.

Cedar Rapids isn’t bike friendly, but it is bike friendlier than it was a year ago.

The present City Council and the people who are responsible for the progress understand the value of becoming a better place for people to pedal where they want to go.

They know it will encourage residents to live healthier lifestyles and that one characteristic of a great place to live – the “vibrant community” of our city’s vision statement – is that it’s a great place to ride a bicycle.

They surely know that being recognized for the effort has value in marketing the community to potential employers, visitors and residents. Improving next year and the year after that will have even more value.

Congratulations on the honorable mention, but don’t be satisfied with it.

Pedal on.

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A prediction:

“Share the Road” signs will begin showing up on Linn County roads in 2010.

They will be funded, in part, by cyclists.

That’s who paid for STR signage in Buchanan County and Madison County, according to Mark Wyatt of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition.

Hawkeye Bicycle Association members endorsed the idea at the group’s annual meeting recently. How much HBA, other cycling groups and individual contributors will kick in remains to be seen, but at $250 per installation don’t expect lots and lots of signs right away.

It’s a nice gesture.

However…

This is a serious public safety and public infrastructure issue, and cyclists should not be expected to shoulder all the costs. The “share the road” message is for everyone who uses our roadways, and everyone will benefit from improved safety and more courteous behavior by all. That includes motorists as well as bicycle club members and cyclists who don’t belong to a club.

The City of Cedar Rapids doesn’t expect cyclists and bicycle clubs to pay for similar signage that will sprout along city streets, or for sharrows that have already begun appearing on the pavement to indicate that lanes are to be shared, or for painting bike lanes on the streets. We weren’t asked to hold a raffle to raise money for putting bike carriers on buses.

That’s because city leaders recognize the importance of encouraging and accommodating cycling as part of building a more vibrant, healthier, more attractive community.

Our county leaders should recognize that, too, and use public funds to install and maintain public infrastructure.

At least one cycling group has generously offered to share the cost. Linn County should do its share, too.

* * *

Say thanks to Lisa Paulos for digging into what it takes to get signage installed, and to County Engineer Steve Gannon for providing information on various possible approaches.

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