Bike Culture vs. Bike Advocacy

As a member of the Michigan Mountain Biking Association, the concept of bicycle advocacy is in my face every day. I’m an active member on the MMBA forums and I’ve learned a lot about bike culture from them. As a blogger, I picked up the term bike culture from one of my favorite blogs: Copenhagen Cycle Chic.

As an advocate of bike culture in a country where the automobile rules and some drivers purposely try to injure cyclists, some successfully do, I was quite unhappy to view some of the comments from Americans in the following thread: Take Back the Bike Culture! Some of the commentaries seem to truly be anti-spandex. They hate their fellow cyclists who don cycling clothes for a training ride or a ride through the woods and place blame on them for whatever and wherever.

I think what fascinates me about Bike Culture is that it is culture. It is not innate. It is learned. It differs from region to region and is influenced by what is readily available to the citizens of any given area. In the United States, our urban bike culture isn’t as rich as it is in cities such as Copenhagen. It’s not about style. Bikes are toys. Some of are desperately searching for ways to turn bikes into transportation while allowing us to look normal.

The fashionable urban cyclists and spandex-clad sport cyclists need to quit bickering and realize that they need each other. We are all cyclists and we all want to be treated as we should by drivers. Fighting amongst ourselves divides us and makes us a weaker advocacy group. Sure, there will be differences among us, but no group is in complete agreement. If we can’t learn to share the roads with each other, how can we expect automobiles to share them with us?