Join your local cycling group
As an aside from other threads, I want to remind everyone to be active in their cycling community. Here is in St. Louis we are fortunate to have several active bike shops (Big Shark and Maplewood Cycles), advocacy groups (Trailnet.org) and state-wide programs (MoBikeFed.org).
In the last year, one politician put a stop to the Tour of Missouri despite a huge public outcry. Now a local county is trying to ban or seriously restrict cycling on certain roads. You need to be aware what is happening in your town. I'm sure our county council thought they could slide this through without any protest, but they were wrong.
The email list of Trailnet and MoBikeFed has played a large part in these two events and even drawn media attention. If you don't have a local organization, then start a yahoo list. Distribute info to the local bike shops. And be active! If everybody thinks "someone else will go to the council meeting" then we would have lost our right to ride on some of the best cycling roads in St. Charles county.
Educate your neighbors, non-cycling friends AND your enemies. (Although I would have gladly punched the guy behind me at the county council meeting last night, if I could have gotten away with it).
