"People in Oregon must be poor."

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Originally Posted by Trek420

Hard question to phrase but it seems part of the issue with getting people to ride is class issues. I've often felt we must show our so called invisible cyclists, working class that "there is a cycling community, you are part of it, this is how we ride. Ride with us" :)

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This is an issue that we were confronted with on our ride Saturday.
we were in a rough neighborhood and a guy about our age, but who had definitely had a tougher life than us;was walking across the street with his dog, and his beater bike. He deliberately slowed down so that we would have to pause for him and told us to wait, smiling. I smiled back and said hi how ya doing, my husband was disgruntled but let me take the lead that time, because we both know that we need to be allies with guys like him, not adversaries.

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Originally Posted by Bike Goddess

Kinda sad that kids don't ride bikes to school anymore. Nowadays I hear that parents are afraid the bikes will get stolen! (and they do) Whatever happened to honesty in our country? :confused: :confused: :confused:

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My professor was telling me about a recent trip to China. she told us how she noticed none of the many bikes she saw were locked up at all. When she asked a native why there were no locks weren't people worried their bikes would be stolen. the native replied,"Chinese people do not steal."

It's interesting to see the reaction of university-educated foreign workers that we have direct from Philippines, India...who are from countries..where cycling is still associated with less money /class...

There are 6 Filipinos, perfectly healthy...who wait around to get a car ride from near where I get off at the bus stop in my long commute. Their car ride is to the work site...it is a 15 minute walk. One of them thought our company should as a courtesy, arrange shuttle bus service. The business manager told them to walk or bike..which offended them.

Now, it's not the prettiest walk, but getting better each month with more paved road and sidewalk for walking as construction progresses. You walk along and face some construction cranes, do see a whole line of mountains ahead of you as sun rises.

On the other hand, there are some German female workers who bike down that road...some without helmets.

There are times I do feel a twinge of low-class whatever...since I am probably one of the very few employees (probably less than 5) out of 200 employees in total, who walk to a bus stop to take a bus. Such twinges come when the weather is wet and it's muddy out. Stupid, eh?