It's Still a Tween Space

OK. When I started making these notes it was with the intention of observing and participating in the cycling experience in an area where not many people cycle. Sad to say, not much has changes.

The vast majority of bicycles in these parts come from the local Walmart and are ridden by children or people not allowed to have cars due to legal or financial constraints. There are few, very few, active cyclists about. I see them from time to time riding alone on some back road in town. No groups. Ever. There are a few people who cycle for utillity, as I once dreamed that I would. And that sums it up. We have one, and only one, road in town that has a "share the road" bicycle sign. Of course that road leads into an affluent neighboring community and does not connect to the city's infrastructure at all. Our local bike shop is marginal at best. Loath to fix up an older bike beyond the "tune-up" and all about selling new bikes to people who don't want them. Dismal and disappointing.

What this town needs is a cycling activist. I am poised to be, at best, an advocate. I wold love to see things change around here. The city is doing a lot to promote the down town area as a dining and shopping destination and artist zone. Many abandoned factory buildings have been converted into condos and there is a Commuter Rail Station right there! The downtown area is primed for a cycling boom that just isn't happening. I imagine that the route of that problem is two fold.

First is common sense. The main street through the down town area is a death trap for cyclists! With on-street parking on both sides, the roadway is barely wide enough for the two lanes of traffic. No room for a bike lane there a t all and there is no practical way to free up more space there other than eliminating one of the sides of parking and that would never fly with the local business owners. Of course, even if you could get cyclists safely to and fro down town, you would have to be a heck of a risk taker to leave your bike unattended there. Sadly, our down-town area directly abuts the worst neighborhoods in town. The Train Station is in the heart of the slum. It's such an un-appealing place to be that most people choose to drive over the river to the next station in a nicer part of town. I could never imagine leaving a bicycle, locked up or not, at the Haverhill train station for a single day, never mind routinely.

The second barrier to making the city more cycle-friendly is geographical. Some people might just call it sloth but the truth of the matter is that the down-town area sits in a river valley that has steep climbs out of it on all sides. One of those climbs is directly in front of my house and in all the time that I have lived here I have seen only three people successfully climb my hill: a hobo on a bike loaded with cans, one spandex-man and a kid on a BMX bike. That's it. I have seen lots of bike pushed up the hill but ridden? I have pushed my bike up the hill several times and you know what? It's a hard hum up that hill even on foot!

So, to recap, nothing has changes. We are too poor to have scads of recreational cyclists and too rural to have scads of commuters and utility cyclists. I still like to ride my bike around when I can and plan on keeping up with my fitness riding as I trty to loose some weight. Perhaps, if other people see me out and about it will inspire them to get the old bikes out of storage and get on the road. Maybe one of them will rise up as the activist that we need here in town to make it no longer a Tween Space for cyclists.