Despite getting one thing right, the rest was very wrong. Noel Taylor writes,

“For cyclists, supremacy on the road is a new sensation. It comes with weight of numbers. Other road-users have to make space for them, and they ride with the certainty that they represent the ecological way of the future. There are signs of a new assertiveness, expressed by the 100-odd cyclists who met recently at the invitation of a local MP to form their own lobby group — the better to push their demands for more space on the road and better-maintained bike paths and road lanes.”

I certainly don’t think that cyclists have the weight of numbers. Cars far outnumber cyclists on every street in Ottawa and in every other city in North America. Cyclists have to be assertive because not only are we in the minority on the road but also are in a far more vulnerable position. It is very easy for cars to ignore cyclists and not treat us as vehicles, a status protected under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act. In order to protect ourselves cyclists have to be assertive on the road. I certainly wouldn’t call demanding to be treated like any other vehicle arrogance, instead I would call it demanding equality on the road.

The only other complain Taylor raises is that cyclists don’t follow traffic laws. Yes, many people coast through stop signs and red lights while on a bike however that doesn’t mean that all cyclists are rule flaunting exceptionalists. Rather it means that some people don’t follow the letter of the traffic law, just like the vast majority of drivers. How many times has the writer done a rolling stop or went above the speed limit when driving? Exact.

The final point I would like to raise is that when more people cycle, it is actually drivers who win as it means less cars on the road. Not only does that decrease smog and all the other environmental harms associated with cars but it also means LESS TRAFFIC. If people find other ways to get to work then the fewer remaining drivers have more room on the road. If that means having to occasionally slow down for cyclists then I think that is a fair trade for less time spend in gridlock.

I am contacting you in the hope that you might help us spread the word to the Ottawa cycling community about Cycle Salvation.

Cycle Salvation is a social enterprise operating under the umbrella of Causeway Work Centre.  The business strives to achieve a triple bottom line (profit, people, planet).  We do this by providing training in bike mechanics to people who are economically disadvantaged, providing refurbished bikes at a reasonable price to the cycling community, and at the same time diverting bikes destined for scrap and landfill sites.

Of course, we depend on a steady stream of donated bikes to work on.  As you can imagine, the stockpile of bikes is running pretty low now in February.  We are hoping that we can notify the community of our need for bike donations so that the idea is fresh in their minds when they first pull their old bikes out of winter storage.

Please check out our website at www.cyclesalvation.org

CfSC does a tremendous amount of work, so if you are around you should check it out. I think that I’ll make an appearance, if only because McNabb is essentially next to my house.

Last weekend, my girlfriend and I took off from Brussels for a two day bike trip through part of the Flemish region, taking the train back to Brussels on Sunday evening.  I had heard that bike touring was good in Belgium, but coming from some experience bike touring in Canada, I assumed that this meant that there were plenty of country roads and generally polite drivers.

But, no, that’s only the beginning.  In fact, in the Flemish region, there is a huge network of bike-exclusive roads, which you navigate by going from one numbered checkpoint to another.  Actually, to be clear, the routes alternate between bike-exclusive paths and shared use as a minor road, which hardly differed from the bike-exclusive paths.  The entire network is in a fantastic state of maintenance, and extremely well sign-posted.

I’ll give a brief photo journey of the trip.  Coming out of Brussels, we went through the Foret de la Soigne, just outside the Brussels city centre, which boasts great scenery and a comprehensive set of trails for walking, running and cycling.  It suffered a little bit on the sign-posting front, but made up for it in beauty.

From there, we connected onto the Flemish network, which largely passed through the country-side.  There, we probably saw more apple orchards in harvest than cars.

So, why is it possible for Belgium to maintain this system over Canada?  There’s no doubt that it benefits from the proximity of one town to another.  However, there are certainly areas of Canada that have the same layout, and we don’t see a similar system.

More importantly, it benefits from the culture in Belgium.  People bike here.  They bike to work (although that is somewhat less the case in Brussels itself given how crowded the city is with cars).  They bike for recreation.  They bike to get groceries.  They bike as families, as couples or alone.  On Sunday morning, we saw at least a dozen bike teams, in matching jerseys, biking around the Flemish region.  Some appeared to be quite competitive, others didn’t.

There simply isn’t the same barrier here to bicycling as a mode of transport.  It’s done recreationally on a much wider scale than in Canada, but bicycles are also used for practical purposes on a routine basis, which probably in turn fosters their recreational use.

It’s this culture of bicycling in Belgium that allows them to sustain such an impressive system of bike routes.  It’s this culture that explains why Belgium does it so much better.

While in Canada, Car Free Day amounts to little more than an appeal to voluntarily use another method of transportation or the closing of a few blocks for a form of street fair, in Brussels, they shut down the entire urban centre, amounting to 160 km2.  Granted, this was done on a Sunday, so they weren’t quite willing to impede regular commuting traffic.  However, in a city of over 1 million residents, with an ordinarily crowded, bustling centre (to a degree that isn’t even comparable to Ottawa), this was still a very big undertaking.

The effect was nothing short of dramatic.  Immediately below, I’ve got a split-screen photo of General Jacques, a major commuting road near my apartment.  On the left is a photo of General Jacques that I took yesterday afternoon at about 4pm, at the beginning of the commuter rush.  On the right is a photo of the street on Car Free Day.

Car Free Day in Brussels was incredible no because of what there was, but because of what there wasn’t: unpleasant smells, offensive noises and a general feeling of unease from the overwhelming domination of cars in our cities.  This last one I don’t even notice on a day to day basis, but it’s absence was palpable.  For that matter, I don’t notice many of the effects of cars on a given day of walking around the city, but when they were gone, there was an almost eerie calm, despite the fact that you were surrounded by dozens or hundreds of people.

Simply put, Brussels without cars was a much nicer, healthier and safer place to be.  Experiencing that was both inspiring and depressing, a sentiment which I’m sure I was sharing with thousands of other people in the city that day.

I’ll finish this post simply by showing a few more photos of the city.  All of the photos below were taken on major streets in Brussels, which are usually crowded with cars.

Another cyclist, apparently, did. They passed me, just as I started to move after the light turned, and hopped up onto the sidewalk. They then slowed down, just long enough to sternly admonish the driver, telling him that “this space is reserved for bicycles.” They then continued on their way.

The driver yelled back, incredulously, “I’m loading a wheelchair!”

Let’s repeat that, bolded for effect: a wheelchair.

Needless to say, I was equally incredulous.

And pissed off.

Cyclists should rightly complain when there are cars or trucks parked or stopped in bike lanes, and such vehicles should be ticketed or towed, as appropriate. MyBikeLane.com dedicates itself to tracking such actions. But the one exception that everyone should be able to agree on is Paratranspo vehicles, where it would likely be more dangerous for all involved for them to stop on the opposite side of the street than it would be for me to dart around the bus. Bike lanes are supposed to make cyclists safer (or at least feel safer), and it is beyond reason that we should create situations where other people are put into harm, especially in light of physical limitations that they may face.

Moreover, even if you don’t accept that, this is not a fight cyclists will win, and therefor is one we shouldn’t take on. Let’s take on Fedex. Let’s take on Canada Post. Heck, you can even take on the police, if that is your desire. But you will hurt the cause far more in picking a fight with Paratranspo than you could possibly gain in precluding them from occasionally stopping in bike lanes.

So, I want to say “sorry” to that driver. I doubt he’ll ever read this, and I’m sure I have no actual responsibility or need to do so. But I’m sorry that some asshole suggested that in some way you were improper in doing your job, which just happens to be providing people access to the mobility, and the associated freedom and independence, that we cyclists are always preaching about.

And to the person that caused this whole fuss: Thanks for helping the cause, douchebag. I’m sure that the driver will now forget the half-dozen other cyclists that passed him at that same time, and probably the hundreds he saw through the rest of the day, and just will remember your one reactionary comment. It’s a great test to see how 6 seconds of thoughtlessness can colour a person’s view, and everyone he talks to, of our sort of commuter for a long time to come.

I’d participate, but will (sadly) be out of town.

You will travel Canada by bicycle for two months while living, playing and volunteering with an incredible community of hopeful, inspired youth. You’ll give theatrical performances that show how our daily actions can affect the environment, global poverty, and ourselves. You’ll gain the skills and confidence to create the change you want to see in the world! If you are between 18 and 30, volunteer for a 2008 Otesha Cycling and Performing Tour.

The Otesha Project is a youth-run charitable organization that uses theatre to mobilize young people to create local and global change through their daily choices.

There is more information and inspiration at www.otesha.ca (including a delectable selection of routes!). As well check out an interview with Kathleen Cote of the Otesha Project at www.mikepowell.ca. Especially after the Bali Conference, we know that our current way of life is harming the planet and its inhabitants. Only hope and action will remedy this. For a better future, we each must re-evaluate our own actions and BE the positive change we want to see in the world. Thank you.

For those unfamiliar, Otesha is an organization that promotes environmental sustainability in part through a short play, often performed by a theater troupe traveling the country via bicycle. We spoke about the organization’s origins and its plan for the future.