It is Earth Day and Good Friday and the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.85, according to the American Automobile Association.
While we wait to see whether a newly announced Justice Department probe reveals any gas price gouging by the oil industry, this is a good time to reflect on a more healthy, holistic and spiritual answer to the choke hold of gasoline economics: Bicycle commuting.
Thousands of miles of bike lanes are being painted in the nation's cities, old railroads are being converted to biker-hiker paths, businesses are adding bike racks to their establishments every day and slowly but steadily motorists are learning to share the road.
Between 2000 and 2009 bicycle commuting increased in the United States by 43 percent, according to the League of American Bicyclists. The reasons vary: health, savings, training, environmentalism, midlife crisis (Some guys like fast cars, some like fast bikes).
But the cycling revolution is being curtailed by politicians who have yet to embrace pedal power. The reasons vary: ignorance, short-sightedness, oil addiction and sloth. So say a prayer today for bike-deprived middle class SUV owners who may have to take out a second mortgage to pay their commuter costs this year.
While we wait to see whether a newly announced Justice Department probe reveals any gas price gouging by the oil industry, this is a good time to reflect on a more healthy, holistic and spiritual answer to the choke hold of gasoline economics: Bicycle commuting.
Thousands of miles of bike lanes are being painted in the nation's cities, old railroads are being converted to biker-hiker paths, businesses are adding bike racks to their establishments every day and slowly but steadily motorists are learning to share the road.
Between 2000 and 2009 bicycle commuting increased in the United States by 43 percent, according to the League of American Bicyclists. The reasons vary: health, savings, training, environmentalism, midlife crisis (Some guys like fast cars, some like fast bikes).
But the cycling revolution is being curtailed by politicians who have yet to embrace pedal power. The reasons vary: ignorance, short-sightedness, oil addiction and sloth. So say a prayer today for bike-deprived middle class SUV owners who may have to take out a second mortgage to pay their commuter costs this year.
I got a folding bike last year, and while I do put it in my trunk on occasion, the bike has allowed me to save so much on gas, I love it!
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