#velomobile

"Twike 5"

I’ve been sitting on this Tumblr name for a bit, not wanting another person to take the name. Why haven’t I started writing this till now?

My brain is the equivalent of an Australian sheepdog.

If you are not aware of that particular breed of dog, they were the ones herding sheep in Babe, a movie that made us feel for a small pig wanting to make something of his life and was edged out of winning Best Picture by the likes of Braveheart.

With that notion of the “FREEDOM” line that no doubt entered your mind the second you saw that film title, I turn to the my topic of starting “to do”. 

A few things to set the record straight.

First, I am a white American who descends from East Coast suburbia. My life before acquiring my driver’s license was spent biking through the asphalt and concrete labyrinth that were the Northern Virginian neighborhoods. It wasn’t always the most scenic, but it was surprisingly serene.

    - Which, I should add to that point, that one of my most comfortable places on the planet Earth is being in the middle of a deciduous tree-laden forest. Something comforting about being in the presence of living things that are much taller than myself. I’m 6′3″, so that doesn’t happen all that often.

Second, as seen in the tangent above, I tend to digress. That goes back to the Australian sheepdog thing - a dog whose mind is constantly on the move with an instinctual need to do. That is the dog equivalent of me. I don’t like to sit down for too long. 

Third, I am a passionate person. Out of the sheer curiosity I constantly feel about the world around me, if I get the chance to discuss a topic openly, I will enthusiastically discuss my points. Call it my beckoning back to my DMV roots, where most any discussion turns political, or at least feels political.

    - To anyone confused, that’s DC, Virginia, Maryland - not the Department of Transportation.

Lastly, I’m all about place. This is why I’m starting this blog. Places in the States are largely seen only by car. Bikes are second-hand vehicles at best, and are maligned as a danger to the city at worse. Some of that has to do with the sheer size of this country (all 3.797 million square miles of it) but I believe a lot of it has to do with the lack of biking infrastructure in this country. I want to write about my observations about how people get around on bike, especially in my current place of living - New York City.

“You’re crazy to bike in New York!” some will say. Eye-rolls and eyebrow raises from others. It’s an outdoor activity that, let’s be honest, is still going through growing pains here in the largest city in the US of A.

My goal is to show a bit of the practicality, the craziness and what cities can easily do to change the perceptions of using the world’s most efficient form of transportation. Unless of course you want to ride a Velomobile