End Pavement

Very thought-provoking essay over at Bike Commute Tips — “Bicycling against car culture” — in which this amazing tidbit resides:

One of the challenges is, of course, the hegemonic dominance of the automobile in American culture. The U.S. automobile industry spends $17 billion each year on advertising–by comparison, almost double what the federal government spends on transit ($9 billion)–to promote the supposed ego-satisfaction benefits of their product.

From afar, you see big changes happening in places like London, San Francisco, and elsewhere. Is there any chance for a car-cultural revolution in the entire US, or will they keep it going as long as the oil holds out?

Redlands, California, has been leading a local effort to repurpose and reclaim greenbelt areas, including the Orange Blossom Rail Trail Project. In yesterday’s Redlands Daily Facts, there was a story about some organized community outings called “Trails at 10.”

“Hikers, cyclists hit the trail Saturday morning”

Hikers, cyclists and public officials gathered Saturday morning to kick off a group of events intended to get the community excited about the city’s hiking trails.

“Trails at 10″ is a series of outings sponsored by the Redlands Conservancy and the Orange Blossom Rail Trail Project that gives residents a chance to experience the trails of Redlands firsthand. This year’s first “Trails at 10″ event took place Saturday, when hikers and cyclists enjoyed the Santa Ana River Trail.

The “Emerald Necklace” mentioned in the story refers to the idea of encircling the city in greenbelts. They are also talking about the possibility of hooking the trails up with the Metrolink system, which will be pushed out to Redlands someday. Hopefully sooner rather than later. ;)

Not ending pavement, but ending the car — a step in the right direction, so to speak. ;) The Good Human decides to go carless in Los Angeles.

9 days ago, my wife and I sold one of our cars…which left me carless. We had been contemplating this change for a few months, and after many discussions about the consequences, we decided that it was totally worth it to go down to having only one car….

No pictures today, but a fun time — at least, as fun as it can be commuting to work. ;) It takes about an hour by bike one way. It was in the 60s today, which is fine cycling weather.

It’s funny. Driving to work takes around 20 minutes, depending on traffic, so 40 minutes every day. An additional 80 minutes spent gives me two good workouts, saves me money, and does wonders for my mood.

Remarkable moments:

Morning

• Pair of what I believe were military Chinooks heading north-to-south.
• Passing through my wife’s childhood neighborhood out in what’s left of the orange groves, now being torn up for housing developments. Always makes me a bit sad biking through that stretch.
• Smiling homeless couple walking along a sidewalk with a scruffy dog on a leash between them — but neither of them was holding the leash, as it dragged on the ground behind the dog.

Afternoon

• Checked out the Santa Ana River (waterless, of course) from the Orange Show Road bridge. No evidence of the official SART trail yet, though plenty of space for one, gated off. Lots of graffiti on the underside of the bridge. This is in the middle of the dotted “under development” line on the SART plan map, and is about 3 miles up river from the Mt Vernon Avenue bridge SART entrance I found last week.
• Crazy-strong burning pot smell that lasted a few blocks — I was starting to think a slow-moving Volkswagen Bus was up ahead. ;)
• This was replaced, after I turned onto a side street, by a cloud of perfume smell from a woman standing in her front yard. Here’s a free fashion tip: if I can smell you from fifty feet away, outdoors, you probably have too much freakin’ perfume on.

The combined tally today:

• 21.87 miles
• 12.6 MPH average

Tomorrow, we have a nice hike planned. Looking forward to it — I find myself getting sketchy if it’s been too long. :)