It’s going to take a lot more than cool new commuter bikes like the one pictured here to persuade more people to use bicycles for transportation, not just recreation, in the Richmond region. It would be helpful if Virginia jurisdictions designed balanced communities where a variety of destinations were located within easy biking distance. In the case of my home county of Henrico, it would be helpful to actually have bicycle paths.
But every innovation helps, even if it comes from the people who design bicycles rather than communities. According to the Cycling for Boomers blog, Wisconsin-based Trek, the largest U.S.-based bike manufacturer, this year is introducing two chainless models that replace the clunky, maintenance-intensive chain with a greaseless, rust-proof carbon fiber belt.
The lighter, longer-lasting carbon-fiber composite belts can’t be cut, won’t stretch or slip and won’t leave grease marks around your ankles, says Eric Bjorling, Trek’s lifestyle brand manager. There is one drawback: One of these bad boys retails for $990.
Price aside, I doubt we’ll see many of these in Richmond. The city has some super-cool mountain biking trails around the river, but only a handful of bicycle lanes that could be used for commuting. The western end of Henrico County, where I live, has no useful bicycle lanes at all — despite the existence of several potential routes. One bike path could run along the James River (either on the old canal tow-path or a railroad right of way; I’m embarrassed to say, I can’t recall which, but I have it on good authority). Another path conceivably could run underneath a Dominion electric transmission line — not bad, if you don’t mind a little static cling in your hair. A county bike path network also could tie into bike-friendly University of Richmond. And that’s just in my neck of the woods.
There are scads of lightly traveled subdivision roads that could provide bicycle access if only they connected with one another. Of course, pervasive “pod” subdivision development means that most subdivisions dump traffic onto traffic arterials where even Lance Armstrong would take his life in his hands.
From what I’ve been told, any effort to build a bicycle network in Henrico would meet resistance from home owners worried about “strange” people riding through their neighborhoods. Yeah, like a burglar will break into your house and make a getaway with your big screen TV loaded on the back of his bicycle! Maybe the brush with $150-per-barrel gasoline, which will surely return when the recession ends, will encourage people to adopt a broader attitude.