cars a necessary evil.....

Before I get to the birthday ride post, I know you are all dying to know just how it went, i am sorry but you will have to wait another day. I know my posts have been sporadic, but when the weather is nice here in the Pacific Northwest one must take full advantage of it and get out and away from the computer and the house. It was a long long wet, winter,did I mention snow.....back to the post at hand.

Disclaimer, this is just my thoughts, so don't rip my head off if you see it differently, I will try to explain.

I know loyal readers will be wondering about the title. I commute by bike and have written about all the evils of cars, those things still exist. There is also a very good side to cars, not there exhaust or how much they clog up the road, but for most of us mountain bikers they are a necessary evil. I mean without them getting to the trial head would be a lot more of a chore. Now if you live someplace where the trials are really close, you should ride. I used to live for many, many years in places where this was possible and I took full advantage of it. But what about those times I wanted to explore the South side of the lake, without a car it would have taken a much larger time investment to do so. Not impossible I in no way am saying that it would not be doable, but time is money, and time in the saddle tends to tire us out, so to ride 40 miles before even hitting the trial is not very cost effective in the time on dirt equation. I will explain it more in detail, we mountain bikers usually like the joy and exhilaration found in singletrack, you know that foot wide path to enlightenment that we seek each and ever time we head out. Now lets face it the same old is that the same old, variety is the spice of life. That is where the car comes in we have to drive to find the variety in life that also leads to the dirt path to enlightenment, got it. I have now completely confused myself and rambled on about cars, on a bike blog, oh my I advocated cars, yes for the pursuit of the dirt path to enlightenment. They are good when used for the right purpose. They are not meant for in city travel, again they are only useful in the pursuit of the dirt path...... you get the point. Life would be different and I think that cities should have more paths, and bike only trials in parks, so that we don't always have to get in a car to search out our bliss. The colonnade park here in Seattle is a start, but what about real in city singletrack, that goes from park to park and around, sure we would have to ride pavement here and there but think about using the green spaces we have in a different manner, what would a little bike only singletrack do, but make more people able to find a passion that keeps them fit and is exhilarating. I have ideas, What about Discovery park, to Golden Gardens to Carkeek, and beyond. Think about it, it's not out of the question. So this post has spilled over its time limit and gone off subject, just a seed, I am just planting a seed.
My world would be vastly different with out a car, not that it would be bad, but we need to think of ways to move people differently so that cars are not the easiest, simple answer to getting around, only time will tell. I would like to think that we could include all walks of life, even us cycling bottom dwellers that we are seen as. I really think that bikes can change the world, that is if we let them and expose more and more people to them as an answer. Sorry I got all preachy there. enough is enough with the rambling, I hope it was clear enough to plant a seed. as always keep pedaling.... I know I promised pictures, but those will be here tomorrow, you'll just have to wait....