I am envious

a typical country road in Chester County - while beautiful, not real safe, NO shoulders

My recent blog post has brought out some comments about women and biking, this is great news for us ladies. As April Streeter from Sweden commented, at least women are biking and discussing it as well.

But my pic of the hot chick did come from Copenhagen and I must admit, I am beyond jealous of how bike friendly the European cites are for all. Bike lanes, bike racks for locking bikes, and I assume less hostility than we have here in America.

For us lady cyclists in the good ole USA, we have to fight to not get run over while biking. Pick-up trucks buzz us, folks give us the finger and yell out of the windows for us to get off of the roads.

Philadelphia put a bike lane on Spruce Street and guess what they biggest problem is now, folks parking on it, hey they say, now we got free parking!

I see pics of the best biking cities and Copenhagen is always near the top of the list if not the top.

We here in America would kill for some of the biking infrastructure that Europe has. Where I live, we have nothing to support bikers on the roads. No bike lanes and the road shoulders are usually covered with tree debris and holes.

Getting ladies to ride on the roads here in my area is a full time job as most of the time they are afraid of the roads and the traffic. Afraid of the cars, afraid of the hostility. So for most women cyclists, safety is probably their number one issue and way more important than what we wear.

My county has been trying to build one stinking 15 mile bike trail for the last 20 years. No one wants it in their backyard. This trail would connect to the famous Schuylkill River Trail. If this trail ever comes to fruition, I could bike from my little town on the outskirts of Phila, all the way into the Art Museum and never have to use a road.

I am not holding my breath for this trail to be completed. But I do wish there was some way to have a bike infrastructure (that a few USA and many European cities have) here in the suburbs. Just a nice wide shoulder without debris would be a first start.