Perceptions by Gerry Warner

Quick! What’s rapidly becoming the most popular form of recreation in the world? Golf?  Bird watching?  Bowling? Jogging?  Swimming?  Fishing?  Soccer? Camping? All of these rank high, but none are growing as fast as cycling which is rapidly closing in on the top spot depending on which survey you consult.

Not only this, but cycle commuting is also growing rapidly around the globe with 35 per cent of all workers cycling to work in Copenhagen – more than by vehicle or public transit – and on all trips of 10 km or less cyclists outnumber car users by a three-to-one margin in the Danish capital of 1.2 million, according to a recent municipal survey.

Oh those healthy Danes!

But it’s not just Europe where cycling is gaining in popularity. In car-crazy North America millions are also ditching their gas-guzzling SUVs for bikes. Twenty years ago former New York Mayor Ed Koch ordered part of Broadway dug up and a bike lane installed. Within six months, the mayor had to reverse his decision because of public protest. Now bike lanes are being built all over New York including Broadway and Times Square, one of the busiest squares in the world. The same thing is happening in Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Seattle. And have you been to Vancouver lately? There are bike lanes everywhere, including the Burrard Bridge, the West End and Gastown. A decade or so ago, they were only in Stanley Park. Cycling is also muscling its way into public transit worldwide beginning in Paris where the first system of city-owned transit bikes was installed several years ago and rapidly spread around the world including Montreal and other North American cities.

When I was on vacation in Barcelona last spring I encountered one of these systems and all I can say is it worked marvelously. For 20 Euros annually, you get a magnetized card that allows you to grab a bike 24/7 at any of dozens of bike kiosks scattered around the city. The bikes are sturdy, Dutch-made machines equipped with a light for night time cycling, a basket on the handle bars and a rear carrier for your belongings and a five to seven speed gear system. They’re not made for the Tour de France, but they’re an awfully effective, efficient and cheap way of maneuvering around in a city of more than two million. When you’re finished with the bike you just take it to the closest kiosk and lock it in using your card and you’re on your way to your destination whether it’s home, work or a party. Nothing to it and you get some healthy exercise too.

Would such a system work here? We’re probably too small and our population too scattered. But then again, I’ve heard of a few hardy souls cycling to work on the NorthStar Rails-to-Trails between Kimberley and Cranbrook so you never know. And you see a lot more bikes on the roads everywhere around town as well as the local mountain trails and the Community Forest. Maybe someday we’ll get our own municipal cycling system. If the price of gas goes much higher, I’d say it’s a certainty.

As cycling continues to grow ever more popular, there’s one thing I find highly ironic. When I was a callow youth growing up in the West Kootenay near Castlegar, I almost lived on my J.C. Higgins three-speed long before I’d ever seen a sleek, European 10 or 20-speed. But in those halcyon days, no self-respecting teenager would be caught dead on something as uncool as a bicycle. Only geeks did that. Now you know my deepest, darkest secret – I was a teenaged geek glued to the seat of my trusty J.C. Higgins. Sigh!

But if you’re truly interested in taking up cycling there’s a wonderful opportunity coming up Sept. 8, namely the first annual Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo sponsored by the Western Financial Group, the Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary Club and several other local sponsors. The route begins and ends at St. Eugene and utilizes the NorthStar Trail so you know it will be great.

You can sign up for a 50 km, 100 km or a 150 km fondo which means there’s a distance to please everyone along with great food, entertainment and fun in a family-orientated event. I could write more, but you can see the whole package by Googling the Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo website and going from there.

Catch the wave and give it a try. Who wouldn’t want to be part of the fastest growing recreational sport in the world? And a good way to commute too.

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