Safety First

Growing up in a college town with the most bicycles per capita in the country (Davis, CA) spoils you just a bit. I was riding to school by myself at 7-years-old. I could get to most friends' houses without even hitting a street, instead using the extensive Greenbelt network of playgrounds, grass fields and paths. And when I did hit the roads with the big, scary cars, there were wide, designated bike lanes on every street – not to mention the dedicated bike traffic lights and with more bikes than cars, the most genuine "share the road" philosophy I've ever experienced (I've yet to go to Amsterdam, though, so we'll see).

So when I moved to Portland, which proudly proclaims it's bike-friendliness, I was, well... underwhelmed (seriously: Davis has 100 miles of bike lanes vs. Portland's 38; 17% of Davis residents commute by bike vs. 9% of Portlanders [for real]). And overwhelmed at the same time. With bigger and busier streets, bridges, hills and some horribly designed intersections, I did not feel like the city was inviting me to ride. Instead, I was scared. A lifelong bicyclist, and it took me eight years to hop on two wheels again.

Thankfully, I finally grew some balls and regained my confidence; now, carless for the first time since I got my learner's permit, I ride everywhere. But I still get nervous at night, especially on streets with no bike lane. So I'm rooting for this LightLane to go into mass production:


[Copyright Altitude, via their blog Dustbowl]

While those new neon green boxes surely help vehicles notice cyclists in the daytime, this laser-projected bike lane will do wonders once the sun goes down – your own little safety zone trailing out behind you wherever you ride! It may label me a scaredy-cat nerd (I'm sure the fixed gear-heads wouldn't be caught dead with one), but I'd rather that than end up as another ghost bike.

(And yes, I do realize now that I am, again, spoiled with biking amenities in Portland. I'm not sure what waits for me in New York; although I imagine parts of Brooklyn will feel similar in both scale and hipsters-on-vintage-bikes population, I wouldn't even want to drive in Manhattan, let alone ride my bike. Two recent developments, however – a buzzed-about bike rack design competition and controversy-inducing bike lane on Grand Street separated from traffic by parked cars – leave me hopeful that I'll find a similar bike culture across the country. Now let's just hope it doesn't take me another eight years to adjust to a bigger city this time!)