I Am Traffic: Biking in Denver

The city of Denver held its annual "Bike to Work Day" today, June 23. Though I did not have to work until noon I woke up at 6:30am anyway and "biked to work" with thousands of others. After all, I've been biking to work ever since I moved here sans automobile in October. I wasn't going to miss finally feeling as though I might possibly be part of a majority.

The first leg of my route was the 37 straightaway blocks via the 16th Street bike lane that led me down to Civic Center Park, which is the large stretch of green space that is boxed by the Denver Public Library to the south, the Colorado State Capitol Building to the east, the Colorado State House to the west and the Denver Post headquarters due north. About halfway to this first checkpoint I encountered a woman standing on the side of the road holding out her hand at me. At first I really believed she was trying to hitchhike on my back. But as I approached her I saw she was holding out a trail mix bar. "Bike to Work Day!" she shouted. "Have a Clif bar!"

All morning long I came across these types. At Civic Center Park I was mobbed by street vendors, chain restaurant promoters, radio emcees, and nondescript friendly people all trying to give me free things to eat, drink, or read. I feasted on coffee, bagels, bananas, apples, iced tea, chips, and of course more trail mix bars. I ate and pocketed enough to render my packed lunch unnecessary, six hours later when I actually was at work. Everywhere I looked there were bikes leaning up against fences, laying on the ground, or being wheeled around as their rider collected his/her rightful bounty. Most had their own bikes but I was humored to see that some people had patronized the Denver Bike Share program--the first of its kind in a major US city, implemented in April of this year--and were using the giant red Denver cruiser bikes to commute to work.

"Here," said one woman as I passed her, "take this free Denver bike map."

"Oh," I said, accepting it. "Thanks a lot. This is exactly what I've been looking for for months."

"And here," she said, "take this free water bottle."

"Thanks again," I said, and bewildered by the fact that I had no free hands or space left I added, "this is a little overwhelming."

"Better than last year, isn't it?"

"This is my first year, actually. This is my first year in Denver."

"Ohhhh," she smiled, as if we were now both let in on the same secret. "Welcome to Bike to Work Day!"

I continued on, through the region of Denver that is downtown, diagonal-shaped in contrast with the rest of the city's plain grid. I took the Cherry Creek bike path, a wide no-cars highway that zips below Speer Parkway that essentially splits the city in two. There were so many bikers on it this morning that it was unsafe for runners. I took it to Confluence Park, where the Cherry Creek flows into the larger South Platte River, stopped at another breakfast station for some more fruit and bagels, and then finally finished my commute by heading to a coffee shop to watch the US take on Algeria in World Cup soccer. Eventually I made it to work.


*****
I almost didn't register online for Bike To Work Day due to the fact that the annual event is part of my daily grind. I heard that it was happening and initially my attitude was a little defiant and a little cynical. "Nice that everyone else is finally going to join me," I said to myself.

I admit that I am fairly self-righteous in my decision, eight months ago, to not get a car when I moved to a city of the American West that has virtually no train system that is useful to commuters, a bus system that is overpriced and underfunded, a whole lot of roads, a whole lot of cars and a whole lot of square feet. Winter came early in eastern Colorado and the bitter early mornings saw me biking five miles to the school where I worked, taking the main byways to avoid the stop and go city traffic of the lesser roads, sharing pavement with irascible SUV gunners, getting the horn consistently. I would arrive at school and my coworkers would see my snow-pelted pants, my half rosy and half sweaty face, and they would frown, confused. "Wait... did you...?" On the most tempestuous or brutally cold days I could not bike, it wasn't physically possible, so I took the bus, but for the majority of the time it was just me on two wheels all the way until June (I bused for the equivalent of about a month and a half out of seven). I didn't really get sick of it; the morning workout was appreciated and the afternoon de-stressing was nice. I probably saved a lot of money on gas and spared the atmosphere a lot of carbon monoxide, I don't really feel like calculating it. The one accident I got in was from riding with no hands on uneven sidewalk going less than a mile and hour. Etcetra etcetra. I feel accomplished in many ways.

But for most of that time I felt bitter, too. Bitter at people in cars who scowled and yelled at me for taking up half a lane even though there were two more available, as if I had inconvenienced them by making them decelerate, hit turn signal, check blind spot, change lane, accelerate again, while I pedal furiously trying to keep my hands warm while most of all ensuring that I don't suffer a death by sideswiping. Bitter at the people who drove their car three blocks to the store because it was a little too cold out. Bitter at the exhaust I was inhaling constantly. Bitter at the rough, unpaved shoulders of roads to which I was often relegated and had to ride over slowly in order to save my tires. Bitter at the aggressive drivers who refused to let me merge into their lane for a moment when they watched me come upon a parked car in my "bike lane" and have nowhere to go. Bitter at the people who sat in their toasty, leather interior-ed cars, a coffee in one hand and their favorite music playing on the stereo, and looking as angry and impatient as possible because they caught a red light. Because they had to wait a little while. Because some stupid biker is to their right waiting for the light to change also so he can dart forward and possibly get in the way for a split second.

For the record, I don't think that everyone should bike to work, rather I understand that this year I was lucky enough to work close enough to my house that biking there was feasible. I also understand that I'm lucky enough to be in good health and that I have comparatively few responsibilities in my homelife which enables me to spend that extra 15, 20 minutes commuting just so I can conserve energy and do it with my legs as my only engine. I'm bitter only in a very irrational way. I want everyone I know to bike to work every day with me, and I'm happy to report that not only did many of my friends do so this morning, but they do it each morning just like me. Here in Denver our transportation culture is not yet ready to draw comparisons to the massive bike community in European cities like Amsterdam or Copenhagen, but Bike To Work Day is a start. Even before the US advanced to the next round of the World Cup by beating Algeria on a miracle goal in the 91st minute this morning, I had already confirmed this day as one of the best days of my eight months here, because I witnessed bikers utterly inundating the Denver streets with their presence in a way that probably made automobile drivers feel a little left out. No, Denver is no Amsterdam, but Boston, New York, Washington DC are no Denver, either. The omnipresence of this city's bike paths, lanes, riders and general enthusiasm is something to get excited about.