The Roads are Yours and Mine

This is a post that came from a good friend of mine over at The Cyclist site, G-Ted concerning some frustrating 'proposed' legislation. I'll throw my two cents out there in a few days:

From Dictionary.com

pub⋅lic [puhb-lik]

1.	of, pertaining to, or affecting a population or a community as a whole: public funds; a public nuisance.

2.	done, made, acting, etc., for the community as a whole: public prosecution.

3.	open to all persons: a public meeting.

4.	of, pertaining to, or being in the service of a community or nation, esp. as a government officer: a public official.

5.	maintained at the public expense and under public control: a public library; a public road.

The thing about cycling is that you need somewhere to engage in the activity. Obvious, and not unlike other activities we participate in. The beauty of cycling is that you can make use of so many places to do it at because they are public places. That is what makes using a bicycle so appealing.

Now we are finding that people who are not fans of cycling, for whatever reasons, feel they can use the law to take away your public access to roadways. Even if you are a tax paying, law abiding resident. We are seeing rumblings of this in Colorado, and now in the state of Iowa, a similar movement to ban cyclists is afoot. There are several glaring affronts to your freedom going on here.

First of all, the public road system is created and maintained by tax dollars procured from all residents of any given state, and all across the country. You own part of the roads. Because of the public nature these roads, they become non-public if certain taxpaying residents are banned from them. The ridiculous nature of such a proposition should be obvious. These propositions in Colorado and Iowa pre-suppose that even though you pay for the roads, you do not own any part of them, nor do you have a right to ride on them on a bicycle. Both cases state that the "safety" of the cyclists can not be provided for in any other way than to ban them altogether.

Another way to look at it is to say that your use is dictated by a small, unhappy segment of the user group that wishes to impose their will on the masses. Never mind that these users are most likely to be at fault in automobile/cyclist accidents that result in injury or death.

Finally, this sets a dangerous precedent in that any organized small group could feasibly dictate use of your freedoms soley based on what the imposing group feels is safe for you.

Think that this is just a strange happening in states that do not matter to you and that it will "just go away"? Think again. Be vigilant about your rights as cyclists. Fight for your freedom. If you just stand around thinking someone else will take care of it, they will, and probably not in the way you imagine it should be.

Join IMBA, join a local cycling advocacy, and write your representatives in the State and Federal branches of government. Be reasonable, but be firm. Or you may find yourself with a bicycle and all dressed up with no where to go.

The Cyclist

Just a short post today. I know that I have mentioned this site before but the Cyclist site has been a favorite of late. It's a combination of what was the Crooked Cog Network but with what I'll call a little bit more 'user-friendliness'. Check it out... Enjoy it.

Cross your fingers but some full teaser photos of Red should be coming this weekend...

A Cyclists Lament

In the final days of the Lenten season, I thought I was in the clear for having to let go of things. Lent is at it's core is a season of loss, in preparation for some thing greater. Letting go of one to grasp tighter onto other. Often part of this process is lamenting. A lament being 'a passionate expression of grief or sorrow' or 'expression of disappointment over something considered unsatisfactory, unreasonable, or unfair'. This Saturday I read an article and press release that has been frustrating and felt like an unnecessary gut check.

I was over at The Cyclist Site, a new upstart project of the two prolific bloggers G-Ted and Arleigh Jenkins, and saw the post called 'Cannondale no longer to make frames in the U.S.A.'. I was unsure about the post when I first read it because I had not been back to the site since the last week in March and figured it was probably a April fools joke. Unfortunately, after digging into it I saw that it was indeed true and was confirmed by Cannondale rider, Carl Buchanan.

Now this is where my lament truly begins...

I have always had a profound respect for Cannondale since I started working at a shop. That was a good 9 years ago now, although I had my moments of being confused by other companies to believe that Cannondale was not all it made itself out to be. Cannondales quality and craftmanship always stood out. Seeing the proudly displayed 'HANDMADE IN THE U.S.A.' alone meant some thing to me. Prior to 2007 [correct me if I am wrong], all of their line was produced stateside and only in the last two years have they started producing bikes overseas; and a majority of those bikes being entry level and still meeting the quality standards that Cannondale had long held it's hat on.

Although, Cannondale was bought about by Dorel [yes, the parent company of Schwinn and GT] a few years back, there were promises and no signs in the following years that the Cannondale quality would be changed. I was upset about this buyout since Dorel was not a U.S. based company but they have maintained Cannondales quality and kept Cannondale headquarters stateside, keeping more than 50% of the line still produced here [more than any of the 'big 5' can say].

Now, nothing can be said for sure about what lay ahead for Cannondale. They are joining the ranks of the other big 5: Trek, Fisher, Giant and Specialized. Trek is the only company out of that group that does any of their line stateside and that is only in their highend Madone line. Correction, Fisher has their steel frames made here, which I believe is only two models. I am attempting to walk tenderly around talking about these other companies because it is very easy to bad mouth them, when in all reality each, along with Cannondale, are very solid brands. Being a shop rat, I know that some dealers that are competing against Cannondale dealers will try to draw comparisons between Cannondale and what has occured with Schwinn in the last few years.

Which is simply not the case. The difference I see between Schwinn and Cannondale is the fact that the Schwinn name was already on the downward swing when it made it's jump to the big box. Cannondale is still innovating, still growing, still developing products that are pushing the industry, ie the BB30. Dorel [CSG] has already taken hold of the mass market bikes and Cannondale is the only brand they have that is primed and ready to make a break at the IBD market.

This might be the 'best' business decison for CSG right now, but the actual cost of such a move I can't quite make sense of yet. I do believe that quality will remain the same but there was just something about buying something that you knew that a good portion of the money was staying here in the US, especially given the current economic climate.

As my lament ends... knowing that all good things can and must come to an end. I can only hope that this shift in Cannondale births some thing great beyond my expectation. In a global economy, things like this happen but local stores will remain. These stores keep jobs here and help growth in the local economy in countless ways, and maybe that is where a shift must begin when companies move overseas, regardless of industry. SHOP LOCAL. We do have the power to change things, but there is always a cost.

4/7/2009 update: Carl Buchanan posted maybe one of the best responses to this change I've read. I can't say enough about Carl, he's a sage to say the least.