In Wednesday's paper, one of my esteemed colleagues claimed that "The bicycle is the best mode of transportation."
Spoken like someone who has never been without the option of driving or riding in a motorized vehicle.
Bicycles are a fine way to get around, don't get me wrong - I own one myself and wish I spent more time on it. But would I trade a bicycle for a car? No. Such a decision would be both inconvenient and irresponsible.
It would be inconvenient because "Zephyrus' gentle presence" isn't always so gentle. This is Indiana. We have these things called "storms" that pop up in every season of the year. In the winter, there's snow. In the summer, there's lightning. In spring and fall, there's rain - and fall rainstorms are cold and just plain unpleasant.
A bicycle protects its rider from precisely none of these conditions, making travel difficult and in some cases impossible. Without the protection of the metal shell Cavanaugh finds so distasteful, travel conditions are on a par of those experienced in the days of horses and buggies. The only difference is that a typical buggy had a canopy of some kind to protect its occupant from the weather.
Then there's the issue of storage. I defy anyone to bike three miles to the store, buy four bags of groceries and bike home without experiencing some kind of wobbling phenomenon during the second half of the trip. A bicycle's cargo capacity is limited to what the rider can carry on his person and what can be either strapped to the frame or stowed on a basket of some kind that is also strapped to the frame.
Don't even get me started on passenger seating.
But the greatest unwitting error Cavanaugh makes is his assertion that if you can't get there on a bicycle, you probably didn't need to go there anyway. On reading these words, my thoughts turned immediately to my grandparents, who live more than 100 miles from Muncie. Both of them are in their 80s, and my grandfather's health is rapidly declining. Without the use of an automobile, I doubt I would see them more than once every year or two. This is an unsatisfactory state of affairs.
On a larger level, though, Cavanaugh forgets an important historical point: Without the internal combustion engine (and the vehicles it subsequently spawned), the United State's economic, scientific and cultural development would have been severely restricted by the danger and inconvenience of long-distance travel.
The invention and refinement of the automobile allowed people to travel farther and faster, and with that freedom of movement came expansion, innovation and invention. Imagine if the fastest way to get from city to city was by train. Imagine if the only way to get across town was either on a horse or - if Cavanaugh was to have his way - on a bicycle. Would you want to bike to work in a thunderstorm? Would you want to be out late at night on nothing but skinny aluminum frame? Would you want to bike everywhere in the middle of January?
I didn't think so.
The desire for comfort is not in itself a moral evil. I don't want to feel the wind in my face every single time I go out. I don't want to feel every single bump in the road. I don't like bugs in my teeth. Most of all, though, I want to enjoy the opportunities this country gives me. I don't bike everywhere because I don't have to. I have a better option available to me.
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