While I am on the subject...

it seems that the advocacy of cycling is continuing to blossom.  But why not?  The Wall Street Journal has deemed us "all powerful" and we have a lot of work to do to live up to the reputation.  I just received a summation of our last committee meeting for a Bike Friendly Kalamazoo which was encouraging and would probably be significant except that most people don't believe we exist.  We're so insecure about it, we even had campaign buttons made

just to convince visitors they had been someplace.

   But we are the real deal, we've got buildings and stuff to prove it.  We've been struggling with public identity since the Gibson Guitar Co. moved, but who needs a bunch of millionaire pop stars to put us on the map?

We have bike lanes

and more importantly an "all powerful" committee.
All kidding aside, the group is comprised of more than 30 people who are not only local cyclists, but business people and largely officials from the contiguous communities and road commissions.  They actually schedule time into their work weeks to collaborate and plan future improvements.  So far over 50 new routes have been identified for consideration and most importantly they all voted in favor of establishing an area wide planning organization for the coordinated development of non-motorized transportation.
We have quite a way to go but something like Gronningen can become a reality in the US with the right kind of enthusiasm and foresight.

During the era of the "first bike boom" in the seventies, while we were dodging half-empty beers from passing cars, people in Europe were developing real infrastructure.  Their bike boom blossomed into a viable form of  urban transportation while ours languished into isolated groups of fitness enthusiasts on country roads. I promise you Dorothy, your nightmares will come true.