The advocacy season

 Winter finally hit like the hammer of Thor upon us.  It's been so warm the Lakes (the big ones) haven't frozen so when the temps finally dropped so did the lake effect snow.  The trails are now in their proper winter form, like crusty mountain bike trails.  Since the Covid crisis I am missing my daily commute and need that excuse to get out of the house and into the fresh air.  It's the usual balancing act between enough clothes to stay warm and little enough to keep from overheating.

      In the meantime, advocacy swings into full speed.  It was less than 20 years ago that I was sitting in a meeting where a local trail project was named; the KRVT (Kalamazoo River Valley Trail).   I remember it well.  After seeing the layout and cost estimates,  I thought  might see it before I die.  Here we are now, I'm still young (kinda) and healthy, using it several times a week and what we discussed is nearly finished.  Not only nearly finished, it was expanded and has become a segment of a trail system leading from Lake Michigan across the state to Lake Huron.  

      Forty five years ago, I was Alley Catting my way through traffic in downtown Kansas City to college classes.  Drivers would throw open beers, curse and tell me to get off the road.  I was younger, and stupider, but I could never imagine being scheduled to sub committee discussions with city, state and federal officials arguing the need for intersection development in a 30 year plan to expand expand cycling infrastructure, in a town that has hundred's of miles developed.  Not in my wildest fantasies would real government functionaries with real hands on real purse strings really listen.

      Now bicycles have outsold cars for years, the pandemic has put bikes in the hands of  many new owners eager to be outside safely.  Many will learn to use them usefully.  Some might even see them as a way to combine recreation with their daily routine.  Some might see them as a viable way to make a trip to Walgreens, or to lunch, or (gasp!) the office.  It's happening all over.  

Even in the dead of winter, Chicago keeps it's cycle superhighway cleared through the Loop.  We have a new administration committed to clean energy and improvements to transportation.  I can't even believe what I'm seeing or hearing, and certainly can't guess what is next.