I could not resist he primal urge to don the cleats and revel in the glory of self propelled propulsion. I had to get out and feel the asphalt under my wheels, the wind in my hair, my heart beating and blood pumping.
Okay not really.
TNT was showing a Law & Order episode that I had already seen like a GAGILLION times, so I took it as sign that I needed to get off the couch and get out.
I tell you, the park was full of people!
There would have been a whole lot more if parking had not been such a premium.
You know the beach is full when people start parking on the bike path.
Well not on the bike path exactly, but they start to create parking that gets pretty close to it.
Beach goers get even more creative when it comes to parking in Lanikai where there are no marked spaces. Several times I have been almost right hooked there by tourists looking for an open area to park.
No, I didn't stop to take pictures for I was drafting behind two girls on beach cruisers. The second girl in line looked behind at me, gave me The Look and put the hammer down.
I thought I'd show them that it wouldn't be so easy to drop the old guy.
We manuevered between slow tourists, kayakers, surfers, dog walkers, stroller pushers and people just plain walking around.
We made it out of Lanikai safely.
Oh, and I dropped them at the end.
Just before my turn around, on the side of the road, I saw two young girls, carrying a tanker(longboard to you non locals) one in the front, the other bringing up the rear. I got closer and saw they were carrying not one surfboard, but two!
Each board had to be twice their size so this was the buddy system at it's best.
I would have taken a picture, but to be honest, they were quite young and not properly attired.
Anyways, I see young people skateboarding, bicycling, walking, crawling, and limping to the beach.
Okay, maybe not crawling or limping.
Point is, they use all kinds of transportation besides a car.
Well, they probably can't afford the gas:
The thing is, they're used to alternate forms of transportation. I'll bet they aren't worried about getting to the beach and not finding a parking space.
I was contemplating these things as I rested and had an Icee:
The thing is, cycling advocates are going about this thing the wrong way.
See, they try to convert people, let's call them gasoline powered people(GPP), to try alternative transportation.
Too late.
Assimilated.
Consumerized.
Drank the Kool Aid.
We got to work on the young people, let's call them the can't afford gas people(CAGP), to make them continue to use the alternate types of transportation they already use.
Let's go a step further and make it easier for them to continue, and harder for them to join the GPP nation.
I wonder if we can tax gas enough to make public transportation free?
Okay, maybe that Icee was getting to my head.
Brain freeze and all that.
I think though, the more CAGP we have, the easier it will be change the paradigm. We should be working to make petroleum products unaffordable to the next generation.
I mean I used to take the car to run over to the store and get bread.
Now, it's cheaper to take the bike:
Even if it's just to get a cream soda.
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