Great mspmag.com Article About Biking in Minneapolis

[MisterClaw]

http://www.mspmag.com/features/features/76198.asp

[charliebrown]

Thanks for posting this, that was a very interesting article...

[jitterjepp]

I liked that they had an article on cycling but I think the writer may have gone a bit far. For some reason it doesn't strike me as being very much pro-cycling. First the writer pretty much calls Minneapolis council and Oberstar a bunch of sneaky liberals when really they are trying to promote a sustainable system and an alternative to driving.
Then he seems a bit magistrate towards a few groups of cyclists who have found an alternative to driving and are living that lifestyle and makes it a point to point out that they seem negative and untrustworthy toward him. I am sure they had other things to say about cycling but what we get is that the woman wouldn't let him read her paper.
Then after that instead of bringing up one of the many good things that Gene has to say about cycling, cycling business and the community of cyclists he says something about something Gene doesn't really do anymore. For the masses that information isn't really necessary and it doesn't have anything to do with his business or cycling.

Maybe he's trying to give a profile on cyclists but he totally picks anti establishment groups, a beer drinking ride from dinkytown and points out something that is completely useless information on person instead of taking other information that I know he has to offer because I've heard him say many times.
There are a number of other groups of cyclists and a massive amount of commuters in this city. Why did he pick these groups who while loosely connected by cycling and a circle of friends (some which have 3 degrees of separation) don't even have the same view points and put them under the umbrella of a CM chant?
All this article really did for me was make cyclists look like CM rebels, pot smokers and punk rock anti-establishment people who don't trust others and aren't part of our community. I felt it doesn't really do anything to bring the general public to two wheeled human propelled machines. Then at the end when it seemed like Gene was offering him an alternative that was cheaper he seemed to question him as a salesman.

The article was titled "Whose Streets? Their Streets!" which is a CM chant. I haven't ever seen Gene at a CM ride or the roadie gang for that matter and many of the people who go on the Saturday Night Ride from Dinkytown completely oppose the ride just as many folks here do. This article really made no sense to me and I didn't find one solid point to it that ran through the whole article. Maybe I missed it but at the end where he got a new bike and decided to go two wheels I didn't see the journey that lead up to that decision.

[syntaxjunkie]

After reading the intro. blurb, you can pretty much throw the notion of objective journalism out the window (emphasis mine):

While rush-hour traffic clogs the streets, outlaw bicyclists hailing from Uptown, Dinkytown, and the Wedge, wearing threadbare T-shirts, oversized aviators, and denim cutoffs, roll out from the Loring Park fountain—Critical Mass is loose again. Four hundred strong, the righteous brigade on $25 Schwinns, pink and yellow Centurions, worn-out Treks, shiny black SEs, brand-new Surlys, second-hand Beachcruisers ride high on their saddles, crouched over the handlebars, most of them helmetless, jamming crazy down the middle of Hennepin Avenue. Hopped up on flavored Camel cigarettes and overpriced lattes, with European ideals aimed squarely at your tax dollars, they coast at seven miles per hour, through red lights, laughing and shouting “Happy Friday!” at the crimson-faced nine-to-fivers sitting dead in their coffincars . . . .

Stereotypes? Unfounded assumptions? Rash generalizations? Step right up...

[jitterjepp]

After reading the intro. blurb, you can pretty much throw the notion of objective journalism out the window (emphasis mine):

While rush-hour traffic clogs the streets, outlaw bicyclists hailing from Uptown, Dinkytown, and the Wedge, wearing threadbare T-shirts, oversized aviators, and denim cutoffs, roll out from the Loring Park fountain—Critical Mass is loose again. Four hundred strong, the righteous brigade on $25 Schwinns, pink and yellow Centurions, worn-out Treks, shiny black SEs, brand-new Surlys, second-hand Beachcruisers ride high on their saddles, crouched over the handlebars, most of them helmetless, jamming crazy down the middle of Hennepin Avenue. Hopped up on flavored Camel cigarettes and overpriced lattes, with European ideals aimed squarely at your tax dollars, they coast at seven miles per hour, through red lights, laughing and shouting “Happy Friday!” at the crimson-faced nine-to-fivers sitting dead in their coffincars . . . .

Stereotypes? Unfounded assumptions? Rash generalizations? Step right up...
Then right after that is says,
"Don't panic. They aren’t the Hell’s Angels."

Like I said I didn't see the journey to the decision to get a bicycle after all the negative stuff he said about everyone in the article.

[jeffgude]

...outlaw bicyclists... wearing threadbare T-shirts, oversized aviators, and denim cutoffs, ... Hopped up on flavored Camel cigarettes and overpriced lattes, with European ideals aimed squarely at your tax dollars, they coast at seven miles per hour, through red lights, laughing and shouting “Happy Friday!” at the crimson-faced nine-to-fivers sitting dead in their coffincars . . . .


You mean we aren't all like that? Charles, I am sure I saw you in your denim cutoffs just the other day.

[ebrandel]

I think they article could have been about 80% shorter then it ended up being. Seemed to really ramble on and on.

[syntaxjunkie]

You mean we aren't all like that? Charles, I am sure I saw you in your denim cutoffs just the other day.

impossible. anyone seeing me in denim cutoffs would be immediately struck blind. or wish that they had been.

[jitterjepp]

Cutoffs! I'm bringing 'em back. Really short ones too.:shocked:

[bigpeddler]

The ones where the pockets are longer than the shorts :sick: :nono: