Michael Warner said:Is there such a thing as recumbent group riding, or do you have to
be a loner to enjoy it?--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw
There is, but it's rarer than a good inexpensive recumbent.
Basically, most cyclists seem to be loners in the first place, and
'bent-riders seem even more solitary by nature. Many build their own;
such folks seem inherently inclined towards independence.
I think a society of bicyclists will make for more varied politics than
this current car culture of ours. Every ride I go to I'm amazed and
heartened by the great diversity of bikers I meet -- real diversity,
not au currant diversity that comes in and out of fashion like high
school cliques. I think there's something about "bike culture" that
encourages self-sufficiency and, frankly, character and values.
A motorist is someone who simply has things handed down to him, like an
enfant terrible of the noveau riche. This can only make for
homogenization of thought and values. Whoever heard of a biker
listening to hate radio? But rush-hour talk shows are all the rage for
frustrated drivers stuck in traffic. All the while, their passive
minds are fertile ground for advertisers' subliminal messages.
A bicyclist, by contrast, is a nobler man. It is his own work which
earns him the wind in his hair. He is also more resourceful, having to
weave together a route out of the constantly changing road conditions.
His independence is much encouraged by being able to ride on sidewalks
and against the traffic, given his status as a half-pedestrian --
indeed, his good, God-given feet carry him like any pedestrian. The
bicyclist is the ultimate pedestrian. He is someone with a tool. A
motorist is someone inside a tool, and consumed by it.
We bicylists love our machines, but I don't think we are as suspectible
to the kind of idolatry the way a typical motorist seems to be, since
the very activity of our sport makes for self-reliance. Such a nation
would be less lazy and less crazy than the psycho-aggressive pride that
comes with speed by fiat.
Hard things make for maturity. What is easy induces infantilism. The
bicycle is a great combination of man and his machine, making things
easier but not so easy that the man forgets his humanity, and that he
is a man, after all.