Screen Cap: Reuters

Bicycle races are coming your way
So forget all your duties oh yeah!
Fat bottomed girls
they’ll be riding today
So look out for those beauties oh yeah
- queen

Today is “Ride Your Bike To Work” day here in the States. The sad fact is, the only people riding their bikes to work today are of course the ones who always did. In fact according to the National Sporting Goods Association less than 10% of Americans, that comes out to around 35.6 million, ride a bike 6 times or more a year and those numbers are falling. So with that in mind pardon me while I rant against the price of fuel, and the size of bum cakes. . .

It’s the point of desperation. Imagine staring at a quickly emptying checkbook and seemingly empty cupboards. The choice is a simple one. . You can fill your gas tank and thus make it to the store, but if you do that you have nothing left over to buy food with? What do you do?

When I was younger and desperately poor I never faced that sort of decision. Oh, the cupboards were often bare. But when you did have some money it was obvious it was not going into the gas tank. It was assumed you would just walk or ride your bike. (not that we had bikes) Half the time, the old wreck of a car wouldn’t make it anyway. There were always flat bald tires or a 10 year old dead battery to get in the way as it was. Back in the day we walked everywhere, in any weather, often with small children in tow. We had to.

Coming from that background the recent press lamenting the high costs of living and tentatively touching on subjects such as walking or bike riding or Gasp!, PUBLIC TRANSIT seem just a little silly. The fact is of course that some folks are just going to have to adjust. We may in the end, be all the better for it.

To get a sense of the mountain that has to be climbed to get people out walking one only needs to go for a walk through their hometown. I like to walk and often do. It’s become a habit over the years. However it’s quite common that when someone I know sees me they will pull over and offer a ride. Of course that’s just good manners, but there is an undertone that reads something like; “Why are you walking?, Is something wrong?”. It often takes a bit of work to convince your good Samaritan that you actually ENJOY walking. Even when they drive away you are left with the sense that they don’t believe you and think it’s only a sense of pride that won’t let you accept the ride. Strolling on a warm sunny day is ok, walking to get somewhere just seems off in our collective psyche.

I think at the moment many in the states are going through a bit of shock. The studies and articles out right now are showing that although people are cutting down on their driving, they are not so much finding alternative transportation as they are just not going anywhere. I imagine it’s somewhat akin to getting hit on the head with a rock. For a moment you just sit there trying waiting for the fog to clear. In time of course you get up and get moving again. Only you are a bit more careful to avoid the falling rocks.

Even at $4 a gallon we can’t really complain about the price of fuel. Compared to most of the world we’re still getting quite a bargain. Gasoline in most of Europe is running somewhere around $10+ per gallon. (Why the disparity? Here’s an article with a bit of insight on that.) Still, we’ve spent a good long time a tad isolated from the global economy. It’s a bit like telling a child to clean their plate because the kids in (pick your place) would be happy to have it. That logic never helps since your kids just have no frame of reference. Telling adults that we should be thankful for $4 a gallon does not work either. The fact is our way of getting from here to there is founded on cheap fuel and it will take quite a sea change to adjust. Today we can focus on the idea that dragging that old bike out of the shed is a good idea, however making it happen will be a bit more of a challenge.

To further complicate matters higher food costs tend to go right along with the price of fuel. In fact food prices have increased in the range of 6 % increase over last year. Some foods, especially those made of grains have risen more than 50% over last year. Of course It’s hard to find people outside of the states who feel too badly for us here as well. In fact some in India wanted to point out that the US eats 5 times more than they do per capita. Their message?, EAT LESS!. . Well, we can take heart because we know the real reason the folks in India weigh less than us is the fact that the pull of earth’s gravity is less in India than anywhere else on the globe!  They Cheat!!!

In the end there is a lot going on, but it’s not rocket science. Living on credit can’t last forever, fuel prices have to go up, and with that everything else goes up as well. The world is also becoming more populated and more competitive which again will effect availability and send prices up. When we finally do get over the shock I think things could get much better. In time many of us will have to do what the health boards have been telling us for years; Exercise more and eat less. Hey even obesity contributes to global warming!

And this all relates to kayaking how? Well, slim budgets can point us to alternative recreation as well; a walk in the park, a swim, riding our bikes and of course paddling. Coincidentally I also got this newsletter from Genera Kayak Center in Chicago. It says in part; As many of you may have heard, the pundits say we’re in a recession.  The price of gas and food is high, rates are low and the dollar is weak. During a time where the common perception is that this will decrease people’s ability to recreate, I say that this is only one more “excuse” to get into paddling!”

Even if you don’t paddle , just going for a walk is a great start.