St. Louis Is Becoming A Bike Friendly Community
When I was growing up on the streets of south St. Louis, there were no bike paths. You could ride your bike in some of the city parks, but not may adults did. Not many adults rode bikes at all back then. Bike riding was looked on as a children's activity or something that you did when you couldn't afford a car.
But it was a popular activity for us kids. Everyone wanted a new banana bike for Christmas. Banana bikes were those 20- inch bicycles that had the "banana seats" and usually had suicide handlebars: Big, U-shaped things that you could rush on if you felt suicidal that day.
The most popular color back then was a candy apple red, with glitters. Nothing dressed up the look of a bike better than a sprinkling of metallic in the paint. But I did everyone better. Even though my banana bike wasn't candy apple red with glitter, I had something that was current.
It was a bike that was all chrome. Yep, bright radiant chrome that never scratched or rusted. It was also unique because the wheelie champion of the neighborhood, Floyd McDonald, once owned it. I wasn't very respectable at doing wheelies, but Floyd had the bike balance perfectly to stand on one wheel as he was going down the street.
So we rode like a gang of demons through the streets. We went down to the train tracks by Union Station, all over the south side, through the dangerous housing projects, and even all the way to the riverfront downtown. Some times we would fling all day long.
Now bike riding has become a approved way to collect and stay fit nowadays. There are those who ride casually on weekends and others who take it very seriously and use it as their chief form of transportation. My doctor rides his bike several miles to work each day.
And according to the St. Louis Front Page News, the city of St. Louis takes it seriously too, creating many new designated bike paths through the streets of the city. The city has been awarded a bronze medal by the American Bicyclist Association for coming in as the fifth city most friendly to bike riding.
Recently you started seeing these really bright, colorful high-tail St. Louis signs posted throughout the city. The sign has a cross on top with symbols representing houses, the arch, and the river as well as the mileage to various destinations that are halt by posted right underneath it.
It's a great way to safely score around the city on a bike.
Source: http://www.slfp.com/CitySide.htm
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Filed under Like A Bike by on Jan 30th, 2012. 