I Need More to be Merrier in The Fort

More people are riding their bikes. It’s true. I notice a few more around. And that’s a pretty cool thing.

I’m back in Fort Wayne, Indiana, my hometown. I hadn’t lived here for 12 years after moving to Portland, Oregon in late 1996. (My wife Sarah and I miss Portland. A lot.)

There are more people on bikes here than I remember. The weak economy has forced some minor changes on all of us. When I was a kid it seemed the only people riding bikes in Fort Wayne were kids and those guys who, well, you know, had to ride a bike because their driver’s license was revoked. There are more riding by choice now, I would say but the area is still kind of a hold-out when it comes to progressive bike-mindedness.

The urban mentality is much different here than Portland and, overall, it’s actually a challenge not to use a car. (O the urban sprawl!) When we first arrived here in August, we borrowed clunky old bikes and rode as much as we could -- to the library, to the store, to work. There are no bike lanes here in this city of about 230,000 people, so we had to be careful. Sometimes very careful. And honestly, I’ve got to give props to the motorists here who have shared the rode more than I thought they would.

But distance and absence of bike lanes is only a part of the problem. Strangely, one of the most difficult obstacles to get around is convincing people that cycling isn’t dangerous. My parents always wanted me to go pick Sarah up from work when it was getting dark. Even though she rode on sidewalks and not on busy streets. And even though it was a 15-minute ride. We had this conversation most every night. I could never convince them that she was OK.

We did this until winter set in. It’s gets pretty cold here, and we got lots of snow and ice so far. But there’s this guy who lives close by who bikes everywhere, even on ice and snow. I saw another guy riding his bike one night when the temperature was in the teens (without factoring the windchill). These two shame me a bit.

Right now we walk as much as we can until the spring thaw. People still think we’re crazy though. The other day Sarah got yelled at for crossing the street (within a crosswalk). And once, we met friends for coffee, and told them we had walked there. “Chris, we need to give them a ride home,” our friend Laura said, concern heavy in her voice. It was looking like rain and the temp was in the 40s. Don’t try to convince them you like getting around without a car.

My Mom once referred to it as our “lifestyle,” our walking and riding bikes. She thinks it’s nice but, “That’s not my lifestyle though,” she said.

For the last two years, neither my wife nor I owned a car. In Portland, Sarah taught yoga and mostly used her bike to get around, though occasionally used what was then called Flexcar to get to classes. I biked my 15-20 minute commute to my job each day.

But Fort Wayne’s strip malls sprawl from one edge of the county to the other, because that’s how a Midwest town grows. There are no bike lanes here, and the bus system is extremely limited. (Its budget just got cut again.) It takes us anywhere from 15-25 minutes to drive to work, so we had to buy a car -- a $1,200 1994 Mercury Topaz. It’s light blue.
I miss my bike.

I wonder how I can raise awareness. How I get someone to listen to me. That taking the bus, riding a bike, walking is not a lot of work. It’s enjoyable. But it’s hard to unite the few of us here because most people, honestly, have never thought of getting around by anything other than a car or truck. That’s just the way it is here. For now, at least.