I agree with Robbie. That said, I do think there is room for improvement of the downtown route. But first, my perspective on the value of Ride the Drive.
For 363 days a year most of us experience our city by zipping along in cars. By definition, our routine trips are on major roads. We see our city primarily through a windshield and precious little of it penetrates to our conscious mind since we are (hopefully) giving our attention to other high speed vehicles and trying not to squash pedestrians and bicyclists as we navigate our rather complicated downtown streets. For these reasons people in cars tend to have a very distorted view of the landscape they drive through and therefore have a distorted view of their own city. (Of course, many people do walk around the Square and State St., but NOT East Washington or John Nolen, or Proudfit and many other really interesting roads. Walking in a walled garden gives you no clue about what's beyond the garden.) If you are a kid, it's even worse, being strapped into a car seat with restricted vantage on the fascinating scenes passing by. It reminds me of Socrates' Allegory of the Cave in which people trapped in a cave try to understand their world by watching shadows on the wall of their cave. They cannot know the true nature of reality from their limited vantage. It's the same with cars and cities. I don't think it's asking too much to have safe and comfortable access to the roads that to our lives two days a year. So, to me, the primary purpose of Ride the Drive is give citizens a fresh, fun and broader vantage on our city. It might sound silly, but biking John Nolen at 10 mph transforms your view of this street. It allows you to appreciate many things for the first time: the beauty of Monona Terrace anchoring the skyline dominated by the capitol dome. The banality (and opportunity!) of the John Nolen canyon from Broom to Blair... The majesty of East Washington... It might help you come to support spending the extra money on great landscaping and better crosswalks and bike lanes so that more people can enjoy our main streets more often. So, how can we improve on this great event? This may be heresy to other bike advocates, but I don't see the need for Ride The Drive to go down State St. Bikers and walkers see this street all the time. It's redundant. On several Ride the Drives, as I've gone down State St. in a huge wolfpack of bikers it was difficult to safely pull over to the curb, dismount and get out of the way. Add a trailer with two kids and it's downright scary for me and riders bearing down on me. At the same time, we can do a better job of connecting riders to local restaurants. As the route intersects restaurant districts such as State St. we can put up signs telling people what's to eat nearby and have secure valet bike parking so riders don't need to worry about locking their bikes. We should develop additional downtown routes such as Johnson St. (east and west), Gorham and University Ave since these are also central streets that people just zip past without fully seeing Vilas Park, Norris Court and James Madison Park among lots of other cool scenes. Maybe we rotate among a number of routes. I look forward to many future Ride The Drives, taking our kids on their first ride up East Wash and a quiet and spacious John Nolen as well as getting know other major roads around town. Jay Ferm On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 12:19 PM, Robbie Webber <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm OK with having another RtD in another location. As a matter of fact, I > pushed Mayor Dave to locate one event in an area of the city where there are > not the great biking and walking opportunities that already exist in > downtown. > The downtown event is hugely successful - more so than I think many local > people realize - in part because of the location. Riding up East Washington > or along John Nolen Dr with no traffic is something that most people never > get a chance to experience. The views are great, and the intimacy of the > downtown neighborhoods makes it a fun family-and-friends activity for many > people that wouldn't ride a bike on the street under other circumstances. > You will see little bitty kids - tricycles or bikes with training wheels - > on John Nolen Dr or Bedford. Everyone is so excited and smiling. > Another aspect that I think many people don't recognize is the number of > people that come in from out of town. This event draws people from all over > the Madison metro area, but also as far away as Chicago. (Yes, at every > event I've talked to people who came up to make a weekend of it in Madison, > based around the Farmers' Market one day and RtD the next.) People are > coming from all over the state, MN, IA, and other areas several hours away. > Maybe some of those people would come back and shop in the stores that are > being "hurt," because they actually SEE the stores as they ride by, vs. > driving by in a car, or not going by at all. > > On the other hand, many cities use these Sunday Parkways/Ciclovias/Open > Streets to bring a safe and fun event to neighborhoods that really have no > opportunities for this close to home. Poor neighborhoods, or neighborhoods > with no good trails or walkable business districts get a chance to be out on > the street - in the middle of the road that runs through their > neighborhoods, without the fear of getting hit by a car. > I think that is a goal that is worth striving for. Maybe close part of South > Park St, or Sherman Ave, or Northport, or even a place like Midvale (which > has two schools on it), or Milwaukee St (which I think has three school > zones), but can be huge barriers for people in the area to cross on foot/by > bike. > My biggest gripe about the Mayor cancelling the second Ride the Drive is > that he announced it three days before this year's event! Couldn't he have > waited until afterwards to announce to the press that the second one wasn't > going to happen? It just seems like a Grinch-like timing. "Bah, humbug, hey, > I can't cancel this one, but I'll cancel the other one." Wouldn't it be > better to soften the message by saying NEXT WEEK, something like, "Wow, that > was such a great event. Everyone had a great time. But the downtown location > is a burden for some of the downtown residents and businesses. I think we > should try doing it in another area of the city, and for that reason, I'd > like to not hold the second one, especially because it is a football > weekend, which is already tough, but use this as an opportunity to think of > another location that bring this great event to other areas." > Just my random thought. YMMV. > Robbie Webber > > > > > > On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Brenda Konkel <[email protected]> > wrote: >> >> There's this . . . might help explain. >> >> http://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/blog/index.cfm?Id=490 >> >> My understanding is he is looking to move it around the city, and starting >> next year would have one on the north side (too much construction this >> year), wasn't clear if there would be two next year (same location and >> north, or just north), but that was kind of my understanding. Might be time >> to start thinking about other areas that might be good for such an event. >> >> fwiw - It's hugely disruptive to those of us who live downtown and have to >> deal with many many downtown events. This one seems to be worse in that >> there was little planning to accommodate some of the needs of downtown >> residents, especially dealing with the one way streets and people having to >> back down the streets or drive the wrong way just to get off their block. >> Also, there needs to be better notices to those who are impacted and better >> detour signs. imho. >> >> Brenda _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
