pedal to the metal

David Byrne had a book review of Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities by Jeff Mapes in last week's New York Times. (Yes, THAT David Byrne.) According to the bio blurb at the end of the review, Byrne has a book called Bicycle Diaries coming out in the fall.

I did some local cycling in grad school, although I felt ridiculous at my age pedaling around the city. The generously wide streets, explicit bike lanes and general lack of road rage in the Midwest made it comfortable. I hesitate to do the same here: roads are maxed out with cars and the drivers deliberately don't want to share the road. Creating bike lanes on city streets seems like an unnecessary pitting of drivers against cyclists (there is only so much real estate) but more than that it's the culture of driving. We've made driving too easy - like sitting on your couch watching TV. When it's harder (curvy roads; narrow lanes) drivers can't deal with it, and that's when accidents happen.

(Don't even get me started on cell phones and texting. What I see in my commute! - incredible.)