For those of you that missed it, 2013 was Salt Lake City’s Year of the Bike. Personally, a claim like that brings to mind the far reaching social and infrastructural changes required to undermine urban motorized transportation, make cycling the primary mode of personal transportation, and take a big step towards ending the air pollution or “inversion” that has become a near constant threat to the health of SLC’s Residents. Laws prohibiting single occupancy vehicles, expanded bike lanes and trails, economic incentives for cycling… Basically shutting down all vehicular traffic inside city limits except for trucks, buses and trains is pretty much what I have in mind when I think of a city giving over an entire year for the advocacy and awareness of bicycling. Claiming anything as “Year of” should mean it’s influence is far greater than any other social or political force. Think, Year of the Axe Murdering Homeless Man, or, Year of the West Valley City Gonorrhea Infection. Although those might be titles you’d affix after the point, they pretty well capture what has happened. So looking back on the last year, it’s hard to notice any real changes in Salt Lake’s transportation hierarchy. Although I’m not a resident of SLC, and my time spent there usually amounts to a few weeks in the spring and fall, from my perch atop Little Cottonwood Canyon it’s easy to look down and see the murky, poisonous soup, and know damn well that it’s not a bunch of cyclists that’ve caused it. But while SLC didn’t under go any major cycling-themed transformations, they’ve still managed to put together a few initiatives worth mentioning. Also, in honor and celebration of the year gone by, I’ve dumped a bunch of pictures and captions in the following post that wrap up our bike-powered adventures in and around SLC this fall.
After returning from the East Coast, Liz and I spent a couple weeks cycling around SLC, doing errands and escaping for a few adventures. Below you’ll find a spattering of nonsense and information, some of it useful, some of it real, all of it important. Essentially this post is just a launch-pad for my Year of the Bike series, which will chronicle our efforts at proving to the recreational community that driving to the crag, to the trailhead, or going on a road-trip is lame, that we can do better and it’s time to make some drastic changes to the way we approach recreation, mobility, and our urban environments. The train, the bus, your bike, it’s all available NOW. Oh, you managed a new trail run speed record Car to Car? A long weekend to free an aid route in Zion? Nice work. Now get on your bike and do that shit door to door. I love you all and we’re all in this together, but it’s time we start calling each other out and demanding our best. This is no longer business as usual, this is a new generation, a new paradigm, and as members of this mountain culture we’re the ones who’ve got to show everyone the way. For SLC and the recreational communities of the Wasatch, and generation Y in general, it’s time to get our act together. We live in one of the most diverse and accessible mountain ranges in North America, and we’re still wasting our time and poisoning the air driving around to go skiing and climbing. It’s happening, it’s easy, it’s now, so wake the fuck up and lets save the environment the only way we know how, by SHREDDING IT.
After a summer of Vermont back roads and sleepy towns, returning to the city was both shocking and refreshing. It may be daunting and a little depressing, but ultimately city life breeds creativity and hope, it has to anyway, something has to change, some folks have to have hope and a vision for all these people, because otherwise they’re fucked, and they’re taking the planet with them.
While being surrounded with so many drivers does have it’s dangers and downsides, ultimately it’s more like a constant opportunity; lives and communities that could be enriched and expanded through the use of a bicycle, through the personal and natural interactions that come with stepping out of the fossil fueled bubble. SLC’s standing has ebbed and flowed in my mind over time, while I always thought it lacked character and community, again and again I’ve been proven wrong, but overall, it’s the air that I can’t handle. For myself, the creation and inability to escape such a mental and physically toxic atmosphere is tantamount to torture and pure madness: a society gone wrong.
The cornerstone of Salt Lake’s Year of the Bike initiative was the launching of their GreenBikes bike-sharing program for the downtown area, as well as a retooling of the Mayor’s Bicycling Advisory Committee and the newly improved BikeSLC.com. Mostly because I have my own bike and low tolerance for bureaucracy, I have to say the newly improved website is the biggest achievement for this campaign. BikeSLC.com is an invaluable resource for current and prospective cyclists anywhere in SLC. Putting information like comprehensive bike maps, cycling rules and regulations, safety and commuting tips, and accessibility of public transit all in one place creates a powerful tool for folks who are interested in learning more or thinking about taking the next step of riding to work, the store, a movie, or around the block. In today’s digital age, these sort of free, open-educational resources are the one’s that will help our communities and cities transition to a car-free, and less toxic and chaotically-mobile culture.
So how do these initiatives take shape on the ground? What’s happening on the streets? Well, everyone is still mostly driving, which is why I feel like it’s mostly a failure. I mean, the time is now, our Earth is warming, the climate is changing, the Salt Lake Valley is routinely consumed with the stagnated remains of exhaust and emissions from automobiles and industry, and most everyone is still driving. What the fuck. It may be easier to believe people’s actions are based on their character than to understand it’s a product of their situation, when the latter is really the case, but we’ve got to try harder. It may be difficult but we’ve got to cut the cord. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe nothing is wrong with the environment or economy, maybe all the residents of SLC don’t mind the smog and there are no detrimental health effects, but I have to believe everyone would still be better off just slowing the fuck down and riding their bikes, always. I know I’m being harsh but with a title like Year of the Bike I’d hope for incentives to actually get folks our on the road, things like tax breaks for bicycle purchases, vouchers from retailers like backcountry.com to get people some cold weather riding gear, disincentives to driving like increased fuel prices for the entire year to fund additional bike lanes and infrastructure. Sure, this might be dreaming, but hell, you know what to expect if you heard it was gonna be Year of the Topless-Party Cash Giveaway.
I’ve been privy to a few conversations recently that ultimately degenerate from the creative, passionate, and imaginative solutions to climate change, into the “practical” subjects of our civilization’s sources of energy and the very reasonable topics of the political bureaucracy and government interventions that ultimately oversee these subjects. I just want to make it clear that I agree with most of the insights and understandings our generation shares about the need for government accountability and renewable resources, but personally, I think it much more important and beneficial to understand the need for drastic social change. Wind farms and nuclear power are only solutions to extend the lifespan of our current civilization, the one who’s paradigm has been to rape and batter and poison the Earth so we can continue out unabated consumption of energy. This is now catching up to us and it’s becoming clear that we need a new paradigm, a new and more healthy relationship to Earth and it’s communities. Not only do I believe this is possible but I also think that it can be accomplished within the understanding of our current position. This type of change cannot be lobbied for and you’ll never find it on the ballot. We don’t need to move into a tepee and eat dirt, as many may seem to believe is the only alternative. We simply need to embrace a more reasonable understanding of adventure, mobility, and food systems. This will be a challenge but it can be done. It’s a challenge not unlike climbing a wall or summiting a mountain, it takes understanding, patience, and discipline, but not always the kind you think. We cannot expect that centuries of environmental degradation and resource depletion can be absorbed and reversed through the use of more materials and energy, it will require suffering, hardship, and sacrifice, things all too relateable to an alpine climber. We need a new understanding of energy use and creation. Kill your car and find a new way to live.
Now, no post of mine would be complete without an off-topic rant, and that was only getting started, so here you go…
For those of you who are reading this who might think what we’re trying to do is inspiring or courageous, I hope there’s an equal or greater amount of you who wonder if I’m frustrated, jealous, or bored with the stagnation a bicycle life brings. No. First of all, this isn’t even my idea, how could I possible take credit for such an obvious and relevant opportunity. This concept is borne from today’s technological achievements and environmental crisis, cycling-based alpinism and adventure is an idea that’s been around forever but is only now becoming ripe under the conditions of environmental and social stress. I’m so convinced of this that I guarantee it’ll not only grow, but it will take over. Secondly, since I’ve embraced this lifestyle my sense and satisfaction for adventure has only increased. When I see or hear of other peoples accomplishments in near or far mountain ranges, my mind doesn’t turn to jealousy or anger, I’m stoked, just like you. I like reading magazines and getting all fired up to travel and climb, but also, I’m continually reminded of the wasted opportunities and energy that our community is putting into their current efforts. Whenever I pull an Alpine Journal off the shelf, I shuffle through gawking at pictures and immediately become entranced by some one’s story of a harrowing first ascent in some far-off mountain range. I’m completely stoked for their experience but also continually confused at the huge disconnect that exists between climbers, their adventures, the massive amount of energy and transportation that go into these ascents, and our rapidly deteriorating environment, the one we hold so sacred. Eventually I shelf the book, sit back and take to dreaming. I hope in 20 years my shelf is lined with Alpine Journals that don’t recount the courageous but frivolous ascents of a bunch of melting ice lines in Pakistan amidst a declining social and environmental order, but stories of a community uniting to tackle a challenge greater than it’s whole, a challenge greater than any seen before. I see stories of years-long voyages to far away lands that ultimately end in a beautiful failure, reports of locals taking advantage of weather and proximity to climb mountains that they know more intimately than anyone else. Hopefully, one of the stories will be mine, because I dream of climbing in these mythical ranges, only I won’t be flying over for a few weeks or a month, I’ll be riding my goddamn bike.
Apologies for the rant, but when I’m not up to speed with our activities and adventures, it just comes out. I’ve added a few pictures to the following post to serve as a photo dump from our short time in the city this fall. Thanks for reading!