Uneasy Rhetoric

SinghCity posts over at Sac Rag about the fact that Bicycling Magazine recently named Davis the top “small town” for bicycling, again (yawn). Portland got top honors overall, again (yawn. yawn. zzzzz).

Why isn’t Sacramento on the list? Not even an honorable mention. (We didn’t make the “worst of” list either, thankfully.) We have a top notch bike trail (when it isn’t under water), flat land, and fair weather. We have a growing number of streets with dedicated bike lanes. Men’s Fitness seems to think we’re pretty healthy.

Could it be that our city is built to accommodate automobiles? Could it be our dirty air? Could it be that bike racks are few and far between, or just installed wrong (pdf, see second photo on page eight)? Could it be that we just don’t want to mess up our hair?

(Update: 1/31/06: Since I was painfully unclear, I’m not saying Sac should have been nominated - not at all - instead I’m trying to say there’s a lot of wasted potential here for creating a bicycle friendly town, even in the midst of sprawl. And we can all start by wearing our helmets when we ride. Hair be damned.)