REVIEW: Pedaling Revolution

Last June, I reviewed the New York Times book review of Pedaling Revolution, by Jeff Mapes.

The reviewer, David Byrne, posited that bicycling's macho extreme sport image impairs its ability to gain popularity as a legitimate form of transportation.

And now for my book review: Pedaling Revolution is the hardest book I have ever tried to review. It is a fine book, an important book that addresses a subject I care deeply about, and because of that I cannot describe it without reflecting upon my own opinions, experiences and paradoxes.

Like a dead, stinking fish my book review has in its various forms of lengthy draft occupied my computer's hard drive for months. I repeatedly tried to organize and unify my thoughts to no avail, so I have now filleted from from the dead fish a concise review of the book and a more expansive series of riffs on the books's core themes: public perceptions, safety, advocacy and the Euro view.

In Pedaling Revolution, Mapes describes how people and their bicycles are part of a global movement, changing cities and whole countries around the world in places like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland (OR,) Amsterdam, Germany and Denmark. Each of these locations has a unique bicycle history that he explores with the help of local experts, advocates, and innovators.

Mapes excels at explaining the role of leadership, politics and social norms in shaping how each location accommodates bicycle usage. I like how he cites the exemplary advocacy of seventy-two year old Representative Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and his tireless work to garner funding for bicycle accommodations in Federal transportation legislation. Oberstar has a great tag line:

Are you ready to convert from the hydrocarbon economy to the carbohydrate economy?

Mapes omitted any mention of bicycling's impact in East Asia, especially China. Given the sheer scale at which the Chinese ride bicycles, the political dynamics, cultural attitudes and current trends there would provide interesting and insightful reading. Perhaps that would merit an entire book in itself?

Any discussion of the bicycle as a form of transportation naturally must address how bicycle policy comes in conflict with the automobile. Mapes adds a degree of objectivity to this book by frequently acknowledging that automobiles are not implicitly bad, but their near-exclusive use in most American transportation settings is.

Many of the people that Mapes features in the book stoke reader interest when addressing controversial subjects such as John Forrester's vehicular cycling movement and the legitimacy of Critical Mass rides. Nevertheless, Mapes sometimes goes too long on explaining government transportation policy-setting.

Much of the book prompts a central question: why can't more Americans use transportation modes other than the automobile, especially for trips of 2 miles or less? The potential benefits to our health, environment, pocketbooks and communities are mindboggling.

While Mapes' bicycle stories from places around the world may hint at it, he does not state a fundamental problem with bicycling in the United States: that bicycling remains outside of the societal and political mainstream, that the average American views bicyclists as either sports enthusiasts or eco-freaks. This perception excludes what most Europeans (and Chinese) know as truth: that the bicycle can simply be another way of getting there.

This book should equally satisfy the bicycle advocate and the enthusiast. I hope it also wins over some converts. Soon, I will post more about the book's core themes: public perceptions, safety, advocacy and the Euro view.

Thanks for reading!