Culture clash divides the Cascade Bicycle Club
Should the largest cycling club on the West Coast be edgy and aggressive, or polite and well-connected? The group debates its direction after the sudden firing of its executive director.
City of Seattle
Cascade Bicycle Club
The first meeting of the Cascade Bicycle Club 40 years ago was convened by two brothers, Mike and Rick Quam, and took place in Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island, about seven miles from the REI flagship store where the club held its annual members' meeting a few weeks ago.
It's fairly easy to ride a bicycle from one place to the other, thanks in no small part to the culture of cycling cultivated by the club over the decades, as it grew from a gathering of 10 passionate enthusiasts into one of the largest, most politically active bicycle clubs in the country, with more than 13,000 members.
By the standards of any community organization, a very public rift that has developed recently over the leadership of the club and the firing of executive director Chuck Ayers is exceptional, but it's also perhaps inevitable for an organization of Cascade’s size and ambition.
Ayers’ firing, last month, did not surprise him but shocked his staff and those close to the club. It came after Ayers refused to fire the club's advocacy director, David Hiller, for a radical style punctuated by Hiller's statement that motorists who accidentally hit and kill bicyclists should be publicly hung by their toenails “until the buzzards peck their eyes out.”
Upon Ayers' firing, he was escorted out of the building he moved the club into 11 years ago. One week later, he was re-hired on an interim basis, to serve while the group's board searches for his replacement. The firing and the power struggle it has triggered could be interpreted as one sign of the growing pains that groups commonly endure.
“They’ve grown way beyond a bicycle club,” said former Cascade president Barbara Culp, now director of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, an advocacy group started by a bunch of former Cascade members. “They probably shouldn’t call themselves a bicycle club anymore because they’re not.”
Although Cascade might be best known for its annual Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bicycle ride, it also devotes entire departments to education, advocacy, and politics. It holds classes, leads petition drives, and courts politicians. A board of 11 (it can have as few as nine and as many as 21) governs the organization, which operates on a $3.5 million annual budget and employs a staff of 24.
Cascade’s growth is indicative of the increasing power and relevance of all bicycle groups, said Jeffrey Miller, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Biking and Walking, a national coalition of which Cascade is a member. Helping the profile of such groups is their association with two particularly timely and passion-rousing issues: transportation and environmental conservation.
“The bicycle pedestrian movement has become much more influential than 15 years ago,” Miller said. “Cascade is really exemplary in terms of the amount of organization, how much sway it has, and involvement in its community. As a movement, our organizations have certainly been getting much more professional, much more engaged, and bicycling itself has certainly experienced a renaissance with movers and shakers. Bicycling is the new golf.”
Cascade has grown to represent a wide cross-section of the city, including large mainstream interests. The club’s Bike to Work Breakfast is attended by many elected officials and heads of major corporations, said Christopher Weiss, president of the board of directors, which fired then re-hired Ayers.
“That’s only one cross-section of the club, but it’s one that has a lot of support,” said Weiss, himself a member of the city establishment as a partner in the multi-state, corporate litigation firm, Stoel Rives.
The club also includes the same cross-section of bicyclists who take part in controversial "Critical Mass" bike rides, which have sometimes led to angry clashes between drivers and riders who intentionally block intersections as a show of solidarity. As Cascade has grown, so have its obligations to represent the interests of both its fringe and its center. Both Weiss and Ayers talk about the club as one big tent.
“The club is a grass-roots organization and that is not changing,” Weiss said. “There have been some suggestions that we’re heading in a more corporate direction. As our services grow, we will need even more employees working on our mission and vision, but that does not mean we’re moving toward a more corporate structure.”
Its current structure is a far cry, however, from the club’s humble beginnings.
Cascade’s 13,000 members make it the largest bicycle advocacy group on the West Coast; the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is No. 2 with 11,000 members. The Missoula, Mont.-based Adventure Cycling Association boasts 45,000 members, but it is a national club and typically does not take up issues and politics.
“It’s an interesting time,” said Jim Sayer, Adventure Cycling’s director. “Bike groups are growing and using different models. I think you’re going to see those growing pains as groups move forward.”
At Cascade, the mood in the office during the days between Ayers’ firing and re-hiring felt like “a hostile corporate takeover,” said one staff member who did not want to be identified.
“The board is out of touch,” said longtime member and volunteer Kenny Hamm, owner of the mobile bike repair service, The Bicycle Doctor. “They did not take into consideration the history of what Chuck and David have done for the club. They’ve done more for the bicycling community than anybody in the history of the club.”
While Hamm considers himself a "radical" as well as a friend to Ayers and the staff, he is not alone in his sentiments, many of which were voiced at the annual meeting by other members, who heckled Weiss and others who took the podium.
“The first half of the meeting went really well, then I think it went downhill from there,” said Ayers, who has a “gentleman’s agreement” with the board to serve as executive director for at least six more months, during which the board will conduct a national search for Ayers’ replacement, with, it says, input from staff and members.
“Right now morale is incredibly high,” Ayers said. “The staff is completely on task, on board, and doing the work they’re expected to do.” Still, he acknowledged, his dismissal last month caused wounds that have yet to heal.
“Some of the board members burned bridges with the staff,” Ayers said. “There’s a lot of distrust and a lack of confidence. We’re trying to build that back up… When they fired me … they made that decision in a vacuum. Mistrust seeped into that vacuum.”
Ayers has led the club since 1997 and has overseen much of its growth; as a result, he has the loyalty of many members and the staff. Weiss declined to discuss the reasons for Ayers’ dismissal, calling them a “personnel matter,” but conceded that “there is some healing that needs to go on.”
Ayers was more forthcoming about his differences with the board. As with most rifts, public and personal, this one is complex but seems to boil down to his style and approach as the head of the club. The board is “looking for a more politically correct attitude,” Ayers said. “They think we could be more effective in our politics and coalition building if we weren’t out there making off-the-wall comments.”
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Comments:
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 7:50 a.m. Inappropriate
Effective advocacy groups can be edgy and aggressive, well connected and honest.
Cascade's advocacy has suffered in the honesty department and has too often alienated friends (through insults and silly slime ball tactics) to the point that it is losing money for bicycle safety and failing to move safety legislation that shouldn't be so hard to pass.
Conflicts between bikes and vehicles on the roads are inevitable. Cascade has developed a reputation for making conflicts worse than necessary in ways that are counterproductive to progress that's within sight.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 8:58 a.m. Inappropriate
Chuck Ayers may have a long history with Cascade, but speaking as a relatively new member, I find his decision to fight the board no matter the merits of his argument to be incredibly destructive. Now, we have a core of personally committed members doing all they can to rearrange what has been a very succesful organization.
There is a board for a reason. Mr. Ayers, after thirteen years of shaping the organization, should have taken the loss of confidence of the board (with cause I might note, anecdotally there was a lot more going on than Hiller) as a sign that it was time to move on, and let some new blood step forward. That he chose to fight for his job has caused a huge breach that will be long to heal. No doubt his personal relationships will serve him well in this battle, but the desctruction has already become quite apparent. Someone else could have (and will) ably carried the torch. Change is inevitable, embrace it Chuck.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 9 a.m. Inappropriate
One comment and a clarification --
Since I'm quoted in the story, I also want to add my high personal and professional regard for Chuck Ayers. He has done an extraordinary job in helping to build Cascade.
Also, as director of Adventure Cycling Association, let me clarify that we rarely take positions on local issues but do take positions regularly at the national level as part of the America Bikes coalition and also in our work to establish an official US Bicycle Route System.
Jim Sayer
Adventure Cycling Association
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 9:09 a.m. Inappropriate
Cascade's advocacy group needs to learn how to work with its own members in dealing with communities around Puget Sound. It has taken a "we know better than you do" attitude with its own membership in dealing with our city administration and city council which has disappointed many of us.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 9:42 a.m. Inappropriate
Minor correction: Board Member Peter Morgan is a former executive at Group Health but no longer affiliated with the Organization.
Peter Morgan
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 9:46 a.m. Inappropriate
This is the most interesting comment in the article, a quote from Jeffrey Miller, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Biking and Walking, a national coalition of which Cascade is a member:
"As a movement, our organizations have certainly been getting much more professional, much more engaged, and bicycling itself has certainly experienced a renaissance with movers and shakers. Bicycling is the new golf."
Golf is a hobby. Golf experiences periods of higher and lower popularity and participation. When Tiger Woods first became a star, golf's popularity shot up, and many more people started playing golf. Many of these new golfers have since given it up, and a lot of golf courses are having financial problems, and some have even closed, in the past several years.
Bicycling is a hobby, like golf. It is currently in a popularity boom. This is going to be temporary, like the spike in golf popularity several years ago. There are a lot of new bicyclists now, who will try it for a while -- maybe a couple of years -- then get tired of it, just as many people who took up golf because of Tiger Woods have since quit playing.
And, also similar to golf, bicycling in our area, at least, is seasonal. There may be around 3% of commuting trips taken by bicycle in the summer months in Seattle, but this drops off to just about nothing on cold, rainy, winter days (just as a few die-hard golfers play all winter, but most play only in good weather). This past Monday, when it rained all day, but wasn't even very cold, there were virtually no bicyclists on the streets of Seattle.
It's pretty foolish to spend much tax revenue on infrastructure for a hobby, which will inevitably wane in popularity, and which is basically only a good-weather hobby even at the height of its popularity.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 10:02 a.m. Inappropriate
True that Lincoln, True that!
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 11:19 a.m. Inappropriate
To say that bicycling is like golf – a hobby – is to completely overlook the fact that people want options other than cars. Many of those who bike understand the connection between driving our cars here in Seattle, the wars in the Middle East and the environmental impact of oil spills. Biking is a social responsibility; it is not a social club. Cascade Bicycle is on the vanguard of a movement that empowers people to explore other options for transportation, for health, and for community.
I think the situation between the Board and the Staff is much more emblematic of Seattle’s growing pains than it is about any single organization. Seattle is trying to accommodate a failing, oil-based system in order to not cause undo loss of prosperity, while simultaneously attempting to be a leader of social and ecological change. This situation provides Cascade Bicycle with an opportunity to make a lasting improvement to “Seattle process.” In my view, it is imperative that the organization channel both the amazing work of outspoken activists like David Hiller and the Seattle polite people, like myself, who abhor rhetoric. We can be equally radical in our own ways and support common goals. The type of change we are seeking here in Seattle is not going to be achieved through any one approach. It takes all hands on deck (or bike, forgive the pun!) and it is my sincere hope that we don't discuss this situation as if it were a PR failing, but instead see it for what it is – an amazing opportunity to clarify what needs to happen to move Seattle forward. We so often frame our dialogs as either/or, when it would be more helpful to think yes/and. No one loses face if Chuck Ayers stays. Expand the Board to include some longtime members, continue moving forward with the mission, and see what happens.
Changing societal norms is more a matter of pursuing interesting hypotheses and remaining flexible than it is declaring what is “right” and trying to maintain appearances. Best of luck to Cascade!
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 11:40 a.m. Inappropriate
I think Miller's quote was getting at the fact that bike commuting is becoming a way to hobnob, much like "business golf." The recent Seattle Times piece highlighted the corporate involvement and attendance by elected officials at the bike club's fundraising breakfast. That being said, you certainly can't golf your way to work.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 12:48 p.m. Inappropriate
I would like to step in and observe that golf is more like a religion. I don't have the fever but my relatives do. Some people might treat it like a hobby but the majority worship and play as much is humanly possible. Active in most of its aspects, equipment, clothing, transportation and the sanctuary's they worship in.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 12:59 p.m. Inappropriate
The community of bicyclers includes urban cyclists, off-roaders, spandex-wearing speeders, bike messengers, trick bikes, BMX, etc. The most uncooperative faction are the speeders on very expensive bikes who treat other cyclists and pedestrians like objects on an obstacle course, or, like every paved pathway is a freeway passing lane. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect this faction is the majority of Cascade members. Speed racers have so much invested in their bikes, their darling outfits and image, they don't take riding responsibly on shared bikepaths any more seriously than bikers who recklessly run stoplights. This seems to me like the priviledged few orchestrating a takeover to push out members who may appear to be the wrong kind of biker that might spoil the image the board wishes to convey - bicycling as a hobby for the spandex-wearing, rudely competitive, naturally inconsiderate wealthy.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 1:43 p.m. Inappropriate
Today, around noon, I drove from the Ballard Fred Meyer store to the top of Queen Anne Hill. It did not rain at all, and it was in the mid-fifties (not cold). On this trip I counted 337 motor vehicles on the roads and exactly ONE bicycle. If those motor vehicles had the national average of 1.7 passengers/vehicle, that means I saw about 570 people getting around in motor vehicles and exactly ONE person using a bicycle.
When the weather is not good (today it was not even raining), you see almost nobody riding bicycles in our area.
Any mode that is bascially not used at all in bad weather is not a legitimate transportation option in our area.
Bicycling is a hobby.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 2:24 p.m. Inappropriate
Bicycling could be a primary source of transportation for many more people if the roads were safe enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-AbPav5E5M
Oh, and those crazy Danes ride in the snow as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMv3OB6XHvQ
And Portland which has a 7% commuters, and basically the same weather as Seattle.
http://www.streetfilms.org/portland-bike-rush-hour-on-the-hawthorne-bridge/
BTW, I rode to work every day this week, including in the rain on Monday. A wet but not bad ride.
For me bicycling is a way to get to work, and a hobby on the weekend. I also own a car for large loads but I'm looking at those electric assisted bicycles to replace some of those trips.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 2:40 p.m. Inappropriate
Oh, and if I understand the graphs correctly even if we are to transition off of fossil fuel, it's going to take a lot of investment in delivery systems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjOFCegjoik
Bicycling can help us transition. Cascade's advocacy for better bike access on roads is very far sighted.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 3:29 p.m. Inappropriate
"It's pretty foolish to spend much tax revenue on infrastructure for a hobby, which will inevitably wane in popularity, and which is basically only a good-weather hobby even at the height of its popularity."
So by this measure we should close all the local municipal golf courses, tennis courts, outdoor basketball courts (only used in good weather, indoor pools (only used in bad weather), beaches with lifeguards (only summer use), marinas (only used in the summer), indoor basketball and youth centers (only used in bad weather). Oh those stadiums, they should go too, Football is only a fall sport, Soccer summer, all winter and spring it's empty. ie any facility not used 100% of the time.
What a drab and dreary town this would be. Not a World class city by any means. Who would want to live and work here if all there was for exercise and sports was a few pay to play facilities? Not me.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 5:56 p.m. Inappropriate
Transportation systems need to be useful year-round, not just in good weather.
By mentioning things like "golf courses, tennis courts, basketball courts, beaches, marinas, and stadiums" you are making my point: bicycling is a hobby, like all these other things you mention.
Bicycling is not a legitmate means of transportation, since bicycling in our area is not a year-round activity, except for a very tiny percentage of the public.
Fossil fuels will easily last for several decades. There is no need to transition off them. However, the major increase in fuel efficiency of motor vehicles, which is happening, and introduction of electric cars will mean motor vehicles will travel much farther on much less fossil fuel. That is going to make a significant difference in fossil fuel consumption. A tiny percent of people riding bikes on short trips when the weather is good is trivial.
What percent of commuters in Portland commute by bicycle in the winter?
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 6:34 p.m. Inappropriate
GaryP: How old are you? Where do you work? Where do you live? Do you need to take kids to school/childcare as you go to and from work? Those are fairly relevant questions to answer before you crow about using your bicycle to get to work.
The phrase "world-class city" used in connection with things like bike lanes, etc. is pretty elitist. A true definition of world-class would be a city that doesn't allow people to go hungry or without a place to live. Making certain people have those necessities is more important than spending one penny on bike lanes. Seattle's not there yet.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 7:35 p.m. Inappropriate
For another point of view please read:
http://tubulocity.com/?p=2397
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 8:14 p.m. Inappropriate
Lincoln and Sarah,
Are you aware of Velib in Paris? 20,000 bicycles available for cheap rent for short trips. Here's a report on Velib's first year - biased of course since it's from a bicycle enthusiast:
http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/2008/05/la-semaine-du-vlib-et-du-vlocouture.html
Paris is not Seattle - they don't have our hills, but they do have a lot of unpleasant weather. And anyway,it is kinda insulting to hear that the means of transportation I use year-round (and have used for most of the 50-odd years of my more-or-less adult life) in Seattle is not really transportation. This evening for example, I rode up Capitol Hill in the rain after dark, and there were at least 2 bikes ahead of me all the way and bikes at many crossroads.
Rainy-weather-biking still counts as odd in Seattle, but there are many places around the world where it's totally mainstream. And Sarah, helping make it easier to get around by bike (and public transportation, and walking - they go together really well) also helps folks who can't afford cars. Biking is a really economical means of (yes) transportation.
Posted Fri, Nov 5, 9:03 p.m. Inappropriate
Aaron Pailthorp says "Mr. Ayers, after thirteen years of shaping the organization, should have taken the loss of confidence of the board (with cause I might note, anecdotally there was a lot more going on than Hiller) as a sign that it was time to move on, and let some new blood step forward."
How does he know inside information that no one else is aware of? Is he a buddy of a board member and as such has access to confidential info? Membership has only heard lies, blather, flim-flam, and "confidential personnel matter" from the board PR mouthpiece.
Posted Sat, Nov 6, midnight Inappropriate
Merlinrain, I've been noticing lately that public transportation (buses) and bikes don't really go well together. They both want to use the righthand lane and buses have to slow way down for bikes, and bikes have nowhere to go when buses are in front of them. Not a good match. But guess which carries the most passengers.
Posted Sat, Nov 6, 10:51 a.m. Inappropriate
I'm a 50+old guy who has lived in the region for 30+ years. I've been commuting by bicycle for most of that time. Although there were years when I didn't ride all 5 days a week due to personal issues.
And yeah, I don't ride when it freezes. You can buy studded bicycle tires, but really you want to mount them on a "winter" trash bike and for a long time I couldn't afford to keep a stable of bikes.
My kids are currently off in college. And btw, commuting from where they live to the campus via bicycle.
Right now I live in Bellevue and commute the 14.5 miles each way into downtown Seattle. Takes me about just under an hour each way. If I drive to the nearest park & ride, then bus in it takes 40 minutes in and 50 minutes home because the stops going home take longer. So the time factor is almost a wash. I'm totally blessed with an employer who gets it. ie, they reduce their health care costs by making bicycling easy. I get access to a shower, and a towel service and a safe place to lock up my bike for the day.
So for me, I get a lower resting heart rate (52), lower blood pressure 70/110, and I am near my college weight.
I understand the concerns of families and the need for a vehicle that moves large, heavy stuff to and from homes. For me the kids went to school via buses, 'cause I live in suburbia.
That's why I think electric assisted bicycles are the way of the future. They can carry up to 150lbs at 20mph with a range of 7 to 10 miles depending on how much assist you use. The weight of the vehicle 50lbs means it uses way less electricity than an electric car.
I have a couple of co-workers with these. They like them because they can skip the shower and they live closer to work than I do.
Had these been available when my kids were small I would have bought one right away. Now, I'm looking but I haven't sprung for one.
I still own a van. It gets crappy gas mileage but sometimes you need something big to move a lot. So mostly it sits parked at the house.
I got accused of not using my bicycle as primary transportation so one day I did the math, and it turns out even running all suburban errands with the van, and commuting to work via bicycle that the bicycle was 2/3's of the mileage and the van 1/3.
I've been trying to get my wife to commute with me, but she's afraid of the traffic. And I can't say I blame her. I get a close call nearly every day. That's why I support the radicalism of Cascade bike club. It should be safe enough for anyone to ride a bike to work.
Lincoln, two decades at best is the land of cheap oil. We won't run out overnight that is true, but in even 10 years looking back we'll ask why did we spend all that money building things that we aren't using now? These mega projects take 10 years to argue about and then build. Which is why now is the time to start moving toward a city which is sustainable with expensive oil.
Posted Sat, Nov 6, 10:58 a.m. Inappropriate
On "feeding the poor". Being on a bicycle I get to talk to the street people at the intersections. We are on a "handle" if not a first name basis. What they tell me is that food isn't the problem. They all seem to be able to get a free meal. What they want is cash for alcohol and gasoline if they still are living in their car.
They also get free medical care. It's socialized medicine that the city provides at Harborview. Yes they get treated by the residents, and it sucks because when they get outpaticient care they go back to their car or under the bridge. And some of them are insane and we've never done well by them.
So as for being a world class city, we are doing a lot of things right. Bike lanes for the rest of us is not out of the question.
Posted Sun, Nov 7, 7:47 p.m. Inappropriate
Have you gone to food banks and talked to families there, Gary? Do you get your medical care at Harborview, where you wait for hours (and the City of Seattle doesn't pay for that)? Have you lived in a car? Are you happy with what you acknowledge to be the inadequate mental health care?
You basically admit that Seattle is not doing those things right. The bike lanes you want will be used by considerably less people than need adequate food and medical care and housing, especially as we go further into the recession that the passage of 1053 will accentuate.
Get off your bike and talk to people who don't happen to be on the street when you ride by. Most homeless children aren't.
Posted Sun, Nov 7, 11:29 p.m. Inappropriate
Um, Lincoln? I hope you're not in any sort of statistical or science-based field of work. Your careful study took a route not typically used by bikes, to the top of one of the steepest hills in Seattle. There are bike census numbers out there if you actually care. But you don't.
And Sarah. Where do you stand on the Viaduct replacement, or other horridly expensive pieces of automotive infrastructure? Bike lanes and bike boulevards are relatively cheap. It's lovely that you want to feed and house and care for everyone in Seattle, but there are many more worthy targets of your skepticism.
As for me ... I bike in the sun, and in the rain (you do know that it rarely really RAINS in Seattle ... mostly the drizzle and the gray). I have a cargo bike that can carry 2 kids and the week's groceries. I drop my daughter off at preschool 4 days a week and commute to the UW from Ballard. Very doable. And enjoyable. You might try it.
Posted Mon, Nov 8, 9:16 a.m. Inappropriate
Bike lanes cost vs spending on health care?
Not really a fair debate. In order to have any tax revenue at all, we need a transportation system. Some way to move people and goods from home to work to the rest of the country.
In some other article I'll debate you on the efficiency of our social services. I'm plenty aware of the problem. But it's not the only thing worth fixing in this city.
Bike lanes vs automobile related improvements, or mass transit. That's fair. And while many folks seem to get up in arms over some paint on the street, Portland has shown that when you make streets safe for bicycling you get more riders.
Posted Mon, Nov 8, 9:21 a.m. Inappropriate
This just in:
"... a $2.5 million noise reduction barrier was installed on I-5 that has failed to do anything. That’s half as much as Mayor McGinn’s proposed new funds for Walk Bike Ride projects in 2011 ..."
For more, see: http://www.kirotv.com/news/25639670/detail.html
And we're still complaining about the cost of bicycle infrastructure? Besides, if you're concerned about health (and health costs), you should probably get behind spending on active transportation.
Posted Mon, Nov 8, 11:20 a.m. Inappropriate
BTW, The NYCity Health commissioner gets the link between health and transportation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/nyregion/07farley.html?scp=1&sq;=health%20commisoner&st;=cse
Saving money in health care in part is keeping people healthy. And our car culture is not doing that.
Posted Sat, Nov 13, 11:05 p.m. Inappropriate
Um, Joolian? The viaduct is not a City street. It's a state road. SDOT does not have control over it. Many people, including me, have complained bitterly about what's planned but that has nothing--nothing--to do with what we're talking about here. Go talk to the State Legislature and the Governor about it if you wish, or comment in other threads that are concerned with it.
It is nice that you commute by bike from Ballard to the UW. I respect your attempt to both maintain your health and save the environment. However, it's one of the easiest bike commutes in the City, so I don't quite understand your need to brag about it. Now if you biked from Beacon Hill to the U, or Capitol Hill to Ballard, or Lake City to Georgetown, those bike commutes would truly be worthy of respect. Let us know when you do any of those commutes. I certainly hope that when you have two children and a bunch of groceries on your bike and it starts to rain (and I mean really rain, which it does actually do here), you and the children will be safe.
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