will i die?

i'm planning a dangerous adventure...

one thing i feel very adamantly about is the need to reduce our dependence on oil and to have a more eco-friendly energy source.

and the best way i see for the individual to take action against our government and the "blood for oil" types is to get off our dependence on automobiles.

in chicago this summer, i relied on nothing more than my two feet and a bike to get around, using public transportation occasionally when i had to cross the river or into unfamiliar territories.

so i am understandably sad to see that my sprawling hometown of lexington, ky is still largely reliant on SUV's, hummers, and personal vehicles to get around. i have been slightly heartened to find a few more of our lextran buses up and running, but from what i understand, they run too inefficiently and unpredictably to rely on to get from, say, home to work daily. looking in the windows, i see very few passengers. i can't even find the nearest stop to my house, or anywhere really. thinking back, i can't remember ever seeing this many city buses running in my town.

i've never used the public transportation here before. i feel awful about it too, because right now i am just complaining without doing anything to help solve the problem. but my dad informs me that the nearest bus stop to our house is probably at the monstrous fayette mall, which would take me a good half of a day to walk to, and i would most certainly get hit by a car on one of the major highways on my way.

lexington is also not very bike-friendly or pedestrian-minded either. so, it is everything critical mass chicago works to eliminate: the auto(mobile)cracy.

it seems so silly though, with the way our environment is quickly deteriorating, and with obesity being a national health crisis (i hear more about it than AIDS, which seems to be glaringly conspicuous), heck, you don't need to look further than gas prices these days for a good reason to abandon that old metal trap and get out there on a bike (or on your gams or a bus...)!!

granted, my silly town is too big for its own good and commuting to and from work on a bike must seem like a huge undertaking to most, but i assure you this is all a thing of the mind. i biked to work in chicago across much greater distances, chicago is, after all, much larger than lexington is. the problem is that lexington has very poor facilities for bikers. no lanes, no racks, i can't even remember the last time i saw someone biking in the greater downtown area, which is too bad because that would really be a lovely ride.

my town is too suburban and high brow for its own good. here, as everywhere, a car = class. which is too bad because now too many people are getting too lazy to get off their fat asses and do something to change things in america.

so, i'm planning a magnificent gesture. i am going to make a ride from my home (which lies on the way south edge of town, a horse farm away from "the boonies" or the only remaining forested area in lexington) to downtown lexington (north central lexington, before you get to the "real north side" where i went to middle school, where the ghettoes and projects and minority communities are). this will require traversing several major roads (tates creek, man o' war, nicholasville road, being the major ones that come to mind), many of which will not have bike lanes or sidewalks, requiring me to do what critical mass has taught me to relish and fear best: riding in the heart of traffic.

there will be screaming, honking, confusion, peril, road rage, blood sweat and tears. and many brushes with the law, neighbours, and death!!!

and there's so very little time. i go back to school on sunday and i still have to spend time with my family and friends!!

tally ho!
-stephanie


p.s. in other news, i wrote a heart-felt letter to jens lekman yesterday and i see that he visited briefly yesterday. or... someone from sweden did. i just assumed it was him. anyway, at least i feel ok about being hurt on my bike knowing that i once wrote to jens lekman and that he may or may not have visited here, if only for a brief moment of time.