Where I Stand is a new series inspired by the Chattanooga Stand survey. Today’s guest author is Sam Silvey, cyclist and founder of LookOutdoorNews.com. Sam has lived in Chattanooga for 24 years.
9:00 a.m. and the sound of the alarm clock wakes me to the smell of coffee. After my morning dose of caffeine, I air up the tires and jump on my bicycle. I cross the street, take a right turn, a left turn, another right and hit the trail. Over the next couple of hours, I navigate my bicycle through the challenging terrain of Chattanooga until finally returning home. After a quick recovery drink—and a much needed shower—I once again climb on my bicycle. This time I steer toward the designated bike lane and follow it for 6 blocks into the heart of St.Elmo. I stop at one of the many popular eateries and enjoy a well deserved lunch. All of this and much more is possible from my front door.
Over the past 24 years I’ve cycled, climbed, kayaked, caved, hiked, and ran all around the Chattanooga area. Even after 24 years in the same city, I still find areas that I have yet to explore. The abundance of outdoor activities in Chattanooga is the number one reason I’ve chosen to call Chattanooga home.
The idea of having an abundance of outdoor options, while living in a city environment, is foreign to many people. In Chattanooga, we have some of the country’s best areas for outdoor activities, all within minutes of downtown. Our previous mayor, Bob Corker, use to say that he wanted to make Chattanooga the “Boulder of the East." Although we are not quite there yet, we have made a lot of progress. Publications such as Rock and Ice Magazine and Outdoor Magazine have taken notice and include Chattanooga on many of their top ten lists. In fact, Rock and Ice ranked Chattanooga as the number one climbing destination in the U.S. last year. With this much publicity coming from major outdoor magazines, Chattanooga is quickly gaining steam.
So what can we do to further grow as an outdoor community? The biggest issue that sticks out to me, probably because I am a cyclist, is the need for more bike lanes. As a so-called "bike friendly city," we have lots of very unfriendly roads. As the green movement begins to sweep across Chattanooga, more and more people are beginning to commute on their bicycles. If Chattanooga could develop an efficient bike lane system, it would encourage local cyclists to commute more often, as well as increase the amount of visiting cyclists to the area. More visitors equals more money in the local economy. In a way, the bike lanes could potentially pay for themselves.
Last year I traveled to Oregon to race the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic. I got there a couple of days early and spent some time in downtown Portland. I was absolutely blown away by the amount of bicycle commuters. I was getting passed by people wearing full business suits with their brief cases’ strapped to the back of their bicycles! And it wasn’t just one or two of them, they were everywhere. Cyclists could have outnumbered the cars. I talked with many people about the city while I was there, including my friend Nick, who previously lived in Chattanooga, but decided to make Portland his home after a week's vacation there. He said that a major contributing factor in his decision was the large cycling scene in Portland.
Chattanooga has managed to come out of some really hard times. I remember back before the Tennessee Aquarium was opened and how downtown seemed like a ghost town on Saturday nights. Now the streets are packed on Saturday nights! The development of Chattanooga as a fun and exciting city has boosted our economy and population to help bring it out of those hard times. I feel that further developing Chattanooga as an outdoor city will help our economy and population continue to grow.
bemused on June 2, 2009
yes, absolutely, more bike lanes will totally distract people from the eye-stinging air pollution that obscures the mountains from the highway even on a good day.
JoeJacobi on June 3, 2009
Thanks for the post, Sam. I actually come from the Ocoee River area to Chattanooga to ride my bike so I'm in agreement with your ideas about cycling in Chattanooga. Even if a lot of people aren't ready to bike commute to and from work, I've always thought that the daily running around that downtown workers do (lunch, meetings, etc) would be great by bike. You'd get a nice, active break from your office environment, avoid re-parking hassles, and probably get most places as quickly if not quicker than by car.
On another note, WGOW must be so proud of the on-line presence created by their on-air personalities. I'm sure that's working out well for them.
facebook-500415551 on July 9, 2009
Thanks Sam, great post. Joe, you're right about taking a mid-day break even if you don't feel comfortable or simply aren't able to commute to and from work. I'm all for bike lanes, but I'm really behind the concept of complete streets, which go beyond bike lanes (http://www.livablestreets.com/streetswiki/complete-streets). Many people don't understand how amazing a living street can be, because they've never seen one. Not all people will be fit or brave enough to ride bikes, even with a coherent bike lane system, but complete streets benefit all people of all abilities and ages. When bicyclists, pedestrians, latte-sippers, diners, and drivers can exist on the same street together, a new sense of community arises as people begin to slow down and actually greet their neighbors. Traffic congestion eases as more people who can ride bikes actually feel safe riding bikes, and pedestrians who can walk do, and enjoy it! End childhood obesity, give the elderly a better quality of life, increase our community bonds, reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, the list goes on... all by re-thinking transportation? Wow. (Also see this report from the AARP on planning for our aging population: http://www.aarp.org/research/housing-mobility/transportation/2009_02_streets.html)
I'm fortunate to have found that kind of life to some degree here in Chattanooga, and it's one of the main reasons I moved here from Virginia and Raleigh, NC before that. As much as I love where I'm from, you just can't get the lifestyle (and affordability) downtown Chattanooga offers. But I do see plenty of room for improvement, and there are some routes where I still feel like I'm not really safe on my bike.