Bring bike experts from Cuba to fix our roads

[His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher]

(I can almost hear the compliments, "Gee, that's a clever monkey."
Well, the revolution is about solutions, right?)

On Mar 7, 11:01 am, "TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher"

Building is a work which demands many technical experiences. It is not
easy to build or repair any building. You many definitely need a great
knowledge and effort for this purpose. Experience also counts a lot
for building something.
Dade Construction Workhttp://www.rodericllc.com/

Absolutely not. Even a monkey can do it better. For example, the new
"bike facilities" --sharrows and bike lanes to be exact-- are
absolutely stupid. They not connected and can get you killed if you
follow them.
But that's only my humble opinion.

Maybe it seems like I'm placing all the blame on the contractors, but
there are other factors in bad work. It seems to me like --correct me
if I'm wrong-- there's a HOLY TRINITY where politicians and engineers
work on one side and the contractors do the job. The complex system
where they interact may be called the "money jungle," that's where the
money disappears and very little results are seen by the public. The
work may be a complete waste of money and resources, but money changes
hands and that's the bottom line. The contractors know they are doing
a stupid job but they get paid for it. For example, around here they
built a fancy mixed path where lighting is excessive, and the end
result is that you are blinded at night, and I simply stay away from
it. You know I much I crave for riding at night? I'd be happy to beat
the heat and pedal the stress away. It's only 1.5 miles but sucks up
money like a black hole. There are many other issues but I don't want
to tire you.

I think we can outsource the construction to Cuba and get a better
result. Check this out:

"For a North American cyclist like me, the sensation of being
respected as a full road user, or to have a full lane on the highway
leading out of the city gave me an uncommon feeling of pride. For
once, I had more space than I needed, no worries about being cut or
having a door opened in my face, and nobody to honk at my back! What
freedom!"

http://www.culturechange.org/issue12/bicycles_in_cuba.htm

***

Good, this fellow cyclist, tired of being treated as a dog --or may I
say a raccoon-- found freedom in Cuba. That's the type of freedom I've
talking about, which is not say I like the Cuban model. I'm just
stating we may be better off outsourcing bike facilities to Cuba or
something. Something like Holland, but they came to Miami and left
without a trace. Yes, there's a little trace such as some sharrows --
bike painted on traffic lane-- that may be attributed to them, but
that's nothing to protect you from the predators out there.

All you need is BIGGER BUMPERS:

"... the best way to deal with bicyclists is to get a bigger bumper
for your car..." -Karen Schmidt, Washington State House Transportation
Committee Chair


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http://webspawner.com/users/BANANAREVOLUTION

[His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher]

This feedback is worth consideration:

All in all Cuba is a good place to cycle. Safety seemed to be an issue
only when the big via azul busses suddenly blasted past at 65 mph.
They make very little noise an d unlike most other vehicles don't honk
as they approach so pay attention and use a mirror if possible.
Generally I found consistent 85 to 90 degrees and mid range humidity
to lead to a lack of enthusiasm for the climbier parts of Cuba, though
I usually like hills, and the one night we rode until several hours
after dark looking for a place to stay was actually pretty nice
temperature wise.. felt like I could have ridden all night. I found
the people of Cuba to be pretty great, always ready to talk even with
my half done Spanish, and the lack of materialism was a refreshing
change to the USA. Food was iffy but occasionally good, always a
surprise, a continuous search, which I grew to enjoy, I feel that
cycletouring is like the age old and perhaps happier days of hunter-
gatherer civilizations, endless hours of observation of your ever
changing environment, moderated by the fluctuations in the weather,
kept simple by the limited ability to carry only small, lightweight
essential items, tensioned (or spiced if you will) slightly by the
need for food and water and shelter at the end of day and a steady
physical presence, those pedals going round and round, making you feel
stronger each day; picture the opposite of working in a factory day
after endless day, the whole ending up as a blur: traveling on a bike
leaves you with memories of a brightly colored kind, some bad, mostly
good, all of them vivid.

http://www.bicyclingcuba.com/feedback.html

***

Cuba could be Heaven and it can be Hell. But the model can certainly
be used for any other Third World country. If I were Comandante there
I'd keep ALL SUVs from Miami out. All the tourists with bicycles would
be welcomed as well as all others that want to drop the rat race.
Definitely no lack of bananas or freedom. Banana is the necessary fuel
for riding a bike and freedom is what we need to be out of the cage --
just like the hunter gatherers-- and talk to people. Talking to people
is one reason I ride a bike and Cubans are watched when talking to
foreigners. There's no free exchange of ideas and the same applies to
the virtual world. Can you believe it they got no access to Internet
there?

Venezuela is the wrong revolution for other reasons, such as gas being
dead cheap, some 12 cents the gallon, something that would make many
Americans happy, but that we must avoid at all costs. In fact we all
know gas has to cost twice as much as in America to stimulate
alternative energy and downsize those behemoths causing mayhem out
there.

But that's only my humble opinion.

[His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher]

Post by His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher
"TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher"
Let me repeat this - as a cyclist I had respect for motor vehicles and
showed it. Hence they showed respect for me. And over a 20 year period I
never had any more problems with other traffic than I did when I was
driving. And during that time I put in more miles on my bicycle than in
my
car.
Because you refuse to respect motor traffic most still show you respect
and
yet your too stupid to see or understand it.

I want to mention that road cyclists wearing lycra who average 20mph
have little to do with us mundane cyclists doing 10mph for practical
purposes. We are different species, and we have more conflict with
traffic do to the speed differential and other factors, such as the
fact that they often go in packs. We are just easy prey for the
beasts. Ironically we are the ones doing a real task such as shopping
or getting from point A to point B.

Let me appologize for writing insultingly. Since I've never been a "mundane
cyclist" perhaps you have a more accurate view of that group.

"Mundane cyclists" are different from "elite cyclists." We have
different look and different purpose for riding. We are like the
"raccoons" of the animal kingdom, at least that's the way they treat
us.

Now we are driving 30miles to ride perhaps 15miles. No, we are not
exactly raccoons in that part of town.