Taking the mountain through strategy

The bike culture is pretty serious here in Portland, including moving by bicycle. I saw one of these the other day, it was quite something. I still submit DC was a better place for cycling for exercise as it has a much more extensive rails to trails system. Commuting into DC on the other hand is a dangerous idea while it is fairly easy in Portland. The PDX bike culture can be a little over the top. For example, this article cites a "bike-punk band" and then imagines a car free city. Sounds interesting, but like all other potentially interesting ideas, it will hurt as many people as it helps. Ok, that's not true, some people will be hurt and others will helped. Both right and left in the USA tend to dislike people telling them what to do. So if you want better bike access or fewer cars, then you need to construct a system of positive and negative incentives to get it. Takes more work, but will be more effective in the long run.