The thing is, sure they're riding in a way that is dangerous, rude, and dumb. But is there a way to teach them that won't create defensiveness and animosity? After all, it's great that more people are riding their bikes, and at least they're not driving!

I've decided that the best thing I can do is to be a good example and look cool doing it. I ride my bike all over the place in ordinary clothes doing ordinary stuff, looking good and fast, staying safe, and respecting traffic laws and other road users.

And the fact is that it is really hard to start riding in traffic right away. You have to develop skillz like riding in a straight line and looking over your shoulder without swerving--not as easy as they sound! It takes a while to build up the confidence to take on some of the busier roads like US40.

But it's a natural progression. People work their way from riding on sidewalks to riding on quiet neighborhood streets, to slightly busier ones, to even busier ones. The best thing is to make sure that people are enjoying getting out on the bike and getting practice in. Sure, it's a pain watching them learn, but it's difficult to teach people these days.

Here's some other options: I don't know if Richmond has a Critical Mass, but that could be a good way to start. I can't imagine that it would get so big as to cause the problems you find in bigger cities, but would provide a good way for people to get together and ride bikes.

The second is to start a recreational bike club. Richmond already has a racing bike club, but I don't know if they're really accessible to people on hoopty bikes or hybrids who just want to ride slow. Every town needs one of those.

On-road bike lanes can help, as can wide shoulders. A Richmond bike map would be quite handy. And wide curb lanes (like for parallel parking but slightly narrower and without cars) is probably one of the best ways to encourage bike transport. So there's a lot that government can do to help.

Finally, extending the Greenway and connecting off-road trails helps get more people on bikes, which gets more bikes on the roads, which (eventually) helps people learn how to ride well. The more bikers there are in an area, the easier it is to learn how to ride. Minneapolis and Chicago are good examples of this.

I'm trying to make South Bend more bike-friendly as well, so shoot me an email if you have more ideas, questions, etc.