It’s a question I’ve heard a few times: what exactly is slow bicycling? I figured it would be good to give an answer here, so that the post remains for those who will ask eventually down the line.
Let’s start with part of the introduction on the Slow Bicycle Movement group on Facebook.
It’s about riding your bicycle. To work, to play. Casually, in a relaxed manner. With time to enjoy the self-propelled movement that you and you alone generate. And, of course, to look around and see the landscape – urban or not – that you pass by at your leisurely pace. [...] The Slow Bicycle Movement is a celebration of the bicycle. Not as a speed machine or a tool for tribal membership but merely as an enjoyable way to get around.
Slow bicycling is all about using the bike in a regular, run-of-the-mill, everyday kind of way. It’s about looking at a bike, not as a fitness machine, a way to go fast or to climb/go downhill through as harsh terrain as possible, but rather as a regular mode of transportation, the way in which we move around our lives.
Slow bicycling isn’t about the type of bike you have either; while there are some bikes better suited to grocery store excursions and commuting, it is possible to do slow bicycling on a road or mountain bike as well. It’s about the attitude of the rider, the reason why they got on the bike in the first place.
Slow bicycling is about returning the bike to its proper place of importance in people’s lives. It already is in many countries in the world, places like Holland, Denmark, and Japan; it is time to bring that standard to the rest of the world.
That’s our goal here at Slow Bike Miami. Join us.
[...] Daniel M. Perez wrote an interesting post today onWhat Is Slow Bicycling? | Slow Bike MiamiHere’s a quick excerpt [...]