How dedicated is Alan Snel to biking? Check out his mileage: over 9,000 miles in eight months. And that's just for two of his three bikes. In an effort to get more people into "this beautiful machine," the Seminole Heights PR professional has combined his love for bicycles with his 25 years of journalism experience (Denver Post, Tampa Tribune) to create the Bike Stories blog (alansnel.com). And through the local biking advocate organization South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers (SWFBUD), Snel writes letters to government officials pushing for bike-friendly policies. Here's Snel on:
Why the bicycle is the best mode of transportation:
"You're not in this gas-driven bubble blasting through life. … the bicycle is just a beautiful machine to celebrate life."
The difference between biking in St. Petersburg and Tampa:
"It's obvious just by looking at what's on the road that the city of St. Pete has committed resources to bike lanes and making a biking-friendly city. … Then you look at the city of Tampa — it's obvious the city just lags behind making its roads hospitable to biking."
How Tampa could be more bike-friendly:
"Follow a policy like St. Pete. Whenever they fix or widen or pave a road it becomes policy that they put a bike lane in. … there's no reason why this area can't be a mecca for biking"
What surprised him about biking in Tampa:
"The one thing that struck me is the number of people that scream at bicyclists to get off the road. I've never lived in an area where people roll down their windows, and they are obviously upset you are on the road."
This article appears in Aug 8-14, 2007.