Your actions speak so loudly I can’t hear what you are saying.

I’ve written about how I feel about becoming a cycling advocate here and how it’s hard not to take what people say personally.  In Key Biscayne, Florida cycling is an issue that stirs much emotion and I feel like a broken record when I talk about the problem so in a gist here it goes: the Rickenbacker Causeway is the only way cars can get in and out of the island.  It is also a long stretch of road next to the water making it ideal and scenic to train with a bicycle.  At times, though thankfully not as often, these two legitimate uses collide.  Many more times, quasi-accidents happen installing fear and anger into those who use the road.

I won’t deny that there are many cyclists who ride unsafely; who don’t stay on the bike lane, ride more than two abreast, don’t stop at red lights, etc.  Yet for every cyclist that does not ride safely there is at leastone car that drives unsafely as well wether it’s speeding or zig zagging through the lanes.  The “fault” is far from unilateral.  So what can we do?  Sit here and curse at the other side?

My desire to do something stemmed from my fear. Together with another like-minded resident I began a group called Bike Key Biscayne (www.facebook.com/bikekeybiscayne). We met with our Mayor and Manager several times, and most recently we presented a proposal to the Village Council, Key Biscayne’s elected governing body.  We want Key Biscayne to apply for a certification as a Bike Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.  The theory goes that this process will force us to have a conversation about cycling, about rights and responsibilities, to educate the community and influence what happens on the causeway. The council approved and we are working on the application.

We met with our Mayor and Manager several times, and most recently we presented a proposal to the Village Council, Key Biscayne’s elected governing body.  We want Key Biscayne to apply for a certification as a Bike Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.  The theory goes that this process will force us to have a conversation about cycling, about rights and responsibilities, to educate the community and influence what happens on the causeway. The council approved and we are working on the application.

I posted all over Facebook and Twitter about this meeting, and was positively surprised that so many of the cycling community showed.  I have also been surprised by how many people actually watch the Council meeting and have asked me “was that you on TV the other night?”  They are legitimately curious and interested in our community.  And I have been encouraged that so many others ask me about Bike Key Biscayne.  They ask me: “what is it that you really want?”

I, personally, want to be safer riding on the causeway as training for an IronMan will have me out there a lot.  That is my ultimate goal.  I can deal with some intrinsic risk in the sport of cycling but anything I can do to alleviate risk I am going to do.   I don’t speak for the cycling community.  I speak for a growing group of people who reside in Key Biscayne and who are willing to act as intermediaries or diplomats between the involved groups.  Because if you understand where I am coming from, perhaps you will be safer out there whether “you” are riding a bike or “you” are driving a car.

The good news is that people ask.  There is a tangeable desire to “talk” about this.  So far though, more often than not, I have been on the receiving end of a complaint that was looking for somewhere to land … and it landed on me.I can recognize the signs, and I see it coming. Someone asks me about Bike Key Biscayne because they want to hear something, perhaps they want to hear how we are going to reign-in the pelotons (as if we could), or how we are going to punish someone for something.  Sometimes, I don’t even think they hear my answer, I get the feeling the question was just a politeness in order for them to start telling me what they really think about the bicycles or the cars.  I’ve heard it from both.  My instinct is to run and hide under the nearest chair but I know that I am in this position to grow, to educate and to be part of a solution. 

The only problem is that I still don’t have all the education I need.  The answers are not in a book that I can memorize and then spew off.  I am a nerd, if that were the case I would’ve read up on it already.  For every opinion there is a dissention. For every dissention there is a frustration and I end up talking to a lot of angry people while my ability for smart retort is limited.  Give me time and give me a computer I can write something up; put me on the spot and I freeze.  I want to tell them to go talk to someone else, but we are still gathering that group of “someone elses”.  

Consequently I am not being pushed to go beyond my comfort level but to leap onto a whole new one.

I am learning to listen, to deflect, and to appease.  I am learning to call for help and I am learning most of all that I have so much to learn.  So if you are reading this and have spoken to me lately about Bike Key Biscayne and got a frazzled response – now you know why.  I don’t have answers.  But I am on my way to get them.  I know I am stretching the limits of this quote but I do hope that my actions are speaking so loudly you can’t hear what I am saying because as of yet, I am doing a lot but not saying much.

This is my personal blog and not where I plan to post on what is going on with Bike Key Biscayne, if you would like more information or to participate, please send me an email triathlonmami@gmail.com so I can add you to our email list.  We particularly need the help of Key Biscayne RESIDENTS.