If you are a cycle-commuter, someone is sure to ask, "What do you do when it rains?"
In most places, you have the following choices:
1. Use fenders and raingear (or carry a change of clothes).
2. Get wet.
3. Use other means of transportation.
I'll admit to having used 3.) when it's raining, cold and windy--or during a hard, driving rain when I could hardly see in front of me. I also have used alternative means of transportation--which, for me, here in New York, means the subway--when there was more than a dusting of snow.
Some day the weather excuse won't wash--at least, if architect Richard Moreta has any influence over urban planners.
He has just unveiled his "MINILOOP", an enclosed elevated bikeway designed to snake alongside streets or highways, or cut their own paths through cities.
Moreta says he has designed MINILOOP to be easily replicated in, and adapted to, different locales: It can be made open-air for warmer climates and fully enclosed in less hospitable environs. Most important, though, he believes his design will not only help to reduce the number of motor vehicles used for transportation; they will afford more vertical space for trees and plants to grow and help filter the air.
In most places, you have the following choices:
1. Use fenders and raingear (or carry a change of clothes).
2. Get wet.
3. Use other means of transportation.
I'll admit to having used 3.) when it's raining, cold and windy--or during a hard, driving rain when I could hardly see in front of me. I also have used alternative means of transportation--which, for me, here in New York, means the subway--when there was more than a dusting of snow.
Some day the weather excuse won't wash--at least, if architect Richard Moreta has any influence over urban planners.
He has just unveiled his "MINILOOP", an enclosed elevated bikeway designed to snake alongside streets or highways, or cut their own paths through cities.
Moreta says he has designed MINILOOP to be easily replicated in, and adapted to, different locales: It can be made open-air for warmer climates and fully enclosed in less hospitable environs. Most important, though, he believes his design will not only help to reduce the number of motor vehicles used for transportation; they will afford more vertical space for trees and plants to grow and help filter the air.
There was once a similar scheme proposed here in Chicago. It was to have high volume fans at regular intervals both for ventilation and to give riders a perpetual tailwind. Very interesting but I never heard anything else about it.
ReplyDeleteMuch better than flying cars any day.
ReplyDeleteSafety goggles with some anti-fog on them is good for those hard rain days. If it is ALSO cold, clear ski goggles work well. Does Moreta actually RIDE a bike? If so, is he English or from somewhere that people ride on the right side of the available route? One of his photos show the slow lane on the left. Another shows people riding on a path in accord with US and (most) EU practice.
ReplyDeletePhillip--A perpetual tailwind? Now, if that doesn't entice people onto bikes, I don't know what will!
ReplyDeleteMT--I agree.
Steve--I haven't been able to find much info about Moreta. I had to wonder, as you did, whether he is indeed a cyclist.
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