The sign left off the most important part: "Reduce Smog and Save Gas. Avoid Idling ... your Bike"
On Sunday I sneaked my way onto the Ride for Heart by first riding up to Lawrence. Why did I not pay Ride for Heart my fee for the opportunity to ride the DVP? I guess I felt that I've already subsidized these big highways enough when I rarely need them compared to our dear car-commuting cousins who like to use it 5 days a week and then complain about all their fees.
The government should be paying me a $2000 rebate for saving them in tons of health and environmental costs. I'm cheap. Paying to save our air after we've destroyed it is not.
Seriously, though. I think cyclists, pedestrians and transit users should start a campaign for the government to pay us for helping to avoid environmental and health costs.
Comments
Rick Mason (not verified)
Sneaking in
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 12:52Dude that's really not cool. The entry fee has nothing to do with subsidizing the highway and everything to do with supporting heart and stroke research.
It's not that I disagree with your sentiment - I'd love to be able to commute north and south through the city on my bike as quickly as the DVP allows me to - but ripping off the Ride For Heart in protest of cars and highways is not the way to go about this.
Now if you said it was to protest the excessive amounts of crap that they give out to every rider at the finish line (a plastic bag full of paper with advertising for various corporate sponsors) I might agree with you a little more.
herb
not cool
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 13:03I've rarely been accused of being cool.
I'm not so much against giving money to the Heart Foundation. Just last year I paid the fee and went through the entrance like everyone else. Perhaps what I did could be considered immoral or even illegal, but mheh...
I don't think you can say that I have no case: cyclists pay higher taxes relative to road use. The city subsidizes drivers and the only time I can safely make use of the DVP and Gardiner, unfortunately, is when the Heart Foundation pays to get it shut down to car traffic. Sure, I'm a free rider, but then so are all those car drivers.
I think I've made my point by sneaking on and telling the world. Maybe I'll do it again or maybe I'll feel guilty to the Heart Foundation and pay up. Depends how I feel about smog, climate change, car culture on that particular day.
troy (not verified)
Wow! How cruel and selfish
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 13:48Wow! How cruel and selfish are you? I strongly suggest you send a donation to the Heart and Stroke Foundation and a thank you note for their continued hard work in getting the DVP shut down every year. I bet they combat a huge amount of pressure from many groups to achieve the annual closure.
Incidentally, the best image I saw on Sunday was a CP24 Traffic Camera shot that showed the DVP devoid of cars and packed with bikes.
joe
Selfish?
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 14:02I think Herb is catching way too much flack for this... why is it bad to go onto the Gardiner or DVP when it is closed to cars?
My wife and I rode yesterday, paying th $40 per person, and while the ride was fantastic (we did 50K), the big corporate whorefest it becomes once you cross the finish line leaves a bad taste in my mouth every year.
I'd much rather give them $80 to put into research than pay for "covering costs" (The registration fee covers the administrative and operational costs of the event. - rideforheart.ca), especially since the event has oodles of corporate sponsors (Becel alone gave them $500,000 yesterday)
JD (not verified)
To the administration of
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 14:15<
blockquote>
To the administration of the Ride For Heart:
I thought this would be of interest to the administration at the Ride For Heart.
http://www.ibiketo.ca/node/296#comments
I thought it was in very bad taste, and sad that people would stoop so low.
Thanks,
JD
joe
JD
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 14:32Good job JD. Let's see if they care.
Hopefully they will and get I Bike T.O. some press. Thanks!
herb
50 lashings
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 14:56I took the risk of these lashings by advertising that I was "ripping-off" all those dedicated citizens and the associated Heart and Stroke Foundation. In my greater goal of increasing discussion I have succeeded. If I face a fine or house arrest for my sneakiness I welcome it, so long as it increases readership on I Bike T.O.
Really, folks, how many people do you think would go through all the effort of riding all the way up to Lawrence and DVP to sneak on? It's much easier to just go to the Ex. I don't think the Ride for Heart is in danger of losing patrons.
I had a good laugh at all the adjectives I'm receiving: low-stooping, selfish, cruel... It's funny and yet it's not. I suppose you citizens of public morality don't get out much if you think I fit those adjectives.
I think I have a legitimate reason for making a point in this manner, as I've given already. It's not to say that I didn't receive a personal benefit from it, but that is partly the point. Cyclists pay for road services that we don't get to ever legally use (on our bikes) - i.e. cycling on the DVP, Gardiner. We receive some side-benefit from automobile transportation through cargo-carrying and the occasional car-ride but not compared to regular car drivers. The benefit of these community-dividing highways to daily car commuters far outstrips my own benefit. I'm subsidizing them, and it's not fair.
And when I bike down the Gardiner and see the downtown shrouded in killer smog, it makes me think: "Shit. The rest of you people should be paying me not to drive a car." I'm helping to save some one's life by not contributing to this smog. I'll take cash, money order, paypal, and cheque.
That last line would have been a nice closure but I can't help but make a comment about cycling fundraisers that are staged to raise money for every charitable cause but cycling. What are cyclists to do if they want to raise money for cycling infrastructure, hold a car rally, a heart transplant-a-thon? All kudos to charities like the Heart and Stroke Foundation but they aren't really getting at the root causes, one of which is the sedentary lives people lead in their cars and another the dirty, dirty air we get to breathe.
(Just in case you're interested a bunch of people are trying to start cycling fundraisers that will benefit cycling infrastructure: The Amazing Toronto Bike Tour (though not much was raised), and the Dusk to Dawn which raised money for bike parking at Fort York last year and hopefully will be happening again.)
JD (not verified)
all about the tactics
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 16:34I often find myself disagreeing with protesters based solely on their tactics. I don't disagree with your sentiment (or the need for better cycling infrastructure). I just think there are better ways to get publicity for your cause (and for your website) than to parasite onto the Ride for Heart. All you did was participate in a fundraiser that you didn't contribute to, then hopped online to brag about it.
A better way to handle it would be to raise funds yourself, then donate to your cause.
I'd even suggest cycling on the DVP with traffic (on the shoulder of course) and have people give you a pledge per km successfully traveled. You'd get loads of media exposure, and I'm sure there would be a lineup of sponsors for such an event. I know it's illegal, but that didn't stop you yesterday. I'll give you $5 per km to start you off.
herb
good point but not fun
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 16:51Sure, there are good tactics, and there are bad tactics. Who knows if what I did was a good tactic - I hadn't thought it all out beforehand. I had fun, then I made a point on this blog.
I didn't think I was trying to brag about it (well maybe just a little), all I really wanted to do was raise a point and put up an ironic photo or two of smog and cyclists.
One reason I wouldn't do a protest as you suggest of biking on the DVP with traffic is that it just isn't fun to ride with tons of traffic. But perhaps I could convince the Critical Mass folk to do it with me.
eightlines
I agree
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 13:33I have to agree, I don't think I can add much else to Rick's statement, except that people sneaking in leaves me feeling a bit cheated. I spent the time asking friend's to donate money to the cause, and I think the real losers are the people that suffer from the medical condition. I don't think a ride like this should be used as a political statement.
Anonymous (not verified)
sneaky
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 12:57It is nice to hear I wasn't the only sneaker. It was a lot of fun riding the highways, but not as good as critical mass.
tt (not verified)
Ride where you want - here's a free pass
Mon, 06/04/2007 - 14:12How about this - I did pay my fee, but for other unrelated reasons, could not ride. So, my fee can cover Herb's cost!
People sneak in - it doesn't stop H&S fdn from raising lots of dough. I don't see how it hurts anyone.
I also thought this was a great post. Nice and to to the point. Look at that filthy air. Sad.
David (not verified)
I make a policy of sneaking
Tue, 06/05/2007 - 15:05I make a policy of sneaking into fundraisers at the Hospital for Sick Children. I mean, only treat children, what's up with that?