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A glimpse into the future

PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World

Published: October 3, 2022

Sometimes traveling to other places can give you a sneak peek at the trends which could eventually become realities in your own backyard.
Now I say this because if what we glimpsed in Quebec, Canada several weeks ago becomes a trend here in northeast Ohio, well, there’s a very wild and bumpy ride in store for all of us traditional cyclists.
What I’m talking about is the proliferation of e-devices on both recreational trail systems, designated cycling lanes and on pedestrian sidewalks.
And I’m talking about a proliferation of e-devices, that in my estimation, constituted some 40 to 50% of the overall traffic we encountered in and around Quebec.
Yea I know, I’ve been jaw-boning about this e-bike issue for a couple of years now, enough so that I likely sound a lot like Henny Penny with her ominous “sky is falling” prediction.
But I mean to tell you, our recent Canadian cycling sabbatical has got me ever more quizative about the plethora of thorny thickets we may have to negotiate down the road.
For it was only several years ago, on a trip to this very same destination and on those very same trails, that we experienced minimal to negligible e-device traffic.
This 2022 trip has simply demonstrated how in just four short years e-device use can increase exponentially, even in regions where said use appeared to be nothing more than an ephemeral phenomenon.
Now maybe all of this has something to do with Quebec’s amazing network of bike thoroughfares. I mean I’ve ridden gazillions of rail trails and recreational bike thoroughfares in North American for the better part of two decades, and I can tell you without hesitation that the ones in Quebec are some of the best I’ve ridden.
They’re wide and spacious, well designed, well maintained and well suited for moderate levels of recreational traffic - somewhat analogous to the fine trail systems we enjoy right here in Northeastern Ohio. So it begs the question can awesome and easily accessible cycling infrastructure lead to a massive influx in e-traffic?
I’ll address that later. But right now I have to paint you a picture of what it was like to ride a traditional bike in this brave new e-device world. Now on our first couple of voyages I have to say that Judy and I felt as if we were immersed in a mad crush of electric mayhem. And I’m not just talking about e-bikes either. There were e-devices on these trails I’d up until two weeks ago never encountered on a recreational thoroughfare.
There were massive e-unicycles with motorcycle sized wheels that were zooming past us like Star Wars Jedi warriors; pedal-less standup e-scooters that were whizzing along with its ear budded occupants chilling out to the latest Francophilic MP3; military looking e-fat-tire mountain bikes whirling in and out of traffic as if escorting foreign dignitaries around the city; and two, three and four-wheeled pedal-less e-sit scooters whose drivers tried valiantly not to become pinball bumpers amidst the crush of e and human powered machines careening past them.
Okay, truth be told I was pulling our dog in a doggie trailer, so we weren’t blasting along as we normally do.
Yet we weren’t plodding down the trails like a slow moving coal train either. And despite the fact that most of our rides were at a spirited 13 to 16 mph, I can’t tell you how many times little old ladies in tennis shoes, portly dudes in khaki shorts, and hipster college chicks sipping lattes came blazing past us as if we were slow-moving heaps of pack fodder. I mean it all felt like we’d just been dropped into some kind of an alternate universe, a weird and mystifying bizarro e-cycling world.
Yes, my description is a bit of a caricature, but quite honestly, there were many a scene like these that had me shaking my head from side to side in disbelief like a dashboard bobblehead doll.
So it’s not surprising that out of all that French Canadian mayhem I came away with a whole bunch of questions concerning the melding of this new and impending e-device reality with my antiquated traditional cycling world.
And this is precisely where I’m going to go with next week’s column.


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