Number of Bicyclers Soars Along with US Gas Prices

Bike lanes open new paths across America

May 25, 2011A Philadelphia bicyclist on one of the city's bike lanes.

With gasoline prices prices in the United States hovering around $1 per liter, the number of bicyclers is increasing, especially in cities, according to the

AAA Fuel Gauge Report

.

Sales of road bikes in the United States are up 29 percent from just a year ago, according to Leisure Trends Group, a retail tracking firm. That comes as no surprise to bicyclist Andy Clark.

"Most people know and remember cycling as being great fun," he says. "Everyone had fun and remembers the wind blowing through their hair when they rode their bikes as kids. What they’re missing is that same sense of freedom and excitement and fun."

But Clark, president of the national advocacy group League of American Bicyclists, says it’s often hard to recapture that sense of fun when you’re biking to work in the street. Sharing wide roads designed for faster, larger gas-powered vehicles is not just intimidating, it's also dangerous.

Bike to Work Day with Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Alex Doty, Mayor Michael Nutter and Congressmen Chaka Fattah and Bob Brady.

So when local governments began making street safety a priority, bicyclists responded by taking to the city’s streets in droves, says Andrew Stober, who is with Philadelphia’s Transportation office.