TCI Friday

Here is my premise: We all belong to a union of bike riding people. And no matter what kind of bike we ride, we benefit from the work of an advocacy group trying to make our riding lives better. That might be a local trail alliance, a local mountain bike association, or a state level bike group that works with town and government on bike lanes and other infrastructure. No matter where you put your wheels, there is someone working on improving that place for riding.

They’re the active part of the union, and we are the rank and file.

These days life feels like a steady parade of people asking us for money (TCI included), as if getting out of bed requires an Apple subscription and you can’t leave your front door without incurring some kind of transaction fee. I get that. But I also get that bicycle advocacy and action speak to the parts of my life where I derive actual joy.

For that reason, I’d suggest we should all belong to one or more of these bike groups. A long time ago, I viewed them as charities, and it was easy to say to myself that there were more deserving charities. BUT. They’re not. They’re unions, and whether we belong formally or not, we get union benefits.

It’s all gonna go better out on the road or the trail if these organizations have the resources they need to do what they do, not to mention the people doing the hard work getting to know that the people who benefit acknowledge and appreciate that work.

This week’s TCIF is about union dues. Do you pay them? Do you not? If you’ve thought about it, what’s held you back? Do you even know which groups are working on your behalf? Some of them have such small budgets they aren’t communicating effectively about what they’re doing. And hey, while we’re at it, what other fee or subscription could you cancel to free up the cash for the bike union?