Cycluters of the world, UNITE!

In my quest to come up with a snappier word to replace the tedious “bicycle commuter” label, I started pondering the entire culture of the ever-expanding group of people I’ve come to call “cycluters.”

OK, I’m open to suggestion, but you have to admit that “cycluters” is better than saying “bicycle commuters.”

Anyway, dictionary.com defines culture as “the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group, such as the youth culture or the drug culture.”

Is there such a thing, yet, as a bicycle-commuter culture?

When I first started biking to work in 1992 (see: grunge fashion; Windows 3.1; nicotine patches; $1.05/gallon) I was eager to connect with other bicycle commuters. Hey, trendy-car drivers wave to each other all the time. Mini-Cooper drivers do it. VW drivers. It’s part of their culture.

I started by waving when I saw other bicycle commuters, but decided it was too hazardous to ride with one hand, even momentarily.

Then I tried the adolescent-male head nod. (Too cool.)

Then I started calling out “Roll on!” (Too uncool. Way.)

Recently, I’ve just been raising the four fingers on my left hand, while keeping my thumb hooked on the handlebar grip, for kind of a “safety wave.”

Hey, if we’re going to create a culture, shouldn’t we come up with some sort of recognizable way to signal our solidarity? Somehow, the thought of just pedaling silently past each other every day leaves me flat. I prefer thinking we’re more than just Schwinns that pass in the night.

--Wordsmith 1953