Bicycles and feasibility

Many of you know that I think bicycling in the sprawl of Atlanta is hideous, and only rewarding because I'm a bit of an obsessivist freak: the more difficult it is, the more committed I am to doing it.

In my reading for this New Urbanism course, there is a recurring theme, namely that you can't exist in daily life in most American cities without a car:

Low-density, single-use development that is spread out over large regions has created a settlement pattern that is completely dependent on automobiles to carry out even the simplest daily tasks such as going to school, picking up a loaf of bread, visiting a friend, seeing a doctor or dentist, visiting a park, or going to work....

Well actually, in the 72 hour period starting yesterday morning, I'm going to do every single one of these tasks by bicycle with the exception of going to school (which I'm doing online) and going to work (which I do from home, but which J does five days a week by bicycle.)

Yes, it can be done: yes, we CAN do most of this stuff by bicycle. By foot. By public transportation. If absolutely need be, by car.

But many of us, at least those of us with the leisure time and internet connectivity to sit around and read random, mediocre blogs like mine, CAN avoid the car 98% of the time. We just have to decide to.