The Politicization of ‘DEI’ Bike Lanes

Some of the disparities are cultural in the making—and don’t make a ton of sense. On the streets, men disproportionately ride, meaning cycling is masculine, right? Not really. Packs of cyclists are derisively referred to as “MAMILS,” as in Middle-Aged Men in Lycra. Meanwhile, step into a spin class, and you may likely see only women clipping in. Context, it turns out, is everything. 

More broadly, exercise has become a luxury good. It was the Yuppies who made marathoning and high-end road bicycles so popular. Today, people are just as likely to commute by bicycle in households that have more than $200,000 in income as they are in households that bring in between $50,000 and $75,000. Many of the people commuting by bike are choosing to do so. They have alternatives.

Not everyone is so lucky. Transportation injustice is real. Too often, urban renewal projects destroy neighborhoods of color for the sake of white commuters’ convenience. We should be conscious of these historic injustices. But working to undo wrong and encouraging groups of people who don’t currently bike to do so don’t need to be mutually exclusive. And it shouldn’t be controversial.