pffft. It was a turn of phrase. I’ll take all y’all on at once – I’m not afraid of anything!!!!!

@David

Yeah – I basically do similar things. Just try to empathize and listen.

One thing I always do when I’m talking to someone about biking – try hard to make a little progress, not a lot. If you can take a conservative business man who thinks bikes are absurd, and simply convince him that bikes are a reasonable option for yourself, you’ve made big progress. Lots of little steps eventually gets you to your destination.

this isn’t an elevator speech, but rather an antiquated maxim that i like repeating every so often when i’m in the middle of telling people how great cycling is:

every little girl thinks her doll is the best. don’t tear it to shreds to prove it’s made of sawdust, give her a new one, and she’ll leave the old.

i like it because it helps me focus my energy. i don’t (or try not to) tear down people who choose to drive. it immediately puts them on the defensive:

“i have to drive”
“i live too far away”
“i’ll get sweaty”
or now we’re more likely to hear
“i drive a hybrid”

instead of forming my discussion on what they shouldn’t be doing because it’s evil, i talk about how much fun cycling is. how much i enjoy my commute. how much i enjoy the simplicty of parking. the convenience of being able to park wherever i want, to pass traffic jams, health, exercise… all of those things.

i try to be empathetic towards their concerns, while restating my positive feelings about my experiences. i also try to establish a common connection that just under two years ago, i had no experience with biking for transportation either.

everything i can do to infect them with enthusiasm, and to show them how close they are to actually changing their life. making it seem graspable, doable…