I recently posted a link to my coverage last year of our trip to Las Vegas. I believe Vegas may be the worst city for bicycling in the country, and I attempted to capture some of those terrible bicycling conditions in photos. The photo above is one that I snapped of a street where we actually saw somebody bicycling.
My pal P.J. countered with a photo he took in Lake Oswego, Oregon — a suburb of Portland.
I argued that my Vegas photos were much, much worse. P.J. didn’t take that sitting down. I figure there’s something to be said for a lot of places being bad.
In this spirit of friendly competition, I am announcing a contest that surely nobody wants to win: The Bad Streets for Bicycling Photo Contest.
Photos must be of places where, much as it might suck to ride, people ride anyway, or could (e.g., not the freeway, unless it’s a freeway where it’s legal to ride and people actually do).
The deadline is midnight on May 11th, 2012.
Consideration will be given to photos that meet the following criteria, in order of importance:
1. Original work by you.
2. Are generally good photos that evoke the horror of the place.
3. Optional: Bonus points if someone in the photo is actually riding a bike, or there are signs or other road markings visible that welcome people to ride bicycles on your bad infrastructure of choice.
In this contest, everybody loses. Also, everybody wins in a sense … if you submit your work/bad street, it’ll be displayed publicly below. But there will be, for formal purposes, a “winner.” This person will be chosen based on my personal judgment, as informed by reader feedback.
The grand prize will consist of sympathy, a set of the zines I currently have in print, and maybe another prize if somebody would like to donate something appropriate. The winner will also have the opportunity to write a post for this blog about the subject of their photo; perhaps we can get something done about it, or at least give you a chance to vent.
Enter by posting your photo and/or a link in the comments below. Also include a sentence or two explaining where your photo is and anything else we should know. One submission per person! Please include your email address in the space allotted (it won’t be visible publicly) so I can contact you if you’ve “won!”
Readers, please weigh in. And hang on, it’s going to be a depressing ride.