I am all in favor of raising awareness of issues, topics, causes, etc. through visual or participatory acts, but sometimes such campaigns cause me to roll my eyes. It is not the best comparison, but when I encounter the "holiday" isle in a store I just have to laugh. For example, Halloween might be on the horizon so there are lots of costumes for sale, but at the same time Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations might be on the same isle at the same time.
At times like these I laugh inside and think that some day every single day of the year will be a holiday. Maybe not a holiday you get off from work, but a holiday that leads to companies producing ridiculous plastic knickknacks that you can buy to "celebrate" . . . and then later discard into a landfill. Someone else obviously feels like me because this picture made the rounds a few years ago and pokes fun at the phenomenon I am describing.
How is this topic related to bikes and cycling? Astute cyclists of all shapes and sizes I am sure know that some people came up with a seemingly successful plan to declare May as National Bike Month. I guess I should be happy since organizations try to show their support for cycling by organizing events and running promotional campaigns, but overall I find myself feeling a lack of excitement.
Maybe this is due to the fact that this is not truly "our" month - we must share it. I like to share and all, but when your realize the long list of causes "we" share it with, it seems to lose some of its luster. Check out the list of May observances from blendradioandtv.com:
May - Month
Allergy / Asthma Awareness Month
Arthritis Awareness Month
Breath Easy Month
Correct Posture Month
Digestive Diseases Awareness Month
Hepatitis Awareness Month
Melanoma / Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month
Mental Health Month
National Barbe-que Month
National Bike Month
National Egg Month
National High Blood Pressure Education Month
National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
National Salad Month
Neurofibromatosis Month
Older Americans Month
Osteoporosis Prevention Month
Stroke Awareness Month
Trauma Awareness Month
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Suddenly "our" month seems diluted. You can imagine then how my sense of delusion increased when I received the following message on May 18th -
It is funny that nowhere in the message is there any sort explanation as to why the event was cancelled. I am a curious sort and so I went to ilovethebronx.com to find out why BIKE TO WORK DAY was cancelled. There was no information, just what I am sure was the original announcement:
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and Transportation Alternatives invite everybody who lives or works in the Bronx to take part in National Bike to Work Day. This short ceremonial ride down the famous Grand Concourse draws attention to the health and environmental benefits of biking. Afterwards, join BP Diaz for a free power breakfast at Lou Gehrig Plaza. Jurors are especially welcome to pedal to jury duty.
I would hope that something important would cause the cancellation of such a monumental ride of a whole 6 kilometers (for the American audience this is the equivalent of almost 20,000 foot long hot dogs laid end-to-end). I can imagine getting bumped by Arthritis Awareness, but let's hope that the ride was not cancelled because it was National Egg Month and an egg toss is taking the place of the bike ride.
My proposal for President Ruben Diaz Jr. next year is to link as many of the "May" days together that are in some way related to cycling. It just so happens that riding a bike in NYC can cause Allergies to flare, Arthritis to act up, and can be taxing to your Mental Health and an overall Traumatic experience. There, you have five of the "May" days all wrapped into one ride. After the ride bring in some Salad, Egg, and BBQ Vendors for the after party feast and you have three more tie ins.
I'm sure a creative way could be found to include all of the May "awareness" topics into the Bike to Work Ride . . . and man I would love to see the logo promoting the event =)

