It seemed just like yesterday when bike riding was just a fun way to get around in Minnesota, then came a guy named Greg Lemond, this guy had to go out and win the Tour De France a couple of times , and just like after the 1980 Miracle on Ice, people went crazy, everybody thought their kid was the next Wayne Gretzky and the ice hockey blitz was on , hey I played program hockey in the era that the 1980 olympic team came from and it wasn't half as psycho as it was afterward, not even close I see parents pushing their poor kids and giving up their own lives all in the name of the Puck.

 Now back to the bike riding, its cool to get out on the bike and ride the lakes in Minneapolis, and its great excercise and it saves gasoline , and I'm glad everybody is doing it, but their is a huge down fall to bike riding mania, we go out and build multi-million dollar bike trail systems and fancy arse bridges over Hiawatha avenue, Congressman Oberstar took federal highway money to build bike trails across his congressional district, while the 35W bridge was falling into disrepair, the afore mentioned Hiawatha bridge went up during the same time, where did that money come from, we are still building bike trail beautification projects around the city , during this economic downturn, and our taxes are still going up as our property values run off a cliff with the rest of the wooly mammoth's.

  Now here is the tough love part for the bike riders , you want it , you pay for it , I would like to propose that it is high time that bicycles be licensed just like any other mode of transportation they should have to display this license plate visibly where it can be seen at all times by traffic enforcement, I'm not talking about kid bikes with training wheels or kids not old enough to drive, I'm talking about adult bikes who ride day after day as excercise or a mode of transportation, we have given up lanes of transportation for cars for the purpose of bike lanes , we have footed the bill in our gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees to paint lines for their paths, they haven't paid their fair share and it is time for tough love and complete traffic enforcement for bicycle's who run red lights and stop signs and piggyback traffic lanes then bust out in front of traffic before the light changes and become a traffic hazard, do not yield the right of way to a motor vehicle who has the right of way , I am personally sick and tired of the constant traffic abuses by bike riders , I would classify these people as Arrogant Americans also.

 We could raise alot of revenue from these patriotic Americans as their hero Vice President Joe Biden put it, paying for it is your Patriotic duty.