PEDAL PUSHERS
Vehicular gridlock in cities, pollution from internal-combustion engines, and obesity caused by sedentary habits are “out.” Bicycles are “in.” Portland, Oregon is at the top of the list of places where purposeful and recreational bike riding has become an increasingly common lifestyle. In fact, this mecca was dubbed “America’s most bike-friendly city” by Bicycling Magazine, and there is even a website (BikePortland.org) to promote the practice. People on bikes there are accommodated by designated street lanes and parking corrals in front of businesses. Cycling commuters wield a conspicuous presence amid their motored counterparts. The city serves as a prototype for other large metropolitan areas seeking to encourage this mode of transportation and even launch bike-share programs allowing residents to rent bikes (for an hour or a day) from kiosks.
Vehicular gridlock in cities, pollution from internal-combustion engines, and obesity caused by sedentary habits are “out.” Bicycles are “in.” Portland, Oregon is at the top of the list of places where purposeful and recreational bike riding has become an increasingly common lifestyle. In fact, this mecca was dubbed “America’s most bike-friendly city” by Bicycling Magazine, and there is even a website (BikePortland.org) to promote the practice. People on bikes there are accommodated by designated street lanes and parking corrals in front of businesses. Cycling commuters wield a conspicuous presence amid their motored counterparts. The city serves as a prototype for other large metropolitan areas seeking to encourage this mode of transportation and even launch bike-share programs allowing residents to rent bikes (for an hour or a day) from kiosks.
So for many folks in Portland, using bikes
to get around is a way of life.
But an enterprising cemetery operator in a community a couple of hours
south of the city has also made it a way of death. With the goal of transforming the Sunset Hills Cemetery in
Eugene, Oregon into a natural burial site, a range of ecologically sound
products and services are being offered.
One of them is the use of a bicycle hearse! A three-wheeled bike was adapted so that an open-air
structure bearing a casket or coffin can be placed inside it.
Of course, biking to a final resting place
has been possible for a long time simply by contracting with a business that
operates motorcycle hearses. It’s
a matter of locating one of multiple companies available to provide both the
equipment and the service (a driver) within one’s geographical region. Some
pull glass-enclosed coaches, à la nineteenth-century convention, or carriages
suggestive of a style from the old west.
Others have adapted motorcycles so that sidecars support the caskets.
But if you would like your last ride to be
away from the roar or drone of mechanized sounds, watch for emergence of the wheeled carriers earmarked by “zero emissions” and propelled by people (hopefully, also
functioning in the absence of any untoward emissions!). If you opt for this type of trendy
transport, your life companions are apt to garner lasting memories of the trip
to your grave.
