Sunday, December 12, 2010

The Soleri Bridge


Yesterday, I rode Hardiboi over to Scottsdale to attend the dedication of the Paolo Soleri bridge. I took several photographs, but only one of the striking, primary pylons:



Nuts! It's the old thumb-in-the-lens trick!

As luck would have it, another Arizona bike rider (and a better photographer than me), John Romeo Alpha, was also there for the dedication and put up a spectacular post about it in his blog: Soleri Bridge Dedication in Scottsdale. In addition to the great photos and videos, JRA did a terrific job of outlining Soleri's philosophy.

JRA's blog, One Speed: Go!, is one of my favorite places on the web for an even more important reason than either his marvelous photos or his excellent writing. The way he approaches the Argument-for-Bicycling is much more effective than mine. I tend to skewer the bicycling opponents with facts and logic, and while this works great for winning the argument it isn't very good for convincing those non-riders who are on the fence about whether we should spend tax money on bicycling infrastructure.

JRA's style is typically one of gentle admonishment. If you come away from any of his on-line discussions about bicycling without believing we should devote much more money to bicycling infrastructure, well, you're a hard-hearted, illogical SOB who should be charged extra for every gallon of gasoline you buy!