Is the cure to what ails public health more bicycle riding? Well, it can’t hurt.
View colleague Ingrid Jacques mentions that being in the Heartland of America need not be a hindrance to getting a high ranking on the American Fitness Index. Specifically, she mentions the Twin Cities of Minnesota, where I live.
You might say that we have a “sports-recreational-industrial complex” here–in 2008, voters opted to tack on a sales tax specifically dedicated to recreation, the arts, and natural heritage (all it the Yuppie coalition). We also have a small but strong community of mountain-bike enthusiasts who help work with local governments to maintain and create new single-track dirt trails. Last year, I was so impressed by the idea that I signed up. (Alas, I’ve found since then that some people, despite all this, still pine for even more taxpayer funding of their pastimes.)
The region also has many paved bicycle paths, including one grade-separated route that traverses the width of Minneapolis. There’s a coalition of businesses and people who help maintain things on their own time, though it can’t help but try to dictate what private individuals whose land abuts the path do with their land. (“Don’t block our sunlight!” may be its motto.)
In short, the Twin Cities might be pitched as an example of where a high-tax, high-service policy environment actually works to promote human welfare. Then again, there may be something in the Scandinavian heritage that means people aren’t afraid to get moving outside, even when the thermometer reads below zero. Six “major” ski areas, plus several smaller ones, serve the region, and five of them are privately owned and operated.