By Shelley Smith
The Avery Journal Times
About 4 this morning, David Cline started pedaling west from Salisbury.
He plans to arrive in Boone, 103 miles from here, in time for Appalachian State University’s football game against Wofford tonight.
He plans to pedal into Kidd Brewer Stadium, not only to cheer for the Mountaineers but also to raise environmental awareness and prove that alternative transportation is possible for anyone.
The 25-year-old Salisbury native and East Rowan High School graduate has lived in Poland, the Philippines and Los Angeles since graduating from Appalachian State in 2005. He’s convinced Americans are far too dependent on their cars and oil for transportation and overall lifestyle.
“This ride is for anyone who feels a disconnect with 21st Century America,” Cline says. “Anyone who doesn’t wish to spend 10 percent of their lives trapped in their cars. Anyone tired of spending their hard-earned paychecks on improving Exxon’s bottom line. Anyone who doesn’t want to live at the mercy of maniacal autocratic governments. Anyone who wants to lose weight, improve their health, save money, improve the environment and feel a stronger sense of self and community.
“If you fall into any of those categories, please, hop on a bicycle.”
Cline believes effective change doesn’t come from sending “blind donations” to large organizations but can only come from incorporating that change in your day-to-day life. He likes to quote Gandhi: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
“You can’t save the world with a T-shirt,” Cline said. “Real change doesn’t come from wearing rubber wrist bands, buying pink tote bags or drinking inspirationally bottled water.
“I live by a philosophy of life which has really improved the quality of my life, is completely practical, reasonable, and in line with the ‘American way of life.’ Boiled down, I try to incorporate the ‘slow food’ movement in all aspects of life, which to me means slow down, unplug and consume less.”
When he moved to Los Angeles, Cline roomed with a French-Canadian who had been living in L.A. without a car for a long time. Bicycling had become his roommate’s way of life.
“We took trips all over the city,” Cline says. “I was hooked.”
In the spring of 2007, Cline rode 500 miles from San Francisco to L.A. Ever since, he has done weekly rides and races and started tuning up his own bicycle.
“I realized it was possible to live car-free,” Cline said. “Riding every day, I noticed my health improved. My energy shot through the roof. I was happier. I was saving money. The hassle of parking in L.A. disappeared, and it really sunk in when I realized how much more I enjoyed my daily commute than the guy stuck in his $75,000 Porsche.”
As far as commuting goes, Cline says cyclists are a much happier bunch. He says he has never felt the urge to make an ugly gesture at any fellow cyclists.
“Car culture is any suburban city in America. Car culture is urban sprawl. It is allowing your car to dictate your whole decision process. It’s building our cities not around human beings, but around cars. It’s a society where the people have in fact enslaved themselves under a false sense of freedom and mobility,” Cline said.
“It’s where the car is valued above most other things. Most people glorify the car, and they do not see the problems with car culture. To me, the negatives are glaring. I see skyrocketing obesity rates, the drive-through window lifestyle, gridlock, 40,000 annual automobile deaths, people spending 20 percent of their incomes on cars and the intangible effects that result from people being wrapped in their bubble of metal and glass.
“Car culture is the suburbs of Atlanta at 5 p.m., and Myrtle Beach on the Fourth of July. It’s head-on collisions at 60 miles per hour, and it’s the country in fear of being brought to its knees by $5 gas and noxious fumes. The list is endless.
“To me, car culture is a modern disease that is reaching critical mass. People see it, and unconsciously they desire change. But until they’re presented with viable alternatives, car culture will remain American culture.”
North Carolina doesn’t have great public transportation systems, Cline believes, because it’s never had the need. However, he thinks a good system would boost the economy and better support a state that will soon reach the top five in population.
“Good leaders don’t wait for the need to arise because by then, the problem at hand has grown beyond the point of fixing,” Cline says.
He believes North Carolina is on the right path with its existing rail system running north to south.
“But I say our transportation needs will not have been met until I can move freely between Greensboro, Ral-eigh, Charlotte, Asheville and Wilmington ó without a car, of course,” he says. “Can you imagine a train moving 100, 200 or 300 miles per hour connecting all of those cities? We’d have an internal tourism boom!
“Our state should look to the real world examples of cities like Portland, Copenhagen, Paris, London and Europe as a whole. Take all the best examples from those places and incorporate them into our energy and transportation policies.”
Cline has moved back to Salisbury now, where his parents, Wayne and Jaudon Cline, have always lived.
For the past three years, he’s made a living “working odd jobs.”
Besides planning to hike the Appalachian Trail in 2009 with his girlfriend and bicycling across North Carolina with a childhood friend, Cline hopes to get involved with energy and transportation issues on local and state levels any way he can.
“I’d love to see a concerted effort among city officials and business leaders to promote and implement sustainable, smart growth for towns and cities all across North Carolina,” Cline said. “The possibilities and opportunities that are waiting to be taken advantage of are amazing.”
Cline said he also would like to return to school and earn a degree in sustainable energy or history.
“I definitely plan on living as green and car-free as I can for the rest of my life, because, like the Norwegians said, ‘There’s no such thing as a green car.’
“Football game aside, I hope to bring a little awareness to people’s consciousness, to be that one ounce of motivation someone needed to kick-start their life in a new direction. If this is enough to get one family to bicycle together one Saturday a month, one teenager to ask for a bicycle for their 16th birthday or one person struggling with obesity to take up bicycling and take control of their life, then I’d say I’ve accomplished something.
“Long term, I’d love to see a car-free America. And if that’s too ideal, then at least an America where people have transportation alternatives.”
Shelley Smith is also a Salisbury native and wrote articles for the Salisbury Post before joining the Avery Journal Times.