Singer-songwriter Dan Hill is a five-time Juno award winner. His latest CD/ DVD combo set, Manny Pacquiao Sings: Sometimes When We Touch, featuring Dan Hill will be released May 31.
Are you a cyclist?
Yes I am. When I’m not running, I cycle about 30 miles a day. I use the biking as cross training. I’m kind of a maniac. I race everybody. Down there (the Don Valley bike path) you feel like you are in a whole other world. You see deer, fox, skunks. On the path, middle of nowhere, no exits for miles, you end up getting in races with people. Unspoken races. I end up racing everybody. And I usually beat ’em.
Bike paths are one thing; are you an urban cyclist?
I’m kind of a wimp. I’m very nervous cycling on the streets. In Toronto, the number of people cycling has gone up exponentially in the last few years, as has car driving, so there are more and more accidents between cyclists and cars. I’ve been a little more careful about cycling in traffic and try to stick to the bike trails.
I find in cycling, it’s when you think you’re safe that you do stupid things.
I’m a maniac. I have this course, I have all these times for all these different markers. I was going for my own personal record, going really, really fast, the wind at my back. Going into Edwards Gardens [a large municipal horticultural park], you’d think it would be safe because it’s a park, so cars won’t be driving like they would on Bloor Street. But a car cut me off. I slammed on the brakes, hard. Next thing I knew I was in the middle of the road on my hands and knees – all I was wearing were pink bike shorts and a heart monitor – trying to find the teeth that I knocked out of my mouth.
I was ambulanced to the hospital. They ended up reimplanting my teeth. I still can’t eat apples.
But you still bike?
I had to. I knew if I stopped, I’d never start again.
I cannot emphasize just how dangerous it is cycling in the city. Especially now. Even though it is against the law to do this, you’ll see people texting while they drive.
There is so much more distractability among drivers, which is very fertile for an accident.
Do you approve of the Bixi bikes concept? One thousand shared-usage rental bicycles at 80 stations in downtown Toronto (and other cities).
Ideally, the more people who cycle the better it is for everybody.
Is the value of the scheme more about mentality change than the actual hardware?
I think so. Slowly changing the culture. Biking becomes a natural part of how we get around. All we are doing is catching up to Europe. I’m sure it is marketing, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. It can be clever marketing but it can also be good for all of us.
Given the oft-times mutual antagonism between motorists and cyclists, could a Bixi bike, heavy, slow and with a less aggressive upright posture, restore motorist goodwill lost to manic bike couriers? Will they be seen as Dr. Jekylls to the courier’s Mr. Hydes?
When you think of bike couriers, you think of hyper speed. They get paid by how fast they can drop stuff off. The faster you go, the more chances you take. And the more chances you take, the greater the war between cyclists and cars. This is sort of an antidote to that.
Do you foresee success for the Bixi bike concept?
Yes, I do. Toronto is exploding with cyclists. With more and more people wanting to cycle and being turned off driving because of the incredible congestion. Biking is a much more efficient way of getting around and you get there faster.
How would you define success?
You can define success in a lot of ways. Every person that gets on a bike is one less person driving. Every convert you get is a success. I think it will catch on. The perfect timing, the perfect storm of environment and culture.
What happens when there is the inevitable accident or death on a Bixi bike?
Given that my wife is a lawyer, my guess is that they would indemnify themselves somehow. Whenever you do anything these days, you have to sign 5,000 pages of releases.
You are there at a light, at the curb, pink bike shorts and speed demon gleam in your eye and a Bixi bike rolls up beside you. Do you look at them as fellow cyclist, dilettante, weenie … what?
I certainly wouldn’t look at them in any way other than we are all in this together. It is not about who is faster, hipper. We are sharing this wonderful experience and should support one another.
