April 10, 2007 - Way To Go!

Before we go any further, let's set things straight. The skinny 3-mile path that winds alongside Cabrillo Blvd from the Bird Refuge to Leadbetter Beach is officially called a Bikeway - as in, "it's my way or the bikeway." It's like a freeway, a highway, a Milky Way, or an Amway, but for bikes instead.

However, if you've ever been on the Bikeway, you know that the word ‘way' really isn't the issue at all. The fact of the matter is that there are more walkers, runners, baby-stroller pushers, and surreyers going your way or the other way than there are bikes going any which way at all. Ed weighed in on the matter. He thinks there are more bike riders on the road nearby (Cabrillo Blvd.) than there are on ‘the way'.

Yesterday, the dedicated staff of edhat.com went to the beach - not to wade in the sea, but to watch the wayward travelers using the Bikeway. Doing it our way, we counted the number of people using each mode of ‘way transportation'.

We set up camp on the grass, just out of the way of a pick-up soccer game that was in progress on the wide grassy area of the park. Then, we waited for people to come by. There was no way of knowing how long we would be there. Ed told us that the way we had to do it was to count 100 total people. If there were five folks in a surrey, that would count as five people. Of course a surrey or a tricycle are not counted as bicycles. No way! They have way too many wheels.

Our survey produced the following results:

Walk 42
Surrey 22
Run 14
Bike 12
Skate 6
Tricycle 4

As you can see, a way better name than Bikeway would be Walkway, Surreyway, or Runway. Beach Path or Alternative Transportation Corridor (ATC) would also be good names.

Edhat contestants Margo, Strasburg7, and Bitchin Bob each came up with the correct answer that 12% of people on the bike path were on bikes. The Edhat Dog, who hasn't decided a contest tie since February, was called into action to choose the day's t-shirt winner. For each of the three winners, ten pieces of popcorn were thrown her direction. She caught all ten of Margo's and dropped two of the others. Margo is the winner of the daily t-shirt!

T-shirts can be picked up at Highlights Salon on the corner of De La Vina and Alamar. Haircuts are also available for an extra charge.