As biking regains its popularity - more than 10,000 riders crossed the Willamette River each day in 2006 - it takes on properties of self-fulfillment and gains a momentum which has generally been the purvue of cars and trucks and other heavy machinery.

I've been riding over the traffic counting strips this week, and every time I do I imagine the counter ticking, anonymously recording my river crossing. It is well documented that measurement devices are incentives in themselves, which is why some are promoting Bicycle Barometers so we can have a running count of the daily peddling horde.

The jury may forever be out in the case of bike lanes vs. full transit rights for bicyclists. When there is so much traffic in a bike lane that the city decides to expand it, one recognizes that it a consistent, persistent, and overwhelming use of a preferred infrastructure will result in the eventual expansion of that infrastructure to accommodate use.

I say it is a good day when bike lanes are being widened. They are being widened because numbers have spoken. Keep riding!