Define "not friendly"

When Brian first decided on moving to Ann Arbor, I was nervous. I had only been in Michigan once, and it was a very unsanitary experience. What would the weather be like? Would the people be Midwest-nice? Did they have even crazier words for ATM and drinking fountain? I began to ask everyone who had lived in Michigan or Ann Arbor what the city was like. I was told several times that it was “very nice” and “not as bike friendly as Madison”. “Very nice” was good, and Brian and I weren’t bike crazy, we just took ours to and from campus mostly, with occasional side trips.

Today Brian learned what “not as bike friendly” means. Apparently, it involves every road on campus lacking a bike lane, so bikes interact freely with traffic. It also includes speed bumps while going up hill. It means that the bike ride to campus really is up hill both ways. And it means that drivers hate you.

Brian had the thrilling experience of being cut off and narrowly avoiding being hit by a car. While we know plenty of people who have had near misses or actually collisions while biking, it usually was because cars don’t notice bikes. This one definitely noticed him, because before almost hitting him the driver was yelling “Get back on the sidewalk.”

So if someone asks me what Ann Arbor is like, I’ll say “very nice” and “bike hostile.”