The best reason to be a cyclist

This April Fool's Day seemed a little light on good jokes, at least on the blogs I read. There were some that I missed the best part of (see: Fatty's post "Yesterday") because I usually only go to the blog page if the full story is 1) interesting and 2) doesn't appear in the Google Reader. One that caught my eye was less a joke and more a departure from norm.

The WashCycle did a post on the Top Ten Zombie Movies of all Time. I dig zombie movies, so I liked the post to begin with. Also, the post includes the mostly unknown but great "Cemetery Man" which I first saw back in college, in the days when Bravo actually was an "Arts and Entertainment" channel. But the end of the piece presented the single best reason to be a cyclist, or at least have a usable bike somewhere at home:

Last week, by coincidence (I've been planning this post for months), Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z was in town and I got to see him speak. World War Z is a fantastic book and may be the ultimate zombie apocalypse story - so well thought out that a zombie fan wonders what they've been doing with their time. It could be made into the best zombie movie of all time - the rights were purchased by Brad Pitt, but probably not, since what it should be is an HBO mini-series. Among the ten rules for surviving the zombie plague he lists

7 . Get out of the car, get on a bike

He further expands in the" On the Run" chapter, after dismissing cars, buses and horses;

The Bicycle: In a class by itself, this vehicle offers the best of both worlds. The common bicycle is fast, quiet, muscle-powered and easy to maintain. Add to this it is the additional advantage that it is the only vehicle you can pick up and carry if the terrain gets too rough. People using bicycles to escape infested areas have almost always fared better than those on foot. Don't let your speed go to your head however. Wear standard safety gear and choose caution over speed. The last thing you want is to end up in a ditch, legs broken, bike trashed, with the shuffling of undead feet growing louder with each step.

So true, I've totally got my bike anti-zombie tricked out.

Ah, avoiding slowly rampaging legions of the undead by bike. I suppose it wouldn't be all that different than dodging people stumbling from their cars into their offices on a normal commute.