I don’t know how the numbers stack up, and probably no one does. It’s particularly hard to keep track of how many Angelenos are pedaling about town “now” versus “then,” since bicycles aren’t registered and there are no central records of bike sales…and besides, as we all know, bikes sold aren’t always bikes ridden.

There are the counts LACBC does every year now, and there are Federal estimates compiled from masses of mixed statistics–and then there’s anecdotal evidence, that is, what my eyeballs tell me.

And my eyeballs tell me that lots more folks are riding in our city these days.

It was gratifying yesterday to come up to the red at the corner and see three cyclists pass–on bike-unfriendly Wilshire Boulevard!–before the light changed.

Likewise to ride up 4th Street as I so often do and pass more cyclists going the other way, than motorists–often many more.

Or stroll down the street and see the bike racks I nagged LADOT into placing on Wilshire filling up with everything from Bromptons to beach cruisers. The stores and restaurants behind those racks look pretty busy, too.

Not to mention other street furniture, such as the parking sign pole across from our window. (LADOT refuses to put bike racks in front of apartment buildings, since they are “for short-term parking only.” The DOT fears that encouraging folks to park their bikes all night will leave the department liable in case of theft.)

Last night as I ambled down La Brea on foot I saw a line of riders on fixies and singlespeeds zip down the avenue in a glitter of diodes, very sweet.

And the other day, when the wife and I had ridden to the Whole Foods on Third, we noted plenty of bikes locked to their (crappy) bike racks and to shopping cart corrals, and plenty of riders slipping through the traffic deadlock in the parking lot. The car drivers were steaming in their cells and honking incessantly at each other while barely moving at all; the cyclists came and went at ease. Circumstantial propaganda for our side!

Little by little, more and more, cycling becomes the choice of the happy and the clever. With the city finally starting to “get it,” it will happen even faster. But what’s most gratifying of all is that it started happening before the city started helping.

It’s our own party, folks–get happy!