slow down and breathe

Yahoo! Canada Travel reports on WestJet's inflight magazine, up!, naming Vancouver as Canada's most walkable city for the second year in a row. Sounds plausible to me! Until last year, walking was my primary mode of transportation.

I do, however, question a statement made near the end of the article:
"You notice things you normally wouldn't see from the vantage point of a car or even a bicycle, since walking is an activity that forces you to slow down, breathe, look around and take things in."

From a car, absolutely. From a bicycle? That depends on how fast you're going, and I think the article's authors must be imagining far speedier cycling than I'm accustomed to. I took such a shine to cycling so quickly because it allowed me the perfect compromise between walking and driving/public transportation: slow enough to breathe, look around, and take things in, but fast enough to actually get somewhere useful in a decent amount of time. Walking, while still an integral part of my lifestyle and personal transportation strategy, is less practical and more leisurely.

Now, let's see if Vancouver can tackle the title of Canada's most cyclable city...