I hope Delray Beach's battle against bike lanes on A1A won't hurt the city's chances of being named a "Bicycle Friendly Community."

Just because Delray Beach doesn't want bike lanes is no reason to assume it is bicycle unfriendly.

Delray is a very bicycle-friendly city. In fact, I would say -- borrowing the praise from another recent endorsement of a job well done -- it is a "superb" bicycle-friendly city. It's just that Delray doesn't express its friendliness in the form of actual 5-feet-wide strips of asphalt dedicated to the safe travel of bicyclists.

That would be, well, insensitive to those residents who think that the public right-of-way is actually their private property. And frankly, those homeowners can be very unfriendly when they don't get their way -- or in this case, everybody else's way.

But the point is, we shouldn't let a few bad-apple oceanfront homeowners tarnish the reputation of Delray Beach, which is a shining example of bicycle friendliness when compared to say, Ocean Ridge, Gulf Stream or South Palm Beach.

City has subtle way of showing it cares

Yes, Delray Beach cares deeply for cyclists. But in a subtle, very subtle, way, much in the same way that Pakistan is friendly to the United States.

Let me explain.

Boca Raton became the first community in our area to be selected as a Bicycle Friendly Community, a designation given by the League of American Bicyclists last year.

Boca has responded by putting up some 20 purple signs at roadway entrances to the city to announce this designation. Fortunately for Boca, the award was given before the city started dragging its feet over putting in bike lanes on a stretch of Camino Real.

Naturally, Delray can't be blamed for a little bout of Boca-envy here, especially seeing how a city apparently can get the designation and then resist bike lanes.

So if Boca can do it, why not Delray? Although, it might have been easier for Delray to get the designation before fighting the bike lanes.

But I have my faith in Delray, our All-America City. And it stands to reason that an All-America City should try to tack a "bicycle friendly" medal on its civic lapel.

However, this quest for further recognition shouldn't be construed by cyclists as an excuse to actually make the city safer for riding on its most-traveled bike route. Delray has wisely resisted this.

"What makes this decision so disturbing is that it would not have cost taxpayers a penny more to have asked the Florida Department of Transportation to build a real bicycle lane," wrote Jim Smith, the chairman of the city's Pedestrian and Bicycle Task Team. "That's because the funds have already been collected from gasoline taxes and will be spent instead in another Florida location."

'God help the cyclists... '

In other words, Delray is being bicycle friendly -- to some other Florida community. Like I said, this is subtle, very subtle.

So, press on, Delray. Seek the recognition you so desperately need. Meanwhile, I've added another pertinent verse to your theme song, God Bless Delray (sung to the tune of God Bless America .)

God help the cyclists

from cars that we love

drive beside them, and scare them

through the light south at Linton and above

Skim by their helmets, and their handlebars

To their chin straps, white with foam

God help the cyclists

from broken bones

God keep the cyclists

from our sweet homes.

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