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You may have noticed them lately. Flying brazenly down the street past cars and pedestrians. Huffing and puffing up hills you don’t even walk up. A flash of neon in the corner of your eye.

Bicycles are many things to many people: the transportation option of the future, a social connector, a fun time, a childhood memory, a great way to get in shape, the possibilities are endless. One thing is clear, their popularity is growing and is, perhaps, the highest it has ever been.

According to the Seattle Department of Transportation Web site, bicycle usage has increased by 28 percent since 2000 and approximately 3.2 million people rode their bikes to work at least once last year.

Our government is working on many levels to encourage cycling within Seattle as well as the country at large.

By 2017, the Seattle Department of Transportation’s Bicycle Master Plan hopes to have added 387.1 miles of bike facility, which would occupy 62 percent of Seattle streets.

David Hiller, Advocacy Director for the Cascade Bicycle Club and member of the plan’s steering committee explained that Seattle is, ''a little bit ahead of the first generation of bike plans, like Portland in 1990.''

''It’s a living document,'' Hiller adds. ''Unlike a plan that sits on a shelf, it has timelines and implementation strategies.'' However Seattle is ''going to need to do something different to get to that 10-15 percent [of cyclists],'' claims Hiller.

In many ways, Seattle has led the country in bike advocacy, one example being the revival of bicycle police units in the United States. The Seattle Police Department created their bicycle patrol unit in 1987 with only two officers, but today it has over 1,000 sworn officers.

The SPD found that bicycle officers had the advantage over patrol cars in situations with tight traffic and where stealth was needed, so they were naturally effective at drug busts and traffic control, and have inspired copycat programs all over the country.

The Seattle Central Campus has had to do a little police work themselves in the past year when students began to lock their bikes to handrails on ramps near entrances.

Milton E. Smith III, Seattle Central Transportation Supervisor, said that students were complaining to him about the lack of parking, so he solved the problem two ways.

To solve the long term problem, Smith ordered six more bike racks for the school and rearranged them according to his observation of student usage.

His temporary solution was to take ''preventative measures,'' so that when he sees bikes locked to the handrails he puts his own lock over the original lock and attaches a friendly note to come see him.

Smith also notes that there is a market for stolen bike parts, and recommends that students use a U-lock.

Though the bicycle lock manufacturer, Kryptonite, placed Seattle eighth in its annual ''Top 10 Cities for Bike Theft'' ranking, the Seattle Central Security Office has not had a bike reported stolen since May 24, 2007.

Some students may have had other bike rack troubles though.

Around 3,000 people used Metro bus bike racks in King County last year, and around 353 of them forgot to get them back. The county keeps forgotten bikes for 30 days before donating them to charity.

Not only is bicycle usage increasing, but it is also diversifying. From the humble Huffy to the sleek Italian road bike, the variety of cycling choices may be the best indicator of its popularity.

Lloyd Tamura of Velo Bike Shop has noticed changes in sales at his Capitol Hill store. ''I think more people are riding bikes… Seattle is very bike-friendly,'' he says.

As for trends, ''[I’m] seeing a lot of older bikes,'' he says, and mentions that fixed gear, also gaining in popularity, is a ''good way to improve old bikes.''

Fixed gear is a type of modified, usually single-speed bike whose wheels’ rotation is directly affected by rotation of the pedals, and vice versa. Consequently, the rider can’t coast and must be experienced to be able to climb hills.

''I feel a connection with a fixed-gear bike,'' says Hirotaka Fukui, a Japanese student studying English at Seattle Central. He adds that fixed gear is very popular in Japan and is close to the skateboarding community as an underground culture.

Fukui first began riding seriously when he arrived in Seattle, in order to explore the city and meet new people. Riding every day for five months got him in shape enough to branch out into BMX and fixed gear. He now participates in ''Fast Friday,'' a fixed-gear race every week.

''Fast Friday'' is also the name of many other bike races and clubs nationwide and Japan, as well as the name of a 2007 fixed-gear documentary.

Fukui was involved with the creation of the documentary ''Fast Friday,'' directed by David Rowe, and helped interpret for his friends when they brought it to a bike film festival in Tokyo, Japan

Another Seattle Central Student, Matthew Wilson, conversely was inspired to ride when he left the United States.

As a child, Wilson went on family bike rides but didn’t ride again until he moved to West Virginia and bought a bike for transportation. He left it behind when he moved to Amsterdam, where he ''saw that millions and millions of people ride bikes,'' bought a ‘70s Viscount and took a trip on it from Rotterdam to Amsterdam.

Wilson then came to Seattle, again bike-less until he received his current bike through the Earn-a-Bike program at the Orion Center. ''I wish I had been riding all along,'' says Wilson.

He appreciates bikes because they are easy to park, fun, maneuverable, and healthy, adding that they also support a sustainable urban lifestyle.

The bicycle’s support of environmentally responsible, dense, urban areas is just one reason the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration require most new and redone urban roads to accommodate bicyclists.

The 2002 National Survey of Pedestrian & Bicyclist Attitudes and Behaviors gave a new importance to bicycle accommodation when it found that ''Most persons suggested changes in bicycle and pedestrian facilities. For those recommending changes, 73 percent wanted new bicycle facilities.''

Government support doesn’t stop at the road. In fact, Washington’s Commute Trip Reduction Law and other City of Seattle ordinances require that Seattle Central encourage its faculty to choose alternative modes of transport, as a result the college created the Transportation Management Plan.

The plan gives faculty members who work more than part-time the opportunity to receive either a Metro Gopass or $30 worth of gift certificates to local stores, including REI.

Compared with the quarterly $114.75 full-time parking rate, the plan makes bicycling seem like a steal, yet only seven faculty members are participating this quarter.

The college also benefits from healthier faculty, as it reduces health-insurance costs, however students are also reaping the rewards of cycling in terms of health.

''It made me stop smoking,'' says Stephen Welch, a Seattle Central student who began biking when he moved here from Texas. Welch adds that it is also a convenient transportation option because it cost less and he is ''impatient'' and ''too lazy to walk.''

Seattle Central cyclists will also be affected by the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan.

Both East Pike Street and 14th Avenue will become a ''shared roadway.'' Broadway will become a street with ''share rows,'' 10th Avenue will be a ''bicycle boulevard,'' and Harvard will receive a bike lane.

Though Welch thinks that Seattle has friendlier drivers than Texas, he hasn’t noticed any of the SDOT improvements already made to local roads. ''I’m not sure they really do a lot,'' he explains, ''I think it is fun to ride with cars.''

''If drivers pay attention, they will be effective,'' suggests student Matthew Wilson.

So who are Seattle bicyclists and why do they ride?

''The artificial distinction of ‘what is your trip for’ ignores the fact that we don’t ask that about any other mode of travel,'' points out Advocacy Director Hiller.

''My job will be over when people use bikes and don’t think of themselves as bicyclists,'' he says, explaining that the CBC ''as an organization … works with bikers as constituents that use their bikes as appliances.''

In order to secure the future of cycling, the general populace must accept cycling as simply another form of transportation, not as a fad.

Though it is interesting to study the different forms of cycling, in the end it’s not what you ride, but that you ride.

May is bike-to-work month, so join the fun and ride to school. If you are thinking, "oh, it's too far," just remember that our new Transportation Coordinator, Jeff Keever, will be riding from Bothell!

There are many online resources about bike safety, governmental bike programs, and the local biking community.

You may find several links at: http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/roads/bike/commuting.cfm