Ken Avidor's Bicyclopolis

From the most recent edition of Car Busters, a macabre warning, or antidote, for our infantilised Western society. Bicyclopolis: A Journey Into the Post-Petroleum Future.

Journey to Bicyclopolis
I began my journey to Bicyclopolis in 2076, nearly 65 years after all contact with the North American continent ceased. Travel was restricted as the chaos and violence swept over North America after the "Peak Oil" year of 2006. The runaway greenhouse effect that began in 2015 spawned scores of powerful storms in the Atlantic Ocean increasing the risk to travelers. Since ships that burned fossil fuels were banned by the final Kyoto Convention of 2018, no sailing ship would attempt the dangerous Atlantic voyage to America. After the loss of radio transmissions, the fate of Americans in the Post-Industrial Era remained a mystery.

Over the decades, global warming rapidly melted the ice pack in the Arctic Ocean until safe navigation to America once again became possible. Sailing the polar route, fishermen began exploring the northern coastline of what used be called Canada. They made contact with bike nomads on the southernmost shore of James Bay in the former province of Ontario.

Bike nomads relayed a message from Bicyclopolis, a city in the interior that expressed concerns about the increasing numbers of sailing ships in Hudson Bay and requested an emissary from Europe to visit Bicyclopolis. As a precaution against what they feared might be an invasion, they required the emissary to travel to Bicyclopolis unarmed and alone.

Bicyclopolis Movie
Mall of America Ruins
Petroleum Age Artifact
Bicyclopolis Bikeshop

Timeline of Doom
Chapters: Trapped in the Desert, Suburban Marauders, Nuclear Power Plant Attacked, The Megamall in Ruins,“Can You Hear Me Now?”, Aftermath