THIS IS not a Garden Grove bicycle lane (Shutterstock).

Bike a mile in my Skechers, will ya?

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Garden Grove City Council an agenda item that one would expect would create no more controversy than a resolution in favor of milk, the flag and motherhood drew some skepticism.

At issue was the awarding of a contract to WGJ Enterprises for the construction of the Bicycle Corridor Improvement Project for “improved bicycle signing and striping upgrades” for $1.272 million, paid for by grant funds.

Councilmember George Brietigam aimed a critical eye at certain parts of the project and went into some comments in which he expressed doubt that there was much demand for the bike lanes anyway in the City of Youth and Ambition.

Something tells me George doesn’t often step into his multi-colored Spandex bike shorts and goes racing down PCH for an afternoon’s cycle sprint to Oceanside.

Well, neither do I. I armor myself with blue jeans, a funky helmet that looks like something out of an underperforming DC movie and try to peddle around town without getting sideswiped, run over or toppled by uneven pavement along roads that don’t appear to have been paved since Richard Nixon wasn’t going to be kicked around any more.

Garden Grove is a wonderful community in almost all respects, but its bike path network is close to worthless at present. All you get – right now – is a thin stripe of paint (interrupted frequently) that is all the separates you from a ton of speeding metal and early Medicare.

At a time when we are all called upon to reduce motor vehicle traffic, toxic emissions – and me, my waistline –  encouraging people get up and exercise seems like a wonderful idea.

Improving the safety of doing that should be close to the top of the agenda for any hip city. And there are many people who would use bike paths if they were more extensive and not – what’s the polite term? – scary as heck.

I know I can convince you, George. C’mon, let go for a ride. And not in the way my Uncle Guido from New Jersey means. Honest!

Jim Tortolano finds that when you fall off your bike, the ground feels harder after 40 (and 50 and …) than it did when you were 10.