Ride That Bike

By the time you read this, it will be or will even have been Bike To Work Day.  CycleAware, in Pacific Grove is offering a free breakfast for bike commuters who take part in the effort to ride to work instead of drive.

I used to ride my bike everywhere.  I carried a lock, stuffed what I needed in a backpack and pedaled my way around town, to and from every destination I could imagine.  I didn't get my driver's license until I was 21.  For a long time, I couldn't afford to have a car.  Even so, I thought riding my bike everywhere was cool.  I saved money and was really healthy.  What's not to like about that?

These days, I drive for 10 minutes to go four miles to the community college.  On my bike it took me 15 minutes.  I wasn't racing to get places; I rode steadily and did just fine.  When cars are stuck in commuter traffic, a bicycle can outdo a car by quite a lot.  Certainly, a bicycle is virtually silent in comparison to cars and motorcycles.  You definitely know more about the places you ride through; your senses are more alive.

Of course, riding is work at times, especially if you have to go up a few hills.  You need to account for time to regain your composure after you've just pedaled a few miles to your doctor's office or the movie theater, and you need a safe place to get your bike secured.

Things have changed for the better in a few ways for cyclists since I was riding a lot.  For instance, my bike then was heavier than the one I have now.  Biking products are sleeker, lighter and better looking compared to what was available back in the day.  Just for an obvious comparison, when I first began riding habitually, there were no hardshell helmets for cyclists.  Then, first-generation helmets looked like plastic buckets with stupid red stripes on them.  Not so cool.  Now, they are all colors of the rainbow and weigh about three ounces.

If riding is so darned cool and makes so much sense, why are you and I not riding our bikes hither and yon?  

As I look back over the past few decades, it's pretty simple:  Cars seduced me.  I gradually yielded to the forces of automotive allure, cultural peer pressure.  Face it, the sound of a big engine rumbling under the hood of a really fast car is fun.  I liked getting somewhere without being sweaty.  I got there faster.  I could get there on dark or rainy nights, and I could carry a lot more stuff with me, and I could get somewhere with my stereo playing cool songs on six speakers.  I could temperature control my world and ride in cushioned comfort.  I could take a few people with me if I wanted to.

Cars, as I don't even have to tell you, are bubbles of insouciance, insulating us from the world.  We hear what we want to hear, do whatever we want to do or say, and no one can penetrate our blissful cocoon unless we want them to.  We are separate, aloof, unconcerned, disconnected and just fine with that, thank you very much.

It definitely has been a trade-off, this switch away from cycling under my own power to powering along rivers of asphalt, encased in a steel-and-rubber universe, although it does seem like overkill to employ a one-ton machine to move a 150 lb. human around.  I can convince myself I'm independent and cool as long as I forget that I'm not as fit and I weigh more now.  I spend a lot more of my income on my transportation costs like insurance, maintenance, fuel, and parking fees.  My car takes up a lot more space.  And it pollutes.  You don't think your car pollutes?  Go breathe the exhaust and see how you like that.  A few hundred million cars all doing that to the air every day and you begin to feel sick.  At least I hope you do, because then I know you have a conscience about your effect on nature and your fellow creatures.  I know that my car-driving habits contribute to foul air and oil slicks that pollute the waters of the world, which is not only heartbreaking but murderous on so many levels I can't even list them.  So, add guilt to my list of reasons not to drive.

The humble bicycle is the most efficient man-made form of transportation ever invented by mankind.  Period.  Beats a car by a country mile.  Walking and running aren't even as efficient.  You are born to run or walk, but it takes a lot longer to get somewhere, and besides you can't coast downhill like you can on a bike.  

There are so many reasons to ride a bike.  So, why don't I do it?  Habit, or lack of it.  Well, I have to admit, there's a little bit of fear involved, too.  There you go:  It's hard to break old habits or form new ones, and there is fear of injury.  But, stop a minute.  Statistics tell us that driving around in cars like we do kills a large number of our citizenry every year.  It's a large number equivalent to a 747 flopping down out of the sky every single day, killing everyone on board.  So, maybe fear of injury is not a good argument after all.  But, still.  It's a concern.

There are quite a few more cars on the road now than when I was a young frisky cyclist.  Lots of those cars are driven by people talking on cell phones who are paying, at best, 50% of their attention to the road.  I want them to notice me when I'm out there riding my bike, and go around me, not over me. That is my concern.

The balance sheet showing the pros and cons relating to riding my bike is heavily weighted in favor of riding.  These days, I walk for most of my errands.  I drive to work, four miles uphill.  At the peak of my fitness 30+ years ago, I even rode there, too.  I'm not thinking I'll be ready for that anytime soon, but I think I can do my part and use my bike instead of my car for most trips.  I'm willing to give it a go and work up to rides of a more ambitious nature little by little.  

Might as well walk the talk, as they say.  Maybe that should be ride the talk.  One way or another, it's a win-win solution.