So right now I’m sitting at the airport and oh, how I wish I could tell you it’s because I’ve finally had enough of it all and I left work this evening and drove straight here and bought a ticket on the next flight to Anywhere. Sadly, and maybe moreso for everyone else than me, that is not the case. Rather, I’m here to pick people up and because we no longer live in the land of Air Travel Make-Believe, I’m now a victim of last-minute flight changes and shortages of who knows what. Obviously I’m very understanding and not bitter, though enough of these expensive airport drinks and, well, you never know where the night could go.
But, in other, similarly bitter but much more important life, I also wanted to address bike commuting. Specifically, that I’ve began riding my bike to work a few days a week and how, even with all it’s challenges, I’m liking it a lot. Except, that’s a lie. Aside from the gas savings (let’s be honest, reason #1) and the fitness benefits (a close second), bike commuting has not made me a better person. Instead of finding that Zen-like place where those miles to and from work create moments of peace and time for myself, it’s starting to wear on me.
Here are a few reasons why:
1) People don’t pick up after their dogs. About 75% of my route is on a local trail (read: paved path), and every day I see piles and piles of you-know-what that someone just left in the middle of the trail. This bothers me everywhere, of course, but especially at dawn when the light is just beginning to illuminate all of nature’s miracles left over from the summer’s evening walks of the day before. Needless to say, I’ve come in contact with or very close to these piles more than once which, believe me, is no way to start a ten hour day. (For those not famililar, if you run over a substance with a spinning tire, that substance goes one way: UP. See where this is going? Not pretty.)
2) If you have road rage in a car, do not take to riding a bike in or around any kind of traffic. It is nothing like those little video tapes we watched in the fourth grade where cars politely stop at intersections and crosswalks and make sure there is no one coming. Far from it. Those videos lied. For one, no drivers know bicyclists’ (wow, did I just date myself with that word?) hand signals any more. They think you are waving. Which, apparently, is an invitation to take you out at the calf with their bumper. Even in a city with more cyclists (there, that better?) per capita than most, people do not know these things.
3) You will eat bugs. If you don’t like to eat bugs, this may also be a bad way to start/end the day. (Unless you have somehow managed to ride mile after mile with your mouth closed. Which, if that is the case, teach me. Apparently I’m a mouth breather.)
4) Having to “gear up” and hop on your bike at the end of the day is less glamorous than it sounds. When you’re ready to leave work and you’re not in the best mood, it is far better to go bombing out of the parking garage with your windows rolled down and Aerosmith blasting from your car stereo than it is to pedal through ten blocks of city traffic just to get to the trail only to drop your chain. I’m sorry, it just is.
And this was all last week. Did it stop me from riding in a few days this week? No. I guess because once in a while, when I’m slogging up that last hill before home after a ten hour day and a three hour meeting –that should have been titled I’m Your New Leader, and I’m a Tool– I’ll pass another commuter. We’ll nod to each other, and though I don’t know what they’re thinking, it makes me feel better. Because at least someone knows.
angie says:
You are too funny! Thx
June 18th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Jen says:
Good for you for bicycling and sticking to it. I know that if i own a car I would NEVER leave it for any form of transportation.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
sizzle says:
If I rode my bike to work I would be scared for my life. I see how drivers practically run over them. It should also be stated that too many bikers can’t make up their minds if they are a pedestrian or a vehicle so they just pick whichever suits them at the time. That confuses the hell out of me!
June 18th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Nicole says:
I’m impressed that you are trying. Hope that it gets better and just think those bugs are loaded with protein.
June 19th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Danielle says:
Good for you on the cycling in and out. I’m still trying to figure that one out. We have no showers here. That is my problem…I’d be sweaty after the 12 or so mile commute…but I’m still considering it for a day or two a week…save the gas…just a matter of getting around the cars and a couple of scary big hills I’d have to ride…and probably a good thing to figure out how to change a flat, have flat kit and know about chains and that BEFORE I attempt some long rides!!
June 19th, 2008 at 5:36 am
anne says:
I applaud you. Totally. And think you are doing it for us down here who could not possibly commute to work unless there was a shower there as well. Or our co-workers didn’t mind sweat and stink.
June 19th, 2008 at 5:45 am
brookem says:
i wish that i lived close enough to take my bike to work, but i think id have the same woes as you have. the bugs and the nasty drivers who dont respect us bikers. sucks. but good on you for sticking with it a few days a week!
soon you’ll be ready for a triathlon!
June 19th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Dingo says:
Don’t you hate how the airlines have set up “instant” messaging so you can be alerted to flight delays but the “instant” message doesn’t reach you until you are already at the airport?
Makes me want to bash someone over the head with my crackberry — but then that would make me Naomi Campbell and I just don’t look as attractive in sanitation jumpsuit picking up trash on the side of the road.
June 19th, 2008 at 6:59 am
charlotteharris says:
Think of it as a good time to scope out potential dates. I am positive that if I ever find myself on the dating market again, I am going to meet my next man on my bike commute. That’s when all the healthy, fit & toned, active and ambitious men are out and about. Bonus: you know they have a job, because they’re getting up at that ungodly hour to get to it!
June 19th, 2008 at 10:02 am
barbara bruederlin says:
If it’s any consolation, everybody is a mouth breather on a bike. Of course this does not make the bugs taste any better.
You are probably right that very few drivers know bike hand signals. Riding through downtown must be scary as hell.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Mel Heth says:
You are a noble soul. I am lazy and bought a Prius instead.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Exception says:
This is great! I love number 2. As a walker I am always reminded of the Goofy cartoon from years ago “Mr. Driver and Mr Pedestrian” - much more in keeping with reality than the safety videos and such I remember seeing in school!
And… what is it about people and their dogs… curb the dog!!
(I like dogs… and I understand it is kind of icky, but… seriously)
June 19th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Josh says:
1) Their owners may be lousy humans but at least dog poop is organic.
2) If you wear bike shoes (the hard clip on kind) you can kick the cars and do some real damage.
3) Ok, this part isn’t so much fun.
4) Wear a spandex bike short and jersey to work. Go ahead. Just see if anybody dares say anything to you.
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
swimlappy says:
I bike to work and love it! Its a great way to relax at the end of the day instead of fighting traffic. Helps me calm down before I get home.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:59 am