Why I Ride

I'm in the distinct minority of people in America who both own and routinely use a bicycle. Not just for recreation, but for transportation. People sometimes wonder (or misunderstand) why I do. Am I some kind of health nut? Don't I own a car?

The answer can be a bit complicated, because there are several reasons. But it can also be as simple as two remarks: "Because I can." and "Why not?"

When I was a kid, everyone in my family had a bike. Nothing fancy, just sturdy Schwinns from the neighborhood bike shop. So I got used to riding to places when I went there on my own, especially to school. Lots of kids did. And of course we rode around just for fun. In high school, I had a magazine delivery route, and depending on the season, and which street, it was often faster and easier to do it on a bike. Also, sullen teen that I was, I discovered that going for long bike rides was a good way to get away from everybody.

Then a couple of my friends started talking about taking a bicycling trip across Great Britain during the summer after we graduated from high school. They invited me to go with them, which first turned me into a "serious" cyclist in anticipation. In the end it was only two of us who made the trip. Although I was definitely the "follower" of the two (not only did he usually ride in front, he was the one who usually set the goals for the day's riding and other activities), it was a coming-of-age milestone, spending 7 weeks away from home, away from parents, away from everything familiar, and fending for ourselves as adults. We also put over 1000 miles on our bikes, cross-country. So I'm not fazed by things like hills or heat or wind or distances of over a mile.

Since then, I've had periods in which I didn't ride much, and some in which I tried to ride more, but didn't have much success. I was guilted a bit when my boyfriend (during our brief, ill-fated attempt at cohabitation) started using his bike as his primary form of transportation. Even during the cold, snowy Michigan winter. But I stuck with the car. For one thing, I worked 30 miles away. For another, the only other places I ever went were the grocery store and other places where I needed the use of a car.

Recently, things have come together nicely to turn that around. Now the shoe is on the other foot. My job is only 2 miles away, a convenient distance for biking. Some of the various other places I go during the course of a week or a month are also near enough to bike without difficulty. And it helps that the weather is usually nice this time of year. Plus, the new job doesn't provide free parking nearby, so it's actually cheaper and faster and more convenient to ride my bike than to drive my car.

So the scale has been tipped, and the bike has become my default mode of transportation. If I can take the bike, I do. If it's raining, or it's too far, or I can't carry everything on my bike, or when the roads get snowy and the windchill dangerous, I'll take the bus or the car. But those are the exception, not the rule. Even in January, when the bike is definitely going to sit idle, it will only because the answer to "why not?" ("because you'll freeze to death and will either wipe out or get splattered because of the snow/slush on the roads") is actually a compelling reason not to take the bike.

That (believe it or not) is the "simple" answer.

The more complicated answer is that I have many reasons for riding the bike. None of them are the reason, but together they make a pretty good one. 1) It's healthier. My doctor says my cholesterol is too high and I'm a bit overweight, and exercise is one of the best ways to fix that. Biking is good exercise. 2) It's cheaper. I don't have to pay to park my bike downtown, nor do I have to pay to put fuel in it. 3) It's more environmentally friendly. My gas-sipping sub-compact car may not be a major smoke-belcher, but it's still part of the problem. 4) It's psychologically therapeutic.

The psychology is a big one. Contending with idiot motorists doesn't help, but being out in the open air, travelling under my own power, does make me feel better. It even appeals to my inner sullen teen, relishing the opportunity to get away from all the soulless grown-ups trapped in their cars, and just move... even out of synch with traffic. It also puts me in better touch with the real world around me, making me pay more close attention to the weather. I'm no new-age pantheist, but I do think that this slower pace and awareness of my surroundings is good for me.

When you ride a bike instead of driving a car, you need to think more about optimising your travel time and distance. If you need to visit a bookstore out on the southeast side, and you know you're going to the hardware store out in the same direction, you combine the two into a single trip, rather than doing one today and the other tomorrow. This has spilled over into my driving habits as well. This may sound like inconvenience, but I prefer to think of it as intellectual exercise, rather than sloppy and lazy thinking. And it saves me time.

There will come a day when "because I can" is no longer true. When the time comes, I'll give up the bike. (But I'll probably switch to a motor scooter before I make the car my primary mode of transportation.) But until then, I'm gonna ride whenever I can.