ride slow and often

   Alot of people ride their bikes really fast all the time. I'm not one of those people. Keeping in mind that "fast" is relative, and to someone who hasn't ridden a bike in years, I might ride "fast", my point is that riding a bicycle should always be fun. If it's not fun, then something is wrong. I got into riding bicycles for utilitarian reasons, to get from point A to point B without driving. But then started to realize that you experience the world around you alot more when traveling by bicycle instead of by automobile. You smell things that drivers don't smell, you hear things they don't hear, and you certainly see things they don't see. I love when a gaggle of geese fly over me when I'm riding to work, i usually try to look up and watch them as much as I can while still paying just enough attention to my lane position to not swing out into the middle of the lane. I usually hear their honking noises first(the geese, not the cars), then i start looking around and catch them just as they fly over. I also say hello or good morning to 12-20ish people everyday that i ride my bike to work (although sometimes i ride by another cycler and they don't even look over and smile...). Nobody speaks to random people at bus stops or strangers walking down a sidewalk while they're driving. That would be weird. It makes you feel good to smile and say hello to people waiting for the bus in the morning and have them smile back. Makes you feel more connected to the world outside. The changing seasons bring with them different smells. The smell of rain in the summertime is something that i learned to appreciate again in my late 20's from riding, just like when i was a kid and the rain wouldn't drive me inside like it does to most of us now that we're adults. Whether it's a 5 mile commute or a 20 mile recreational ride, i think the more we ride our bikes the more we will feel our connection with the world we're living on, the cities we're living in and the people, trees, and animals living around us.

   If fear that fenders and/or a basket (or at least a rack) on a bicycle might slow you down, then you might be missing the point. or maybe you need more than one bike......


   We need to slow down. Most cyclists also need to slow down. Look around and take in the world around us. Breathe it in. This is our life. We shouldn't rush through it.

   Politics, don't mind if i do: This blog is certainly going to be all over the place, and by "all over the place",  i mean it's going to pull alot of topics toward bicycling and my life and turn into a bunch of random rants about how i think this world/society/country/state/city(Norfolk) could be a better place, but mostly in regards to bicycling/bicycle commuting... Anywho, where was i? politics...


    It is my belief that if our government wanted to do something to help our environment have the slightest chance of survival as "we" slash and burn our way through wilderness in the name of human progress, or if the powers that be really cared about the health of the citizens and the diminishing supply of oil that we need to create medical supplies and all the other plastic shit in our lives, that they would take a very cold, rational look at bicycle paths/lanes/infrastructure as an alternative to constant highway repair, lane painting, traffic signal fixing, stop sign replacing, guard rail repairing system that is currently failing us. The solution to the "traffic problem" isn't to try to move more cars faster, it's to get less cars on the roads. More cars means more road maintenance and all the above stuff. More cars means more space needed for them to park on. More cars means more emissions (or if we could all afford to buy electric cars or cared enough to, it would still mean more road maintenance, as electric cars still weigh alot when compared to bicycles and would still damage the roadways). So, where does this leave us? We need safe bikeways. We need to teach bicycle safety in public schools and teach children about the financial and environmental benefits of riding instead of driving, even to young teenagers, who will be lured into the idea of the independence of that first car. The amount of money that would be saved on the upkeep of roads if the majority of 5 miles or less trips were by bicycles instead of cars would free up so much money that it would open up a world of options for how to make a new safer traffic system for cyclers. We could even just designate the right lane of all existing roads to be bikes-only and build flyover exits for the cars to turn right when the speed limits are 45 or higher. I guess in this dream world i live in, the speed limits would all be lower as well, so the flyover exits may not even be necessary. Well for now, I'll keep dreaming.........