Riding a Bicycle

This is a post I put on my personal blog about a month ago.  Why I didn't simultaneously post it here, I don't know.  In any case, here are some thoughts about why I ride.

I recently had a discussion with some friends about why we ride bikes.  The answers were typical for persons in their mid-thirties to mid-forties:  it keeps us healthier than we would otherwise be, we like the competitive aspects, we enjoy the camaraderie of racing and the community bikers we see around, etc.  As I thought about it a little more though, I realized that I ride my bike because it puts me in the world in a way that a car cannot.

The immediate trigger for this line of thought was commuting to work on a bicycle.  I enjoy my commute for many reasons.  I love the way the air feels early in the morning.  I love ticking out a rhythm on my ride in to work.  The cadence of my pedaling can almost be musical, unifying mind and body.  I enjoy looking around at the buildings and houses I pass, the people waiting for the bus, the athletes practicing on the fields.  I cannot tell you how sublime it feels when I find myself riding along the lake front on one of those perfect days when the breeze pushes gently off the lake, driving away the summer heat, and the light causes the water to turn a mesmerizing cerulean hue.

I could go on and on about all the things I enjoy when I am commuting by bicycle; however, I realized that what drives all of these things, what makes commuting by bicycle different than commuting in a car or riding a bus, is that cycling puts you in the world.  You are present in your community and almost by default have to engage it.  When I come to a stop light and put my foot down while I wait for the light to change, I hear the people at the bus stop talking.  I hear and feel the vibrations of the car engine next to me.  I smell the exhaust.  I look around and see what is there, my surroundings.  Of course I am focused on the road, but I am also focused on the buildings and the people and the horizon, the clouds in the sky, the wind, the heat (or cold).  I ride by a high school and see the boys preening for the girls and the girls laughing.  I see a group of men under an awning awaiting the bus, commiserating.  I see the city workers painting the lines.  I hear the train rumble on the tracks as I cross one of the bridges and marvel that the cars seem to go on to infinity.

I tell pedestrians that I am passing on their left and they often acknowledge me and say 'thanks.'  I always reply, 'you're welcome.'  I meet other cyclists and sometimes we ride for a while together, chatting.  I see many of the same riders passing me each morning and enjoy the sense of familiarity that this engenders.  I see mothers running behind jog strollers containing their smiling or nodding toddlers.  I see a father riding with his young daughter who pedals furiously to keep up.  I see the young men and women at the Urban Ecology Center planting and clearing and making the river beautiful again.  I pass walkers and runners and old women in scooters.  Often we look at each other and smile or wave or say 'hello.'

I am in the world when I am on my bike.  I hear the city and feel the city and smell the city and see the city in all of its brilliance and ugliness and the in between.  The meat packing plant sometimes burns my nose with the ammoniac reek.  I pass through places with torn sleeping bags and shredded cardboard that were somebody's home.  I see placarded houses and empty storefronts.  I see and feel and hear and smell everything.  The lovely addition to our art museum with its brise soleil unfurled fills me with wonder.  The fox crossing the bike path puts a smile on my face.  The neighborhoods with old trees canopied over the streets and the families in front yards kicking a ball or riding bikes or chasing around fill me with hope. All of this is my city and I love being part of it.

When I ride I engage my surroundings.  I am not averse to automobiles and like taking road trips, but in the city you miss so much when you drive.  The radio is on or the air conditioner is on and the windows are shut and you look at the road and listen to the news or the music and pay little attention to anything not on the road.  Sure, we all look around, but cars move fast and before you have time to think about what you see (and usually it is just see) you are already gone.  On a bike I move slow enough to think about what I am experiencing, to pay attention to the world around me.  While I move faster than a pedestrian, I am still slow enough to notice the world and pay attention to it.  And I am able to cover much more ground than I could walking.

It is lovely to ride and feel and hear and smell and see the place where you live.  It is lovely to be on a bicycle riding.  That is why I ride.