Great story! And one that I definitely related to.
I had a similar experience during my days bike commuting in Baltimore. I now live in Philadelphia and once again commute by bike (on a mid-eighties Trek single-speed conversion no less!). I think it’s hard not to view city commuting as utility. The concentration and defensiveness required to contend with a never-ending mass of cars, cabs, and (especially) buses makes riding work—and hard work at that. This was especially apparent when the Pope visited Philadelphia in the fall and all cars were banned from Center City. My city rides (even the ones to work) instantly became fun again! No dodging wall-to-wall cars on Chestnut Street (with 25% of them blaring their horns); no moving out of the way of 10-ton buses speeding though yellow lights; and all the pedestrians were suddenly friendly and talkative. It was wild! Of course, that was an isolated incident and we obviously need some motorized vehicles even in downtown areas. And all things considered Center City Philadelphia is better as a bike commuter city than Baltimore was when I lived there. And it gets better every year–as more bike lanes are built, bike share programs proliferate, and urban drivers become more accustomed to more riders on the streets. But I still need to temper my commuting with evening or weekend rides out of the city and out of traffic—often with a brewery or scenic overlook as only a loose destination. On a somewhat related note, I grew up in Rodgers Forge (a neighborhood on the north edge of Baltimore for non-Baltimoreans). When I was twelve, my best friend and I both scrounged together our various paltry savings to buy identical (except for size) 1993 metallic gray Rockhoppers. Man, were they beauties! Our younger brothers soon followed. The four of us spent nearly every weekend (and most of the summers) for two years exploring the trails in and around Robert E. Lee Park. Sometimes the rides would be only a half hour and then we’d head off to the pool or the Royal Farms store. Often we’d spend most of the afternoon out there. There was always something new to explore and rarely a plan. Sometimes we’d power up that steep, rocky incline with the old couch at the top. Sometimes we’d walk it. And the only speed or time-related consideration was that we had to make it home for dinner by 5:30. It’s what the best rides on my Rivendell always remind me off! Eric On Friday, May 20, 2016 at 3:49:11 PM UTC-4, kielsun wrote: > > Here's a rather lengthy "ride report" from my ride with co-workers for > National Bike to Work Day. It's really more a reflection on how my reasons > for biking have changed over the years. Please feel free to respond with > similar reflections of your own. > > - - - - - - - - - - > > I lived in Baltimore City for about a decade, and for several of those > years, I was a bike commuter. My steed, a rattle-can-brown early 80s Trek > single-speed conversion, was light and fast. I ran 23mm Gatorskins pumped > to 100 psi. I darted between cars and blew through lights. I rode without a > helmet. I did everything that I wouldn't dream of doing now and I didn’t > think twice about it. I just needed to get to work, and I was often late, > so I needed to get there as quickly as possible. > > A few years into my decade in the City, I bought a car, a faded gold '97 > Corolla that had been through the ringer. I handed my friend Amy a crisp $1 > bill and she handed me the title. (That was the second $1 car I'd bought in > my life, the first being an '83 Civic, "Norm," that I bought off a college > roommate. A couple years later, the Glendora CA Police Department towed it > while I was out of the country and I never saw it again. But that's another > story.) > > Once I had the car, my bike commuting days slowly came to an end. I gave > every excuse in the world as to why I stopped riding to work, but they > didn’t really add up to much beyond indifference. And that indifference, > I've realized, stemmed from the fact that biking had become a strictly > point-a-to-point-b venture. It was all utility and no joy--which is > particularly sad because of how joyfully my biking life began: > destinationless, meandering rides through the South Dakota countryside, all > gravel roads, one hand on the handlebar and the other clutching a fishing > rod or BB gun. > > So I guess the point of all this is that I went on a bike ride this > morning, and it was fun. I met my co-workers at a quarter past six. We rode > five winding miles through suburban neighborhoods, down roads I'd never > traveled, walked our bikes through holes in fences at the end of dead end > streets, avoided traffic at all costs. Our destination was the Towson pit > stop for National Bike to Work Day. > > During my bike commuting days, self-righteousness stirred from deep within > anytime I caught wind of this annual tradition. Co-workers would go out of > their way to tell me, the only biker guy they knew, that they were > planning to ride. They'd brush the dust off of their hybrids and mountain > bikes and squirt some WD-40 on the chains. On the day of, they'd text > pictures of the commute, and they'd stop by my classroom to see if I'd > gotten their messages. Some years, I'd even go out of my way to take the > bus on that day, imagining that it was some sort of a statement. In my > youth, everything had to be exclusively mine. > > But today, I didn’t think about any of that. My Sam felt better than ever. > My co-workers and I smiled and laughed and talked, mostly about past bike > rides, and we made plans for future rides, too--adventures we’ll go on > together. And while I’ve been joyfully riding my bike again now for years, > today I bid official farewell to the jaded rider of my early 20s, the one > who didn’t remember how much joy could come from hopping on a bicycle with > one goal, to just ride. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
