Bikey

This year, I signed up for the Bike Commute Challenge, a free regional event which runs all September. It's free! There are prizes!

I'm completely on board with bike commuting, in theory. I actually used to commute by bike for part of the time we lived in Oakland. I think bikes are a fantastic form of transportation for trips under five miles long, and I think that cities that foster bike travel will thrive. However, I'm not interested in bikes, or in bike culture, at ALL. I care less about bike parts than I do about almost anything except car parts. I enjoy the good parts of biking, but I just don't really like it that much. I feel vulnerable when I bike, and I get pretty stressed out by conflicts with cars. One of the last straws for bike commuting, for me, was getting knocked off my bike by a bunch of children (8-11 years old, maybe) in the middle of the afternoon in Oakland.

But... I really, really need to get some exercise. There isn't really any good time in my life for exercise, and there's no money for it, either. Switching to bike commuting means I can build exercise into my daily life, and because my bike commute is, in theory, only a little more time-consuming than my bus commute, it makes sense. And starting this month, when there are free prizes, cool events, and generally more support, makes sense, too. My bike commute, in theory, is about 11.5 miles long (each way, thank you very much), and includes about 7 miles on a nice bike path that runs along an old trolley right-of-way. I have to go out of my way to use this path, but it's a huge part of my willingness to bike to work. I wouldn't do it if I had to use bike lanes on busy streets.

Also, it's my job to help people leave the car at home when the travel, and I felt that I needed to include bike commuting in my personal experience so I can be more persuasive about it.

So this morning I biked to work. Cook kindly dug my unused-for-7-years bike out of the basement, dusted it off, checked the brakes, and oiled the chain for me. I set off, leaving him to enjoy Labor Day all day at home with the girls. It was a beautiful morning, the streets were deserted (commuting on a holiday is an excellent idea), and it was fun to be back on a bike. My butt started hurting pretty soon after I set off, but I decided I could live with it.

But... there's a big repaving project going on on the bike trail. The detour is substantial, inconvenient, hilly, and car-trafficky. My commute took me an hour and a half, and my butt hurts a lot. As I was on the home stretch to work, the phone rang in my backpack. I stopped, got off the bike, got out the phone, and answered. "How did it go?" asked Cook, and I said grumpily "it's still GOING!"

I arrived at work sweaty, tired, and really hungry. I took the bus home. (I had planned on doing that, but it was clear when I got to work that I could not ride home, lest my butt be permanently damaged.) I'm going to sell my heavy bike, get a new (old) bike with a really comfortable seat, and kit it out with lights, fenders, and rack. I'm going to bike one leg of my commute every day I go in to the office (3 days a week) for a while, and maybe work up to biking both ways if I don't hate it. We'll see. I AM going to log 7 bike commute trips this month. I may need to stand up at the computer all day, though.