I recently started bicycling to work; since my knee's got problems and I'm not in the best shape of my life, I've been alternating car and bike. I'm definitely jazzed about the biking thing--it's good for so many reasons:
- It's good for my health.
- I never feel like I get enough chances to enjoy the daylight hours now that I have a day job, and let's be honest, the last thing I want to do once I've driven home in my car is motivate myself to leave again.
- It beats riding the stationary bike in the gym. Besides, exercise tends to be easier for me when it comes with a higher purpose, like getting to work and home.
- I save gas, which is especially meaningful now that California gas prices are climbing.
- I don't pollute.
- The exercise helps stress.
- Best of all, NO ROTTEN ROAD RAGE!
I did have a disturbing thought as I biked over a bridge crossing a 10 lane freeway, like, what if eventually freeways and cars get upgraded to the way they are in Minority Report, with the capsules going vertically and in all directions? How the heck am I going to continue biking to work?? The transition will creep up on us slowly; it's already started with the traffic light sensors that don't recognize bicycles. How embarrassing for me the newbie to hang out by myself at an intersection for 17 years with my office really only 2 blocks away, only to eventually have to sling my remaining dignity over to the corner to push the pedestrian cross button.
Anyway, I think everyone could benefit from biking to work, as long as they're not prohibitively far away from it. My 2c.
4 comments:
I'm not sure that non-4 wheelers are immune from road rage. I was speaking to one of my friends who had a Harley-Davidson rider stick out his boot and knock off his sideview mirror as he roared by. (Apparently the MC rider thought my friend cut him off.) Oops. :)
But I'm happy to see another biker (or rather, bicyclist) replacing a car at least part-time. Less traffic for me! Just kidding. Actually, Silicon Valley seems to be very encouraging of bicycle commuters. I think that L.A. could learn a lot from folks like you. (Speaking as a former SoCal resident.)
If I ever saw a pedestrian, much less a bicyclist riding on their way to anywhere in Orange County, I think I'd fall over in shock.
Kudos to you!
-Catherine
I definitely agree that the bay area in general is more biker friendly, even though it has it's kinks. Out in the 'burbs of Maryland, where I used to live, I never saw anyone biking around unless it was little kids playing. That area was definitely a more affluent, why-would-I-ride-a-bike-when-I-have-a-high-end-sedan type place. And could you imagine someone trying to bike around New York City? Hahah!!
Thanks for the post!
Hey I was just thinking that NYC has bicyclists too -- pretty crazy life-defying folks who somehow manage to make it through. (SF bike messengers are the same.) The NY Times did an article on them that I thought was quite apropos given the conversation: 5 concussions and he's still riding (without a helmet).
I've only excerpted parts of the article here, for the full article you can go to the NYTimes website and look it up (for a short time, anyway).
(some lawyer talk)
By the way, I'm declaring here and now that displaying parts of the article constitutes a fair use in my opinion because this a personal, non-profit and I refer to it while commenting (above) on its substance.
(sorry)
Bike Messengers Take the Street to the Track (excerpt)
By COREY KILGANNON
Published: June 10, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/nyregion/10bike.html?hp
Need a package rushed across car-clogged Manhattan? Hand it to Alfred Bobe Jr., a 31-year-old bike messenger from Brooklyn.
He lays claim to the title of America's fastest messenger on a track bike, the type of high-speed vehicle preferred by some messengers who favor its single fixed gear and lack of brakes.
Mr. Bobe is a member of Team Puma, a cycling team consisting of city bike messengers that, since forming last July, has been dominating many of the messenger races held across New York and the country.
"We're taking urban street biking to the track to represent New York and show we have the fastest messengers," said Mr. Bobe, who finished first among all track bikers participating in last month's North American Cycle Courier Championships in Portland, Ore.
...
"Messengers have better instincts and reflexes and a lot sharper peripheral vision," he said. "If you're not conscious and in the moment at all times, you can die on someone's car door. That's what separates us from regular racers. We have a different inner core and strength because our messenger work is our training.
"We ride wearing a 20-pound lock and a 40-pound bag," he added. "When you finally get to the track and take all that off, you feel explosive, like you have wings or you just took a shot of Red Bull or something."
..
Along with Mr. Bobe and Mr. Bolger, other team members include Felipe Robayo, Eddie Ortega, Hugo Giron, a master of bike tricks, and Carlos Ramirez, 30, from Brooklyn, who organizes Monster Track, popular races held on bustling Manhattan streets that emphasize messenger skills and allow only track bikes. Then there is Todd Marszalek, 29, a Polish immigrant who is also a well-known graffiti artist, and Massamba Niang of Harlem, 22, a handsome Senegalese immigrant with a flashy smile. Charlotte Blythe, 17, is the only woman on the team.
Mr. Bolger, 33, has worked full time as a courier since 1992 and is known by his nickname, Squid. He lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with his wife, Amy, a former bike messenger. He works for several courier services and delivers take-out food in Williamsburg for extra money.
"We want people to think more of us than just that guy who ran over their foot," he said. "We also want to improve work conditions, since most messengers are underpaid and get no medical insurance."
Mr. Bolger rarely wears a helmet despite having suffered five concussions as a messenger, he said. He has been hospitalized only once, after "dooring," a term for slamming into a quickly opened car door.
Most team members work their routes on their custom-made Cannondale team bikes. Each bike weighs 14 pounds and has the Puma emblem and colorful graffiti built into the red glossy finish.
Mr. Bolger has attached a hip flask to his bike. "In the winter, you put your Schnapps in there," he explained.
So how does one stop a fixed-gear bike barreling 30 miles per hour down crowded, bumpy streets of Midtown Manhattan with no brakes? By sharply locking up on the pedals and applying reverse pressure. Riding a fixed-gear bicycle takes much practice and is a badge of honor for many elite messengers, said Bucky Turco, publisher of Fixed magazine, which is devoted to fixed-gear bikes.
Team Puma members frequently invoke the name of Nelson Vails, a New York City messenger who won a silver medal in cycling at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
...
Experienced messengers earn about $100 a day, Mr. Bobe said, but a really good one can almost double that by "being fast, knowing your way around the city and having a good dispatcher." Mr. Bobe has worked as a bike messenger for 12 years and supports his two children with his courier earnings, which he supplements with prize money and bonuses from Puma for top finishes.
Copyright The New York Times Company 2005
heheh...i like that article. except i remember riding a fixed-gear bicycle when i was a kid; back then i thought all bikes had back-pedal braking. I don't think it's all that hard to learn...? Except I would never want to be a messenger in SF with a one-gear bike, trying to go up Lombard St. Can you imagine?
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