Who, knowing the truth, would choose anything else?

Posted by Dottie at 20:53 commute diary Add comments
Aug 252010

This morning I planned to take my usual street route to work. After I got on my bike and felt the sweet sun and cool breeze, however, my instinct took over and led me to the Lakefront Trail. I thought maybe I needed a clear stretch of pavement to go fast and get out any residual aggression from yesterday’s jerk sighting, but after I rode the mile to the lake and my tires automatically slowed upon hitting the Trail, I realized that what I craved was some quiet time with the horizon, safe from all motor vehicles.

The same held true for my ride home from work in the evening. Just what the doctor ordered.

There was a great post on EcoVelo recently about how ridiculous it is when non-cyclists speak of your bike commute as a great sacrifice, when it’s anything but. Riding a bike is almost too fun and too perfect for starting and ending the workday. That really is the big secret, apparently. Who, knowing the truth, would willingly chose anything else?

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  • http://nohocyclechic.blogspot.com Gina

    Beautiful!

    No Ho Cycle Chic

  • Jeanette

    You are so right! It can be so magical. I deliberately ride an extra two miles so that I can ride up the Hudson River Greenway each day. It’s not the open waterscape like the Lakefront Trail, but the Hudson is fantastic, and the plantings — grasses, roses, etc — is wonderful. And while it’s busy with cyclists racing or just pootling; with kids on rollerblades or people jogging or moms with strollers, it’s not at all like negotiating traffic, and I can just be, on my bike, with my thoughts.

  • http://www.stevevance.net/planning Steven Vance

    Think the Lakefront Trail is free of motor vehicles?

    Think…
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesbondsv/4917296441/ (motorized bike)

    …again.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesbondsv/4917897968/ (four cars spotted on the LFT)

    This is what attracted me to the Lakefront Trail:
    http://vimeo.com/14329369 (video of jet skiers doing tricks)
    And this:
    http://www.stevevance.net/planning/update-on-the-new-chicago-harbor/ (new boat harbor construction)

  • http://www.dingdingletsride.com Samantha

    So true, so true – no sacrifice when you get to ride a bike!

  • http://bicyclingsd.blogspot.com Beany

    I feel like riding is like a drug. I have been riding happy…nay, riding high, for 2 straight years (since I began riding daily because I wanted to, not because I had to). I feel like becoming a drug pusher, “pssst, wanna ride a bike? It’s some gooood shit!”

    I pick quiet streets to get to work and get home in the morning – a little tricky in San Diego, but can be done depending on where the route is.

  • Dave

    Totally agree. The great secret is that most of us like life better when we travel by bike.

  • http://www.mnbicyclecommuter.blogspot.com/ Doug

    I have an unbroken streak of 17 months riding my bike to work every single day. It’s not hard to do because I can’t think of any other way I’d rather get to and from work.

    I tell co-workers that while they’re getting into their cars for a busy rush hour commute home, I walk out the door from work and two minutes later…..I’m out for a ride on my bike. I often take the long way home. Yesterday I added an extra 14 miles to my regular route.

  • http://www.welshcyclist.wordpress.com welshcyclist

    I was just saying the same thing, sort of, on my blog the other night. Great shots as usual.
    Cheers

  • http://letsgorideabike.com Trisha

    Ha. I just posted about how I sometimes need a break from cycling to feel this way again. It is true that the physical exertion and the mental break it provides can begin and end your day like nothing else.

  • http://smellingoranges.blogspot.com Caryn

    I so wish I could commute to work by bike! Hopefully someday soon we can make it happen. Lovely post. Although, hopefully this is ok to point out, but I’m confused by the past tense of “choose” in your title and one other time in the post. It doesn’t make sense to me. Am I missing a joke or a reference to some quote or something? It should be “…would choose anything else?”

    • http://letsgorideabike.com/blob Dottie

      Oops, that’s what happens when I write a post at night, after falling asleep for a bit on the couch. :) Thanks for pointing that out so I can fix it.

  • NancyB

    Interestingly, I’ve had just the opposite experience at my workplace. There are not quite 200 employees here and people I don’t know personally seem to know me as the lady who rides her bike to work. I’ve even had people email me to tell me I’ve left my lights on! I even discovered one other person who rides in once in a while and another one who wishes he could. I’m working on him to get him to pull the trigger on it :>)Overall though, my co workers think it’t great.

  • http://www.inspiredcyclist.wordpress.com maureen

    First of all, your pictures are sensational, and capture the serenity you achieve from your biking commute! Stunning! I am so glad you had a lovely commute today without any rudeness, and enjoyed your ride!

  • http://bikesocial.blogspot.com/ Gordon Inkeles

    Who or what (a timer + tripod/stand?) takes photos of you on solitary rides?

  • http://tschitschi.wordpress.com tschitschi

    you are right, once you start riding your bike everyday it’s hard to stop. I go to work every day by bike and it’s approximately a half hour ride. the first winter I did this I took the metro on many days where the weather wasn’t so good, whereas this past winter I would only give in and take public transport when there was basically a snow storm – I have gotten so used to my bike in the morning that I simply can’t start my day without it, it just feels as if I didn’t wake up properly!

  • Jackson

    Reading this post yesterday inspired me to ditch the train and ride along the lake today. We have to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather while it lasts.

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