"I'm here to say that the [bike] ride's almost always the best part of my day. If you're willing to make some minor lifestyle changes, it can be for you as well."
That is my favorite line in Ty Burr's column "Ditch the Auto, Saddle Up and Reduce your Commuting Costs to Zero" in Sidekick, July 21, 2008 Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2008/07/21/look_ma_no_car/ He's the Boston Globe's film critic.
People laughed at me yesterday at the lunchroom of a multi-national company when I suggested bike commuting when they told me they live less than 10 miles from work.
It's my job to work a table at big companies in MetroWest Boston to promote carpooling, bike commuting and taking public transit to work. Commuters often laugh out loud when I say, "Why don't you bike to work?"
The idea is so crazy, so far outside of their paradigm, they think it's ludicrous. They're missing out on Ty Burr's secret: Biking to work is almost the best part of the day.
I call bike commuting the TRIPLE GOOD commute: you look good, you feel good, and you're doing good for the earth.
For three summers, I bike commuted 8 miles between Westford and Concord, MA, about twice a week, in those glory days when gas was less than $2/gallon.
Battling the hills, inhaling the sweet odors of wild grapes and freshly mowed hay, and getting lost in the scenery, made me forget everything else. The ride home was particularly sweet and unpedaled me from the stress of work.
Yet people can't even entertain the notion of abandoning their car for a bike commute.
1/3 of the problem: biking is low-status (unless you get a high status bike and the gear to accompany). For the most part, biking is for people with few options, the young, or the fitness-crazed.
1/3 of the problem: biking is physical. We Americans are lazy slugs who would rather drive to the gym rather than plan to bike commute. And bike commuting requires planning ahead.
1/3 of the problem: we lack the infrastructure -- streets wide enough to accomodate bikes, bike lanes and paths, bike storage areas, showers at work, bike racks on buses, bike safety awareness by drivers. People feel unsafe and vulnerable when biking on many roads.
Contact me and I'll come talk to your group about getting started bike commuting. I tell a funny and informative story about "my first day of bike commuting." It gets you laughing, thinking and planning for your first day of bike commuting.
Once you start bike commuting, you'll be laughing, too, because it's so much fun, and the mental and physical benefits far exceed sitting in a car.
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Ty Burr's comments on his bike commute--
"I didn't get started biking -- I just never really stopped. (I think one of the reasons most people don't bike commute is that they haven't been on a bicycle since they were young and they associate it with life before
responsibility.)
I lived in NYC for 21 years and biked a lot there, sometimes commuting from Brooklyn to midtown, which taught me a healthy respect for taxicabs.
When I moved up here in 2002, we landed in the suburbs with two young kids and one car, so alternative transport was necessary rather than optional.
I began wheeling in right away and do so anywhere from 3 to 5 days a week, depending on weather and schedule.
I ride a secondhand Jamis road bike (my beloved Lemond got stolen from my garage last fall) and it gets pretty dinged up but rides well both on Boston streets and on weekend group rides out in the western burbs. Would that I could convince more people to get out there -- sites like yours help!
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