The lure of a sunny day

[copracat]

One of the cycling blogs I read linked to this great article in the Times Online:

Cycling should be dull, not an extreme sport

It was a marvellous day here today, sunny and warm and breezy. I cycled to my lunch date and when the time came, didn't want to go home so I set off around the bike paths. Eventually knees and bladder outvoted me! At a cycle crossing, a lycra lad smiled at me and said, 'Isn't it a brilliant day?' We were waiting for our crossing lights, watching a near jam of cars crawling past us and I have to say, I felt extremely superior in my mode of transport. Likely I will feel less so in a couple of months when the drivers are in their snug dry capsules and I am flexing my fingers to warm them up and wishing the lights would change so I could get back into the lee of buildings and out of the wind again!

Comments

[sara]

Oh, I liked that. And I continually find it bemusing that there are conservatives in the UK who're big into urban bicycling...because you will never see that in the U.S.

[darkemeralds]

So true! It's almost as if any form of sustainable or green or low-carbon-footprint living is a sin to the conservative way of life.

That said, I have one family member who is a staunch Republican and quite conservative in his views, but he's kind of a Teddy Roosevelt Republican--conservative AND conservationist--and he has lately acquired a bike. Surprised the hell out of me the other day when we met up at an event in the neighborhood, and he had ridden there from all the way across town. Gave me hope!

[sara]

Oh, I was raised by people who were very much conservation-minded conservatives...they did exist, once upon a time, before things got as weird as they are now (where have all the technocrats gone, long time a-going, where have all the technocrats gone, gone, gone away....)

I was out doing yardwork this afternoon -- we're refiing the mortgage, which means we've been trying to get the place tidied up for the inspection next week -- and the garden helpers I'd hired, who work for a friend of mine? Pulled up on their bikes! With a trailer full of gardening tools! It was great. Between them and us and the kids across the street, we had a half-dozen bikes in the driveway and garage at one point today....

[darkemeralds]

Oh, that's excellent! Gardening seems like such an obvious and natural business for a bike. There are some really lightweight trailers out there.

I'd love to see garden and grounds maintenance become more quiet and less motor-intensive generally.

Good luck on your re-fi!

[sara]

We did have one truckload of debris go off in the morning, and there's at least one more truckload waiting for a truck pickup sometime when my friend the head landscaper is on this side of town, but yeah, we can certainly get a lot done with no internal combustion whatsoever....

Thanks, I think it'll go well if we can get a handle on all the clutter around here....

[darkemeralds]

Excellent article! I think there's a place for all kinds of cycling, and I don't want to denigrate people who view it first and foremost as a tough, competitive sport. I just don't want to ride to work with those people.

It sounds like you had a marvelous day on your bike, and so did I! I rode my new Dutch bike out for coffee with my mom, and a stop at the grocery store revealed to me a big old gaping hole in my wallet where my debit card is supposed to be.

So I came home, retraced my steps, and realized that I must have left the card in the ATM that's in my office building. I got on Clyde, my lighter-weight bike, and rode downtown where, lo and behold, my debit card was at the security desk. \o/

Riding home, I actually chose the bike lane on the busy riverfront boulevard over the multi-use path in the park, because a sunny Saturday brings out the inexperienced pedestrians who only come downtown occasionally, and haven't the first clue about keeping to the right--not even a little. I'm all about the slow, leisurely bike-riding, but some days I actually feel safer in car traffic than around kids, dogs, lovers ignoring the world, and skateboarders, you know?

[copracat]

Yes! I've noticed that if it's well marked, cars stay out of the bike lane. Toddlers are not so good at staying out of the way of others. Doubtless due them being so new in the world.

I'm glad you tracked down your card.