Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I love my Bicycle

Adults can learn a lot from children and their sense of play. Watch a child walk down the street. They don't they hop skip and smell the roses all at the same time. That is my kind of multi-tasking. Many years ago, I was rushing to the car with Ian's little hand in mine. "Hurry!" I said and his reply was, "But Mom, did you see the birds up there on the line?" I stopped, looked and remembered to appreciate what is around me.
My recumbent bike takes me where I want to go, usually.

Cool bike racks like this were everywhere on the Big Island in Hawaii.

If you can't bring your bike join a friend in a pedicab.

Whitney, TU's ceramic professor, and I ride around Phoenix at the Nceca clay conference.


The most fun way to get anywhere is to ride a bike. I don't understand why people don't ride their bikes to work if they live close enough. And, if they don't live close enough why not?

I like to ride my bike to the grocery and put a giant basket on both my bikes to do so.

What better way to start the day than to get some blood circulating and a giant breath of fresh air?

I have always loved to ride my bike. My Dad also rode his bike to work and was one of the few who did so. Some people give us the "stink eye" and a "get over it" look for using our bikes.

When my son was in elementary school, I would ride over to pick him up, so to speak, on his bicycle. I would circle around playground poles on my bike while I waited for him to get out of school, just having fun. I got a big "stink eye" from another parent who said in a huff, "Just what kind of example are you setting for these kids?" I thought it was a good example, exercise and having fun.

When I was pregnant with my daughter I watched with a longing to ride as a forth grade girl went by on her bike. No riding for the safety of the baby after you are four months pregnant. I have to admit I felt a bit of bike envy.

So this morning a friend invited me to Sunrise Rotary at 6:30 am and you guessed it. I got on my recumbent bicycle and headed for the meeting. (I traded an $800 sculpture to a friend to acquire that bike). She is happy and so am I.
Just in case it was taboo or rained I parked it across the street. And much to my delight he surprised me as he announced that I actually came on my bike and people smiled and approved. Must be my kind of meeting. However, I was once again the only one on a bike.

My son organized bike protests in an attempt to get bike racks on buses. They are on the buses now. Will others use them or ride buses? Does gas have to go back over $4.00 to make it happen? I am not sure his protest helped but his heart was in the right place.

With a crate on bike I sometimes look like a street person, loaded down. I went to a subway for a to go sandwich one day and next to my bike was a street person's loaded down bike. It was a little difficult to project that professional "green" person image and not be assumed to be his spouse. A little soap and water never hurts.

You must be careful commuting much on the two wheels. Cars forget you have a legal right to a lane and I have to watch for those folks swinging those doors out into a lane with no notice, not to mention people who turn in front of you.

Well, I wanted to ride back to work today but now it is raining. That is another story. Gotta lock it on the porch after all.

1 comment:

  1. Really liked reading your bike blog. I wanted to ride on a rickshaw when I was in Japan. The only kind that I saw in Japan was a bike like the one in your pic. You go girl :>) Mother

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