Hi All,
I wanted to start out by saying that this board has been perhaps one of my greatest sources of not only biking information and advice, but also for support and inspiration. I would be hard pressed to deny that I've found answers and advice to every one of my questions posted here, and for that, I have nothing but thanks.
I've been road cycling fairly seriously now for about a year and a half. Before this I was a mountain biker and did that for the previous 9 years.
Not a day goes by that I don't wish I had started road cycling decades ago (I'm 41 now), but though I will never compete, I've seen alot of progress in both technique, performance and health in the last year and a half, and just last weekend held tough with my nephews and their cycling friends, who are half my age in a bunch sprint after a 50 mile ride... I've become the crazy old guy who's "doing something over there" I'm assuming that that must be some kind of compliment by the way it was delivered 🙂
I ride my bike to the grocery store about 2 miles away when the wife needs just a few items and hang the plastic bags off my bars as I take the uphill way home. She calls the bags my "ankle weights" 🙂 When its bill time, I look forward to grabbing the envelopes and waiting till the later afternoon so that I can ride to the post office miles away instead of making the 3pm pickup by walking to the corner mailbox. I never seem to have those lazy, boring afternoons on the weekends where there doesn't seem to be anything to do but watch TV or site outside on the patio. It seems like even if I have 20 minutes to kill, I'll ride my bike around the block a few times.
Its hard to put into words how much your life changes when you feel like you have energy all the time, and when you'd rather go outside and see things in the sunshine (or rain) instead of being worried about missing a primetime sitcom.
One of the amazing things about it all is that completely opposite of what I would have predicted a year and a half ago, I get more things done then I used to. I attribute this to energy, and the more sedentary lifestyle I had before... There is less time to do things now that I cycle, but I get to them quicker, do them faster, and just seem to have a better "attitude" about doing them. I know that this must sound cornball, but its just how it feels.
----------------
All of the above was an "introduction" of sorts to the next view I wanted to mention.
When I was mountain biking, I was in OK shape and did it mainly as a form of entertainment. The drive and enthusiasm I felt for it was there but nowhere in the same league as with road cycling. Because of this, even though I was sensitive to cycling in general and its fun and importance. I had no real deep connections to the sport.
Here in the San Francisco bay area, there is a phenomena known as "Critical Mass" Its a group of cyclists who try to raise awareness of things like the importance of cycling as a way to combat auto congestion, pollution, and as a way to improve the general health of the population both physically and mentally.
There methods are extreme in most eyes, where sometimes hundreds of them will ride through San Francisco's most congested streets right at rush hour; Snarling traffic and causing major slowdowns all along major routes through the city.
Even though I was already cycling while these "demonstrations" were going on. I looked at the members of critical mass as a group of crazed, hippy, left wing activists who's irresponsible actions were both criminal, as much as they were negligent.
But slowly over time, I've begun to see, not the approval of their methods, but the spirit of their message. One photo from a recent critical mass "ride" showed a rider stopped in front of large sedan... The driver of the car had gotten out and was throwing his coffee mug at the rider... The driver was almost to the level of obese, with the folds of fat rolling over his overtight belt line and a collar and tie that looked like it was ready to choke him. You could see his white dress shirt sticking to him as he was sweating and the look of rage on his face was both frightening and pathetic.
A year and a half ago I would have said "Stupid rider, you're totally holding up all these innocent drivers who just want to get home!" Just recently I saw the same photo and without remembering exactly how I felt the first time I saw it, I thought immediately "Poor driver, you'll probably die of a heart attack before 40"
I know that things like preventing fire trucks and ambulances and other emergency vehicles from passing is completely irresponsible, but I also begin to see that because so many people drive now, you can get places faster... and because you can get places faster, there is a built in demand to do so... and because there is a built in demand to do so, there is stress generated to accomplish that goal, and it continous to spiral down and down.
Everyday I see my neighbor running out of his house in the morning with a coffee cup to the car, and once I even saw him brushing his teeth while going to the car, spitting out the mouthwash on his lawn. That seem almost obscenely wrong to me; the fact that there was so little time to do things even though he could speed to work at 80 mph...
And the monstrous irony of it all is even in a car which can transport you to work in a flash... with so many others also trying to do this its often faster to walk many places in San Francisco then to drive. I can only imagine places like New York this would be even more true.
I understand that I, like critical mass, am taking a very complex issue oversimplifying it, but its hard to ignore that my life is so much better now with cycling... Better (healthwise) AND cheaper (less gas/maintenance on our cars)
I still drive of course, the need for that for me has diminished, but I don;t think will ever completely disappear, but I have full days, go to bed at a reasonable hour, and wake up with plenty of time. It was not so just a few short months ago.
So now I look at Critical Mass with a far less critical eye... I know that individuals within any group can sometimes sour general opinion against the entire group, but I also know that a few good people can reverse that as well.
I'm off to a party now on this Saturday afternoon... Its at my cousins house which is in a town about 27 miles away from me. I'm going to ride there and my cousin said that I could shower and change when I got there before the party started. (she thinks its very "cool" that I'm doing this)
Think of how different everything would be if thousands and thousands of people cycled, and only a few important responsibilities were relegated to cars. Then ask yourself if things would be much better, or much worse... I'm thinking they would be better; healthwise, mentally, and yes, even spiritually, and no, I am not a channeling crystal, left wing, activist either... I'm just a middle aged guy living in the suburbs who learned not to love cycling, but to love what cycling has given me.
Thanks for listening to me rant... Its just something I was thinking of during a ride and I wanted to get it all down before I forgot...
have a good one All...
Feanor