Friday Quote: “Why I Ride A Bike”

No, it’s not because I’m trying to save the planet. It’s because I’m selfish.

I bike commute between the Central District and downtown five days a week, all year long, and I also ride occasionally to do errands or go out. And I do it because biking is, for a whole pile of reasons, simply the best way for me to make those trips.

My top six, selfishly practical reasons:

-Bikes are cheap to buy, cheap to operate, and cheap to park. And I’m cheap.
-Riding is exercise, and like many of us I find it incredibly hard to make time for exercise if it’s not integrated into my daily routine.
- Biking is much faster than walking, and for my commute it’s also faster than the bus, even though the bus stop is only three blocks from my house.
- I avoid the frustration of not being in control: I never have to wait for a late bus, I can go around cars stuck in traffic, I can stop and take a picture whenever I want.
- It’s exhilarating—I always feel more alive after a ride, even when the weather’s miserable.
- It’s just plain fun to zip around on the city streets—sometimes I practice riding wheelies like a 12-year old on my way in to work.

As you see, it’s all about me. To me, biking is such a perfect choice for urban mobility that the real question is, why do so many people not ride, which is a far more interesting question than why I do.

Yes, there are those who cannot ride for good reasons, such as being physically incapable, or because they have lots of stuff to take with them, or because of challenging logistics. But there’s no way that adds up to 97 percent of commuters in Seattle.

Is it because people are too out of shape? I’m no superjock—I’m a middle-aged guy who sits in front of a computer screen all day and does a little yard work occasionally. It’s really not that physically hard to ride a bike a few miles, is it? And anyway, aren’t we Seattleites supposed to be all wholesome and fit like the people in the REI catalog?

From a funny post by Dan Bertolet over at Publicola from a while back that I consistently return to like the Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness - I guess I can relate. Read the full story HERE .