Pedaling a bike is easy

“Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain - at least in a poor country like Russia - and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.”
Leon Trotsky

North America is arguably the only place in the world where the bicycle is considered a “toy” rather than transportation. In Amsterdam, only one example, bicycle trips now number more than car trips.

North Americans need a swift kick in the behind to walk, take public transit or, my favorite, pedal a bicycle. There are so many of reasons that commuting by bicycle is better than driving an automobile. It's emission-free transportation that gets you outside to enjoy life rather than being trapped in a steel and carbon fiber cage. What a sense of true freedom while pedaling, as if you are part of the world, and not having the world pass you by. Pedaling a bike is easy.

It’s just plain fun to pedal a bike. Just imagine the things you would see on your human-powered commute, the sounds you would normally have missed in a car, the view of the sun rising and setting over the city. These are the things that I experience daily as a bike commuter.

Last May, I decided to park my car a couple of days a week and cycle to work. I rode on Monday and drove on Tuesday…got back on the bike Wednesday and never looked back. I was loving it! The bike became my primary transportation, I picked up pannier bags to carry groceries and add to my bike’s utility. By the time August came around I looked at my car, unused with flat tires…and sold it. I haven’t missed it. I continued to ride into the fall and gradually became acclimatized and have ridden every day this winter. I now get home from work before my neighbor is done warming up his car.

It is absolutely stellar to begin my mornings smelling fresh air and getting exercise instead of being trapped indoors like a hamster on a wheel.

No parking worries, no gas, no insurance, no gridlock, no windows to scrape. I can’t even use the excuse “my car won’t start” anymore to be late for work.

I also became more and more interested in the weather. I have now become my own meteorologist.

Commuting opened me to a new aspect of cycling I had known nothing of. Before, all I had known was recreational riding. Now I am fully embracing this lifestyle, and telling others to start, as well.

I'm don’t expect anyone to take it as far as I did, but it can be done. With just a little bit of planning and a desire to do something different, you can change your life, and the world around you, by simply pedaling a bicycle.