I looked outside of the window. The sky was clear, only a few clouds were far away in the horizon. It wouldn't rain today. I opened the door and got my bicycle out. It was a bit chilly. The bright sun might disguise it, but the fall season is finally here. I wore my light jacket over my shirt and off I went with my bicycle.
The cool morning air hit my face. There was complete silence. There weren't many cars on the road as I had still twenty minutes before the rush hour. I rolled my bicycle all the way to the city center. Upon arriving to my destination, I said good morning to my colleagues and locked my bicycle to the next shop's pipe drain. I then grabbed my handbag from my front basket and entered the shop where I work.
Two o'clock. It's time for my lunch break. I must return to the shop at five sharp. I have three hours for eating, resting, catching up with some friends. If the weather is still nice I might go for a ride afterwards, when the shops are closed.
The hours passed really quickly. I returned to the shop and continued my work. At nine o'clock it was time to start closing. We were helping the last customers out and at 9:15 I was once again outside unlocking my bicycle. The air was a little crisp, but nothing special. I wore my light jacket and I was fine. I went for a night ride. I met some friends. We decided to ride all together. We talked and laughed. As our bicycles rolled, the wind blew my hair.
It felt nice talking to friends while riding a bicycle. We paid no attention to where we were going. We just kept rolling with no destination. After some time and because it was late and we all had to work tomorrow, we said our goodbyes and each one headed to its home.
After a while, I carried my bicycle inside and went upstairs to take a warm shower.
Another day had ended.
...A couple of days later, I was with some other friends out. We had an appointment at a local cafe. I arrived there as usual with my bicycle. Not long after sitting down they started to ask me questions. At first the questions were just about general stuff related to cycling, we later covered the topic about the city's horrible bicycle infrastructure and after getting that discussion to an end, a girl who came later to our company suddenly asked "Why do you ride a bicycle?".
Truly she couldn't understand why I cycle when the infrastructure isn't suitable. She supported that if it was like that were she lives (Belgium) she wouldn't ride her bicycle at all!
...I sat in silence for a bit to put my thoughts in order. That wasn't the first time someone asked me this question. The answer is simple. Because I like it, I find it convenient and cycling just makes my day! But this answer doesn't seem enough for other people, even if these people are cyclists, too.
The truth is, that even though that the bicycle infrastructure is horrible, we cyclists don't have problems with navigating through the city. We just avoid and don't use the infrastructure. We don't do that in purpose, it is just that the majority of the cycle paths that are into the city are in irrelevant places and sparse to each other. That is why that all cyclists use the roads.
However there is courtesy in the roads. It is easy to move around, either being on a bicycle or inside a car. Everyone keeps the priority. It may seem a bit chaotic to cyclists from other countries with proper bicycle infrastructure to ride a bicycle on the roads here, but in reality it is not. There are a lot of cars only in the main roads. Also the average speed is low. It isn't dangerous. Someone must just try it for himself to understand fully what I'm saying.
But despite the lack of bicycle infrastructure I ride simply because I prefer to do so. When I cycle to places I feel that I earn time, not only because cycling is faster and more convenient into the city but because when I'm riding my bicycle, I'm living my life! Imagine the day that I've described above without a bicycle. It was a day that I was working for over nine hours. If someone took the cycling out of that day, then it wouldn't be a nice day. The reason I liked that day, it was because of all the cycling. I arrived at work in the morning fully awaken and refreshed from the early exercising. In the lunch break, the three hours were enough for me to recharge my batteries and enjoy myself and the company of others. The same applies to the night ride, too. If I didn't had a bicycle, I would just drive home and watched TV as most of the people do.
In other words, without the bicycle riding, that particular day would be an empty day, with the bicycle riding it was a full day!
Why do you ride a bicycle?
Two o'clock. It's time for my lunch break. I must return to the shop at five sharp. I have three hours for eating, resting, catching up with some friends. If the weather is still nice I might go for a ride afterwards, when the shops are closed.
The hours passed really quickly. I returned to the shop and continued my work. At nine o'clock it was time to start closing. We were helping the last customers out and at 9:15 I was once again outside unlocking my bicycle. The air was a little crisp, but nothing special. I wore my light jacket and I was fine. I went for a night ride. I met some friends. We decided to ride all together. We talked and laughed. As our bicycles rolled, the wind blew my hair.
It felt nice talking to friends while riding a bicycle. We paid no attention to where we were going. We just kept rolling with no destination. After some time and because it was late and we all had to work tomorrow, we said our goodbyes and each one headed to its home.
After a while, I carried my bicycle inside and went upstairs to take a warm shower.
Another day had ended.
...A couple of days later, I was with some other friends out. We had an appointment at a local cafe. I arrived there as usual with my bicycle. Not long after sitting down they started to ask me questions. At first the questions were just about general stuff related to cycling, we later covered the topic about the city's horrible bicycle infrastructure and after getting that discussion to an end, a girl who came later to our company suddenly asked "Why do you ride a bicycle?".
Truly she couldn't understand why I cycle when the infrastructure isn't suitable. She supported that if it was like that were she lives (Belgium) she wouldn't ride her bicycle at all!
...I sat in silence for a bit to put my thoughts in order. That wasn't the first time someone asked me this question. The answer is simple. Because I like it, I find it convenient and cycling just makes my day! But this answer doesn't seem enough for other people, even if these people are cyclists, too.
The truth is, that even though that the bicycle infrastructure is horrible, we cyclists don't have problems with navigating through the city. We just avoid and don't use the infrastructure. We don't do that in purpose, it is just that the majority of the cycle paths that are into the city are in irrelevant places and sparse to each other. That is why that all cyclists use the roads.
However there is courtesy in the roads. It is easy to move around, either being on a bicycle or inside a car. Everyone keeps the priority. It may seem a bit chaotic to cyclists from other countries with proper bicycle infrastructure to ride a bicycle on the roads here, but in reality it is not. There are a lot of cars only in the main roads. Also the average speed is low. It isn't dangerous. Someone must just try it for himself to understand fully what I'm saying.
But despite the lack of bicycle infrastructure I ride simply because I prefer to do so. When I cycle to places I feel that I earn time, not only because cycling is faster and more convenient into the city but because when I'm riding my bicycle, I'm living my life! Imagine the day that I've described above without a bicycle. It was a day that I was working for over nine hours. If someone took the cycling out of that day, then it wouldn't be a nice day. The reason I liked that day, it was because of all the cycling. I arrived at work in the morning fully awaken and refreshed from the early exercising. In the lunch break, the three hours were enough for me to recharge my batteries and enjoy myself and the company of others. The same applies to the night ride, too. If I didn't had a bicycle, I would just drive home and watched TV as most of the people do.
In other words, without the bicycle riding, that particular day would be an empty day, with the bicycle riding it was a full day!
Why do you ride a bicycle?
Simply for transportation. It's the common thing to do here.
ReplyDeleteDan
I have to agree with Dan here.
ReplyDelete