Riding My Bike
I am 21 years old and I don’t have a driver’s license.
I chose not to get one when I was 15 because I had a “plan” and I didn’t want to contribute to air pollution. Back then it was just air pollution we were concerned about and the big term of global warming wasn’t thrown around as much (though perhaps it should have been).
My plan was to ride public transportation, ride a bike, walk or any other form of non-polluting action that got you from one place to the next.
But, as anyone will tell you thats ridden the South Florida public transportation system, whether that be the bus or tri-rail and especially in Broward County, its definitely not a reliable form of transport and/or not a very pleasant one.
So, I got a bike around 17 and I rode everywhere I needed to go.
What I can say about both public transport and bike riding is this: you see more.
You see people you would have never ever seen before and sit next to them on the bus: homeless vagrants that end up pissing themselves and everyone has to get off, people that have dreadlocks without trying, black ladies dressed in the finest of church clothes talking to Lincoln, white ladies with tons of plastic bags that hold all of their life’s possessions, old guys that live in their motorized wheelchairs decked out with windmills and American flags…
You smell things when you’re on a bike that would have been normally filtered out through your car’s A/C unit; the acrid stench of a passing garbage truck, the sweet smell of jasmine growing in someone’s garden…
Once you step outside the box of traveling by air conditioned, protected vehicle, you’re exposed. Exposed more to the nitty gritty of life, the street level perception of things. Life in real time.
Public transportation is not for the impatient neither is bike riding. Maybe thats what I value most about it. Traveling in real time. Everyday is a journey, you always see something new, and sometimes even make friends along the way.
I wish more people rode their bike and took the bus once in a while down here. It can be a real eye opener to see where you really live, from the perspective of the street. I think you should have to ride a bicycle and public transport to earn your way to getting a vehicle. See where you really live rather than just skimming over it or zooming by it.
At this point in my life, I’m ready for an upgrade. I want a VW microbus or camper van. Something that can double as a sleeping place in times of need or travel. I’d convert it to bio diesel.
But I’d never give up bike riding. There’s something about traveling to a place with the wind in your hair, heart pumping blood to the rest of your body and moving at the speed of you.
Not just pressing a gas pedal and going but moving with the power of your own body.
Try it out.
October 4, 2008 at 3:42 am
Hello Beautiful, I love your insightful posts as well as the pictures. Maybe we should get a tandem bike and ride together. I must agree with you about that public transportation and/or biking isn’t for the impatient. I didn’t get my license until I was 20. I took public transportation to school every day and then when I transferred schools I walked. I still enjoy walking. I realize even though I live close to work I drive my car too much, been thinking about getting a bike. As for one short comment on a different subject, do I use the e-mail when I e-mail. I am truly glad I have reconnected with you. KISSES.
October 4, 2008 at 11:30 am
When I bought a new bike a few years ago, I remember feeling a lot of the same things you describe as far as seeing more and being more connected to your surroundings. I remember thinking how the weather forecast meant almost nothing to me most days, as I would be spending the entire day inside a climate-controlled building or vehicle anyway. But on a bike, you learn to check the weather forecast first - nature matters when you’re exposed to the elements.
I lived in Broward County for about a year back in 2000 and I had a bike at the time. I can’t imagine riding a bike down there for practical transportation. Florida is a very bike-hostile state. There’s rarely any shoulder on the side of the road and people drive pretty recklessly. I’m on the other coast now, north of Tampa, and it’s just as bad here. The streets are not laid out in a huge grid like the one that exists from West Palm Beach to Miami/Homestead. Around here there are a few “artery” roads that connect things, and everything else is crappy little subdivisions with limited entry/exit points, so as a bicyclist you’re stuck riding on the dangerous artery roads with heavy traffic and bad drivers. It’s crazy. I miss New England in that respect, but then New England had months of snow and cold as well as some killer hills.
October 4, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I don’t drive and I ride a bike everywhere too. I love it. On a bike you can play a little as you ride, just idling from side to side or just enjoying the motion. I’m thinking of getting a Brompton folding bike which fold up really small which means I can take it on a bus, you could keep one of those in your camper van. That would be great driving somewhere really interesting then cycling around.