Bicycling: The Day to Day

I avoid driving as much as possible. I do not drive to work (save once, when my mother insisted because of the rain) nor do I drive for the everyday tasks of getting here or there. My mother has expressed a hope for moderation in this endeavour, as in today, with a modest risk of rain she suggested I drive. Albeit, I have worked nearly every day for the last week and a holiday from the trek would be somewhat appreciated, but I think she misunderstands the sensation of necessity I have for the behavior.

Some people drive to the gym to spend some time working out. Every fitness club I have visited has some variety of stationary bike, many have two or more varieties. I do not bike around for fitness, but bursting with juice up the hill just north of Old Cheney on 27th Street or having to stand and scoop ice cream for three or four hours are endeavours made easier, possible, or enjoyable by a moderate level of fitness. I don't have to spend time anywhere special when I get around on a bicycle.

A more meaningful reason for bicycling is because it is something I know I can do tomorrow. That is, I can get somewhere on my own feet--or through the medium of wheels--to the places I want to get to. Driving requires many layers of dependency that I am not particularly fond of: vehicles are created from metals and plastics made from ores and oil from all over the world, mined and shipped from the ends of the world to other ends in order to be changed and shipped again; the gasoline and oil needed for running the vehicles is often part of funding regimes that do not respect the rights of women, indigenous peoples, the environment (if you accept such claims), neighboring countries, and so on; when one uses a vehicle, the optimal impacts are non-localized and negatively impact the functioning of ecological and social systems broadly; under negative conditions (cracks, spills, breakage, improper disposal of wastes), localized problems arise like poisoned waters and soils, impaired life systems of plants and animals, cancer and other diseases.

Now, bicycling does not mediate all of these problems. As with most modern commodities, the construction and sale of a bicycle requires international, transboundary cooperation and has similar impacts in the case of positive, proper or negative, inappropriate business practices. With a bicycle, the results of either of these are more obviously demarcated than with a commodity like a vehicle that requires more inputs for the same function; this function is usually called efficiency, which the motor vehicle lacks while the bicycle seems to accomplish.

When I use my bicycle, I hope--in an active, participatory manner--to support community, economy, work, and transportation that my future nieces and nephews, my cousins, and--potentially, at some point--my children might emulate. The passions my friends and I most enjoy are simple. What I most like to do when time allows is read, write, bake, and converse. Even my mother might admit to reading, listening to music, and sitting down over dinner with friends over traveling and buying; though I can't say that they outrank purchasing her impressive television. I guess my conclusion is that I have come to witness a resounding affirmation, almost coincidentally, in simple tasks over complex ones, in doing something we put our own hands into.

Often times, I worry endlessly whenever I think too much about politics or the landscape or, to a lesser extent, my friends and family. I don't know how to end this exactly--I wasn't sure where I was going when I distractedly sat down to write--except that I can return to the excitement of Lauren to farm, Kate to bake, Linnea to teach, and so on. We are finding out how to get out of these conundrums by doing the things that make us happy, and as I discovered junior year, these usually make one another happy as well.