Adven-tar!
This is a post I wrote but didn't finish writing until today; I found it while I was adding tags to all my entries.
I've said many times that everything on a bicycle becomes a little adventure. Whether it's jaunting to the (recently non-depressing) Dollar General or out further to 7-11 for a few items, or across the river to meet a friend for lunch or read at the Barnes and Noble "library", or meeting your girl at the mall to try on sweaters, it's all a lot more fun on a bike. If I had to hop in a car and drive out to any of those places everytime I wanted/needed to it wouldn't be fun, it'd be a royal pain in the ass.
For example, by cycling and taking the bus to work I get the benefit of enjoyable excercise and being delivered promptly to my destination while I read and eat a breakfast bar or take a nap. And instead of, say, swinging by my apartment on the way home and picking the gal up, then driving back Downtown, then paying for/finding a parking spot, she takes a ferry ride and a walk while I bike and we meet up in the middle. Fantabulous.
Even just getting onto the base on a bike is an adventure. Unless I'm carpooling with a fellow employee the closest I can get dropped off to my actual building is exactly a mile away. One day I had fun not getting run over by a dumptruck (and scarily recalling all of the lorry/HGV tragedies I've read at Messenger of Doom or Moving Target) and then racing not one but two dumptrucks across a flat street and winning. I'm getting a plaque made now, "David: Faster Than a Dumptruck Going the Speed Limit".
If I was really pushing this whole thing to it's limits, I could even say I outran the law that day. Being late (like I was) and posessing... flexible cycling ethics (like I do) I took a few shortcuts to try and speed that mile along. As I came to a long line of cars waiting to turn left I deceided not to wait. I crossed the oncoming lane, hopped up on the sidewalk, made the corner, and hopped back onto the pavement between some traffic cones, and went along my merry way.
Not one second later I hear the frenzied whistle of the cop directing traffic in the intersection behind me. I was not stopping, clinging to the code, "It's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission." I didn't look back, and I'm sure he didn't chase me. But it was exciting for a moment. I laughed at/to myself as I pedaled along, sweating in my work clothes, wondering how late I'd have to stay to make my ten hours. I find myself laughing a lot on a bike.
When was the last time you had a fun story to tell about your car ride to work?
- David
I've said many times that everything on a bicycle becomes a little adventure. Whether it's jaunting to the (recently non-depressing) Dollar General or out further to 7-11 for a few items, or across the river to meet a friend for lunch or read at the Barnes and Noble "library", or meeting your girl at the mall to try on sweaters, it's all a lot more fun on a bike. If I had to hop in a car and drive out to any of those places everytime I wanted/needed to it wouldn't be fun, it'd be a royal pain in the ass.
For example, by cycling and taking the bus to work I get the benefit of enjoyable excercise and being delivered promptly to my destination while I read and eat a breakfast bar or take a nap. And instead of, say, swinging by my apartment on the way home and picking the gal up, then driving back Downtown, then paying for/finding a parking spot, she takes a ferry ride and a walk while I bike and we meet up in the middle. Fantabulous.
Even just getting onto the base on a bike is an adventure. Unless I'm carpooling with a fellow employee the closest I can get dropped off to my actual building is exactly a mile away. One day I had fun not getting run over by a dumptruck (and scarily recalling all of the lorry/HGV tragedies I've read at Messenger of Doom or Moving Target) and then racing not one but two dumptrucks across a flat street and winning. I'm getting a plaque made now, "David: Faster Than a Dumptruck Going the Speed Limit".
If I was really pushing this whole thing to it's limits, I could even say I outran the law that day. Being late (like I was) and posessing... flexible cycling ethics (like I do) I took a few shortcuts to try and speed that mile along. As I came to a long line of cars waiting to turn left I deceided not to wait. I crossed the oncoming lane, hopped up on the sidewalk, made the corner, and hopped back onto the pavement between some traffic cones, and went along my merry way.
Not one second later I hear the frenzied whistle of the cop directing traffic in the intersection behind me. I was not stopping, clinging to the code, "It's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission." I didn't look back, and I'm sure he didn't chase me. But it was exciting for a moment. I laughed at/to myself as I pedaled along, sweating in my work clothes, wondering how late I'd have to stay to make my ten hours. I find myself laughing a lot on a bike.
When was the last time you had a fun story to tell about your car ride to work?
- David
posted by BuddhaDave at
2:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home