Last weeks horrific DASH bus accident whose path I crossed, has had me ever so slightly traumatized for the past few days. To address this, today I plan to reflect on the benefits of the bicycle, in order to re-tighten my grip on urban cycling…..
Let’s get right to it:
What are the benefits of the bicycle?
- Self generated power (can induce feeling of liberation or “empowerment”)
- Provides an immediate escape from a traffic jam
- Extends range of ways to travel through the city including the full use of the lane on the road (alleyways, sidewalks, bicycle boulevards, river paths etc.)
- Good for my health, good exercise, sun on the skin, wind in the hair sort of a thing
- Don’t need to worry about a parking space in quite the same way as a motorist would
I think this is working….
Yes, it is coming back to me now. Almost three years ago, I gave my dying old car away to charity for the purpose of living as a cyclist in Los Angeles. I had been using the car less and less and the bicycle more and more, so I was pretty ready to make the switch. I had already begun to suffer the strange back-lash that all cyclists in LA feel at one point or another…I like to call it the “you rode your WHAT?!” complex. Whether it was co-workers, old friends or the motorists on the streets, it seemed like everyone had one simple message for me -
“You rode your WHAT?!”
The questions would often evolve into “How?” and “Why??” and,
“Aren’t you scared?!”
Although I will report that as of now exactly NO motorists have slowed down when passing me and asked, “Hey, are you scared to be riding your bicycle on the same road as I’m driving on?”
They typically speed up, honk, yell, or Slap your ASS.
Ever since I started reading Tom Vanderbilt’s blog and his fabulous book “Traffic: The way we drive”, I have been wanting to write more and more about the experience of riding a bicycle through traffic. Of late, I have begun to imagine the road as a sort of dance-space where moving through traffic becomes the dance. I’ve been telling myself in the morning — “Dance your way to work, on your bike.” Although I have noticed that it is actually the commute home that I need to practice this the most. It is one thing to be up early, feeling fresh and zipping to work…it is quite another to feel tired and drained at the end of the day, just wanting to get home.
Thoughts like these will eventually compel me to finish (and post here) the following essay I started last month entitled:
Traffic and Equanimity: Los Angeles by Bicycle
(equanimity: n. composure, calm, calmness, the steadiness of mind under stress.)
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In the meantime, might I suggest you check out this royally awesome series from KCET:
The Science of Traffic (KCET-SoCal Connected)
While your at it, check out the 4SBB love on their new installment about Your Commute.
Add your own pictures and videos to the growing Google Map!
Dance your way to work! On your bike!
Tags: benefits of the bicycle, los angeles, reflections, stress, traffic
