Day 20 of 30 Days of Biking

There are days that it’s difficult to get on your bike instead of using your car for short trips around town. It wasn’t that long ago that using a bike to ride into the city for a meeting never crossed into my mind.  I just got in the car and drove.  

When I began blogging, I began following people who commuted to work. I was very jealous because my office was forty miles from home.  One day, I happened across a guy somewhere who spoke about driving part way to his office and riding the bike the remaining few miles.  Sometimes things are so obvious that we miss them till someone says it out loud. For almost ten years I did that kind of bike commuting and that eventually turned me into a full out,  commuting, touring, club riding, errand running, going to coffee shop and getting my hair cut bike rider.

Somewhere along the way I became a bike video/photographer for some of the local charity rides. I’m doing one next month where the ride is arrowed to pass by 4 or 5 ice cream shops.  One of my favorite techniques is to ride along side someone and prep them for an interview.  I talk to them about my questions and eventually take out my video camera and do the interview while riding.  During my coaching days on occasion, a TV crew would ambush me, put his camera 12 inches from my face, turn on the bright light and ask, “Coach, what is your reaction to tonight’s match.”   I got that Jackie Gleason moment, humina, humima. So I don’t do that.

Today, I rode to the city for a 7 PM meeting.  It’s around 5 miles to the place and it was a beautiful night to ride. I got caught on the bridge, as we say when it’s open to let boats pass, and had to wait for a fishing trawler to make it’s way out to sea.  Thanks to my commitment to 30 Days of Biking, I didn’t drive.