I live in Vancouver, Washington which is directly north of Portland, Oregon and supposedly the best city in North America to bicycle according to Bicycle Magazine. The Vancouver and Portland area has more bike lanes and safe roads to ride on than any part of the country I have visited.

Obviously I am into cycling and could be considered an avid cyclist. I do not ride outdoors every day, but I ride most days and I do ride year round. Some days my riding consist of commuting to work, which is a 40 mile round trip and when I decide to incorporate pubic transit into my commute, this reduces my commute ride to 28 miles. Besides recreation and commuting, I ride my bike to visit friends, relatives and grocery shop. I own four bikes, an aluminum frame touring bike I use for commuting and other utilitarian uses, a mountain bike for single track and down hilling, a carbon fiber road bike I use to ride fast and export grief onto the poser types and my old road bike I have mounted on my fluid trainer, which I use for self-inflicted grief.

Every time I ride my bike to work, shopping, friends or family it makes me feel good to know I am not contributing to oil company profits or global warming. It is hard to describe where bicycling takes me, but it is safe to say it takes me to a place you would not understand unless you ride frequently. On rainy days, riding is my mental sunshine and gets me through those periods of sunshine less weeks we have during the winter here in the Northwest.

To me bicycling is a life style choice. My refusal to allow myself to get caught up in the speed of light lifestyle leaves me with a pace in life, which is very conducive to appreciation, creativity, and learning. And ultimately this gives me the time and opportunity to enjoy the view life has to offer from the seat of a bicycle.

My two favorite sayings are, “Ride it like you stole it.” and “Are you riding or hiding?”

That’s it for now.