Riding your bike pays off!

I have started riding my bike to work in these first months of summer. I realized a few simple things about this when I started. One you are more aware of the world in general when you ride your bike. You are experiencing the world first hand: the wind, the ground, the rain, the dust, the dirt. I don't mean to sound poetic, but riding your bike is a poetic experience. Second you are more aware of yourself. Your body reacts to certain conditions: your wet skin in the rain, your taught muscles as your legs work the pedals, and the sound of your breathing. This is what life is all about, I think -building endurance and working toward something simpler, perhaps more healthy while enjoying the planet. Lastly the bike is a simple machine that makes us conscious and responsible for our world and it does little damage to everything else. Think about all the money I save on gas, all the exhaust I do not leave behind polluting the atmosphere, and the workout I get in the process. It's not always easy riding your bike given the weather conditions or how we feel. Our bodies and minds are prone to get lazy, but we must keep pedaling towards something. Here is a story that might make you want to purchase a bike, if not for the health reasons, maybe for the greedy.

Pedaling Pays Off

After a long day at work, I began my trek from St. Paul into Minneapolis as the sun was setting. I ride my bike home on Franklin Ave. this long mountainous street that descends into Minneapolis' Seward neighborhood. This particular ride always makes me nervous given the three facts that I have not purchased a light for my bike, the neighborhood is a bit full of homeless people, and the mountain requires little pedaling and as I descend my road bike becomes a bit wobbly with speed and I fear I may go so fast that my body will fly over the handlebars. But the wind in my hair with light pressure on the brakes and all the neat things I get to look at makes up for it. One thing caught my eye. As I began my descent, passing a red car on the street, I noticed something that looked like a twenty dollar bill rolled up. I noticed it because I was watching for cracks in the road which could throw me from my bike. I pulled a U turn, straining the ascent back up the road and I pulled up. Indeed, a rolled up twenty dollar bill on the ground. Without a second thought about the owner of the money, I scooped it up and descended the mountain. I could try to find the owner, I rationalized, but ANYBODY is going to say they lost it -especially the owner of the red car. I decided in good conscience: Finders Keepers, Losers weepers. And I descended the mountain without a second glance or a look at the money clenched in my fist.

I arrived home and put my bike away and went into my room. I unrolled the money and discovered, no, not one, not two, not three, BUT four twenties rolled up. I just made eighty dollars for riding my bike. Nobody in a car would find a treasure that sweet unless a bird shit money into their open window or they were in an accident and got to sue the bastard that hit them. And when is that going to happen? Not likely and Not in good conscience.

It just goes to show that bike riding is affordable, healthy, economic, and makes one much luckier than those in automobiles. I say, if you can ride a bike and want to make a change for yourself, START NOW. Trust me, you'll feel better in the long run.