
I'm an older guy: 51 years old, a Berkeley graduate, so still sort of a hippie from a now lost generation. When in high school I was an advocate for environmental protection. I went on to get a degree in soil science, a true ecology major. But over the years I have been kind of worn out by silly environmental activists who don't think through their positions. So I don't want to be thought of as an environmentalist, but as a conservationist. God has given us only so much, and we are required to conserve.
This week in central California where I live, gas is topping $3.00 per gallon. That's about $0.80 per liter, so it still isn't absurdly expensive, but being that California has historically been an oil producer and home to many refineries, it is much more than most of us are used to.
Anyway, still being a conservationist, I can't see a reason to burn gas just to go a few miles a day to work. So I looked at my old bike, and thought perhaps I could commute by bicycle. I live in a community with very many steep hills, and my old bike is not right for commuting, so I went out and bought a new bike for the purpose. Now for two weeks I've been riding to and from work, a total of 10 miles a day, with the last mile a tough hill climb. My legs are killing me, but I am getting a workout everyday without paying gym fees.
In the mornings I usually ride past a husky motorcycle cop with his radar gun. On almost every day after I wave hello to him he immediately pulls out to chase down some poor soul who was speeding.
I have to ride by an Andy Gump portable potty and a field spread with manure. I also ride by strawberry fields, and houses cooking breakfast in the morning and dinner in the evenings. I couldn't enjoy the aromas of the outdoors when I as driving in my car.
I can see children playing in the yards and on the streets. I see neighbors working in their yards, and hear the birds. I also see all the flattened road kill and the cigarette butts and garbage littering the streets.
I see other bicyclists, most of whom wear those tight fitting clown costumes that bicyclists like to wear. My bike, shown above, is your standard black bike with a luggage rack, headlight and a little bell, and I wear my business attire (very geeky--I look like a Morman missionary except for the aloha shirt I wear on Fridays). So I don't look like the other bicycle riders, and in fact I think I have only seen one other guy commuting on his bicycle.
But I am saving gas, improving my health, and enjoying the ride. My legs are always sore, because I keep timing my ride home and trying to improve on it, but, hey, I'm a guy and most guys have a testosterone problem that makes us this way.
Such are the little pleasures of riding to work. So get a bike and make you life better.
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