Yesterday morning I was working at home here in Portland, looking out my living-room window at the cool, misty day. I needed to go down to Metro, just over four miles away, for an afternoon-long meeting.
Like most all people in a city, I had a choice-point: how did I want to transport myself from here to there? I could:
1.) use TriMet, our award-winning bus system that passes right outside my door; 2.) ride my bicycle; or 3.) drive our Honda Civic hybrid. The bicycle was my first choice on several counts — it’s the only one with zero carbon emissions . . . the only one with zero financial cost . . . . it’s part of the very best diet . . . . . and (new confession) I’m a frustrated athlete.
So with all those advantages, why wasn’t the bicycle a slam-dunk choice? Well, it takes a bit more effort, a bit more time, and I’d get at least a bit wet (I have a rain jacket but no rain pants yet). But I remembered President-elect Obama’s reminder, both in the second debate and in his acceptance speech, that rebuilding our troubled nation involves sacrifice.
Thus inspired, I sprang into gear by closing my laptop early instead of waiting until the last minute, packing the pannier with my papers and purse, tucking my hair into my helmet and setting off down Mt. Tabor hill.
Ahhhh . . . . what a rush. The moist air was cool but not cold, the mist kissed my face like a gentle lover, and the vibrant autumn leaves made the street feel like my own little parade route. I got to Metro in just twenty minutes, and was the first one in the meeting-room. The meeting itself was high-energy and productive, and the bike-ride back UP Mt. Tabor was, of course, where my inner athlete got to step forward. By the time I was stabling my steed back in the garage, I was a tad wet, yes, but I felt so alive I couldn’t believe I had even considered taking the car.
[Mt. Tabor is a haul, let me tell you. I have seen a young man who is built like a Greek god stagger into my house after bicycling up this sharp-flanked mini-mountain. After I revived Mack with liquids and breakfast, I learned he had actually walked his bicycle the last five blocks. I didn't say a word, but my inner jock, the competitive one, rejoiced at the fact I have always stayed in the saddle.]
All playfulness aside, each one of us makes hundreds of choices annually as to how we will get from point A to point B. Bicycling and walking are the choices that yield zero carbon emissions (or emissions of any other kind). They make us physically stronger and healthier, and they make us financially stronger and healthier, not just as individuals saving money on gas, but as a nation working toward energy independence and solutions to global warming. I’ll need to remember all this, myself, the next time the lazy one in me wants to drive to a meeting that’s just four miles away 
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photo courtesy of halfandheart
I love your description of the rush of cycling…
I walk almost everywhere, and Edinburgh has an excellent bus system for the longer journeys and the UK has reasonable trains for out of town. I can’t drive and shamefully I’m not too good on a bicycle, not in built up areas anyway…