Seymour Rambles

Here is a list of events that have shaped my bike commuting experience so far:

Commuting by bike is:

• A fantastic way to get to work (5 miles downhill)
• A commitment to get home (5 miles uphill)
• Beating cars down hills
• Cars beating you up hills
• Riding with other commuters in the morning sometimes
• Riding by yourself most of the time
• Riding between stopped cars
• Riding between stopped cars, losing balance, and grabbing onto them humbly
• Carbon neutral, minus what you breathe in, which makes it carbon negative
• Being waved at by friendly people who give you the right of way
• Being flipped off and honked at by that guy in a mercedes
• Showing up to social functions kind of sweaty
• Changing out of social function clothes into riding clothes in social function restroom
• Exhilarating most of the time
• Scary as hell sometimes
• Learning how to put the heavy groceries equally on both sides of the bike so you don’t fall over
• Racing home so the ice cream doesn’t melt
• Allowing yourself more time than usual
• Having to ride home no matter how tired or how long your day was
• Hard on your bike, so buy strong parts!
• A really cool way to meet people at bike shops with the same common interest
• Getting 53 mpb…miles per burrito
• Counter cultural, which satisfies the small rebellious part of my soul

Overall, commuting by bike has been such a great way to get around DC and a fun lifestyle to adapt to.  There have been times where I should have been hit by cars and it was my fault.  There have been times that I have given up and taken the metro home because I was too tired to ride.

 But that’s the beauty of a new and different lifestyle.  you have to try it, see what you like, learn what you don’t like, fail, succeed, and live within the ebb and flow of two wheels that only work when you just keep pedaling.