Saturday, March 10, 2012

Why I bike

Pasadena Advertising is currently designing the "Bike to Work" promotion for Orange County Transit Authority, and it is not only an exciting project, it inspired me to explain what over a decade of biking to work and beyond has meant to me:


Why I bike

I bike to work
to shop
to play
to get away.
to get from here to there,
to feel the road
the rush of air
racing through my helmet
whistling in my ears.

I bike to hear the music
of the pavements
parks and river paths
back roads and byways
unique to every landscape
on my way.
I bike for all the sights to see
on quiet morning city streets
and barely used back roads.
I nod to runners, walkers
dogs and fellow bikers.
as I lean into headwinds
and focus on the safest path
down a long and winding stretch.

On weekends I ride far and wide
to feel my body bend
and muscles strain
to overcome the uphill climbs
to push myself through flats and turns,
and kaleidoscopes of neighborhoods
as landscapes pass me by.
From sun-swept early morning glories
through the white washed blues of afternoons.
into reddened evening orange hues
in a fading dance of shade and shadow.

And almost every weekday,
I bike to work
for fun
for health
for that natural burst of energy
that helps me through the day
from my arrival at my desk
until the sun's departure.
Then on my uphill homeward ride
with every pump and push and pant,
the cares of office
work and worries melt away.

The icing on the cake is when I bike,
         I clean the air
         and clear the streets,
         free up spots in parking lots
         have a laugh at the price of gas
         tone my heart and legs and lungs
         And in some small way
         share my choice of health with
         everyone who breathes.