Bike-To-Work Week, er, Month, um, Year

The Orange County Transportation Authority Bike to Work promotion officially starts Sunday, April 29, 2012 with a bike festival in Huntington Beach. However, National  Bike Month has to wait its turn for another 2 days, because it, officially, only happens in the month of May. 

Our National Bike Month Poster for OCTA

For years, this celebration was widely known as Bike To Work Week (which is still going on). This month, Bike To Work Week is May 14 - 18. However this is the year that OCTA asked us to use the month of May to kick off a year-long effort to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes to go to work, to shop, to school and to play. And while I'm sure a substantial number of you reading this are shaking your heads saying, "No that's impossible," I have to remind you that I have been doing it for over 17 years. And I know that some of you must be thinking, "Well, that all well and good for you young folks, but I'm too old for that." Fine. Then, using my age as a guideline, if you're over 67, you can use that excuse… at least for another year.

Everyone at Pasadena Advertising is proud that we were chosen to be a part of this effort, and OCTA is doing their best to make this year's program truly excel. Their theme this year is "anyone can bike" (as I believe I have proven myself). And among the benefits they are pointing out, the cost savings alone should provide more than a little motivation. The savings amount to thousands of dollars a year. In this economy, that is huge. But another benefit of course is health. For those of us who work so hard we can't find time to get to the gym, how about getting in a one-hour workout in 20 minutes?

My 6-mile round trip to the office by car is about 40 minutes. The round trip by bike, is around an hour. So in just an extra 20 minutes a day, I get in a full hour's workout. And I don't stand in line. And I don't have to put up with people using my soap, shampoo, towel, and whatever else they accidentally get their hands on. And did I mention that I can vary my route and enjoy a different ride every day? And that it's free?

So dust off your bike, and give your car a rest. Have fun.  Get healthy.  Click here for more information about OCTA's National Bike Month celebration. 

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.