Ride for your life
Wednesday, September 24 2008
One of the things about being sick is that you don’t have to worry about all the stuff that normal people ought to worry about. For example, I avoided raw vegetables for about three years, contrary to all sorts of dietary and nutritional expert advice. My system just couldn’t handle anything that rough. Same for exercise – I didn’t get much. Even a few blocks of walking could wear me out.
Now that I feel better, I am trying to find ways to get more exercise. One thing I am trying is occasionally riding my bike to work – about five miles, one way. If I could do it regularly, this would be a great way for me to stay fit and – I hope – healthy. I’ve done it a few times during the day, and it’s a tough ride with lots of hills.
It’s tough for structural reasons, too. Unlike driving or using mass transit, where the infrastructure is clearly available and useful, there’s not much between here and my office that is conducive to safe and comfortable cycling. There are lots of dangerous intersections, roads without bike lanes, bike lanes shared with pedestrians, and so on. Last night I rode in the dark for the first time, and much that was merely annoying in daylight became downright threatening – bad signage, sharp turns, large bumps in the sidewalk. It was one of the scarier things I’ve done lately, but it was also pretty clear that none of this was necessarily so. The transport authorities in my city simply choose to privilege cars and transit over bikes and pedestrians, as they do most everywhere in the United States.
I’m glad to be well enough to worry about these kinds of things, but it’s still disappointing.
