Winter came back yesterday leaving snow covered, crusty streets everywhere and I felt better, or maybe less foolish for having bought studded snow tires this year. I felt also better to find other cyclists out and about.
But I can't help but wonder why the rest of the world is sitting inside. I only wear a couple items of fleece in this weather and have to worry about over heating. While I stopped at the local Lowes store to shop for kitchen tile, I ran into the handyman for our complex. He was picking up some screws and a tool he needed and when we walked out together chatting while he carried his one little bag of stuff, he was honestly shocked that I had ridden my bike "clear over here." As he left me at the front of the store he walked about 100 yards to his truck to drive back to work, a whole two blocks away. I passed him in the exit drive as he waited in line, and was walking from my garage as he pulled into our lot a few minutes later.
People just don't see the simplicity and convenience of
not using a car.
Recently when I was visiting my parents, they were asking about my bike riding habit, and lauded me for it. My mother, who at 83 swims 4-5 lengths of an Olympic sized pool 3-4 times a week, thought cycling was a wonderful thing for me and suggested she might start getting her bike back out to ride also. When my dad suggested she could ride to the pool (a one mile trip) to warm up for her swim, she exploded that she "
would not be reduced to that!"
What are people not seeing?
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