Bikes are everywhere

Wow, what a little pain at the gas pump can do for people’s health. And the environment! My bike and I rode the elevator this morning with a motorcyclist.

He grinned. “Looks like you get better gas mileage than I do!”

I nodded. “Yeah, but you take the hills a little faster!”

I parked my bike in the office and went to work. At the end of the day as I was leaving the building, I was surprised to see a woman walking a bike out of the elevator! We exchanged small talk for a moment outside when I stopped to look around.

At that moment, I could see five bicycles either in use or waiting for their owners. Amazing.

After work, I rode with the kids around the neighborhood. Our neighbor rode up to me on his new bike.

“Yeah, we saw you out riding this weekend, so I bought a new bike and bike seat for my son and we’re all riding again,” he said, proudly showing off his shiny new 21-speed mountain bike. “I work at Glenwood South, so I could ride to work if I wanted to.”

I suggested he try it and went on about how much fun I have biking to work. Though his commute will be about ten minutes longer than mine I hope he takes me up on it.

At $3.70 a gallon gas prices are painfully high, its true. But there are some benefits to that: people are now getting around in ways they never anticipated. And apparently having fun doing it. I know I am!