I’m no hardcore biker. I have ambivalent feelings about all that gear, especially the shorts—though I must admit that my new, fancy, built-for-a-woman bike, which I got last November, is a dream to ride. And the gloves I recently purchased sure do help. But before anything else, I believe in biking as a functional activity—as transportation, whenever possible; and as an aid to sanity—so the less extra stuff to do before I hop on the bike, the better.
Which is one reason for this blog: I hope it will be a resource for girls who want to commute on a bike but who worry about how to make that happen with limited time and money. This is for boys too, but I find there’s less information out there for women, and as I am one, I’ll start there. I’m not a beginner at commuting by bike, but I’m nowhere near an expert. So I’ll share what I learn.
Another thing I’ll be doing is posting crafty fixes for the conundrums that the girl bike-commuter may encounter. I’ll also pester my biking friends for their good ideas and, with their permission, post them here.
And finally, there will be books. For me, a good novel is as essential to a bike trip (or to getting rested up after a long ride) as air in the tires. And just as I want biking to be a natural and frequently-occurring part of my life, like eating breakfast or having coffee, I want literature to be that way as well. So it is inevitable that the two should intersect. I will focus my first attention on biking-related books, but I make no guarantee that others won’t slip in.
A final note regarding one of my most important tenets for biking. It should, as I will discuss, be broken occasionally. But as often as possible, the first purpose of biking should be to feel good and to enjoy oneself. Framed that way, it’s an opportunity to have quality time—rather than an extra 30 minutes of commuting. Also, it’s good PR: who feels inspired to ride on seeing a grimacing cyclist pedaling so hard her bike wobbles from side to side? A smiling (or at least neutral-faced) cyclist, wobbly or no, might plant the suggestion in a driver’s mind that she might enjoy that ride too. But it should feel good first. The other stuff—toned legs, a smaller carbon footprint, bragging rights, serenity—is gravy on the homemade biscuits at the little diner you’ve biked to Saturday morning.
