Revisiting My Motives

My girlfriend's in town this week, so I've just began, but I am taking the week off to be with her. She's not into biking and I think I am going to wait until after we're married for her to become a bike widow. ;) Actually, we are enjoying ourselves way up in Santa Fe. Tonight we had vegetable sushi with Mariela, who runs the restaurant Vegan Santa Fe, and now I must say I am quite full and warm from good company and the Santa Fe atmosphere, which just happens to be 32 degrees Farenheit right now.

So, are we over the shock and surprise that I have no bicycling adventures to report at the moment? I didn't really want to start talking about biking to work and leaving the gas guzzlers behind before I was even able to bike halfway to work, but this, I think, is an ideal time to think about why I have the goals I do. I am mainly addressing myself when I discuss these goals, as I think we must all make our own decisions for improving the Earth. I am sharing them with you because I think even though an individual effort does matter, if I can encourage a collective effort, all the better.

Here's my goal/ideal/fantasy: I basically only want to use my car for out of town excursions and in emergencies. Anything that is in town, I want to figure out how I can get there by bike and make that the way I get there. I already know two other people in Albuquerque who do just this, so I know it is possible.

But why? Gas prices are down now, so what does it matter? I am not worried about the price of gas at all. I am worried about the methane emissions on the atmosphere. If you know the basic laws of energy and matter, you know that whatever you emit into the air does not just disappear. You also know that whatever we put into the air has some effect. You also know that methane is not breathable -- by plants or humans, so how can it possibly be good to be filling the air with these gases? So by now, you've guessed that I think Global Warming is a real phenomenon. I've already cut a large amount of my carbon footprint just by eliminating meat, milk, and eggs from my diet -- but that's a different blog. Now, I would like to eliminate my carbon emissions from driving too.

Oil is a limited commodity, but we have a greater abundance of human energy than we could possibly use up. Lots of Americans are fat and I am one of them. I've got a nice reserve of energy right around my waist just eager to fuel my rides to work and excursions to fun places. Not only that. If I start cashing in on that energy reserve, I reduce my chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases that affect overweight people as they age. Pretty much, your health depends on how much you use your body, so why not bike?

Biking improves my other activities. Let's just say that it improves your blood flow, and builds muscles that are useful for tasks other than biking.

Biking also improves my connection to my environment. If I ride far enough, I am rewarded by seeing prarie dogs. I could even bring some old produce to feed them. They love nuts too, but you should only feed them unsalted nuts.

These are all reasons that I want to bike. I think if everyone biked, we'd have a cleaner, healthier world.