I bike. That whole burning muscles, wind in face, sweat in eyes thing really gets me goin. There’s something immensely gratifying about your rate of speed being a direct result of your physical effort. Want to fly? You can, on a bike 😉

It’s a form of transportation, exercise, just-for-fun-fun, and social community (also a highly competitive sport, for the sake of completeness here). In many cases, it’s also a sort of Russian Roulette with traffic and source of great controversy. The point of this post isn’t to fuel that controversy, but, rather, to state that I bike, I love to bike, I think biking is great, and I don’t want to be killed while doing it.

Here’s how I support that statement:

I bike…
*at least 3 times a week, between 10-30 miles each time, average speed anywhere from 12-20mph
*in social rides, with friends, by myself, and behind really fast cyclists

I love to bike…
*because of the speed, adrenaline, workout, and enjoyment it brings
*because sometimes i get really bored of running, walking, and driving

I think biking is great…
*and I wish more people agreed,
*for all the above reasons
*and all of these reasons

I don’t want to be killed while doing it…
*so I wear a helmet
*I obey traffic laws (probably more so than in my car)
*I use bikes lanes when available,
*and bike lights when it’s dark.
*I ride in a straight line (none of this random swerving business)
*and use hand signals to communicate with those around me
*If there are no bike lanes, I will stay over to the right, but will not ride in the gutter (cuz that’s not safe either!)
*and I put trust in those around me to drive safely

I know I might annoy you if you’re in a car and need to slow down or take a minute to pass me. But please, respect my right to be on the road, and don’t kill me. One of the reasons I moved back to Florida was to be able to enjoy biking year round, so please don’t rain on my parade. The tropical weather does that enough.

Always,
alissajean

and here’s a cool bike video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8W7zDC9Jt0