Why? (Part four of several)
Get Outdoors
Speaking of being in the open air, how many of you have thought, “Gee, I should get outdoors more often”? This is a built-in benefit of bike commuting, just as much as the inevitable exercise. With the slower pace and less-direct routes, you’ll discover all sorts of interesting things about your environment. You’ll notice what other people do with their houses and yards; you’ll see shops and businesses that you never knew were there. You’ll see cats lounging in trees and on front porches. You’ll see a wide variety of birds, only a few of which will actually crap on you. I’ve seen ospreys, herons, cranes, red-tailed hawks, wild bunnies, a coyote and a nutria, all within urban Portland.
One particularly unique aspect of bike commuting is your exposure to odors. In your car, you’re generally inhaling a heady combination of spilled coffee, diesel exhaust from the truck in front of you, and a pine-scented chemical “air freshener” to cover up the first two. (If, like me, you commute with a small child, add sour milk to the above.) On a bike, sure, you get the occasional blast from an old beater with a busted catalytic converter, but for the most part, you’re away from the heavier pollution of the clogged arterial streets. What you notice instead is how many people have planted jasmine trees in their front yards. How many lilacs and flowering cherry trees there are in the city. Heck, when it gets hot enough, you can smell the creosote in the telephone poles as you pass them. If you’re lucky, you’ll even have time to stop and smell the roses. 