Why? (Part three of several)
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008Psychological Well-Being
I frequently tell people this because it’s true: in over eight years, I have never once been riding my bike and wished that I was driving my car. This has held true through all four seasons and every type of weather. Biking in a hailstorm – while far from ideal – is an absolute rush. Hailstones make quite a racket ricocheting off your helmet and pinging off your bell. (You do have bell, right?) They accumulate on the pavement in a slurry, dramatically increasing your pedaling effort. Nonetheless, I have to count this a positive experience, as the whole thing was oddly, perversely enjoyable. There’s something affirming about exposing yourself to some of the harsher elements and discovering that it’s not such a big deal, after all. I will say that, on the rare occasions in which I made a deliberate decision to drive instead of ride, I found myself missing the bike. It’s liberating to be largely free from traffic congestion. It’s exhilarating to be exercising vigorously in the open air. Pretty soon, you start feeling sorry for those poor sods stuck inside their shiny metal boxes.