Although I wish I could say that I had some epiphany about the environment or had some mind altering dream that changed the very foundation of who I was and who I am going to be, the fact is that I am cheap. When gas prices rose to a mind blowing $4.00 plus a gallon here in California last year (2008), I pulled the nearly 20 year old mountain bike that had previously not seen action in years off of the rack in our garage and started to ride to and from work. The distance is small, only about 3 miles roundtrip. To be this close to work is an amazing perk of living and working in the same city (something so few have in the San Francisco Bay Area), but it also did something that I really didn’t expect. I actually began riding a second roundtrip each day back home to get lunch everyday.
The sheer consideration of making sure that I got out of the office at least once a day, grabbed some fresh air, and had a chance to see Natalie most days was worth far more than the environmental boost and the savings on my wallet. And the best part is that the pattern stuck. In 2008, I logged more than 250 miles on the bike, and starting up again in 2009 following our return from the Galapagos, I am back at it again 5 days a week!
In the right hand sidebar, I am going to keep up the Bike Log and see if I can beat last year’s numbers!
Leave a reply