Thank you Bike Bakersfied!
By: Miguel Castellanos
Topics: cycling, bike bakersfield, the environment
Posted by mcastellanos Thu May 1, 2008 13:18:39 PDT
Viewed 197 times
0 responses 0 comments
Not too long ago on a Monday, a coworker of mine rode his bicycle to work. My wife had recently taught my 5-year-old son to ride a bike at the same time she herself learned how to ride. I was so proud of both of them, especially of my wife. All of this made me feel inspired to start riding my bicycle to work and on Wednesday I decided to start doing it.
It had been a long time since I had ridden a decent distance (9 years ago in college). Needless to say I was a little scared of the idea. My wife was also very apprehensive of me fighting traffic with my bicycle. I decided to give it a try and if it seemed too hard or too dangerous I would stop. It turned out not to be so bad. Of course I was tired from being so out of shape, but I survived.
On my way back from work the first day I rode, I met Bob Smith. Bob is a civil engineer, long time bicycle rider and very involved with Bike Bakersfield, a local organization that promotes riding your bike in general, especially riding to work. He noticed that I was struggling with the pedals on my 10-year-old mountain bike, my rear tire was low and the wind was particularly strong in the opposite direction of my travel. He mentioned that it was great that I wanted to ride to work, but if I wanted to continue doing it, I should get myself a road bike (the kind with the skinny tires). Before we went our separate ways on the bike path he told me to “keep on Riding”. Right after that, I found out what he meant about getting a differnet bike, I was having trouble even moving my bike. I thought It might even be faster for me to walk! After about an hour and twenty minutes, which felt like an eternity, I finished my almost nine mile journey home.
I thought of not riding my bike to work the next day, but decided I would give it another try. I pumped air into the rear tire, I oiled the chain and packed a bottle of water. My trip to work was a lot better than the way home the previous day. That same day I got a visitor at work. It was Bob, who went to tell me that they had some donated bikes at Bike Bakersfield and if I wanted to I could have a road bike. Needless to say, I was excited to hear this and thanked him for the offer.
The following day, I went to Bike Bakersfield, which turned out to be only a few blocks from work, and checked out the bikes Bob had mentioned. I chose a nice road bike they had and took it home.
I had mentioned to Bob that I would donate my old mountain bike, but when I told the mechanic at Bike Bakersfield that I would install a child seat on the back of the road bike, he recommended against it. Lately I go on bike rides with the family and take my 2-year-old on the child seat installed on my mountain bike so I ended up keeping the old mountain bike.
Finally, the next Monday I rode the road bike to work through a route Bob had recommended. What a difference! It was taking close to an hour to get to work on the mountain bike, but now it took me a little over 40 minutes! It was also a lot easier to ride. Bob called me at work that same day to see how the biking was going. I thanked him and told him how much easier it was to ride the road bike.
Thanks to Bob and Bike Bakersfield, I ride my bike to work every day unless I have a meeting scheduled out of the office. I work for an Architecture firm that is very committed to designing sustainable buildings as well as establishing sustainable practices at work. My boss was very excited to hear that I was riding to work. Recently I had traded in my gas-guzzling Toyota Tundra for a new Toyota Prius, and now I was riding my bicycle, "that's wonderful!" she said. Our office used to be a residence and it had a shower which was turned into storage, but now we are planning to reopen it. We are also installing a bicycle rack outside the office. All thanks in great part to Bob and Bike Bakersfield. What a great organization!
I am now ridding to work almost daily, struggle a lot less and it takes me less time each day I ride. I am getting in good shape, I am saving money in gas, and I feel great for doing a little for the environment. What’s not to like! I encourage everyone to try to ride to work as much as you can. Trust me, it will make you feel great!
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