Peddling the way to past glory

When I was in high school, I used to bike pretty much everywhere. Soccer practice, friends’ houses, Music Warehouse–anywhere I had to be I got there by bicycle. My buddy and I had annual passes to Knott’s Berry Farm and we spent a lot of summer days there. A few times we went over to the beach…even though none of us liked to swim. I biked to Disneyland when I didn’t feel like driving just because I could (Disneyland, Knott’s, and the beach were all with in biking distance…yet somehow I was always bored). I think my radius was about ten miles.

A couple years after high school I abandoned my bicycling ways. Work ended up being too far to bike and it was awfully hard to pick up girls for dates on a Huffy. Like most things in life, it’s not like I stopped biking cold turkey: it sorta just phased its way out of my life.

But for years I’ve felt bad about it. I used to love biking. It was fun, easy, and fast (mainly ’cause I ignored every traffic law imaginable). When I went to college, it was easier to bike there because finding a parking spot proved to be a 20-minute ordeal. One job I had was about seven miles away from my house. I would leave for work at the same time regardless if I biked or drove my car…yet I always arrived on time because traffic was a bitch. Man, I loved it. Biking around is a lifestyle choice I often wished I could resume because there’s something emotionally satisfying about peddling your way to somewhere.

My current job is five miles away from my house–well within my high school biking range. I’ve been wanting to bike to work every since I got hired. But the bicycle I’ve kept at my house is a run-down piece of junked assembled from the discarded parts of three older bicycles (I call it Frankenbike). It was never any fun to ride that bike and peddling to work was never an option.

Last Fall, I purchased a brand new bike. The Girlfriend convinced me to do it because she said we would start taking bike rides together. Since that time, her bike has never left her backyard–but I’ve used the bike to travel back and forth between our houses. It’s only a three-minute ride and I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. Immediately I noticed the difference between Frankenbike and the new wheels: it was smoother and far more enjoyable (probably has something to do with the new bike not missing any spokes and having fork that isn’t bent).

Ever since last Fall, I’ve told myself that I should really try biking to work at least once a week; however, winter rolled around and I wasn’t up for it. But now that summertime is here and the weather is pleasant (at least until it gets too friggin’ hot), I decided the time is right and I shall bike to work.

I tried it this morning. Five miles away–I figured it shouldn’t be that hard. I used to bike further back when I was young.

But that was ten years and 50 pounds ago. I got about a mile and a half away from my house when I wondered: what the hell am I doing?

My back was sweaty. The wind was blowing too strong. I wasn’t in any pain…yet. But I knew I had about four more miles to go…and another five after that to get home. I wasn’t ready for this–not yet. I needed to work my way up to this. When I used to bike all over town, it started with biking to school. You gotta take your first step before you can walk. Pick your cliché. But there’s no way I–a guy who hasn’t taken a bike ride longer than five minutes in ten years–was going to be able to peddle five miles to work…and five miles back to come home. I could see it already. Come 5:00, I’d instruct The Girlfriend to come pick up and from work and I’d hitch a ride home with her. Talk about an embarrassing defeat.

I immediately turned around and biked home. Baby steps. I got a good peddling in–I would need to work myself up to biking to work. A third of the way today; maybe half next time. Exercise isn’t like riding a bike–it’s not like you could just hop back on where you left off (although, in this case exercise is riding a bike). Car today; peddle tomorrow. What does that even mean?