I'm Back

Well, I just got back and settled back in after my bikeride. I have to say, I hope this ride does not set the tone for this whole long biking season. I plan to bike a lot, but if all my rides turn out like this one, I may be discouraged.

I rode down Farmington & up Park Road, the first big uphill climb of the year. My heart still hurts from that. That's to be expected though, I've kinda babied myself when it comes to physical exertion this winter.

I rode North on Sterling, heading for Target. I wanted to go in and get sandals and a granola bar. Riding on Sterling, and anywhere in Peoria, you feel like you do a lot of damage to your tires by riding over potholes and huge cracks in the road. I was trying to avoid one such crack and in my effort, I caused my "grocery-bag-pannier" to fly off my bike into the road. In the pannier was a spare inner-tube, a CO2 cartridge, a tire-replacement tool, and some other stuff. Though all this stuff spilled out over the lane, I was lucky that the car behind me stopped and let me gather my things.

After I fixed the pannier so that it would not fall off again (I hoped), I rode on to Target. I took out my keys to open my lock, but the key wouldn't work. Why? I don't know. But I couldn't leave my bike outside of Target without a lock, there's no way to see from the inside whether someone is messing with the bike. So I skipped the Target visit and went down Glen, headed for Bushwhacker in the Metro Centre. On the way, I considered writing a letter of ultimatum to the mayor of Peoria, in which I would express my disappointment with the lack of concern for bicyclists on the road. There are few bike lanes here in Peoria. In the letter, I would inform the mayor that if this situation was not improved by the time I finish with my masters' degree, I would be moving to a city where there are better bike lanes on the roads. I'm sure he wouldn't want to lose a valuable taxpayer, right?

So I got to Bushwhacker, and that went okay. I returned a CO2 cartridge that I bought last week. It was already opened when I took it out of the bag, and so it was useless. They simply gave me a brand new one, causing me to think maybe my luck was changing.

I rode back on Glen to the frontage road on the south side of 150. I rode down that road to Interstate Battery Supply or whatever, where I returned batteries they sold me last week that were the wrong kind. That went simply enough too.

It was starting to get cold so I decided to take the quickest route home, crossing 150 near Northwoods Mall and riding on to Sterling Avenue. This is where the worst thing happened, which actually turned out to be funny.

In the past, I read a lot of self-help books. I don't do that much anymore, because they are all pretty repetitive. I think they are helpful, but repetitive. They repeat themselves. They say the same things over and over again, repetitively. Anyway, a couple of concepts have stuck with me over time. Stephen Covey says that you have to prioritize. You have to put your time and energy into things that you value. I value the earth and its resources. One of my priorities is to use less of the resources, even though I am a typical american when it comes to gas, water, and trash.... I waste a lot. I throw out a lot. I am trying to change that about myself. Right now, I am using a computer instead of writing on paper. That's a start, right?

I was renewing my vow from last year to use my bike more and my car less. This would help me get in shape, and use less of the world's oil. Last year I didn't do so well, but this year, I know I am going to do it. I'm going to put more miles on my bike than on my car. Right... actually I am hoping to keep the ratio of bike miles to car miles at about 1/5. That may be more reasonable. If I drive 3000 miles in three months, I'd have to ride for 600 miles in three months. That would be 200 miles a month, which is like 6.67 miles a day. Very manageable.

While doing this math, I heard the punk-trash voice of a passenger in a car passing by. What did he say? "Get a f***ing car!" Well, my car is in my garage at home. I have one. I am not using it right now. I was trying to say this, but cars are faster than bikes, and they were too far ahead by the time I started talking. However, the light ahead turned red, and thought I had a chance to catch up to them and continue our conversation. Well, they turned right, and I got to the intersection in time to see them pull into their apartment complex just a block down the road. I thought, hey, I can visit them at home and talk to them about my convictions.

You see, Eckhart Tolle, another self-help author, tells his readers not to dwell on things. I can't abide people who shout from their cars at bikers and pedestrians on the road. I just really think it is one of the most cliche of actions. It's like a scared dog barking at a stranger from behind a fence, knowing he's really safe. Though Eckhart Tolle tells readers not to dwell on things, he says that if you can't help but dwell on something, then you should do something about it. Well, I decided to do something about this guy. One of my philosophies as a teacher is to never pass up a teachable moment. Ignorance is only a sin if you refuse to do something about it.

I caught up with this person getting out of his car. I had no intention of physically harming him, but he seemed to assume I did. He didn't run, and I have to give him credit for that. He turned out to be a rather small person, and the driver of the car he was in was a woman older than him. She appeared to be his mother, mostly because of the way she dropped and shook her head when she saw me. She seemed to be thinking that this was exactly why she thought it was a bad idea for her son to shout out the car window at me.

The interaction that followed took less than ten seconds.

"Is that your mom?" I asked.

"Yep," he replied. "Yep," he repeated. He was trying to show me that he had nothing to hide. I decided he was probably embarrassed enough, and I started to ride away. His mother didn't seem to know that I was riding away, and she explained that she didn't know he was going to "do that," she said she had taken care of it, as if she thought I sought to take care of it if she hadn't, and she thanked me when she realized I was riding away.

You see, my priority is to use more of my own energy, rather than the potential energy in oil. I was placing effort in that priority today. Something has always bothered me about people who shout out of their car windows at other people. And the ignorance of this guy, what was the deal? I hope he thinks twice about hollering out his car window at anyone again.

What I really wish is that more people would ride their bikes. I wish more people had bikes. When I find my soulmate, I won't be surprised if there are specific bikerides she remembers from her early years. 22 years later, I remember my very first bikeride, and I remember a lot of specific details from other rides since then.

Somebody said this, but I don't know who: "There is something inherently wrong with a society whose members use a car to get to a gym where they can exercise."