My parents took me around to see things when I was a kid, we would go to places like California, New Jersey, or even Europe; they taught my sister and I to travel. On these trips we would run sightseeing ventures out of our way to historic monuments and other significant sites. We didn’t always go far to experience new things, we would also go just a mile down the road to Military Ridge state trail where we would use our bikes to get around. This was always my family’s chance to experience the sites that were familiar to us personally and not from the confines of a car window plus, we always got to stop for a soda midway.
Now that I’m older I don’t have the time to engage in that much recreational exercise activity, I need to get to class. The scenery isn’t always the best on my daily rides to school either, but what really stands as the pay off is the amount of exercise that I receive from my commute. Imagine that, instead of acting like most Americans, I live close to my place of toil and what’s great about that is I don’t have to sit in the car and let my muscles atrophy away in to fat, I bike. As a possible measure of my aerobic success I have noticed a difference in the way that people look at me, finally, I’m a fit man!
Biking has been quite influential for my health both physically and mentally; while I am in a car I have the reality that what I am doing is potentially dangerous to someone else, when I am on the bike that no longer applies. It’s not just that the car is piece of potentially dangerous machinery it also hurts people and the environment just by getting turned on. America has the worst per capita carbon out put of any nation on the planet and our economy is centered completely on the combustion of fossil fuels. This causes the earth to warm and with that comes the rise of the oceans, something that will have an effect on all of us by the end of my lifetime this nation really needs to change its lifestyle.
Biking is the best thing that we can add to the American lifestyle not only because it saves the environment or builds muscle but because it helps to save money. I have been able to save money for weekend fun just by biking to class; I don’t have to pay $50 at the pump each week that I drive. I can spend that $50 on something else like a CD, new pair of headphones, or a six-pack of fine beer. My personal lifestyle is further improved.
Biking has been one of the best things in my life. It has helped me save money and save the environment, it has improved my own personal fitness, and it has given me a chance to be closer to my surroundings. I don’t see why most urban Americans chose to abandon that as a lifestyle option, it really makes no sense. Biking needs to stop being perceived as only a recreational fitness booster it needs to be accepted as a primary means of transportation. From here on out I choose to call the bike a vehicle.
2 comments:
I couldn't agree more that people need to get out of their cars and on a bike. I bike to school everyday except when road or weather conditions don't permit it. I live about 2 1/3 miles from campus and can actually make it to class faster on bike since I don't have to find a parking spot. That half hour of vigorous exercise everyday really makes you feel great and it's a welcome break from an otherwise sedentary lifestyle at school. People that live within a few miles of their work could definitely make the lifestyle change and bike, no matter what excuses they make not to.
I used to bike all the time when I was a kid also, we had mainly logging roads and deer trails, and I tell you what if you want a work out try riding up hill on a dirt logging road, and you will get one of the best workouts of your life. Now that I am in school I do not bike as much anymore. But when I am home for the summer, I do bike quite a bit.
Joe Krumrie
Post a Comment