Why I ride my bike - and why you might want to as well

"Bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my bike

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride it where I like" - Freddy Mercury - Queen

When I was a little boy growing up in a northern suburb of Chicago, I was one of 6 boys in my family. Being the 4th youngest, I always seemed to get my share of hand-me-downs, however one thing my dad always did was made sure we all had our own bikes. See, this was the only mode of transportation for us in those days. Although we all got drivers licenses as soon as we could, noone had their own car (and even if my dad could afford to buy us each one, he never would have even considered it because, well, that's just who he was and how he raised us). 

We rode our bikes everywhere! School, to the store, to friends houses, to work (we all caddied at Glenview Country Club) and of course just out playing everyday we could. Eddie Vedder (yes, that Eddie Vedder :-) lived just down the block from us and he and my brother Chris were good friends and would play together, riding bikes and getting into all sorts of trouble. They are still friends to this day. Every Pearl Jam concert in Chicago Eddie leaves 4 tickets for Chris at the box office. At one of the last shows, in between songs he gave Chris a 'shout out', telling a story about how he and Chris used to terrorize the neighborhood on their Schwinn Stingrays. It was pretty cool!  

One of my favorite things to do when I got paid from my caddy job: I'd get my backpack, hop on my bike and ride to my favorite record store, Record City, in Skokie, I'd bee-line it to the 'cut out' bin in the back of the store and I'd rummage through every single album in the bin. These were basically records the store had deeply discounted to get rid of them. They were identified by having the left edge of the cover cut off. They were usually $1, so I could buy 10 for the $10 spot I had burning a hole in my pocket. If all I found was 1 or 2 songs I liked on one of these I considered it a score. I quickly built my record collection this way. Today, I have over 3000 vinyl records and still play them!  

One of the best summer jobs I've ever had involved my bicycle. It was the summer of 1979 and my sister, who was and still is the Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police in Morton Grove, told me about a cool new summer job that the department was rolling out. It was called the 'Bicycle Patrol' and it involved a handful of 'bicycle patrol people' riding the streets and bike trails in Morton Grove promoting bike safety. I applied and got the job. For three glorious months that summer I got paid to ride my bike all day long! Best. Job. EVER! (Ironically, none of us wore helmets). 

I didn't have a car when I went to college, however I did have my bike. I rode it everywhere in the small town of Gunnison, Colorado. The problem I had there was that it was in the mountains and 8 months out of the year there was snow up to my ying yang and it was cold as a wiccan's bosom (with apologies to all my wiccan friends - you know who you are!). I would ride to class often bundled head to toe with winter clothes, only to have to change into a tee shirt putting everything else into my backpack for the afternoon ride home. It was crazy.

Enough reminiscing, let's fast-forward to today. I started running my junior year of high school in 1977. I started in order to lose weight and get into shape. It didn't take me long to really find my stride (see what I did there?) and quickly escalated my mileage to where I was running between 5 to 8 miles a day. Well, I quickly lost tons of weight and got down to a svelte 160 pounds. The best part was the 'runners high' I became addicted to. This is very real and real good! I kept running through college and into my 30's, and 40's. However around my 50th birthday my arthritic knees and bad back got so bad that my running days were coming to an end. This is when I decided to try cycling to alternate my workouts. I started with a mountain bike, and worked up to a road bike. Besides the physical benefits of riding, maybe the best part is what happens to you mentally and emotionally. You get the benefits of endless endorphin's washing over your brain and body, but the sense of vitality, endurance, freedom, and the sheer power of your own body is not only exhilarating; it's transcendent!  

My whole point in writing this today is that I want to clear up any misconceptions of why I ride my bike and what you're missing if you aren't riding yours. I ride to feel the wind in my face. I ride to get exercise. I ride to get away from the stress and strain that is my life. I ride because it makes me feel so alive. You'd be so surprised, shocked even, how quickly the transformation happens. 

I ride because it makes me feel like a kid again.