The miles add up (Comments: 3)

I downloaded a nice Excel spreadsheet from somewhere (DOWNLOAD), and I’ve been using it to keep track of how far I ride each day. I have a Cat Eye Mity 8 cycle computer on my bike, so I don’t have to do any math. I’m constantly amazed by how quickly a bunch of little trips add up to real distance, at least by my standards. I’ve only had the computer for 17 days, so I don’t have a ton of data, but it shakes out like this:

• Days with 10+ miles: 10/17
• Days with 20+ miles: 4/17
• Days with 30+ miles: 1/17

I’m averaging about 9 miles a day, which is cool because my commute is tiny, just 1.4 miles one-way from my front door to my desk. But once I throw in all the little trips to the store, a quick jaunt home for lunch, a ride to a soccer game or jazz show — well, it stacks up quickly.

Keep in mind that before June of this year, the farthest I’d ever ridden my bike in one day was 22 miles. I did that once about 7 years ago. In 2001, I briefly commuted to work by bike and bus, but that only lasted while I was working in the city. Once I got a gig at a jazz station in the burbs, it was back in the car. Before this summer, the only times I regularly used a bike were the two times I lived in Japan. When I was in northern Japan in 1991/92, I rode my bike to school every day, even learning to carry an umbrella on a windy day while riding my single-speed sit-up-and-beg shopping bike. When my wife and I lived in Yokohama from 1996-98, I rode many days to the train station where I’d hop on the train for 90 minutes one-way into Tokyo. We did a few longer rides from our house in the way-out burbs to downtown Yokohama, but other than that it was mass transit all the time.

This summer has completely changed the way I’m thinking about riding a bike. For one thing, there’s an enormous cycle-commuting culture out there on the Internet that immediately makes me feel like I’m part of something larger. I learned a bunch of important things about proper gearing, smart riding and safety by perusing many of the sites and blogs linked on this page. For another thing, I’m a very different person these days from the 17-year-old who was riding in Japan in the early 90s, and from the guy in his mid-20s who was riding in Japan later in the decade.

I think having kids is one factor. I was always interested in doing the right thing for my environment, but my sons sure throw that into sharp focus. I’ve also learned a lot more about health, fitness and sanity (!) in the last year or so, and that makes being outside every day on a bike a valuable addition to my well-being.

And I’m not gonna lie: I’ve always been a fan of groups. I’m a joiner, even when I’m leading the thing I’m joining. I just dig being part of the cycling community. It’s the one thing I do every day that guarantees a friendly wave from fellow travelers, and that’s a good thing, to quote Martha “Lowjack” Stewart.

My older son starts kindergarten in the fall. His school is on the way to my office, and I’m planning to bring him in the bike trailer, or on one of those tandem trailers that you can attach to your bike. And then, yes, I plan to ride in the winter. Here in Rochester, that’s a serious commitment. My friend Jack Spula turned me on to IceBike.com, and I’m going to pick up a second bike to turn into my winter commuter. Wish me luck! (Winter starts in about August here in upstate New York.)

So there it is. My latest obsession. It’s good for you, fun, good for the world, and really kinda cool. I’m a cyclist.

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