I’m confessin’ that I love you — but I ain’t ridin’ you (Comments: 4)
Author: Jason Crane
Date: 27 January, 2009
Category: Albany, Car-free Living, Jason Crane, Xtracycles / Cargo Bikes
So.
Last night I rode my bike to Tess’s Lark Tavern for the monthly Poets Speak Loud event. It was an open mic followed by a walk to the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park, upon which a daring poet placed a beret. I’ll talk more about the event over at jasoncrane.org, but I wanted to mention a tangential fact about it here on RocBike.
Last night’s bike ride was my first time on a bike since … maybe September.
There, I said it. The founder of RocBike, former board member of the New York Bicycling Coalition and blogger about car-free living no longer rides a bike.
When I was transferred to the Albany area in November 2007, I lived in Saratoga Springs for the first few months. Most of my job duties, though, were in Albany and Schenectady, so I was on the road all the time and needed to be in my car. My family were still back in Rochester, so my eating habits suffered, too. Less good food, more fast food and food eaten in the car.
In the late winter or early spring of 2008, I moved into the city of Albany and started riding again. It was around that time that I started blogging again in earnest and joined the board of the New York Bicycling Coalition. I was also attending meetings of the Albany Bicycle Coalition, and blogging about the challenges of car-free or car-light living in my capacity as a Parent Panelist for the Albany Times Union newspaper.
When Jen and the boys moved back, I was still biking a fair amount. Jen got an Xtracycle like mine, and we biked a lot as a family. But then things started to change. I had already gained a fair amount of weight because of the changes in my lifestyle. I started driving most places and left the bike locked away. By the fall, I wasn’t riding at all. I was 35 pounds heavier than when I moved here. And my poor Packet Boat was dry-docked in the back shed.
Well, it’s time to get back on the horse. Look for updates from me about returning to the bike and making some much needed changes.
I’ve got nothing to lose but my chains! (And 35 or 40 pounds.)
4 comments to “I’m confessin’ that I love you — but I ain’t ridin’ you”