'Better'. A subjective term, particular when applied to the idea of living. Each person has a different view of what is better. This is not a bad thing. Every now and then we each make choices that we have to then 'live' with. Riding may be one that many of us share. For me there is another one, and while it has tangential references to riding, the res of this post is not about riding the motorcycle or scooter. Today, I want to talk about another choice. It is a choice that comes in two parts. Part 1 is getting fit. Part 2 is about living 'better'.
The choice is simply to add a bicycle into my commuting. Door to door, my office is 14 miles from the house using a mixture of rural roads and bike paths. The distance is not that bad. It takes roughly 30 minutes to commute by scooter. I can cover the commute on a bicycle in a little under an hour. In order to prepare for this, I wanted to make sure that I could handle the ride before I committed to doing it as a part of my commute, so for the last month or so, I have been riding 2-3 times a week in the evenings between 14 and 30 miles. I have also been working towards being able carry only an iPad on my commute.
At this point, I am close to being ready to add the bicycle as the commuter 1 day a week. I would like to work it up to 2 or 3 days. The question I have been asked repeatedly by those that have been aware of what I was doing is consistently, "why?".
"Why?" Well, the short answer of because I want to really fails to convey the reasons. I've already mentioned the big two. Fitness is a big part of if. I spend my life at a desk, in front of a computer. Often I am in front of a computer for 10-12 hours a day. Over the last 10 years, those hours have created a rounder shape around the middle that is far more appropriate for a teddy bear than a person. The problem is that exercise take time and most of my time is committed. Finding the time to consistently work out has proven to be very difficult. In the end, the best solution is to replace an activity with one that doubles as a workout. I spend an hour every day getting to and from work. I can justify expanding that time to get some added benefit.
All of which leads to the second reason. As I have gotten older, and become more aware of the impact that we have on our environment with our own actions and choices, I have begun to change my choices. Part of what brought me to scooters in the first place was gas mileage, and environmental impact. This is an extension of that. Am I completely out of my gourd with reusing everything, minimizing everything and such? No, but I am trying to make better decisions, or as I said earlier, living better.
We always hear about the three R's of conservation. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. By living better, I find myself doing all of the above as part of making better choices. I don't buy water in bottles, I reuse my thermal bicycle water bottles all day, every day. When I buy a computer, low power consumption is an important criteria. For the last year I have been slowly replacing every light in my home with LED lighting, and where possible I have even gone to low voltage. I carry reusable bags on the scooter and have generally moved to a policy of 'consume less'. Riding a bicycle is a very natural extension of that. Less wear and tear on the roads. The only harmful gases it produces are byproducts of what I ate (which is not to say harmless!).
In the end, it boils down maximizing the benefit from my resources and time, and along the way I get to do something I truly enjoy to boot.