Brighton Heights, here.
I recently "rediscovered" biking. I rode quite a bit when I was in high school (in Erie) in the early/mid-nineties, and it was always my favorite exercise and way of getting around. I stopped biking when I went away to college in '96, and it just sort of faded away.
In recent years I'd thought about biking into work, but the lack of bike racks and showers were roadblocks; and I wasn't biking recreationally then so the motivation just wasn't there. In early June I was working on the brakes on my car and stupidly snapped off a bolt...said car was our only [working] car at the time, and it couldn't be driven until the bolt was replaced. The neighbors weren't home, so I dug my old bike out of a dark corner in the basement, hosed several years worth of dust and cobwebs off, and rode to the Autozone on 65 to buy a replacement.
The ride there was easy, and exhilarating...it was all downhill! The ride back up was grueling for my out-of-shape legs. The feeling afterward, though, was indescribeable, and I was suddenly found myself hooked once again.
I thought again about riding into work (and decided my coworkers will just have to suffer any funk I might develop on my morning commute), and a quick google search led me to the map of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. I started biking into work the next week.
What a way to start the day! I'd been commuting via bus, not because it's economical or anything (gas needs to be ~ $4.30/gallon before it's cheaper for me to bus versus taking the car) but because I hate the morning grind with a passion. The bus was an improvement; I could zone out while watching the scenery instead of dealing with the idiots, but I hated being tied to PAT's schedule. I finally found biking to be the commuting Nirvanna I've been searching for. It's quick enough (faster than the bus, actually), and totally pleasant. Instead of looking out the window of a bus or hating the jagoff in the monster SUV who wants to tailgate in the right lane, I can quietly sail down the trail while watching the river traffic, dodging geese, enjoying the scenery, and greeting all of the morning users I encounter.
My old, beat-up mountain bike isn't qite up to the task of daily commuting, and the front derailleur finally gave it up for good a few weeks ago. I'd been holding off on buying a new bike until I knew I'd really use it...and the last two weeks have been killing me to have to drive into work each day instead of exercising my legs. I'm leaving for another business trip to the Netherlands next week (where hopefully the beat up fixed-gear cruiser I bought last month is still chained up in front of the hotel where I left it), and when I come back, I'm pulling the trigger on a shiny new cyclocross or touring bike that'll be my main mode of transportation for as long as I can keep it up.
Anyway, hello! to everyone. Thank you all for the community you've created! I was really surprised, once I started looking, to find such a vibrant cycling community in a city so unfamiliar with cyclists and with terrain such as ours. Kudos to all of you for everything you've accomplished in the past couple of years. I began to notice a difference as a car user about a year ago, and we seem to have only improved since then. I'm looking forward to the changes that are coming, and to joining the cause.
I prefer the peace and solitude of my morning ride and won't trade that for anything, but I'd love to bike-pool in the evenings with anyone heading out from (or past) the Strip or Downtown to the Chateau trail. I normally leave between 5:00 and 6:00pm. Give me a yell if you're going the same way.
Matt
