Bike-to-Work-and-School Day 2010

Success! This was the first year I didn't actually have school or work to attend on what has become one of my favorite days of the year, so I joined four of my friends on my Novara Divano to hit as many stations as possible. The morning began at 5:30 AM, as I live a distance away from town and my cronies; Biking started at 6:00 AM.* Can I just say, I love bike pods? Biking solitary is great**, but mounting your metal steed and peddling with your friends makes you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Anyways, we met up and visited about twelve or thirteen stations, traveling about 25 miles.

Bike to School and Work Day is kind of like Halloween, except that it is far superior. ONE: You can be as old as your Great Aunt Mildred and still be excited about the day without being scorned for being "too old" to trick-or-treat. TWO: The free goods are considerably better than a bagfull of candy***. Food includes organic apples, bananas, and oranges, handfuls of Clif Bars and breakfast cookies, 100% juice, fresh bread from the local bakeries, and also coffee, pastries, donuts, etc. if you like that kind of stuff. To boot, they hand out bike maps, patch kits, reflectors, and the REI booth was giving tire levers away to those who biked. THREE: Nothing says springtime like a long bike ride, and nothing says friendship like a strong bike-pod. FOUR: Everyone participating is so friendly and thrilled that you're biking!

Our adventures lasted up until the booths began closing shop around 10 AM, but we got around. From there, we headed to a basement with a bed and a couch and a beanbag and all crashed**** (after one episode of the beloved Red Dwarf). Glorious.

Finally, the after-party: A local brewery hosts the Bike to School and Work Day celebrations, where a local band provides live music and the raffles are chosen. Unfortunately, none from my party won anything this year, but I did get an authentic Mount Baker Bike Club biking jersey. The lady raffling things off told the audience to come up to the stage if he or she is participating in Ski-to-Sea this year doing the road bike leg. That was me! And I was the only one, or the only one brave enough to approach. I had to answer one question: "Is this your first time doing the race?" which I answered with enthusiastic nods of the head. Check it out--


Cool, huh?

What a day, what a day. The important thing is to spread the word about alternative modes of transportation. Bicycling rather than driving everywhere affords a method of having fun and working out, with the added benefit of saving money on gas, and more crucial, being conscious of the world around you.

According to this website that I log all of my "smart trips" on, in the past several months I have:

Eliminated 3676 miles from being driven.

Prevented:

•2987.76 pounds of carbon dioxide (contributes to global warming)
•11.01 pounds of hydrocarbons (contributes to smog)
•100.4 pounds of carbon monoxide (poisonous gas)
from being emitted into the environment.

Saved 153.29 gallons of gasoline and $461.40 dollars.

So go out and bike to work! The more you do it the more you'll love it, and you'll wonder how you could have spent so much time in your Toyota!*****


*I haven't been that up and lively so early in the morning for a considerable amount of time. It was beautiful. And I was amazed how light out it was.
**Especially at 2 AM when the roads are completely abandoned!
***I, for one, am not much of a fan of candy and spent my childhood (and adolescence...and even last year when I went trick-or-treating in my gypsy costume) giving away my candy to my father or my sisters or my friend.
****Well, four out of five of us did. We all suffered from late late nights and early early mornings. The fifth (poor thing) actually did have school and work to do.
*****This is just a short little blip. More about this later, I hope.