Biking to the Store and Three Ways to See Anywhere Differently

 

I have been inspired by the vlogger and writer Tom Babin, who encourages cycling in his prairie province city of Calgary, a place in many ways analogous to our weather in North Dakota. In the video above he explores getting groceries by bike. His great book Frostbike in addition to his vlog are great advocates for the idea that year round cycle commuting shouldn't be so hard.

So far this summer, I have been trying to make as many trips as I can via bike and towing my Burley Travoy trailer. All those quick trips to the grocery or hardware store a mile and a half away can be made by bike with an addition of only five or ten minutes per trip. Not only am I not burning needless fuel and wearing out my car on these trips that are the worst type for a car, but I am getting my exercise miles in. The amount of gas saved is minimal, but if everyone did it, the savings would be considerable.

I have a dream of getting rid of my car and doing all my travel on foot, by bike or when needed by renting a car, flying or train. This is a dream that could be realized in most larger, expensive cities, but that isn't where we live. I was hoping this year that we could go from two cars down to one since we drove together every day, but next year we will be working at separate locations. I will be working at the high school, which like too many new things built in our mindless car-centric dystopia is built far from everything at the far end of a suburbanized spread and a vast windswept parking lot. Tom from the bike vlog above came out with this new short video below that references a Harvard study that cites the cost of all the costs of everything associated with making things driveable at 14,000 per household per year and that is before the costs of the actual car. I hope more studies will be done for other states so that we can see how we stack up.

 Today, I hooked up my lightweight, foldable trailer to my bike and set out to buy some items at the local store that sells African and Asian foods about three miles to the south. Later in the day, I drove it to Tractor Supply, the closest hardware store to get a bolt. I need to time my trips and see how much more time it actually takes.

When one is on a bike you can smell everything. When riding the sidewalk, it is hard to miss the ubiquitous toxic smelling lawns redolent of weed and feed that sting the inside of the nostrils while the little nodules crunch under bike tires ready to pollute nearby waterways. If people actually used their lawns, they wouldn't want such a smell blocking out nature. While on the road, you realize how foul the air is as big trucks drive by, some of which may get joy from "rolling coal", the black sooty exaust on a biker. These are things you don't really notice when driving unless some big diesel truck decides to step on it right in front of you. If more people walked or biked, they might realize how polluted our world really is. 

Driving, biking and walking any given street are totally separate experiences. I have driven certain streets countless times, but until I ride bike there, I don't really have a true sense of it as a place, and I don't really know it until I walk. Biking reveals layers of a given place that the slower pace and closer connection to the outdoors allows. Walking reveals even more subtle layers, since it is a pace the human brain is attuned to and walking. I really like to explore places by biking or walking since it makes them real.