Small Steps
It’s spring, and there are many more bikes on the road. Others want to start biking. But changing to any new mode of transportation is a big lifestyle change and takes time. Just like learning to drive:
When I finally started biking, it was intimidating because I didn’t know “how” to do it…. just like all the other things I found intimidating.
But biking was one of those things I had to learn by doing.
Over time I learned how to adapt my lifestyle.
So if you are considering biking, you can’t change overnight. Break it down into small steps.
Perhaps one day you’ll wonder how you ever got around without a bicycle.
I’ve been commuting by bike since pre-school (in Germany), now I do it in Berlin every day. It is such a normal thing here… and always really funny to read US blogs like this or Share the Road Apparel. You make such a big fuzz out of the whole thing, with special gear, helmets and this adventurous air around it… 😉
I really appreciate the effort to convince people of biking, but in my opinion you should try it in a way that doesn’t convey the impression of biking as extreme sports, but just what it is: a quick, cheap, independent (cool and sexy!) way of getting around ;)!
Ah yes, was wondering when we would get a dose of finger wagging Euro lecturing. Unfortunately, in many parts of the US using a bicycle is an adventure. It’s our own fault and we didn’t screw up our transportation system overnight. And it won’t be fixed overnight. During the recent Dutch Bicycle Embassy visit to Austin, TX, one of the dutch engineers exclaimed “Austin cyclists are very brave.”
And so what if we use bicycles not only as cheap and simple transportation, but a great way to have fun and explore?
But your prescription is exactly the response I use when my non-bicycle friends and family gasp “you bike where!?!?” I often deflect their astonishment with some of my own…”you drive where?!?!”
Hey,
So a friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and it really made me re-think biking and I wanted to say thank you. You see, I am TERRIFIED of bicycles (also power tools & sports). The funny part is, I know how to ride a bike. I can’t do fancy tricks, but I can hop on and ride down the street without falling over. I might even be able to turn (I don’t know, it’s been a long while).
This post made me realize something else… I was also terrified by driving. Absolutely mind-shatteringly horrified. I got panic attacks far worse than I do while biking (and that is SAYING something). Blinding fear, pulling over to hyperventilate, crying, the whole nine yards. I experience a milder form of this when biking.
Here’s the kicker: I got over it with cars. I mean, more or less. I still tense a little in the car when someone almost crashes into me, but I feel like that’s normal. I was an hour-each-way commuter over a dangerous mountain road for two years (Hwy 17 out of Santa Cruz, for anyone who’s familiar… it’s awful). I got used to it. Why? I had to. I lived at Point A and my work was at Point B.
So this incredible wall of text is a thank you, for making me realize that maybe, just maybe, I could get over my fear of bikes too. ‘Cause I long to have emission-free transportation, at least around town. And I SO cannot afford an electric car (and the solar panels to power it without coal, and the carbon offsets to deal with the energy expended by producing solar panels…. you get my drift).
I don’t currently own a bike (for obvious reasons), and I’m still nervous, but you’ve opened up the possibility for me again. Thank you.
I hope to do the reverse. Driving is terrifying for me. Even being a passenger in a car, my heart races when someone cuts in front without signalling. Don’t get me wrong, it’s terrifying on bike, too, but happens less often. I hope I can overcome my fear of driving.
I’m already wondering how I ever lived without a bicycle.
Another way to make a small step: multimodal transportation. A neighbor wanted to not drive to work and asked for advice. I suggested that she just ride as far as out to the arterial from our neighborhood – about a half mile. She could stick her bike on the express bus from there. She then could unload it at a freeway stop, and ride two more miles to the hospital where she worked.
After she conquered that, she asked for more advice. I suggested that she ride from our neighborhood out to the transit center – a couple of miles away. Then she wouldn’t be dependent on a bus that came every half hour – she could take whatever came next. It turns out that this was faster, because it was more flexible.
To ride all the way from our neighborhood to the hospital would be 20 miles – that’s probably more than anyone but the most dedicated bike commuter wants to take on. But bike/bus, adding a few more miles each time? Not daunting at all.
I love this post. I just rode my bike to work for the first time today. I got to work fine and surprisingly faster than I expected. I heard that it is supposed to rain tonight, which I was not expecting :/ – it may be a wet ride home or I may be taking the bus. I NEED FENDERS!