Mike Radecki Biking in Copeland forest near Barrie Ontario A while ago I wrote an article called “Ride your Bike” encouraging more people to use a bike as a carbonless and lifestyle enhancing mode of transportation. Since then a lot of things have changed. For starters I now own a car, I no longer live in Thunder Bay, I have since downgraded to the metropolis of Toronto (yes, downgraded). And now instead of going to school I am commuting to work. All of these things combined with growing older and busier all stacked up and one day I realized I hadn’t seen my bike in a long time.

Of all the things that affected my falling out with my Bike my car had the most effect. Going to school in Thunder Bay and living in Southern Ontario in the summer was simply to difficult to fly back and forth and transport all my things, not to mention much more expensive. I ended up getting an older 1995 Honda Civic with good gas mileage 275 thousand Km’s and still ticking. After having my car for a while I soon found out that having to bike and choosing to bike are two incredibly different things. Having to bike was easy I would get up when I had to get ready and hop on the bike without a thought of catching a ride or the bus. Now, the fact that I could sleep for another 30 minutes and then sit in a vehicle and arrive at work moments later without even waking up is always in the back of my head. There is hope though, the more you drudgingly get out of the bed and prepare for your biking routine the easier it gets. And I am happy to report that I am now biking to Work 3 times a week (Soon to be 5).

The City,…wow. In Thunder Bay I rode on a quiet side street then I took a beautiful path through a golf course over a river and through sections of forest as the sun rose in the morning. Now it seems every tree has been replaced by another car, every driver in a raging hurry, and cement dominates the land and sky. As I get used to the area and all of the traffic things are getting better, every once and a while a motorist gives me a couple feet on the shoulder, with parking lots everywhere I can save a lot of time by cutting corners, I even found a trail or two. Biking in the City is not impossible its just different, one things for sure passing cars multiple times because of all the congestion and streetlights will never get old.

I got lucky in Thunder Bay because when I biked to school I worked at the campus gym where I could leave my Bike have a shower and change. Now things are a little more difficult and I do have to carry a change of clothes, lock my bike up and hang around in my bike clothes till I stop sweating then, change in the bathroom into work clothes, put on some deodorant and cologne. Luckily my trip is only about 8 km’s and is fairly flat so I don’t get too smelly. I am aware of those bike enthusiasts that always smell like they’ve been biking for days and shower even less and I try my hardest not to be one of them.

Biking benefits. For starters I save gas from not driving to work and back every day, this also lowers my carbon emissions and makes me feel a little bit better about our flawed transportation system and it’s impact on the environment. Also there are the obvious health benefits from getting consistent exercise which increases my energy and lowers stress. Along with more energy there’s a feeling that is really hard to describe unless you’ve been active for a while. Ok, you know when you haven’t exercised in a while so you do an extra hard workout to make up for it and the next day anything you do hurts your whole body. Well, this is the exact opposite of that. When you are consistently active for enough time you get to the point where everyday tasks like taking the stairs seem much easier you have this jump in you body where it feels lighter and just overall better, this is also the key to a healthy active lifestyle. A new benefit to me now is the sense of pride when I cruise by my car parked in the driveway and mutter under my breath, “I win”.


Have a story about biking or other carbonless ways of getting to work? If it’s short please leave it in a comment below If it’s just too good to put in a comment Contact me, and it could be run as a full story.