Some intangible benefits of cycling

[igthebold]

For those needing some more emotional motivation, here's a list of quotations I found about bike riding: http://www.quotegarden.com/bicycling.html

My favorite, I think, is the Ernest Hemingway quote:

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.  Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.

[hoppy08520]

Thanks for the links. I started biking to work 2+ months ago, motivated mostly by frugalness. But the greatest rewards, it had turned out, are feeling refreshed and energetic and the fact that biking to NF from work is actually FUN. On Sunday night, I actually feel a bit giddy thinking, "I can't wait to ride my bike tomorrow!"

This is coming from a guy in his mid-40's who rode his bike all through youth, and into college, and then hardly rode at all for the next two decades.

[Kriegsspiel]

For those needing some more emotional motivation, here's a list of quotations I found about bike riding: http://www.quotegarden.com/bicycling.html

My favorite, I think, is the Ernest Hemingway quote:

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.  Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.

Hemingway was dead fucking on!  I have had the exact same thought myself.  Goes doubly for cities.

Also, I didn't go to that site, since I was excited to... do this post... but biking is more people centric too.  I have been stopped on a bike to get asked for directions, about local sites, or whatever many times, in a car... like twice.

[StarswirlTheMustached]

In the past couple months, I've been cheered thrice by children, just for being an adult on a bicycle. Makes me feel like I'm in the tour de friggin' France.
No one has ever cheered for me in an automobile.

[boy_bye]

riding in this morning, on the almost deserted trail right next to the allegheny river, with the sunlight sparkling off the water, no sounds but the distant rumble of traffic and the swish of my own tires on the ashphalt, i felt so happy.

and i remembered how incredibly beautiful pittsburgh is. all the rivers and bridges and trees ... i often forget, because i live in a really shitty depressing neighborhood. but, yeah, it is really pretty here. this is something that is hard to see when sitting in traffic with dozens of smelly loud cars.

[destron]

I completely agree that getting a better understanding of the land is one of the benefits of riding a bike. When you are in a car, you tend to just go from your house to the freeway to your destination and back with no understanding of how your city is laid out. On a bike, I end up in a lot of places I wouldn't normally drive through and tend to focus more on local activities.

I also really enjoy riding around with my panniers and bike basket. Most of the other people on well-used roads or bike paths are cyclists -- middle aged guys on expensive bikes in spandex. I have to give some of those guys credit, they can haul! Calves like rocks. But, then again, they will go home, change clothes, and get in their car before actually going out to meet friends / go to work / go to the store. I feel like I might set a good example and plant the seed of cycling in someone else's head once they see you don't need a ton of fancy gear to get around.