Ride Your Bike to Work Day Friday, May 19

Did you know for every mile you ride your bike, you keep 3.6 pounds of pollutants out of the atmosphere? I guess that sounds impressive, but I'm curious, how do you measure pollutants? Pollution always looked quite light-weight to me, light as a cloud floating high above the city, that little strip of brown haze. But I have no doubt that riding your bike once in awhile would make a huge difference in your life and the life of the planet.

National Ride Your Bike to Work Week has brought back memories I have from shortly after my move to Florida. My Suzuki samurai was broken-down, I had no money to fix it, so I decided to ride my bike. First thing I had to do was quit my job, because It was way too far on bike, so I took a new job a few blocks from my home. At first I felt invigorated, like a huge burden of responsibility was taken off my shoulders. I set out on my first day taking in the sunshine and the fresh air. I soon realized the fresh air wasn't so fresh, with every passing car I'd get an unhealthy dose of exhaust fumes. And the noise was a huge annoyance. These things I never noticed while on four wheels. Then the near loss of life became evident, almost on a daily basis. Cars, pick-ups, semi-trucks, you name it, no one seemed to notice, or show respect for a bicyclist. I decided to use my own two feet the next day, but it didn't seem to make a difference, if anything the situation became worse. In fact, a study in 2004 ranked 4 regions in Florida as the most dangerous places to walk-Orlando, Tampa/St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach/Boca Raton and Miami/Fort Lauderdale. On top of that walking is considered the most deadliest mode of transportation in the U.S., it tops trains, planes and cars. So how do we as a nation spend more time walking or riding our bikes when our life depends on it? That's a really great question. I'm going to depend on the people who live in small towns to do more walking/bicycling. In the mean time, I'll bike where it's safe, and dream about the day I live in a place that it's safe to walk or bike down the street. Since I work from home, I'll spend Ride Your Bike to Work Day, leaving my car parked in the driveway for 24 hours.

till next time....remember, pedestrians have the right of way.