on yer bike, Tebbit!
May is apparently "Bike Month" and this week is (or was) "Bike Week". To cap all the cycling-related celebrations (what, you didn't notice?!), tomorrow—that's Friday, May 21st—is Bike-to-Work Day! Not that you would have noticed unless you were already reading cycling-themed publications or websites, which is why I wanted to make sure and let you, the general public, know, just in time to come up with a plausible excuse as to why you didn't ride your bike to work. "It's too far" is a good one.
While I did manage to bike to work for a while this year, and still do whenever it fits around the child-care schedule—that is, Thursday and Friday—I do know that it is in fact very difficult for most folks to do. Heck, the only times I could make it last year were when my car was in the shop, and I have a much shorter commute than most. Still, there are people who manage it, like a coworker of mine who enjoys a blissful car-less existence in Somerville. When I told him about bike-to-work day, he replied that he'd be sure to ride tomorrow. He does sometimes take the bus, it must be said.
If you can manage it, though, it can be very rewarding. There's something about it that makes you feel apart from the workaday rush—certainly, you're probably going slower than everyone else (though not always). It can make even the morning commute enjoyable! I can't wait for the day when increased cargo capacity lets me do even the grocery shopping via cycle; at that point my smugness will be unstoppable. For tomorrow though, it's just to work.