Well, folks, on the eve of Bike to Work Week, I’m digging out they spandex shorts, greasing my sprockets and pumping my tires to get in on the fun.
Actually, I don’t have any spandex shorts – thankfully, for your sake and mine – but I do have a 1990s-era Peugeot mountain bike that I bought from Spokes many years ago and is still going strong.
I have ridden my bike to work on and off over the years and if I didn’t need my car for work, I would probably ride to work most days. It’s hard to squeeze in time for exercise in my busy life and so taking that time to ride into the office is perfect.
And our paper has covered Bike to Work Week since day one but this year, I thought I’d actually commit myself to participating in a more tangible way.
So, my plan is to see if I can do my job, or at the very least, get to work on my bike. If you see a middle-aged, overweight cyclist on a green bike chasing after a fire truck with a camera around his neck, feel free…to offer me a ride.
We do need a certain degree of mobility in this work and usually job ads in the newspaper field state that a dependable vehicle is required. We actually get some money to compensate for the gas our vehicles consume, so my profession works against me being a bicycle commuter. But for one week of the year, I can give it a try.
And I’ll document how it goes. I’ll keep a bit of a blog on Facebook and Twitter (@AlstrT) and you’ll be able to see how other people are doing through our website as we curate social media around Bike to Work Week.
Use the hashtag #BTWWCampbellRiver or post on Bike to Work Week’s Facebook page or the Campbell River Mirror’s Facebook page and let’s keep the dialogue going. Go to our website (www.campbellrivermirror.com) and you can see the discussion.
One of the challenges of course in biking to work in this town is the hills. I have to come from the lowlands of Willow Point, up Dogwood Street to the 2nd Avenue area. It was a vigorous pedal when I last attempted to bicycle commute. Now that I’m even more out of shape, I predict I’ll be walking up the Dogwood Hill coming out of the Beaver Lodge Lands.
But, hey, what’s life without few challenges, eh?
So, break out the chain oil, snap the waistband on those spandex drawers and let’s get pedalling!