Go Lookabout

As I walked out the door of the bike shop, I spotted a guy with a bicycle waiting at a bus stop.  It was dark.  It was cold.  He was chatting up a lady bus-rider.

This guy was clearly car-free.  No, he didn’t have any One Less Car stickers on his bike, and he wasn’t discussing the legality of road position.  He didn’t have a Longtail or a cargo trailer.  No lights, no tights.  No high-viz jacket.  No helmet.

In fact, he didn’t have anything.  He was, by all estimates, down-and-out.

As he leaned on his bike, he casually offered to his lady-friend, “Oh yeah, I ride in all weather.  I can really handle this thing.”

Funny.  I had just been in my local bike commuter meeting.  We were, of course, discussing the finer points of what we should buy.  And how to educate the drivers.  And if it was possible to live in Maine without owning a car.

Guys like this remind me of a perverse truth of bike commuting in the USA.  For many of us, riding a bicycle in traffic is the closest that we get to being a second class citizen.  On the roads, we are used to being in control.  By riding a bike, we voluntarily rescind this privilege.  We join the immigrants, the kids, the drunks and all the other folks who can’t afford a car to get to work. 

This is a hard truth to handle, and we don’t accept it gracefully.  We are ready to call the police if a car gets a little too close.  We feel indignant rage if someone toots their horn.  We spend thousands on our bikes and gear, largely so that drivers won’t mistake us for a  DUI offender.

So, here’s another reason to ride a bike:  The egalitarian bicycle gives you a unique glimpse at how others live.  We all get wet.  We all are shouted at.  The difference between you and them is that you make the choice to ride.  They do it out of necessity.

And they know the best ways to rig up milk crates.