Green and Blue

Spring is officially here in Washington, the Cherry Blossoms have come and gone, and there is no good excuse not to ride my bike to work every day. It's not like I drive excessively, for the past five years, I have made the deliberate choice of working close to home, not primarily because of the environment, but more for a better lifestyle. Since I normally put in 60 plus hours at work per week, I never wanted to spend an extra 10 hours commuting. In DC, two hours a day commuting is nothing, there are people who live out in West Virginia who actually make the drive every day. I live close enough to walk, it usually takes me about thirty five minutes to get there under my own power, and if I'm feeling lazy, there is always the Metro Bus.

I love my bike, I bought it last fall right before gas went up to three something a gallon. But today after riding to and from work, my hamstrings feel tighter than a Republican at tax time, and I have the beginnings of a string of bruises from wiping out on the grass on Mass Avenue, having swerved to avoid some negligent pedestrians. Biking in Washington is not as bad as say San Francisco, but it sure is a long way from the flat streets of Chicago that I remember from my days of being twelve (and much more limber) and terrorizing the neighborhood on my orange Huffy. Since hitting the milestone of 40 several years ago, most of my body weight seems to have settled in my midsection, and dragging those extra pounds up the incline on Mass avenue against all of the known laws of physics, is a task so daunting, that by the time I get to work, I feel as if I have already been there for 8 hours. Not only do I arrive on the job sweating and exhausted, but my hair has taken on the shape of my bike helmet, and no amount of Loriel product will restore my hair to it's original form.

And really, as I watch the Lexus SUV's drive by emitting tons of CO2, I wonder just what sort of difference I am making by pedalling my middle-aged ass up a ten percent incline, and saving not even a gallon a day of fossil fuel emissions?

But knowing the facts about climate change and doing absolutely nothing to contribute to reversing it is not an option for me. I'm saving six gallons a week on my bike.

How much will you contribute?

Can you pass the Advil?

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