Relative Something

It is hard to describe the insight that comes from riding a bike to work during the hours when most people are driving to their workplace. I fear it is one of the things that needs to be experienced first-hand in order to truly comprehend. I also think it is key to already have been driving to your workplace for some time and to then bike that distance, preferably, multiple times.

First of all, there is the time difference in the duration of the trip. On a bike, you have time to notice a lot more things about the world between where you live and where you work. There is something about that fact which can really improve your perception the next time you climb back in that car to drive to work. It is hard to explain, but it broadens your perspective.

One less mysterious aspect of biking a route that you also drive is the new respect it provides for the terrain. Little changes in elevation that used to go entirely unnoticed will subsequently be intimately understood as you are gliding up inclines at the touch of the gas pedal.

When you are on a bike and moving at the slower pace of cycling, the manic pace of automobiles being driven by people rushing to get to work becomes dramatically apparent. There is an overt selfishness in every obsessive gesture to get around any car that is in front of a rushing driver. Their impatience emanates an incredibly annoying aura. They can also prove to be extremely dangerous to cyclists.

I am again reminded of the classic quote of comedian George Carlin: Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

Have you ever noticed that drivers who label others as idiots and maniacs, demonstrate selfish behaviors in their rush to and from work? Relax. You’ll get there.