Commuter "challenge?
Over at bikejournal, people are always looking for new ways to "motivate" themselves and others to ride. The latest thing is a commuter century challenge. Evidently it involves trying to ride to work for a total of 100 days in 2006.
Perhaps it's just me, but to be honest I'm wondering what all the fuss is about. I don't intend to belittle anyone with this post, and I realise that for some people this really is a major achievement. It's just that riding to work is something that comes so naturally to me, that I really just don't give it a second thought. It could be argued that my current commute (a round trip of just 17km) is a relatively short one, and this fact alone removes much of the "challenge" element that would be there. However, this hasn't always been the case -- I still recall a daily commute of 47km back in 2002 -- I didn't miss a day of that either.
I just think it's interesting to compare the different mentalities of different lifestyles in this situation. For some, the prospect of riding a bicycle to work seems like a major challenge. For me, riding to work and dealing with whatever challenges traffic, weather or whatever throw at me is just second nature, and something I consider a far lesser hassle than stumping up the money to acquire and maintain a car. It's also much more convenient than sitting in gridlock for hours on end each day.
Perhaps I should just stay out of that particular forum discussion, lest I unintenionally offend someone.
posted by Chris L @ 8:46 pm
4 Comments:
Someone asked me a couple of months ago if I considered driving to work on a particularly wet and stormy day.
I had to admit that the thought had never entered my head. The way I get to work and back is on my bike, no matter what the conditions.
I joined the 1000 miles for 4 month challenge and that did push me to a different level. If this challenge gets at least one other person to ditch the car, even for a little bit, it's a good thing. I'm with you and Rodney, though, I ride my bike.
I do have a car with a full tank of gasoline sitting in the driveway. Last I checked a wolf spider was making a good living near the front tire.
I remember the 1,000 mile/month challenge. Coincided with the first month in which I failed to make 1,000 miles for over three years. :( Seriously though, I just can't understand getting to work by any other means. That said, it might be different if this city actually had a public transport network.
For some reason your post conjured up images of a bunch of wolf spiders sniffing gasoline, getting high and creating havoc around town. :^)
If it gets people out of their cars and onto their bikes it can only be a good thing.
I generally only commute by bike three to four times a week, so I think it's a major achievement if I do the entire five days! :)
My challenge at the moment is trying to clock up 1,000 miles, which might not be much, but that's 1,000 miles of exercise I would not have otherwise done if I'd chosen to stick to travelling to work by public transport.
Post a Comment
<< Home