Hi my name's Scott and I'm somewhat of a bike commuter. How'd that happen?
I moved to Spokane from a small town of 5,000 about 20 years ago, and went from someone who rode his yellow Raleigh Record 10-speed bike all the time to just an occasional biker. I'm not sure why, but it was probably a combination of being unnerved by all the traffic whizzing by and some laziness.
About 10 years ago I worked with a guy who rode to work from the NE part of Spokane to our office near downtown. I talked to him about it and he didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal. I thought about doing it and thought about it, but never took the plunge. ( I can think about things forever). I also noted my friend didn't seem to be in that great of shape, (now people can say the same thing about me!) but was impressed he did ride.
Finally, I don't know what got into me, but about 4 years ago I did it. Rode the old Huffy mountain bike to work. I have some strange MS-like disease that affects mostly my left leg. I needed exercise, but the weakness in that leg was keeping me from running so biking seemed like a good idea. I rode that Huffy the 4.5 miles to work and even though I could barely walk after making it downtown, I kept it up that first year and rode to work 3 times a week. I started late in the year, probably in April, and rode into October. It was a good start. I was an Official Part-Time Bike Commuter. Well, ok, me and the bike took the bus on the way home mostly, but still, it was a start. I had found a good route to work that was a mixture of riding on busy streets and cutting through quiet residential sections. It was fun!
Many of you bikers/cyclists know the next part of the story: my wife and I discover there are better & easier bikes to ride that are worth the money. No more buying a bike at Kmart or Walmart!
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