Bike Commute

It's spring, and the weather has finally turned nice and warm. My wife needs the car this afternoon to go to a meeting, so I brought my bike for the afternoon commute. I think it's going to be about 20 miles via the back roads home. It should be a nice ride as long as the angry aggressive east coast drivers aren't out in full force. You know the kind... they look like all the veins in their head are ready to burst, just because the driver or bike in front of them has audacity to be in front of them.

Anyway, commuting by bike is a great way to do it. I had a few jobs that were close enough to home that I could bike every day, year round. Environmental groups argue that it's less polluting, healthier, and takes cars off the road, which is true, but the real reason I liked it was because I got to work and I wasn't stressed already. Long commutes by car or train are soul-crushing.

I guess most people in this country have crushed souls (98.4%). Here are some statistics:

While in Japan 15% of commuters bicycle to work, in the Netherlands 50% of commuters bicycle and in China 77% commute by bike; only 1.6% of U.S. commuters bicycle to work [Washington State Energy Office Extension Services]

Unfortunately, right now I'm not in that 1.6%, but at least I'll bike home tonight.