My New Bike! & Why Having a Bike is Important to Me

Sun EZ - Rider

My bike was stolen recently. It was a red Giant Rincon mountain bike that I'd bought roughly twenty years ago, when I was fifteen. I'm still disappointed that my bike is gone; however, I excited to finally have a recumbent.

I found the pictured Sun EZ - Rider used. The bike runs well, and I've already put more than twenty miles on it, since yesterday. It is a fun ride. However, the real test will be Monday. On Monday, I will ride to work, Minneapolis to Mendota Heights. I couldn't be more excited.

I still need to fix the bike up a bit. It is missing one of the chain guides and the handlebars are bent. The bent handlebars make steering difficult, and I'm prone to over steering which slows my ride. Yet, I do feel speedy, perhaps because I'm so low to the ground. I have passed a couple of people while riding around The Lake of the Isles, but they were out leisure riding. Monday, everyone on The Greenway will be all business, commuting to work.

Having a bike is important to me. Riding a bike is a simple form of nonviolent direct action. The more often I ride my bike, the less often I drive my car. Fewer trips in my car equals less money for big oil and less CO2 emitted. I just wish that there were more days that I felt comfortable riding my bike to and from work. Right now, the plan is Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I miss a few of those days each week because some life-event seems to get in the way. I wish I rode as often as my boss. He is my biking hero. He bikes to work (and everywhere else) everyday of the week despite strange life-events.

In order to get ready for Monday's commute, I still need to figure out how I'm going to attach my luggage to the back of the bike. I don't have the cash for a bike rack right now, but I do have bungee cargo net. So, before I eat lunch here, in a few minutes, I'm headed down stairs to how I'm going to attach my gear in the meantime.

Happy Trails!