Why I love my commute, Part One: The City

This is the first in a series of posts describing my favorite things about my bike commute. Today I focus on the city.

The city is an active participant in my trip. The life of the city is not shut off from me by metal and glass, and I love it. When you are on a bike, you feel the city more. The roads, the animals, the garbage collectors...they are no longer something I feel or see out my window, they are something I interact with.

The way I see the city has changed. It may sound cheesy, but the city has different moods. In the morning, it is wide awake and excited. Afternoon is slower and gentler. Night is quiet and solemn, with an edginess to it that is indescribable. I get to see all the shadows that are missed at 30 miles per hour and the flowers growing up in the cracks (which I often narrowly miss).
I can tell you who had a baby recently and who gets packages that they leave on their porches all day. Wondering when most of the city gets home each day? I can tell you...around 5:25. Before that the driveways are mostly empty.

I smell the city when I ride. I can tell you who is eating bacon and what time the BBQ joint starts smoking the meat for the day (around 7). I smell when a truck has recently been on the road, and when a woman in a convertible has worn entirely too much perfume (yes, this happens more than you would think). I can also smell the morning, all dewy and fresh. Morning smells completely different from evening, when the shadows are longer and the smells are more industrial. Exhaust, tar, burned rubber, these are the evening smells...occasionally punctuated by the smell of someone cooking on the grill. The night smells change often and are harder to describe, but I get to smell each one and I consider myself lucky for that.

I hear the city. I hear children yelling inside houses before school and dogs barking (a LOT of dogs barking). I hear lawnmowers and car doors slamming. When a car hits a bump, I hear it and automatically move more to the side. Leaves crackling, branches falling, I hear all of it. I hear people cursing the traffic when their windows are open and kids talking about their day excitedly on the way home. I hear the music people listen to, which is often surprising. The city has a beat that I pedal to.

So many of our communities are full of strip malls and large roads. Every time I ride, it feels like I am reclaiming my city. Refusing to experience it from a distance. Loving it in new ways each and every time I ride. I live in the city.

So get out there and reclaim your city. You would be surprised at how different it is.

Image from BikeHugger.com