A Ballad for Bikes

When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day's sensations: bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay's call, ice melting and so on. This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamorings of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature instead. I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilization. The world is breaking someone else's heart. ~Diane Ackerman
Romanticizing riding a bicycle is a myth easily dispelled by the act of actually riding a bike. The grease, the grit, the grind, the rude motorists who honk as they pass, because goodness knows you can't hear a large piece of metal on wheels coming from behind at 30+ miles faster than you... but I digress.

Riding a bike also has its merits. The euphoria of climbing a hill, feeling the breeze against your cheek, the endorphins after a long ride. Plus you get to trade stories with fellow bikers, which is tantamount to fishermen swapping tales.
-How big was it [fish/hill]?
-This big!

While I only ride my bike in the spring and summer, to commute to work (a non-romantic 20 miles, uphill both ways I might add), there are those whose whole lifestyle is built around commuting on bikes. My hats off to the real road warriors.

Including the creator of the BikeSnobNYC blog. BikeSnob has just had his blog restructured as a book and it is one of the best blog to book creations. It is beautifully illustrated by Christopher Koelle.



Bike Snob
BikeSnobNYC
Chronicle Books
16.95

The book is a wonderful chronicle of the history of bicycling and what it means to bicycle in the modern age. Koelle's artwork beautifully captures the essence of bikesnob's writing, making this book a must have for the shelf of both bike elites and non bikers alike!

Paz
~Nieves