At the grocery store yesterday a fellow educator, we'll call her Maggie Manners, greeted me and asked if I was having a good summer. I replied that I have ridden my bicycle more than 300 miles in the last three weeks - in preparation for our annual bike ride across Iowa. To my shock and horror, she replied, "I hate bikers".
She explained that a good friend of her had been killed while riding a bike. And that when he died, she had to go and tell the guy's children, who attended the school where we presently teach, that he had died.
(This happened more than ten years ago on a road that has since been widened and otherwise improved.)
She complained that people are always riding bikes where she lives and there is no shoulder on the road so she fears that she'll have to turn sharply to avoid hitting them.
Grief is something I know about. Our second son died at age two. It took two years before I could drive by the hospital where we took his body. But ten years . . .
I ride for fun, to spend time with family and friends, to save money, to stay healthy, to really see what is going on in Central Louisiana (as opposed to trying to catch glimpses while driving a vehicle) and to set a good example for my students. I am NOT using gasoline, NOT clogging up busy roads, and NOT using more healthy care services because I work to stay fit.
Little things like riding bikes for economy and fitness add up to a healthier family and community.