A Year of Biking

A little over a year ago I was trying to lose weight, and the results were slow. I was only managing to get in a 3 mile run about 3 times a week. I’d just gotten my sister’s bike fixed up and ready to ride, but I was nervous to take it out. So when my sister came to visit, and insisted I ride with her, that’s when my life really started to change.

We went on the streets, next to cars, and up the steepest, longest hill in the area. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done (I breathed so hard I was coughing the rest of the night), but it was so fun I wanted to do it again. I never would have tried that on my own, or believed I could make it up such a huge hll, and the fact that I did it without any biking experience gave me confidence in myself I’d never had before.

So I got up a couple of weeks later, got on my bike, and rode to work. I was scared of cars, the hills left me gasping for breath, I got to work super sweaty, but it was so much fun I couldn’t imagine getting to work any other way again. The weight started to fall off because combining my commute and workout meant I was exercising 5 times a week without having to wake up early to run or go to the gym after work.

With each season came the need for different gear. In the summer I bought lightweight shirts and a sturdy commuter bike to better handle potholes, in the fall I found a yellow windbreaker,gloves and lights for night riding, in the winter I bought a hat, rain pants, and my ugly but effective biking booties (this picture shows what I looked like commuting through the winter).


Unless it's pouring out, icy, or I'm sick (in other words, it's unsafe) you will see me on my bike. This year I biked in 20 degree weather, I biked in the dark, I biked in the rain. And I loved every second of it.

I never drove to work, but if I had I would have saved $3,600 in parking fees (not to mention gas, maintenance, etc.), I save $876 a year by not getting a monthly bus pass (although some of that now goes towards bike gear and maintenance). I have biked 2,860 miles just to and from work, I have lost 65 pounds, and those are just the quantifiable aspects of biking. Every morning I wake up excited to ride, and feeling lucky that I have the capability to do so. I feel so much happier, healthier, and alive on a daily basis. I hope more people will join me soon so they can experience the feeling.

(me and my bike today! Here's to many more years of biking!)