Ride to Work, Work to Ride

Some friends I used to ride with had the slogan "Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride" so I'll rip off their catch phrase for the title of this piece. Last year one of my resolutions was to ride to work at least once a week. It turned out to be more like once a month. This year I made the same promise to myself and have met the goal….for the last two weeks. I can blame my earlier failure on the horrible weather in middle Tennessee. Before and after the Great Flood of 2010 it has been unusually wet. Now July promises to be particularly dry. Go figure.

The United States has one of the unhealthiest populations of any major developed country. Tennessee was just ranked as the second fattest state in the nation (thank God for Mississippi). Michelle Obama is leading an effort to get our children off their fat butts and the Republicans are probably in opposition. I've been involved in an effort to start a statewide advocacy group to grow walking and biking in Tennessee so I thought I should do a little myself.

I rode on Bike to Work Day this year but since I had the day off I just turned around and went home. That makes it much easier but a couple of days in the last week I actually got out of bed an hour earlier, ate my healthy breakfast, mounted by bike and started my ten mile ride.

I ride around east Nashville on a regular basis so I've got a pretty good idea of the best route to take. I stay on residential streets as much as possible and the traffic is pretty light. I usually cruise by Lockeland Springs School and during the school year I'm greeted by the crossing guards. I sometimes ride down Holly Street past the historic Fire Hall on my way to the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge across the same river that was a swollen maelstrom just a few weeks ago. There are some hills in east Nashville but most streets have a canopy of trees to keep it cool.

After maneuvering through downtown past the courthouse I can ride the Greenway out to Metro Center where I work. Nashville has quite a few miles of greenway and bike lanes (when there are no cars parked there) but we can do better. It tends to heat up this time of year and the downtown asphalt is already warm at 7:30 a.m. Although I arrive at work a little sweaty once I cool off and wipe down I can change into more appropriate clothing. I once read a primer on how to ride to work and it pointed out that body order is caused by bacteria and not sweat. The recommendation was to shower before leaving home and BO would not cause a problem. So far no one has complained but maybe they're just polite.

When I show up with a bike helmet in the elevator some of my colleagues are fascinated that an old geezer like myself would ride a bicycle at all, much less to work. Isn't it dangerous? How far do you ride (10 miles), it's great you do this, etc. etc. I don't think I've yet to inspire anyone to follow my example even though the workforce in my office is pretty representative of Tennessee's obesity ranking. This is a health care agency and some folks here are an example of how to be unhealthy.

The ride home takes longer to complete and is much hotter with more traffic. If those people would just get out of their cars and join the two wheeled brigade we would all be better off and I could get home quicker. But I can cruise along with the knowledge that my small effort to reduce my carbon footprint, maintain a healthier lifestyle and use less oil to prevent another Gulf disaster aren't very heroic but set an example for other fat Tennesseans. I doubt they're paying attention.