New academic years always bring change, and this one is no exception in my life. I’ve started a new job in the Chaplain’s Office, and our family has welcomed our newborn daughter, Francesca. Yet even with these major life shifts, the biggest daily change for me is my commute. Gone are the days of free parking, so I now find myself biking to work.
Bikes and I have a complicated relationship. After a mountain biking accident more than a decade ago, I’ve mostly kept my distance and stuck to running, walking, and driving. I know biking is better for me and for the environment, but it’s a transition that still takes some getting used to.
I’ll admit when I’m sleepy, late, sick, or the weather is foul, I’m pretty grumpy about the bike ride. But even on those days, I have to admit that it’s nice. There’s something about not driving to a place that grounds you more in the local. I am embedded in a different way into the community while biking that I never felt just driving into work. The separation between the outside world and I disappears, as evident by all the dead bugs on me after a ride. I know my streets more intimately now, see more people than I did before, and use my own strength to get me where I need to go. I am now a body in my city in a different way, and it’s a good daily reminder of that reality. Often we can be in our own heads or so glued to screens that we can forget we are bodies that need to be valued and cared for. Caring for our bodies also further opens us up to the world around us in nature and our neighbors. Each ride reminds me that I am alive and to be grateful for those around me.