I have noticed something.  I find that there is a distinct difference in my attitude depending on whether I ride my bike to work or drive my car into work.  Bike-to-work James is a much happier person, more helpful and much less sarcastic.  It doesn’t matter if the temperature is warm or cold, the wind strong or light, the roads busy or deserted - cycling gives me such a huge lift.

The picture above, I took that one morning last month on my way to work.  The sun was coming up behind me, there was a low fog over the water and the fall colours were just starting to come out, wonderful.  I was so moved by the scene I had to stop and dig out my camera and take the pic.  When was the last time I stopped my car, got out and took a picture of the scenery on my way to work?  Uh, never.  (Oh, there have been a few times I wish I had a dash mounted video camera to capture some of the idiocy that is common among local drivers.)

Riding my bike I get to slow down and say "hello" to the dog walkers at Memorial Park, I get to enjoy the first rays of morning light and the warmth of the fall, afternoon sun.

In the car, I’m stuck on Lauzon Parkway waiting for the traffic to merge together.  I have to worry about the ass tailgating me and wonder if that car waiting to turn is going to try to shoot into the gap between me and the car in front of me.  I get to drive by restaurants and gas stations, industrial buildings and equipment rental businesses, none of it particularly fetching and all of it is flying by at sixty to eighty kilometers per hour so even if something caught my eye its gone in an instant and if I look twice I just might rear end the SUV in front of me.

My bike route takes me past some dreary stuff too but its tempered by some really great things that I can appreciate because I am traveling slower and I have that time and opportunity to soak it in.  If you can, ride your bike up and down Victoria Avenue north of Cabana.  It has this ridiculously wide boulevard and the homes are all different representing a variety of architectural styles.  Incredible.

I am stuck on this bike thing.

I look at bikeportland.org and I’m jealous.

I want that for Windsor.

Check this out.

On a scale of "I’d sooner stay home and memorize the phone book" to "Holy s@#t get me a front row ticket" how would you rate that event?