I celebrated my birthday last Saturday with my first bike ride of 2010. It had been about two months since I had pedaled anything, exercise bike or real one. A friend of mine sent me the following text while I was at Tucker’s feasting on huevos:
ridn dwntwn if ur in.
When it’s 40 degrees and overcast on a January weekend in Ohio, it’s “nice weather”. I jumped at the chance to cruise downtown and northern Kentucky on my bike, half riding, half hopping around on various elevations of pavement. A few hours outside was just what I needed to follow a meal I gormandized (I like new words). What I didn’t consider however, was what I was going to do in regards to not taking the elevator while still getting my bike back into my apartment.
That thought struck me as I headed back home and rode the uphill along Eggleston Ave. I was really cranking, and just as I thought about how tired my legs were getting, I remembered I still had a hike ahead of me.
I’ve been known to run/walk briskly up steps with my bike. Last summer I would ride up Reading Rd from Central Pkwy and turn up towards Gilbert. I would run up the steps next to Channel 9 with my bike on my shoulders and hop back on at the top in Mt. Adams/Eden Park.
At the tail end of this ride however, I wasn’t feeling the need to drag my bike up 6 stories. Instead I put it in the elevator and ran up the steps. I actually made it upstairs right as the doors were closing–forget the fact that my chest was heaving as I searched for air. Frankly it was still better than lugging that thing up with me.
As I sat in my apartment catching my breath, I wondered whether or not that counted as cheating in my year without elevators quest. I came up with two reasons why it’s not.
1. I’m not out to rid my life of elevators (I’m still taking them down). I’m doing this whole thing for fitness (and to see if I can). The goal is to walk up every time I have to ascend to my apartment, so in that regard, mission accomplished.
2. As an extension of the previous thought, I’m not doing this to save energy/the environment. Yes, taking an elevator takes energy, and yes, I am saving the planet one trip at a time when I walk. However that is merely a side benefit, I’m doing this for ME. So I don’t feel one iota of guilt about using the elevator (and consequent energy) to get my bike up to the sixth floor. The guy who did the year without a car said that at times he would ride his bike to go purchase something large, and have a friend with a car actually transport the purchase. If that’s not cheating than I am definitely in the clear.
But I did get a nice taste of what the summer will be like when I ride 3-5 times a week.
