traveling

It occurred to me today that I could have ridden a bicycle to any place I’ve gone in the last 48 hours, if I owned a bicycle. 

By now we’re all pretty well versed in the badness of motorized vehicles, so I’ll spare the lecture this time.  I remember Ed Begley saying on the subject of transportation; “my first choice is to walk, next is my bike, next is public transportation, next is my electric car.”  Thanks for the great advice, Ed!

Benefits of bicycling:

1. Great exercise
2. It’s cheap (no gas required)
3. It’s green (no pollution)
4. It’s less dangerous (if I hit somebody on my bike, it’ll probably hurt a lot less than if I hit them with my car, yes?)

I live too far to commute via a bicycle but on the weekend I think I could really utilize a bicycle for almost all my travels.  The trouble is that I don’t know the first thing about bicycles.  There are Road Bikes, Mountain Bikes, something called a “Comfort Bike” and Hybrids.  I’ve read up on all of them but I do not see a clear winner, yet.  I need a bicycle consultation! 

Did I mention that I’m not even sure I know how to ride a bicycle?  I know I know, you never forget how to ride a bike, alledgidly.  But my gosh it’s been like a million years since I rode one, seriously!  Plus, I’m extremely clumsy. 

Which kind of bicycle would you recommend for me?  I’ll mostly be using it to get around my neighborhood on the weekend.

image courtesy of uh.edu