All thanks to my ride. it's something straight out of science-fiction: immune to traffic, doesn't cost a single peso to power, can take on the most difficult of situations, can be parked just about anywhere, and makes the user healthy in mind and in body.
Yep, a bicycle.
It's been more than a year since I started riding a bicycle to work, five days a week, through congested roads, heat, rain, and floods. I don't think I'll ever use any other form of transportation. It's reliability is nothing short of remarkable.
I constantly look forward to my morning ride to work. While others suffer the vulgar inefficiency of the public transportation system, the cost of gas, and the worsening congestion of the streets, I blaze through with legs pistoning, and an unbelievable grin on my face.
I'm probably not the best ambassador for biking to work. People give me curious looks on the lobby and avoid contact with my sweaty self in the elevator, looking out-of-place in a corporate environment. It can appear unappealing, but I take a great deal of comfort knowing that my daily habit reduces my chances of hypertension, keeps my mind and body in great shape, my mood brimming with positivity, and my bank account in a healthy state. Life has never been better. More than what I can say for those stuck in traffic, wasting their time, deprived of much-needed exercise, hence the widening waist-lines and deteriorating health. My appearance is easily remedied by a quick stop at the comfort room and a change of clothes. The health of inactive people... that may take some work.
Before cycling, I rode a motorcycle to work. according to my calculations, it amounted to a little over Php 26,000.00 a year. That included gas, parking fees, monthly maintenance, and registration. I didn't factor in the cost of the motorcycle itself and the expenses associated with any other use, for brevity's sake.
Do a little calculating yourself and see how much you could save if you rode a bicycle to work. Sum up all the expenses you incur driving or commuting to work on a daily basis, multiply it by how many days you work in a week, then multiply it by 52, which is the number of weeks in a year.
Amounts to quite a substantial sum, eh? How about including the savings of not being tardy, less gym fees, and less medical expenses? And maybe throw in the added benefit of having a solid piece of mind, if you would.
Financial gains aside, one of the greatest things you save on is time. I struggle to understand why so many willingly suffer the traffic and faulty public transportation system. Everyone knows that there's a better solution, and complaining never did anything to improve the situation, so why haven't more people adapted the bicycle as a means to get to work?
Foremost, people are afraid of getting tired. Naturally, it is assumed that expending that much energy in the morning would leave one tired and flagging all day. Not true. For the first week, while your body makes the necessary adjustments, maybe. Remember, fitness is not something that could be attained in an instant. Gradually, you'll develop the necessary fitness level. Then you'll find that cycling to work gives you even more energy since it improves your metabolism and endurance.
The perceived dangers of cycling to work is another hindrance. Most drivers are courteous and well-meaning, but there are those that seem like they got their licenses at a flea market. Those are the ones that don't use their signal lights, those who pass too close, and my favorite, those who like to abruptly swerve in front of you. The desire to dish out road rage is all too tempting, but patience and temperance are attributes that are essential to a cyclist. Riding a motorcycle is statistically more dangerous than riding a bicycle. and yet the number of motorcycle-users are rocketing, so to say. Cycling is, by and large, safer than most methods of transportation. So get over your apprehensions and get on a bike!
I'm hoping that if more people pedaled to work, like most developed European countries who have eschewed the imagined status of driving a car, our government could invest on better cycling infrastructure and make the metro a better place.
And if you don't think that cycling is the solution to congestion, then you're part of the problem.
[Article was intended to be a continuation of this one that was previously published elsewhere.]
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