12 Reasons to Ride Your Bike More
There are actually 25 million reasons, but we’ll start with 12.
12. Biker butt. Have you ever really seen - really looked at a cyclist’s ass? It is a true work of art. Perfectly round, but muscular. Perfect for grabbing with two little humps of juicy peachyness completely in season and ripe for the picking. It’s fun to touch one (if the owner of the biker butt says it’s okay), it’s fun to watch one riding in front of you, and it’s extremely fun to cultivate one.
11. Human-powered transportation. Maybe you’re riding your bike to get cat food for your little furry friend. Maybe you’re on a 20 mile ride through the countryside. Maybe you’re just trying to get from home to work, whatever the reason is you used your body + your body’s energy to get there with the help of propelling a machine with wheels and pedals. No gas, no emissions, absolutely no problem. You caused the movement to get you from point A to point B. You’re a freakin’ time traveler. You and your bike, that is.
10. It’s free. The best things in life are free, aren’t they? Everything else is short-lived instant gratification that usually sits unused and unloved somewhere. While it’s true, bikes aren’t exactly free they remain relatively low-cost and low-maintenance which by my calculation is pretty much as good as free in comparison to other means of transportation (cars).
9. Pure joy. Not once have I ever got off my bike after a ride and thought “Dang that sucked!” Even amongst a Pacific Northwest winter downpour. Exercising, as we know, gives us endorphins, endorphins make us happy, happy makes us joyful, joy makes life cool, etc., etc.
8. You can do it in a pandemic. Wow, so this one is new to me and new to all of you as well since this is the first pandemic in like a 100 years, right? According to all the things, biking was one of the things that you could still kind of do and feel okay about not getting a highly contagious disease. In this dawning of our new norm, the bike literally saved me from many a nervous breakdown. And if it can save me, it can save you. Now bikes not only provide seamless transportation, they save lives and curb mental breakdowns too.
7. Your commute is your gym. It’s true that biking doesn’t work every muscle in your body, but you can worry just a little bit less about constantly working out to stay healthy when you use your bike to commute from home to work. Or use your bike to commute from home to grocery store. Or use your bike to commute from grocery store to weed store. Whatever you need to do and wherever you’re going, if you use your bike you’re getting a mini-workout in. So if you miss your chance to hit the gym you don’t have to feel at a loss that you didn’t get your movement in for the day because the fact is you did get your movement in for the day. This thought process is perfect for lazy exercise gym people like myself and maybe like you, too.
6. It’s faster than walking. While visiting Bike World, aka The Netherlands, it was explained to me that the affinity of bikes to the Dutch is as easy as “Why would we walk when we could bike?” Sold, my tall bikey friends.
5. Feeling 12 years old again. The quickest way to 12 is of course hopping on your bike and cruising down a big hill without riding your breaks. Again, you and your bike are time traveling.
4. The bike is my therapist. A friend recently told me she loved running because it was literally ‘running’ away from your problems. She described it as “bye problems I am running away from you…” and I believe that sentiment echoes how I feel about biking. I am biking away from my problems byeee problems. A few days ago I was feeling the weight of the world and the only remedy was an 8 mile bike ride. I felt like I could resume taking on life after that. Thank you, Bike.
3. Hot ass, hot legs. Every cyclist I know has these 2 things well in tact. We’ve covered the Biker Butt portion but let’s take a moment for sculpted, muscular legs that could crack a skull like a nut should you be lucky enough to find your skull in between the two glorious hams of a biker’s legs. Rippling calves and toned thighs glistening in the post-afternoon glow of a long summer’s day ride. It takes work to get that ass and those legs so should you get to that point, congratulate yourself. You earned it!
2. Climbing a hill with ease. This takes some time, but after biking for a while you will reach this point. This is a milestone in a biker’s life. All of a sudden a daunting hill presents itself and you start climbing. As you climb, you notice that you’re not really huffing at all, but breathing normally. You start to pass a few fair weather riders already on their way up, red-faced and struggling. You ride past with ease. Sure sex is great, but have you ever climbed a steep hill with ease on your bike?
1. Biking is meditation. Maybe it’s the pedal stroke or the wind in my face or the peaceful scenic landscape I ride by, but a long ride feels like a deep dive in to the meditative zone. All of a sudden a great idea will appear, a memory I have long forgotten, bits of a happy conversation float in and out, and a particularly funny thing a friend says is illuminated. Biking gives the mind space to remember the lovely things that get buried and forgotten during the usual grind. Albert Einstein is quoted “I thought of it while riding my bicycle.”
