It’s one thing to talk about bicycling, but as Edgar A. Guest, BCC’s poet laureate said: I’d rather see a sermon than hear one anyday. I was inspired by mfranti and dan ellsworth to take some pictures this morning of my cycling route, and I’m posting them for your enjoyment. Remember, envy is one of the seven cardinal sins.
That is what the view looks like from my two-wheeled urban assault vehicle every day!
The top picture is where I start, it is just a gravel trail and I usually have it all to myself.
The second picture is the mighty Mississipp, down which colonel Jackson chased the bloody British in 1814. If you look closely, you can see a tug in the distance, pushing barges upriver. As well might man stretch forth his puny arm and stop the Father of Waters in its decreed course as stop me from enjoying this ride.
The last picture is closer to downtown, so here the trail is paved. In the afternoon it is full of walkers, joggers, strollers, bikers, rollerbladers, and skaterz, but at 6:30 in the morning it looks like this. In the distance you can see the tall buildings where yeomen toil daily at the tasks of CPAing, lawyering, and network administering.
I love my commute. there’s no traffic, diesel exhaust, rude gestures, or near misses with aggressive drivers. The only birds I see are great blue herons and snowy egrets, and I see them every day.
If you have pictures from your ride, send them to bmarkb at gmail and we will include them here. (I’m BCC Pictures Editor.)
Read comment 4, then bow before mpb, who sent in this picture of his commute:
This is a picture our friend meems sent in of her commute. Thanks, meems!
Green Mormon Architect, whose very fine blog can be found here, sent in these four beautiful pictures of his biking route. Guess where?
This is what the view looks like as Steve Evans bikes to work. Some people have all the luck.
June 3, 2008 at 1:33 pm
That is a rockin’ bike commute if I ever seen one. What a pleasure it must be to do that every day. Conversely, what a shame it would be to do that by car each day and miss out on the feeling of being a part of those surroundings.
June 3, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Beautiful commute.
June 3, 2008 at 1:37 pm
First I see Steve’s bike and get bike envy. Now this.
You’re making it hard, folks.
June 3, 2008 at 2:05 pm
i am soooo envious. i sent my picture. on a good day, i pass several hundred cars mired in Houston freeway traffic in the span of just 10 or 15 minutes. that is a pretty good feeling, but i absolutely would prefer what you have.
June 3, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Mark, where do you commute from and to, and how long a trip is it one way?
June 3, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Kev, I live in Baton Rouge. It’s 8.2 miles each way, and I go at a very leisurely pace.
June 3, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Mark, it was 92 degrees outside at 8:00 this morning. Are you out of your mind?
June 3, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Gee whiz, Mark, who wouldn’t commute by bike if your ride was FLAT and CAR-FREE and LESS THAN TEN MILES?!!? Mine would be none of the above.
June 3, 2008 at 4:50 pm
yeah, but jeans — those water pictures are actually depicting waterways Mark must cross whilst holding the bike over his head. Not so easy now is it??
June 3, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Ann, I don’t mind. After all, it’s a humid heat.
June 3, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Mark, that’s the best commute EVER.
June 3, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Tracy, to paraphrase Donna Fargo, I’m the happiest biker in the whole USA.
June 3, 2008 at 10:22 pm
And every once in a while, Mark packs up some bacon and some beans and has lunch with Ronan.
June 4, 2008 at 4:21 am
Mark, as a long-time biker, I appreciate your route. Many people don’t realize that biking is one of the most efficient forms of self-propulsion out there. So, the heat and humidity are not as bad as they seem. The last few years, I’ve been lucky — my commute has been from my bedroom to my front-room office.
June 4, 2008 at 8:03 am
Nice pictures, but I’m still stuck back on the first paragraph wondering how you got Edgar Guest to agree to be your poet laureate?
June 4, 2008 at 8:05 am
My bedroom is my office.
June 4, 2008 at 8:05 am
My commute is 17 miles dropping 330 feet just to get to the nearest bus station (which isn’t as bad as the return trip). So I carpool which is the next best thing.
Kaimi, I caught your reference. lol. The question is, did Ronan?
June 4, 2008 at 8:26 am
We fired our guns and the British kept a’yawnin,
They were too busy fightin’ Froggies, saving the world from Bony.
June 4, 2008 at 8:33 am
Yeah, my commute from the kitchen table to the spare bedroom/office doesn’t leave a lot of room for exercise.
June 4, 2008 at 9:00 am
Researcher,
The decision to select Mr. Guest as the BCC poet laureate was made by Ronan, the BCC poetry editor. He decided that if “It Takes a Heap o’Livin’” and “Only a Dad” are good enough for general conference, they are good enough for this humble blog. I’ve heard that Ronan is moved to tears by a recitation of “A Patriotic Creed”.
June 4, 2008 at 10:05 am
Mark, being a gearhead, I have to ask this question. What kind of a bike do you ride? And have you tricked it out with any after-market parts to reduce weight, or to make the drive train more efficient?
June 4, 2008 at 11:35 am
ronin,
It’s a Trek 3900, 24 gear all terrain bike, nothing fancy. I’m not advanced enough to need any after-market improvements, although I have added a headlight, a taillight, and a bell for safety reasons. If I do decide to spring for any improvements, it will probably be a more comfortable seat!
June 4, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Hey everybody, there’s more picturey goodness up in the body of the post. Go look!
June 4, 2008 at 1:02 pm
for BCC’s picture editor, you sure need to learn how to edit pictures. I’ve fixed the widths to fit into the average browser.
June 4, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Portland Oregon? (That’s what his BLOG says!)
June 4, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Green Mormon Architect is showing off.
June 4, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Actually this was my first try at a bike commute. (I normally do bus and light rail). And since I live west of downtown Portland, my commute went adjacent to the Freeway, up through Washington Park and the West Hills and then down into Portland. It was a nice mix of beautiful, not-so-beautiful, and learning that I am not in very good shape…Skyline drive was brutal…
June 4, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Absolutely gorgeous, Mark. But I share Ann’s reservations about the humid 92 degrees. I find the heat and humidity up here a few states north of you pretty unbearable.
June 5, 2008 at 8:50 am
Eve, the trick is to pedal fast enough to generate a breeze. Then you don’t mind the heat and humidity. Very much.
June 5, 2008 at 8:52 am
OK people, there are even more pictures in the body of the post. Check them out.
Steve, gray skies in June??? I would have thought that your naturally sunny disposition would have taken care of that…
June 5, 2008 at 11:34 am
Weather here this week has been a real bear, Mark. Lots of getting soaked. But nobody moves to Seattle to get a suntan…
June 5, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Man, I would totally move to Portland if it were in Canada…