A lot of the stuff I've read about cycling focuses on the feel good benefits of riding around on two wheels. I enjoy those benefits even more because I hate the alternative.
I hate to drive.
No one has really said this, I don't think, as a reason for picking up a bike. But I am one of those that loves their car, hates the drive. Driving for me is an activity that gives me a knot in my shoulder and fills me with undeniable rage when I feel my safety has been threatened by some idiot in a fast car. It requires my utmost attention but at the same time can bore me to tears. I once had to drive from Round Rock to downtown for work. On I-35. Anyone familiar with Austin knows that commute would never be under an hour.
I went to San Antonio yesterday, and really had forgotten how enormous their highway infrastructure is. Flyovers are stacked one on top of the other, sometimes four at a time. It is strip mall after strip mall and access roads that make for a supremely unfriendly environment for anyone whose not in a car. This is especially true of North SA where everyone wants to live. I did see one guy on a bike at a busy intersection, waiting for the pedestrian right of way. I wanted to take a picture because it was quite jarring to see him surrounded by cars, but I was driving at the time. He definitely has bigger cajones than me to take on SA traffic.
So I'm thankful to live in Austin that makes an effort to consider alternative ways of getting around. Because if I truly had no other option, I might snap.
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