Bike Swapper: Paying Attention
Paying attention to life around your bike
By Dawn DeGroot
(Editor’s Note: This is the fifth in a series of columns by Seattle’s Dawn DeGroot who swapped her car for a bike last fall through the New Belgium Brewery Tour de Fat Festival.)
This has been a cold and wet springtime and a difficult transition from car to bike. In early June I woke up to sunshine and all the cold and wet seemed to have been forgotten. It’s profound that I began to enjoy riding in this cold and wet rain.
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Once I was out in the rain I realized I just liked to ride. Now it feels like I have arrived at a place in my biking journey that I ride because I enjoy being out of doors creating my own energy for travel. It is no longer because I traded my car for a bike at New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat, it is because I love to ride.
I never thought I would get to this place and be so happy about being a 60-year old novice bike rider and it is a great feeling arriving here when I didn’t know that this is where I was going. I needed to pay more attention.
Riding on the tandem this weekend with my husband was a blast. We were riding past children and they were yelling “look, a bike for two people.” And that made us smile. This trade your car for a bike has brought me many joys and opened doors that I never imagined were there, so now I am paying attention.
Paying attention to how far and how fast I can go. Attention to my environment and weather reports. Attention to the price of gasoline. Attention to my spirit in the wind as I ride for the fun of it. Riding has brought back some of my childhood feelings of freedom and I am paying attention.
Going into summer on a bike is like diving into the sea on a warm afternoon. This is my bliss. Enjoy the summer months and ride with attention!
