All posts in category bike commuting

institutionalized

Due to cat needing vet visits, I spent two days working from home, driving Em El down south for work and picking her up in the evening. I haven’t commuted by car in years, so it was quite a shock to my system. Blood pressure rises, teeth gritted, eyes glaze over as you follow the same route over and over. I’m used to seeing the stupid things drivers pull as I ride my bike, but it’s totally different when you’re driving. It actually bothers me more, probably because I’m already extremely agitated just from the mere fact of being behind the wheel. Anyway, it got me thinking about people who commute the same route for years on end. Every day, a vacant thousand-yard stare fixed on the traffic lights ahead. The rote of it all would kill me in a matter of months.

So after the storms pass, and the dishes are drying in the rack, I step out into the cool air. That old cottonwood out back sings its timeless song with nothing more than leaves in the wind and I am so thirsty to hear it. I want to go to sleep listening to nothing but that. It takes me back to, of all places, Lucy Park and the hidden trails I found that one day, winding alongside the chocolate brown river. After a deep and full night of cottonwood sleep I want to wake up to the high fluted serenades of the thrushes. I want to turn my head to the window and breathe in the meadow breeze as it fills the room. I am so hungry for what feeds me. So desperate in this urban confusion. I keep fitting one leghold trap after another onto these withered limbs.

I can’t stop hearing Bill Callahan sing, “My ideals have got me on the run…towards my connection with everyone. My ideals have got me on the run…it’s my connection to everyone.”

I don’t even know anymore what my ideals are, if I even ever had a clear idea. I’m so shifty and drifty, I’m barely able to pin myself down most days. And I’m certainly not running anymore. Treading murky water, perhaps. As for my connections, they are few and far between. Far in miles and farther yet in states of mind.

I don’t want to become institutionalized. I really don’t. I know that much. Maybe that’s an ideal? It’s something I’ll keep fighting against as long as I have the strength, even if it’s with my last few ounces.

2 Comments

by sean on June 4, 2010 • Permalink

Posted in bike commuting, breathing rights, car culture, city life, confusion, human behavior, inner life, introversion, isolation, quiet beauty, routine, urban nature

Posted by sean on June 4, 2010

https://sd-stewart.com/2010/06/04/institutionalized/

serendipity

It was quite birdy this morning! Although Larry, Moe, and Curly (the three squirrels) brought along a friend (Shemp, perhaps?) for their now-daily assault on the feeders, there were still a lot of birds waiting around in the crabapple tree and up on the power lines for their turn. Unfortunately, squirrels don’t know how to share (even with their own kind), and so there was more squirrel feeding going on than actual bird feeding. Surprisingly, later on a European Starling appeared at the feeder tray while the Mourning Doves were having a go. I think this may be the first time at the new house that I’ve seen one at the feeders.

The two highlights for the morning, though, didn’t happen at the feeder. The first one occurred as I was preparing to leave for work. I took one last look out the kitchen window and my jaw dropped as a Great Blue Heron flew low not far above the roof lines across the alley and then over the house. Perhaps it was heading for Lake Montebello? Although I haven’t been over there recently, and it may be frozen over. Not much other open water nearby. But it’s always a good sign when my spirit bird appears. And a new yard bird, as well!

The second highlight happened during my morning commute. Today was the first day I biked to work after the double blizzard. As a result, I had to alter some sections of my route due to traffic congestion and ice-covered roads. Inconvenient as it may have been, I was unexpectedly rewarded when I turned onto one road and heard the “kee-aah, kee-aah” of a Red-Shouldered Hawk. It was so loud that I just about fell off my bike! I navigated through some snow onto the side of the road and had some good looks at this noble bird as it surveyed the urban landscape from its perch high up in a tree. I wonder if it was the same one I saw on Sunday, soaring above the neighborhood?

if dante had worked here, there would be another circle of hell in the inferno

Today is meeting day at work. Tuesday is always meeting day. In my lexicon, meeting day is known as the Inferno. We have an all-staff meeting, and then after only a 30-minute reprieve (Purgatorio), my section has its weekly meeting. These section meetings are excruciating and often stretch their weedy tendrils into the lunch hour, so that near the end everyone has been stricken blind by the gnawing hunger in their bellies, and they begin to hallucinate that there are even more items to discuss on the agenda. Nine times out of ten there is absolutely nothing on the agenda that relates directly to my work and so the torture is particularly poignant for me. The boss man spews his oily drivel and we all flop around in it. We drink down his bitter poison and smile through our gag reflexes, even as our insides melt away. Then I go back to my desk and stare hollow-eyed at the computer until the end of the day.

On many of these days, the only moments I truly feel alive are those I spend biking to work. Attention to my surroundings is crucial, as traffic is unpredictable and hazards abound. At work, at my desk, my senses dull to a blunted finish. I sit for hours, an empty husk, with glazed eyes and blank mind. At the end of the day, I struggle to shake it off for the ride home.

Every day they dump new blazing coals upon us, and the greedy flames consume another chunk of our dignity. As the fat sizzles, so do our ideals.

P.S. Someone just told me that the staff meeting has been moved to Thursday. Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel after all!

1 Comment

by sean on December 8, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in bike commuting, cycling, insane humans, meetings, work

Posted by sean on December 8, 2009

https://sd-stewart.com/2009/12/08/if-dante-had-worked-here-there-would-be-another-circle-of-hell-in-the-inferno/

mixed messages

Fact: it is illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk here.

Fact: people have been issued tickets for this offense.

Fact: it is illegal here for a cyclist not to stop at a stop sign or red light.

Fact: the other day I was riding home from work and saw a police officer directing traffic up ahead at a light that I usually run. So I opted to pause and wait for it to change. However, a young woman riding her bike on the sidewalk in the same direction that I was riding reached the intersection and was waved through it by the cop!

Not only did the cop see her riding on the sidewalk and did nothing about it, but she also waved her through a red light!

What is the point of these so-called laws then when they are not enforced and, in fact, violation of them is even encouraged by law enforcement officers?

Fact: Idaho has a law on the books that says a cyclist is permitted to roll through a red light or stop sign provided the intersection is clear.

All states and cities should have this law. It is ridiculous that a cyclist should have to wait at a light or stop sign if they can pass safely through the intersection. One of the many benefits of cycling in the city is that you can get places quicker than a car. Part of this involves running some red lights and stop signs. And I don’t buy the argument of drivers who say cyclists don’t deserve to be on the roads because they are generally irresponsible (e.g. run stop lights). I see drivers run lights and stop signs ALL THE TIME. But a 2-ton hunk of steel moving through an intersection at 30 mph is WAY more dangerous than a 160 lb person on a 20 lb bike moving at 5 mph. If a cyclist wants to assume the personal risk, then they should be allowed to. But a driver is piloting a deadly weapon capable of killing a person and as such, should be subject to much stricter traffic laws.

This great animated video explains how the Idaho rolling stop law works.

fundamental rules of bike commuting part one

A fundamental rule of bike commuting: on any two contiguous days on which an equal or similar chance of rain is predicted, if a cyclist suits up in full rain gear on one day then it will not rain no matter how dark and stormy the sky may appear and, in fact, the sun will likely break through the clouds causing profuse sweating underneath said rain gear; conversely, if on the other day the same cyclist does not suit up in rain gear, it will invariably rain a considerable amount, thus ensuring a fresh waterlogged professional appearance at work.

The phrase “slight chance of showers” is an empty meaningless phrase and should heretofore be banished from meteorological parlance.

2 Comments

by sean on November 6, 2008 • Permalink

Posted in bike commuting, rain

Posted by sean on November 6, 2008

https://sd-stewart.com/2008/11/06/fundamental-rules-of-bike-commuting-part-one/