People are all the time asking me why I ride.
Isn’t it dangerous? Don’t you worry about getting hit by a car? I would never ride on the road with all those automobiles.
And I get that. Navigating your way safely through autoAmerica is no walk in the park.
And, listen, I have never tried to convince anyone who is not comfortable with the idea to get on a bicycle and see for themselves what lies in store.
Instead I give them Ron Cunningham’s Acme Anvil Theory of Risk Management.
It goes like this: You can spend your entire life avoiding that which makes you supremely happy because doing so may lead to discomfort, pain misfortune or death.
But then, one day, you walk out your front door.
And an Acme Anvil falls on your head.
So you might as well stop worrying and enjoy the ride.
And so I ride.
I ride through space and time.
Around Florida
Around The USA.
And Europe
And Canada
And so far, no anvil. Fingers crossed.
So why do I ride?
Because getting on a bicycle take me places that I never dreamed I’d go and shows me things I never quite noticed before.
And under my own power. My own terms. My own resolve. To go. To do. To see.
Because a bicycle is not just a bicycle. It is form, function and freedom of movement. And a work of art.
All the signs point to roads not yet taken and paths not yet discovered.
Oh the places you’ll see.
And the things you’ll do.
And the life you’ll experience.
Under you own power. On your own time.
I am not traffic.
I do not ride to live.
So much as live to ride.
Where to now?