Move America Beyond Oil

Happy Bike to Work Day!

Sorry that I haven’t kept up with this series.  I thought I’d have time to write about biking in the City every few days during this “bike month,” but work has gotten in the way.

And the weather. 

In fact, it’s raining cats and dogs in the City right now. 

So, in honor of Bike to Work Day, I left my bike safe and dry at home, and took the subway to work.  My friends at Transportation Alternatives will, hopefully, forgive me.

Let’s face it – biking to work can be hard.  In fact, Wired has a great article today with five tips to make bike commuting easier. 

On the subway these past couple of days, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about Robert Rauschenberg, who died earlier this week at age 82.  In today’s Times, NYC biker (and musician and artist) David Byrne wrote a piece that captures some of Rauschenberg’s appeal. 

I’ve been a fan of Rauschenberg for years, ever since I was an associate at O’Melveny & Myers and spent hours exploring the huge Rauschenberg photo collages in a couple of the conference rooms.  O’Melveny was a great place to start a legal career, full of interesting and smart people.  But suffice it to say, corporate law was never going to be my life’s work.  Gazing at the Rauschenbergs in the 53rd floor conference room in O’Melveny’s old offices in the Citicorp Center often made some of the seemingly endless meetings much, much, much more enjoyable.

Rauschenberg had an amazing ability to find beauty and value in the most mundane things (even David Byrne’s old sneakers, apparently).  I always admired that in his art.

What’s that got to do with biking in NYC during Bike Month?

Well, for starters, one of the reasons that I like to bike in the City is that it opens up the streetscape in a way that enables me to find beauty and value in the most mundane moments, in ways that riding the subway simply cannot. 

One day this month, I found some of the best samosas I’d ever had at a cabbie hangout on lower Ninth Avenue.  Only on a bike.

Another day, I bumped into a farmers’ market that I’d never seen before, and bought a week’s worth of organic, New York State apples for my kids.  Only on a bike.

And, every day, I watch the gradual transition of New York’s trees from bare branches, to colorful flowers, to full green leaves.  I watch the incredible expanse of humanity passing by on the streets and the sidewalks as I pedal.  And, I gaze at the ragged, industrial beauty of a long-abandoned Hudson River Pier as I pedal in the shadows of the West Side Highway.  (I’ve been watching that pier decay for years.  I’m always entranced by it, and in the course of writing this post, have now learned that the City actually wants to preserve it). Again, only on a bike.

Here in the City, we’re celebrating bikes all month long.  So, don’t worry that it’s raining today.  When the sun comes out, hop on your bike.  Maybe you’ll find those samosas, some flowers, a rotting pier, or something else that’s just as beautiful to you.

Happy Bike to Work Day.