Spring is here, and as another Bike to Work Day approaches (May 19 in D.C.), it occurred to me that I’ve been bike commuting over 20 years now. I love it, because every workday, no matter what else is going on, I always have two bike rides to look forward to.
There have been a few breaks. The longest break was an 8-month period in which I was able to walk to my then-job. It took 25 minutes going home, but it took longer in the morning because I was a regular at Firehook, where I ordered coffee and a buttered slice of whatever bread had just come out of the oven. Even then I would sometimes bike to work, but the ride took less than 10 minutes. There is such a thing as a too-short bike commute. For the last 11 years, my bike commute has been 30 miles roundtrip, and that seems just right to me.
I have a friend and coworker who has been bike commuting for close to 30 years. It’s nice to have a fellow cyclist at work who you can talk to about your commute, because other types of commuters really can’t relate. My friend says, with statistical certainty, that eventually I will be hit by a car. He was hit by a car years ago and was out of commission for awhile.
One morning in 2008, he and I were about to talk to a group of coworkers who were interested in biking to the office. I insisted that we keep things light and positive and tell them that biking to work was safe. Right before our presentation, we learned that a 22-year-old woman, Alice Swanson, had been killed by a “right hook” from a garbage truck. I felt like I had no choice but to share this grim news with the class. “If you do this long enough, you will get hit,” my friend chimed in. A row of scared, frozen faces looked up at us.
Safety is the number one issue preventing people from choosing their bikes over Metro or their SUVs. Over the course of the last 20 years, and especially in the last 5 years, I believe DC has become a much safer environment for cyclists. There seem to be a lot more of us, and there is safety in numbers. Drivers, overall, are more aware of cyclists, and better understand how to share the road. There’s still a significant percentage of motorists who are clueless and dangerous. In over 20 years, I have not been hit by a car (*knock on wood*), but there have been many near-misses, some of which could have been fatal.
While I’ve never been hit by a car, I was hit by another cyclist once. He never said a word as he went to pass me, too close, and at that same moment I veered slightly left and we both went down. My front rim was bent and I was pretty angry – it did not need to happen. Cyclists should talk to each other out there. If nothing else, just say “hi.”
We’re all in this together.
