Bike Commuting and The Suspension Of The Desire For Comfort

Bike To Work Week Rain Day from Brendan on Vimeo.

Watch the video above before continuing on. It's only a couple of minutes. 

Can you picture yourself riding in these conditions? When I ride on these kinds of days I always get to thinking and this ride was no different.  While cruising along with the trucks whizzing past me and the chilly drizzle coating me in gossamer dew like the automatic watering system in the A&P produce section, as the water dripped from my helmet I had another one of those "Aha!" moments. I realized that part of the reason I have these brainstorms while  riding in less than ideal circumstances is that my brain is shutting off the part that demands physical comfort and focusing on the internal stuff. It's just a defense mechanism, pure and simple! I think this is the thing that allows us to do stuff like climb Mount Everest, or pick up decaying road kill, or change stinky diapers. 

When we need to, we have the ability to push through unpleasant circumstances in order to get something we want. When we do it enough, the circumstances simply become circumstances and no longer push us out of our comfort zone. We can get used to anything. 

When it comes to getting people change their behavior, i.e.-not using their cars for trips under 2 miles-, it just won't happen until the painful circumstance of paying $5 for a gallon of gas overcomes the potential discomfort of using their own power for transportation. We can build bike lanes and parking, put up share the road signs, spend money on public awareness campaigns, etc. --None of those things will have a broad impact until people can overcome the perception that they are going to be uncomfortable. The biggest hurdle that we face in preventing us from ruining our planet is that, as a nation, we are soft. We have lost touch with our ability to "tough it out" and our selfishness is preventing us from thinking globally. 

When I ride past the lines of mini-vans, and SUVs and sports cars filled with overweight, donut eating, stressed-out oil slaves, with their telephones pressed to their heads as they carelessly weave about totally separated from the world, I want to shout out to them "wake up and seize your power, it's not too late!"

But unfortunately they are too comfortable to hear me and, sadly, will never realize the gifts they possess.