I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like…
~ Bicycle Race, Queen
A history of cars…
I’ve never had particularly good luck with cars.
My first car – Rocky – was a hand-me down Toyota Sunbird. He’d belonged to my great-aunt and uncle.
Rocky didn’t get that name for nuttin’. He wasn’t the fastest car, there was no power steering and air conditioning was a fantasy. The heating wasn’t so great in winter, to the point I’d drive in gloves and a ski jacket. I dented his driver side door when I was still learning how to drive… and later he got rear-ended by some young dude. Rocky was never quite the same again.
My next car I bought with my fiancé (at the time) – something I contributed several thousand towards… but when I left him (and he kept the car), d’ya think I saw a cent of that cash? (I’ve managed to be ripped off by a couple of exes…)
Finally I got a loan and bought my very own car – a big-arsed dual-fuel station wagon – great for throwing my bike in the back, camping and road trips. But it was a money pit with multiple (expensive) issues over the years. I finally sold it (to Andre no less) and I was glad to see the back of it.
Travelling in style…
When I moved to Melbourne and started a rather cushy job with a large corporate, I decided to take advantage of a salary packaging option – a novated lease car. Which meant I sacrificed $XX pre-tax but that included all fuel, servicing… everything.
For the last few years, that’s what I’ve been driving. Yet I’ve never been a car person. You can’t impress me with ‘hot wheels’. I was just glad to have a reliable car with no additional out of pocket expenses.
Then, when I chose to quit my job I knew that meant quitting my car too. I didn’t even flinch.
Bike-y and me…
So now its just me and my two-wheeled friend. I’ve always loved cycling… the pic above was taken when it was brand new and before I’d fitted it with panniers (and also before I almost destroyed it when I forgot it was on top of my car whilst trying to enter a car park – its all good though!).
“Bike-y” is now my main form of transport which is proving extremely pleasurable. Much more so than driving. Most days I ride to work (just fifteen minutes) because it’s easier and kinda faster than the bus or the tram. And it gives me more freedom too.
In fact, Bike-y has played a very important in role in recovering from my latest headlong nose-dive into PTSD (episode XVIII, approximately)…
Tearing around the neighbourhood on Bike-y, I noticed my poor bruised and beat up heart began to feel… less painful. Even if it was only for a little while… so I kept riding. And whilst it wasn’t everything I needed to get better, its helped a lot.
Thing is, if I’d still had a car, there’s no way I would have been out on my bike given how I was feeling. Because you see, I associate cycling with pleasure and my self-negating state of mind would have cancelled that out… if I wasn’t reliant on Bike-y for transport.
Better…
Yesterday I cycled 10kms each way (not so far) to work as an election counting officer for the day. As I cycled home, I found myself singing AC/DC (‘Rock ‘n’ Roll aint noise pollution…’) as I built up speed along wide sun-speckled tree-lined streets. And I realised right then – oh wow, I’m… not in that place any more. At least not for now. Not right now…
It felt rather odd, kinda like I’d escaped prison when the warden wasn’t looking…
So, I sang even louder and thanked my lucky stars I was on my bike instead of in a car. Generally whilst driving, everything is about what happens in the car and making sure you drive safely, avoiding other people’s bad driving.
On my bike… I’m in the world, participating…
~Svasti
Svasti: A Journey From Assault To Wholeness 
Hooray for you and Bike-y!
Never one for team sports, cycling has always been my favorite activity. And it’s all good mentally, physically, environmentally and economically. I’m so glad to hear that cycling puts you in a better “place” and is helping you deal with your PTSD.
You inspire me to drag out my poor neglected bike and take advantage. Keep rolling (and singing)! :o)
I now have a great image of you on your bike, singing that AC/DC song (a song that I haven’t thought about for a long time). It is a good way to be out in the world, without that separation of steel and glass and plastic. And to have that feeling of freedom, to not be in that place, even if it’s just for that moment : wonderful!
My relationship with cars is so complicated that I don’t drive, which is a bit of a problem in Berkeley with a kid. I’m really more foot-oriented than wheel-oriented, since I am not much of a cyclist, either. But I can appreciate it the whir of wheels around me.
@earthtoholly – yay! I hope you do get your bike out again. Its so easy to sideline the things we enjoy the most…
@Jennifer – Not driving in Berkley huh? I’ve spent some time there with my fellow yogis & yoginis so I know what you mean about that presenting problems…
The cycling – is theraputic on so many levels. I didn’t know it would help me so much with PTSD!
When I ride my bike, I tend to feel guilty about not doing my part to increase global warming…I mean, we’re not gonna have a pleasant climate where I can wear shorts year round and the beach a short bike ride away if everybody doesn’t pitch in….Going to the tropics for vacation is passe–now the thing is bringing the tropics to you…
Anyway, the bike looks cool, even if it’s not covered in stickers like mine…and you’re showing the dark side of your taste in music…I mean AC/DC’s okay and I guess people in Oz can’t help it (you probably like that annoying Crowded House guy, too, don’t you? Sitting there beneath your Mel Gibson posters with the radio on…), but Queen?!
Here’s a few lines from a song by the original lunatic, Syd Barrett:
I’ve got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It’s got a basket
A bell that rings
And things to make it look good
I’d give it to you if I could
But I borrowed it
If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go burn some more fossil fuels….
That is awesome and makes me want to get a bike! OMG I need to start exercising not only for weight but also for my mental health. I have always heard about how exercise helps depression but I never really got it until after reading your post.
I have one strange question though…when I’ve biked in the past (though it wasn’t for a long time) my behind started hurting from the seat. How do you get past this?
Happy biking! 🙂
I used to love riding my bike–and I used to do quite a bit of it. In fact, I was a bike messenger for a very short time when I was 19 or 20 years old in San Francisco. Then when I was riding on a busy street (in the same city), I was hit by a car and hurt quite badly. Since then, I have not been able to really enjoy biking, unless I am on a strictly ‘bike only’ path–which there aren’t many of, really.
However, reading your post really made me want to grab my bike and go for a ride–
Cheers,
Melinda
@Dr Jay – thanks for the giggles, you silly bugger! Yeah of course, riding Bike-y is good for the environment too…
AC/DC is a part of our Aussie history. Always polls well on “greatest ever song” lists some of those radio stations like to play (not that I tend to listen to ’em but isn’t it interesting how you can still hear about those things regardless?).
And Crowded House… let’s say I used to like ’em when I was younger so if I’m in a certain sentimental frame of mind… then yeah, I’ll listen to ’em!
I don’t think I’ve ever owned a Mel Gibson poster but Queen? You leave those guys alone! They appeal to my sense of the ridiculous and dramatic! I mean, they did the soundtracks to both Flash Gordon and Highlander and wrote some of the most outrageous pop-rock/opera in the world. Wait… perhaps they were the only ones… but I love ’em!
@Chunks – yes! Go get a bike!! Honestly, I absolutely love mine 🙂
Ah the bum burn… well, you can get these super-padded seats if you like – really wide ones for ladies’ butts. My friend has one of those and she loves it. Me? I have one of those gel seat covers and that’s about it. Plus if you like you can get bike shorts with more padding around the rear end region… but really? You just get used to it. You get over it. In the end, it really doesn’t bother you so much! Especially when you realise how much fun there is to be had on your bike and yes, very good for your mental health too!!
@Melinda – Sorry to hear about your accident! San Fran is a busy (and hilly in parts) town.
That’s one thing I’ve learned about cycling – you have to ride like no one sees you. As in, being hyper-vigilant and making eye contact with whoever you need to… and even that’s not always enough.
Someone I used to work with suffered a broken collar bone recently because someone opened a car door in front of him and he couldn’t stop in time!
I hope you get out on your bike some time soon. 🙂
AC/DC, always an excellent choice. I like the idea of biking my it always hurts my ass. I don’t have a small ass either, it’s nicely padded, naturally, but that “taint” area always gets so damn sore.
Svasti dear, how do you food shop without a car? I’m sure it can be done but I picture you with a big container of laundry detergent, a 12 roll pack of toilet paper, a gallon of soy milk, perhaps some eggs and some whole grain cereal shoved into a bike pack on your back….that just can’t be comfortable!
In all seriousness, getting the body moving on a bike is brilliant and exercise does wonders for mental health. Good for you and keep it up!
@Christa – haha, I know what you mean! But as per my comment back to Chunks – they make special bike seats for women these days. Big, wide, soft, kushy ones… or you get used to it like I have!
Grocery shopping? Well, I have panniers (saddle bags) for my bike that hold an awful lot… and its all strategic – what you buy and when. I like getting fresh vegies so I don’t buy lots at once. I don’t mind several trips to the supermarket if needs be.
For bulkier items I can walk. I’m not far from the local supermarket really, and I have one of those pull-along shopping trolley things (a very cool one I bought at a market in Bangkok) so that’s not really an issue…And there’s another supermarket near my work, from there I can just jump on a tram or a bus almost all the way home… There’s all kinds of ways to get by without a car!!
What a good story and you sound as if you had so much fun. Cheers!
Oh, that sounds like so much fun, Svasti! I’m glad you got a break from all that – even just a few moments of pure liberation are so, so very worth it.
Cycling is like that, though. I used to mountain bike and I remember moments like that with so much joy. Just being out there is so cool.
@Theresa111 – yep, cycling is some of the nicest kind of fun you can have with your clothes on… 😉
@CK – I don’t strive for it, but I definitely notice a certain kind of freedom on my bike. But then, I also notice that freedom when doing yoga and meditating and I haven’t talked about those at all here yet… and I really should, being a yogini and all…
For some reason I am picturing you wearing a hat as you pull/push along the street with your shopping trolley thingie from Bangkok.
You have a photo of Bike-y, why not one of troll-ee? Hummmmmmmm
@Christa – Haha, yep, maybe the trolley thingy will get an airing here some time! Perhaps the next time I go out for kitty litter? 😉