Chicago, Illinois

The spoken wheel...

The obsessive cyclist has many excuses for her behavior, including environmental concerns, health benefits, car phobia, and frugality‹but perhaps the most all-encompassing reason is efficiency. I have been a bicycle maniac for the past seven years, often refusing to leave the house if my bike is not in working order, sometimes refusing the offer of a lift from friends in lieu of riding there myself. Granted, such behavior is hardly efficient; it might even be slightly delusional, but such speculation is irrelevant here. Consider, instead, how efficient biking can be. No time is ever wasted waiting for the bus or the subway to show up (and the Chicago Transit Authority is notoriously off-schedule, with buses often running half an hour late, and then showing up, in a most frightful display of inefficiency, with two more buses right behind). Unlike public transport routes, which almost never go directly from where I am to where I¹m going, bicycle routes are completely flexible and take no notice of one-way streets, blocked-off roads, inaccessible alleyways, parking lots, sidewalks, pedestrian zones, and the like. I can get from point here to point there, stopping at points also and other along the way, in the most direct manner possible. Running errands is a snap; the baskets on my bike make lugging groceries, books, and other, odder goods unnecessary. Two wheels and a seat are cost-efficient: infinitely cheaper than a car, a mid-priced bike is less expensive than a bus pass and cab rides. And cycling incorporates exercise into my schedule in the most time sensitive of manners. Some people run on a treadmill while watching television; I bike on my way to work. And on my way to school. And on my way to the bar, tae kwon do class, the bakery, the video store. . .