I started riding my e-bike to work on Tuesday and it’s been the best commute I’ve ever had to work. Prior to Tuesday, I would only ride my e-bike to the shop, but then the weather got better.
It’s a great way to get around. I’m slowly becoming one of those cyclists I see jumping curbs and finding ways around traffic that I scoff at when I’m behind the wheel of my SUV. The ability to keep moving, to not feel stuck, is liberating.
To help make my ride even more comfortable, I bought some really shitty headphones that have hooks on them. The Bose earbuds I have, which I quite like, kept falling out of my ears. The roads in these parts are riddled with pot holes, cracks, and sunken manhole covers, shaking everything loose. I use a piece of cardboard to keep things held in the milk crate I zip-tied to the rack above the rear wheel.
Riding my bicycle on the sidewalk makes me feel like a kid again, a little, rambunctious rule-breaker. I should be riding on the road at my age. Cutting across traffic and taking shortcuts the wrong way down one-way streets adds excitement. I love the rush of getting up to speed, using the fear of crashing to let me know when to slow down. My recovery will likely take a lot longer now than it did when I fell off my yellow BMX.
Despite it being electronically assisted, I have to pedal a little. Even just that little amount of exercise changes the experience of commuting, making me a real part of how I move. That small amount of physical exertion helps expend some of the anxious energy I have when going to and from work. I feel more in control.
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