I found this dollar along the road on my way home today. Wish it was a Benjamin.

When I was riding every day I used to want to say to people that were walking, “get a bike.” Now I imagine people on bikes saying to me.

Lately I’ve been walking. I have walked to work 3-4 days a week for the last month. I’m not even really sure why. I have enjoyed the slow pace. I turn on a podcast and kick it.

Today it’s been raining all day. I walked here in my rain suit; however, my bike was at work all weekend. I have to ride a few miles out of my way to drop off my rent check. I was thinking of all the ways I could get a ride. Today’s one of those days where I really did not feel like riding in the rain.

Then I decided to not be a pansy and go ride. Now I’m actually excited to get out and ride in the rain.

We got hit by a pretty gnarely winter storm Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. As you know I decided to walk on Tuesday because there was no gaurantee what the weather would be like for the ride home. On Wednesday I decided to work from home because the roads were nearly un-ridable. On Thursday I decided to walk because the roads were still pretty bad. I took some pictures of my Thursday walk (below).

Where it looks like water it is actually ice. I have never ridden in ice and doubt my ability. I don’t have studded tires. Shoot I don’t even have a mountain bike! All I have is my Giant road bike.

Today I thought the roads were better. I was all geared up to ride, literally. Well, for some reason I got the smart idea to check my spokes before before I rode. One had come completly unscrewed. Rather than ride on it I decided to walk today. So that’s three out of five days this week that I walked to work (not to mention the times people offered rides).

To be honest I quite like walking. It’s a refreshing way to start the morning. It is a time for me to decompress at the end of the day. I use it as a time to think and pray. This morning I chatted with a guy about the edible properties of cattails. He has some growing in his yard and I told him that he could eat them in about five different ways. He didn’t seem about to try them.

At first I saw walking as a last resort. Now I think there will be times where I will choose walking as a way to relax over riding my bike, even when the roads are fine.

Yesterday morning I woke up to some snow on the ground. Just enough to suck. Plus, they were calling for more snow to start in the late afternoon/early evening. Since I had already walked to work once, I decided to just walk.

I was about three quarters of the way there when a van pulled up in front of me. It was a co-worker (co-worker 3 [it's a running theme]) on her way in. It turns out she turned around to get me. I feel a little sneaky. I was wearing my balaclava in such a way that my entire face was showing. I did that in case a co-worker might pass and pick me up. It worked. I thanked her profusely for turning around.

Then at the end of the day co-worker 4 asked me if I wanted a ride home. He heard that I walked in. I accepted the ride. I thanked him profusely too. Tomorrow I’m even going to put a thank you note in both of their mailboxes. I don’t want there to be any doubt I appreciate every ride I’m given.

After standing up co-worker 2 I couldn’t bring up the nerve to ask him again. I had made up my mind that I wasn’t going to ask anyone for a ride. For pretty much the entire week last week, my girlfriend was “stuck” at her parents’ house. She was having her car worked on and the shop was taking his sweet time. I realized something. People that have cars are at the mercy of a very complex machine and the chosen few that can fix them. I like being car-free. I have poised myself to be self sufficient. Where I am not self sufficient I am learning creative work-arounds.

There is a lesson in all of this. It’s the same lesson I heard when I was dating around. When you stop looking is when you find a girl. It works with getting rides too. When you stop asking for rides is when you get them.

In my last post I relayed a long saga about how I didn’t have my bike at home and needed to get to work. For those of you that are wondering what I did, here’s the answer; I walked.

I read quite a few reviews about the Harrisburg cab companies. None of the reviews were positive. Every one talked about how the cab never showed up and the operators were rude when they called. I figured there is no reason to rely on someone else to get me to work on time. Plus, if they did come then I would have to pay them money. I just didn’t want to do that.

It took me 40 minutes.

Based on this morning’s walk here’s why I say cycling is so efficient.

1) It takes me 1/4 less time to travel the 2.5 miles to work. Obviously, we know that bicycles go faster. But having only driven and ridden this stretch the difference was highlighted when I walked it.

2) It is much better for my legs! I don’t have bad knees, but I have known people in the past that have developed bad knees from walking and running. However, right now my shins are in terrible pain. I have shin splints. I can hardly walk. That’s OK because I am riding home. I was even wearing my hiking boots.

3) Cycling is more fun. I love careening down a hill at 40 mph. I love passing a long line of cars waiting at the red light. I love the “I-am-one-with-my-bike” feeling I get.

To walking’s credit some of the things that I love about cycling were enhanced. I had even more time to look at the beautiful scenery, and I could take greater notice of the things along the road.

What else did I learn from walking?

I should probably get out and actually walk more. I will use different muscles I don’t use when I ride. I learned that I can walk if I need to. It’s not a mystery any more. I am more OK with having burned my bridges. I don’t need to rely on other people (that is if I can walk with my shins being in such pain).

I also learned that socks make good gloves if you are in a pinch.