Adventures of a Geeky Bike Dad

Howdy. I’m Geeky Bike Dad, a mostly mild-mannered Boston bicycle commuter and father of two future cyclists.  I bike to work on most days, except when it’s precipitating in any form or below 25 degrees. My commute is about 6 miles each way, mostly on bike paths (i.e. the Charles River).

I have a love-hate relationship with bicycle commuting. I love the exercise, and the smug sense of self-righteous satisfaction I get from zipping past carbon-spewing cars, but I hate riding in traffic, hate idiotic motorists, get quickly impatient with clueless pedestrians, and can’t abide fellow cyclists who act stupidly. (In my book, you get an automatic Stupid mark if you ride helmet-less.  Extra Stupid points for wearing headphones and riding the wrong way on one way streets.)

I am neither the decked-out bike racer with all the fanciest gear nor the nonchalant irony-laden fixie-riding hipster, but rather am a strictly utilitarian cyclist with a 10 year old hybrid bike and a modicum of gear.  I thus no doubt earn the disdain of both ends of the cycling community spectrum.  I care not a whit!

With Bike Week just having concluded, I am more committed to my bike commute than… well, than I was a week ago.  But I need an opportunity to vent, and share the (way too) occasional moments of grace and transcendence that occur on my rides.  Posts will be very occasional and mostly uninformed.