Ode to My Bicycle Utility Vehicle
(This piece was originally shared on Reimagine an Urban Paradise on July 8, 2015).
I ride a bike. I ride a really spectacular bike, on which I have carried practically everything I’ve needed in my life since I got this particular lovely bicycle five years ago. We are temporarily separated as I am in Pittsburgh for the month of July and my bike is still in Denver. There’s a new bikeshare system in Pittsburgh, but it’s nowhere near my July house and so doesn’t really make sense for my life now. (More stations please, Healthy Ride? Pretty excited it exists anyway!)
I’ve never been bike-less for this long and it’s making me question a lot of things — such as my plan to leave my dreamy bike in Denver because I didn’t want to ship it here for the month. What a terrible idea!
Now I’m depending mostly on transit and walking as I did before I started riding a bike in 2005. But back then I lived in Chicago and DC which are larger, denser cities with glorious public transportation. Pittsburgh is a little more difficult. (See my last post “Standing on the Corner Waiting for the Bus.”)
So, in celebration of my wonderful bicycle and all those other bikes that get people around for free + exercise, I am going to share some pictures of the surprising things I have been able to carry on this spectacular bike I’ve had for the past five years. Kindly share enthusiasm, hauling successes or failures, questions, or other words in the comments. Please excuse the dodgy quality.
The photos above are from L-R:
Heading up to the laundromat (with a full basket of laundry)!
Riding to the Laundromat Action Shot!
Found this gorgeous but quite heavy vase next to a dumpster in an alley in Pittsburgh. It was holding a very dead fern but was in great shape otherwise. I removed the fern and loaded this beauty onto the bike rack. It was a somewhat wobbly but very successful ride!
On my way home from the plant store — riding in the alley where I found that beautiful blue vase above — I found these great ferns. My house was pretty close and riding like this was a little tricky, even staying in alleys and sidewalks, so I walked it part way home. A smart choice!
And while recruiting members for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association on Bike to Work Day, my bike rack became a display table.
Not too challenging, but lovely. I’m carrying my laptop and lunch, stopping for a quick exploration of some trail in Berkeley, CA.
If I had a car in the driveway, I might have decided to hop in the car for any of these things but I didn’t so I got creative and it worked spectacularly — no car payment required!
