30 Days of Biking

A few weeks ago I learned about 30 Days of Biking, a project that started in Minneapolis, MN and is in its third year. 30 Days of Biking does pretty much what it says on the tin--it encourages you to cycle somewhere everyday for 30 days -- in this case, the month of April. Then you share your story online with all the other people around the world who are participating in the challenge.

I was intrigued by the idea but reluctant to register myself. Although I almost always go on a long ride on the weekend, I am less good about cycling during the week, to get to work or just to get around town. I can always come up with a number of excuses, including:

• "I'm not headed to work, I'm headed to the train station to go work in some other city today. So I shouldn't take my bike!"
• "I have to dress nicely today for an important meeting. My outfit just doesn't work for cycling!"
• "I'm going to the pub after work today. I wouldn't want to drink and cycle!"

...and so on and so forth. But, intelligent minds will notice that these are not insurmountable obstacles. I thought it would be fun to give myself to some motivation to find creative solutions to the things that stop me from cycling more often. 

I was also hesitant because I have some travel plans in April that will leave me without access to a bike for at least a few days. Well, I'll have to come up with a creative solution to that problem as well, because I've become the 1,940th person to register this year! Here's what I wrote in my registration form.

I love cycling and spend nearly every weekend on my bike, participating in brevets or going on mini tours, or just riding around in the countryside. But it's very much a recreational or athletic activity for me - I don't tend to use the bike as much for utility. Today I let all the lame excuses in my head win and took the bus to work. From the bus I saw loads of cyclists commuting in the early spring sunshine and I was jealous of them! I want to challenge myself to ride more frequently and for different purposes.

I'm looking forward to this challenge and will of course be blogging about my progress!