The Joys Of Cycling: The Cab Hail High Five

This is yet another installment of my continuing series, the joys of cycling. In which I try to chronicle some of the hidden gems of cycling. Today lets discuss the highly awesome, cab hail high five.

Have you ever noticed that when someone is trying to hail a cab they hold their hand out at the perfect height for a high five? I mean all you would have to do is ride over, toss up your hand and BOOM rolling high five. OH YEA!

I mean normally when I see someone hold their hand up for a cab I immediately look over my left shoulder for the cab missile that is homing in on this new target (and potentially will run me over in the process). But if I ascertain that no cab missiles are present I will ride over hold up my hind in the universal “high five” orientation and try to lure the pedestrian into a rolling high five.

Be sure to exclaim “OH YEA!” if the rolling high five is successful, and “OHHHH!” if they fail to engage, or if you miss. If done properly this will make the pedestrian smile, even if they are having a shitty day. If done properly an area of joy should spread forth from that pedestrian encompassing all others within say a ten foot radius.

The other day I got not one, but TWO rolling cab hail high fives in the space of 100 yards, it was a great day for cycling, and a great day for America.

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The Joys Of Cycling: The No Foot Down Commute

The latest in my series of joys of cycling, the no foot down commute.

Sometimes you just hit every light green, or you manage to track stand out the one or two reds, and you just sail to work with nary a problem. Oh the no foot down commute I salute you for everything that you are, awesome, fast, and magical.

Have you ever experienced this wonder? Did you do so legally?

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The Joys Of Cycling: Going Fast

There is something primal about going fast under your own power. I remember as a child running just because it felt so good to be going as fast as I could. I would run till my lungs gave out, and then I would lay on the grass and just enjoy the feeling of being tired. When you are on a bike you feel the same way.

You are the engine, your legs are the pistons. The rhythm of your breathing informs you of how hard you are working. The thumping of your heart tells you in a real and human way that you are alive and that you are moving quickly. The wind in your face is a cool reminder of just how fast you are going. All of it is wonderful.

When you are in a car and you go from 50 mph to 90 mph there is very little difference. You push a little pedal and a little hand moves over a bit on the dial. But on a bicycle when you go from 12 mph to 30 mph you suddenly feel like you are tearing a hole open in the fabric of space. You are moving! The sensation of acceleration is real and immediate.

The bike leaps out like a cheetah. Your legs drums out a pattern of speed. Your vitality is being put to use in the cause of creating motion. It is a human scale enjoyment of the poetry of going fast. You go as fast as your body can go. There is no artifice of internal combustion engines, or gas pedals, your human form is the machine propelling you forward with the bicycle almost an afterthought.

There is a certain kind of timelessness that is achieved when you really start cooking on a bike. The world compresses and your mind is fully tasked with the job of making sure you continue to go fast. When you get going fast enough its like the world becomes a stop motion. Things slow down, and then suddenly as you get near them speed WAY up.

That car pulling out of the driveway seems like it is taking its sweet time, until you get right up behind it then suddenly you are forced to take action NOW! In this way you must keep your brain moving as fast as your legs or you can get into trouble in a hurry. Speed is dangerous, and danger can be thrilling.

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The Joys Of Cycling: Going Slow

I have decided to write a series of articles on some of things I really like about cycling. I have no idea how many of these I might end up writing, but it might be a few, because I like a lot of things about cycling.

Going slow. Monday I did the Marathon Monday ride. What turned out to be about 70 miles in a little less than three hours…Tuesday I rode to work very slowly. I was sore yes, but also frankly I was sick of going fast.

On my slow ride I reawakened to the joys of dragging ass on a bike. Moving just fast enough to feel a little breeze on your cheek, and to keep the scenery flowing. I noticed that if you go slow enough, you can hit almost all the green lights. I noticed that cars seemed to pose much less of a problem at low speeds. I saw more birds, I noticed more pedestrians, I soaked up more sun.

Going slow might not be a revelation to many, but to me it was glorious. So often I fall victim to the “get from a to b as fast as possible” syndrome of modern travel. Purposefully slowing my pace did all sorts of good to bust me out of that “faster faster faster” frame of mind. I found that I didn’t really care what other people did, I was enjoying the ride.

The speed of my travel was such that I could actually day dream a little. Normally I am laser focused on plying the streets at top speed. When I slowed way down I noticed I had extra CPU cycles left over for other thoughts. I actually had a couple ideas that I wrote down as soon as I got home. While this might have been a smidgen dangerous, I wasn’t so out of it that I stopped looking for moving vehicles and road signs/lights.

Next time you find yourself on a nice sunny day, SLOW DOWN. Let the world rush by. Take your time, you will enjoy it I promise.

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