If you see something enough times, it becomes normal. It’s always feels a little unfortunate whenever I get a surprised, “You biked here?” when I show up someplace with helmet and gloves in hand. However, lately we’re starting to see a different reaction: “How fun–I should bike more.”
The repeatedly fortunate 88
That was the case on Tuesday, when we stopped into Wahoo’s on Ward after running a few errands. (Ironically enough, we had to get a new parking pass for our car.) The woman behind the counter didn’t ask the typical silly questions of someone wearing a bike helmet, such as “Did you bike here?” It wasn’t until Lisa commented that our order number matched her bib number from the century ride two days earlier that we started talking about cycling. The woman behind the counter looked at how we were getting around, and said she wanted to start riding her bike more, too.
That was the point we realized that one of the easiest bike advocacy activities that you can do is to just ride. When people see cyclists on the road, it starts to become normal. If everyone else is doing it, why can’t you?
Yesterday, some folks from our regional headquarters met for a pau hana happy hour at Dixie Grill in Aiea. After I finished my shift, I rode out there to meet whoever was left. My boss knows me well enough to only give a mild, “Don’t tell me you biked here” reaction, while some of the other people had a more shocked response, “Wait, you biked here? All the way from HFO?!”
One broken spoke invariably leads to more, especially if you forget to fix it.
How do I explain that the only reason I’m there is because I biked? When it looked like I couldn’t make it because of a couple broken spokes on my tire, Lisa asked if I just wanted her to pick me up after work and drive out there. However, that had no appeal to me. I realized that I wasn’t so much interested in the pau hana or socializing; instead, this was more of an excuse to ride out to a distant location.
I’m always looking for a reason to ride somewhere, but never have any interest in just riding for fun, with no destination. If you look at my Endomondo or National Bike Challenge stats, over 90% of my miles are for transportation. (The other sub-10% are from the Haleiwa and Honolulu century rides organized by HBL.) It may be a chicken-or-the-egg situation, but I consider it transportation if I ride to a restaurant, even if the only reason I’m going to the restaurant is as an excuse to bike. (Kona Brewing in Hawaii Kai is our favorite destination for some extra miles like that.)
Is there anything special about the ride out to Aiea? Absolutely not. In fact, it’s a pretty rough one. It passes through the heart of town, with lots of traffic and congestion. Part of the route has a separate bike path, part has a bike lane, and part is nothing but road. It also includes one of the only areas where I refuse to ride in the road, instead opting for the sidewalk at the Kamehameha Hwy interchange by Aloha Stadium. On top of that, it’s a real headache getting back to Dixie Grill from the Pearl Harbor Bike Path, with not even a sidewalk along the major highway, instead having to cut from parking lot to parking lot. So, why ride out there during rush hour? Well, pau hana, obviously. I’ll take any excuse for a ride.