Sore beginning to 2-wheel lifestyle

The idea came to me last year as I sat on Enterprise Way on a sweltering day, wondering how to fit in a bike ride.

I was training for my first triathlon—not my idea, but more on that another day—really busy with work, and had no air conditioning in the car.

If you’ve lived in the Okanagan for long, you know the feeling. It’s somewhere between the desk trap office workers feel at 3 p.m. as the walls on their cubicles close in and actually burying yourself in a radiator in 35 C weather.

I was miserable and nothing could have sounded better than riding my way out of the traffic jam on a bike and having my workout before 5 o’clock.

So, somewhere in that boiling frustration, the thoughts stumbled into a few other meaningless ramblings.

I’d recently written a column on a guy in New York trying to eliminate his environmental footprint for a year by walking, cycling, composting, storing worms in his apartment, what have you, and the red paperclip guy—you know the one who traded his way up to a new home from a cent’s worth of wire—and voila: A bike column.

The challenge I’ve set for myself is to use only a bike for 100 days, and I’m hoping others will follow suit.

It’s really a scam to get out of the requirement on all reporters—to have and maintain a vehicle—of course, but I admit there’s some nerdy save-the-world-ecofreak-stuff in there is as well.

The insurance comes off the car this weekend, then I’m down to my two bikes, changing popped tires and nursing stabbing pains in the legs.

To kick things off, I wrestled a few co-workers into the city’s Bike to Work week challenge this week, and shock of all shocks, several actually took up the challenge.

Next door at the Greyhound station, I met Glenn Kunth. He was riding to work in front of me yesterday and today.

Kunth said he’s going to try driving just one day a week this summer to get groceries.

It’s just makes sense with the price of gas, he told me, although he admitted it isn’t as easy as it looks.

I think that pretty well describes where I’m at right now, as well. My challenge officially starts with the publication of this newspaper. So I won’t have access to a vehicle again until Aug. 16 and, just my luck, this morning I have an interview in McKinley Landing.

This Wednesday I logged 50 kilometres before 3 p.m. and I quit at that point, as I still had three interviews to go and sharp pains had set in.

Somewhere heading down the dust bowl that is now St. Paul’s Street, with thunder clouds rolling in, all I could think was: What have I got myself into?

But our receptionist, Joelle Cannell, lifted my spirits Thursday morning. She’s probably the only one of my team members who hasn’t taken a day off and her legs have been hurting all week.

Within that four-day stretch, though, she said she definitely has built up more power.

On the other hand, Jean Russell, one of our editors, rode in from the Mission in hail that same day.

I’m not sure the mouse pad she got as a door prize is going to bail me out of her bad books.

So if there are spelling mistakes in this column, you’ll know why.

All in all, it’s been an eventful week already, and I think I’m ready for the challenge to begin.

From now through the end of the summer you can expect to catch a regular update each Friday, along with a feature on cycling, cycling issues, and some of the fun ways people in this community get out on their bikes.

If you have any suggestions or questions, I’d love to hear from you.

And for everyone out there who cycled to work this week, keep it going.

The weather is only going to get better—I hope.

jsmith@kelownacapnews.com