I thought it would be appropriate to write a little something on what I did last weekend.  Not for story telling reasons, but rather the introspection of what I experienced and sharing it with you all.  Some of you know that I have been riding a lot.  For many reasons, some environmental, some physical, and some for challenge.  I came up with the crazy idea of riding from Los Angeles to New York, and after some time, the idea became a real goal.  Now after 2 months of training, I have taken my course to the level of covering a lot of mileage in a day; to see if this goal is realistic for me to complete.

So I dedicate as much as I can to riding.  I ride after work.  I ride to work.  Sometimes I ride before.  And on weekends I try to experience “car-less” weekends.  This has reduced my footprint to a very minimal one.  I drive at most 2 days a week.  Remember, I live in Los Angeles.  The car city, the place where people get in their cars to go 2 miles.  Our city isn’t designed to be pedestrian or cyclist friendly.  The entire design and architecture of the city development is based around the car.  Just take a minute to think about this and you will see that the level of conditioning that we are exposed to in this city is beyond simple advertising.  The very way of life in Los Angeles is based on the car.  And the car is the ultimate symbol of individualism.  There are even movies about this, Crash (Crash, 2005) was based on the individualism that LA is based on, and American culture.  The premise of the movie is that we are so isolated from one another that we need to crash into one another to realize we are connected.

So here was this lofty goal… Bike Across the Country!  Wow… what an accomplishment… but really under the crazy idea is a fundamental lesson.  That our society is so deeply rooted in individualistic ideals, that the very way we build our cities, our communities is based on, and engineered around the separation we desire so much.  I realized this by thinking of this goal, undertaking the challenge, which forced me onto my bike for major mileage, which then in-turn made me flip over the “tipping point” of biking to car-less weekends and thus I saw the reality of what was happening. 

Are you following me people?  The point here is that a huge and un-imaginable goal (for most people) turned out to open my eyes to the faults of our current accepted societal standards.  Imagine the implications of this in other aspects of our lives?  Like living in cities with a sense of community?  Treating each other as important connected pieces of the whole.  Living in our world without placing the universe around ourselves, but rather seeing ourselves as a part of the universe as a whole.  These ideas are not new, they have been around since the beginning of humankind, recently however we have somehow deviated away from them.  Somehow we have sold ourselves the illusion that being an individual is better than being part of a community.  We create a world around us that reinforces this idea. 

There are those that would argue that we do live in communities, but a more insightful and well thought out observation would lead to seeing that although we say we live in communities, our actions are actually not communal at all.  We do not agree on issues like government ensuring that every child in this country goes to college and gets educated.  We not promote the idea of having a system of health for every individual.  In fact, (this topic is one of my favorites and will have an essay of it’s own) we promote health care only for those who are willing to wield a gun in the name of our country, not for those who work for it, or pursue academia.

Our world that we have created is one that rewards the decision to commit to fighting war rather than the decision to commit your life to education.

These are the messages we are sending with our actions, and our social decisions.  And they are a product of our individualism.  Which in turn is proven by all that we allow to represent our society. 

Some of you might be saying “Have you lost your mind?  You started talking about biking, and now you are talking about health care, and education!”  But again, read more carefully… Once I was committed to this goal, and started riding on a bicycle through LA (affectionately referred to as “The Belly of the Beast” by some of my dearest friends), I started to actually “SEE” what was around us.  The viewpoint from a car is very different than a bike.  Once you are immersed into society as a biker, you realize how self centered and oblivious people are to their surroundings.  Their cars are merely another container that carries them from one point to another.  They are involved or interested in the environment they live in, they only want to get to their destination.  Alone.  In their own box.  Now, we have even added social value to the box, and some travel in a $400,000 box, while others in a $4,000 box.  And we place the value of those people in the box based on the price or style of their box.  Really fascinating.

So here I am, riding along PCH, on my 50th mile, and people drive by and cut me off, they swerve and cuss.  Constantly trying to show you that they own the road, not the dude on the bicycle.  You bicycle weirdo’s belong somewhere else.  The road belongs to cars.  People expressing the value of their social indicators, their cars.  I was informed of an interesting article today by Shelley (Editor of Golden Spiral) that shows how insulant people can be (and co-incidentally has written a very interesting essay on the major US Export).  The article is about a an idiot who actually sued the city of San Francisco because bikes cause global warming.  His argument is that bike lanes, thus more bikes create more traffic jams, thus more air pollution because of cars stuck in traffic jams!  This guys actually doesn’t even own a car, and admits to his hatred for bikes thus his motive.  Can you believe this?  There are actually lawsuits (and attorneys who are willing to fight for them) that will intentionally try to harm the environment with rhetoric.  The article is here (Grist). 

People are oblivious to their surroundings, their real surroundings, that they cannot see the importance of allowing and respecting for more bicycles on the road.  Whether by their legal actions, or their driving actions.  Look at cities like Copenhagen or Madrid where bicycle sharing programs (NY Times) are part of normal city life and society is designed around walking and bicycling.

By mile 72, it didn’t matter.  I had done something that 95% of those conditioned box-dwellers on the road hadn’t, or couldn’t.  I conquered what I considered unthinkable a few weeks before.  The thought of riding 80 miles climbing Kanan to PCH and through LA was insane, if not unthinkable.  But with commitment to what sometimes seems unthinkable or impossible, is the only thing that can save us from the prison of a conditioned mindless existence.  The beauty and delicious parts of this quest, weren’t contained in the destination, but in every little step of the journey that hurt so much, and instead of quitting, I kept pushing and moved further. 

When you open your eyes, and see what the real world around you is about, the journey is going to be one of difficulty.  The canyons will be treacherous, you travel mates will be in large machines that can kill you with one hit.  The climbing will hurt every muscle in your body.  It will be hot, and you will be tired.  But every obstacle you pass, will build you, and strengthen you to a level where the sheltered followers can never imagine.

I realized that riding my bicycle around Los Angeles is not just an environmental, or social statement.  It is the connector to reality.  Where you can appreciate the world you live in, without the safety of your metal box.  Where you have to experience results of society’s choices up close.  Now all I have to do is figure out how to get everyone else out of their boxes, and into the world.

**About the photo:

This was my second flat on the 80 mile ride through Kanan to PCH and through LA.  Thank you Paul for being there to give us evidence of our musings that day!  You’re a great riding partner.

You can view more photos here: 80 Mile Ride