Showing posts with label bicycles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bicycles. Show all posts
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Bicycles
I took this picture a couple of years ago while on a short term mission trip in Amsterdam. I am fascinated by the fact that the dutch have such a developed transit system that includes bikes. There are 900,000 people who live in Amsterdam, and about 500,000 bicycles. My friend Jeremiah sent me this article that was recently featured on the digg.com site.
And maybe the trend is changing here in Morgantown. Sunday I was approached by two friends who offered me an opportunity to go on a bike ride with them. It is such a healthy form of transportation. Cycling is ecologically sound, and it is a great form of exercise.
The challenge is time. We are in a constant rush. This past monday, I rode my bicycle out to a friends house for a little gathering we had for our faith community here in Morgantown. The total distance was about 22 miles, and it was mostly uphill.
Being that I haven't really been able to ride either of my bikes most of this year, this probably wasn't the wisest decision. I was extremely exhausted, sweaty, and late when I arrived in Preston County. But, i realized that if I were in better physical shape, the ride would be more doable.
There are some limits to cycling in Morgantown though. Travel out to my church offers one challenge. While the multiple mile downhill to the church would be a blast, the trip back would not be much fun at all.
A few of my friends are actually riding 150 miles in a race to raise funds for multiple sclerosis this weekend in the southern part of the state.
What if more people started taking to the bicycling trend of amsterdam. What if more people in your town started taking a bicycle to the store for groceries, or to run errands around town. What if we rode our bicycles to visit our friends, or to do in town travel. Sure it might be a little slower than travel by car (depending on the distance and the traffic), but think what an impact it could make.
I think our top challenge is time. We are in a hurry, and cycling requires us to slow down a little bit. Some of us just aren't in physical condition to ride a bike or walk instead of taking a car--but most of us are. Will you consider beginning a healthy change today?
Slow down, ride a bike, practice good stewardship, and enjoy the good earth God has given us.
And maybe the trend is changing here in Morgantown. Sunday I was approached by two friends who offered me an opportunity to go on a bike ride with them. It is such a healthy form of transportation. Cycling is ecologically sound, and it is a great form of exercise.
The challenge is time. We are in a constant rush. This past monday, I rode my bicycle out to a friends house for a little gathering we had for our faith community here in Morgantown. The total distance was about 22 miles, and it was mostly uphill.
Being that I haven't really been able to ride either of my bikes most of this year, this probably wasn't the wisest decision. I was extremely exhausted, sweaty, and late when I arrived in Preston County. But, i realized that if I were in better physical shape, the ride would be more doable.
There are some limits to cycling in Morgantown though. Travel out to my church offers one challenge. While the multiple mile downhill to the church would be a blast, the trip back would not be much fun at all.
A few of my friends are actually riding 150 miles in a race to raise funds for multiple sclerosis this weekend in the southern part of the state.
What if more people started taking to the bicycling trend of amsterdam. What if more people in your town started taking a bicycle to the store for groceries, or to run errands around town. What if we rode our bicycles to visit our friends, or to do in town travel. Sure it might be a little slower than travel by car (depending on the distance and the traffic), but think what an impact it could make.
I think our top challenge is time. We are in a hurry, and cycling requires us to slow down a little bit. Some of us just aren't in physical condition to ride a bike or walk instead of taking a car--but most of us are. Will you consider beginning a healthy change today?
Slow down, ride a bike, practice good stewardship, and enjoy the good earth God has given us.
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While I was at the University of Michigan I saw this "parking lot" in the middle of the law quad.
It's pretty cold in Morgantown right now, but I've seen an increase in the number of folks using bicycles to make their way around the campus.
What would happen if more of us took the initiative to start riding our bikes around town to run errands. Or better yet, what if we started walking.
I have some friends who are living in a community of 5,000 people in Kenya right now. That's about the size of Buckhannon, WV. There's only one car in the entire community. There's a handful of bicycles. Most people in the community live on less than a dollar a day.
We've got the privileged life here in the states, and it's very seldom we realize it. Imagine the positive environmental impact we could have by not taking advantage of some of these costly privileges.
What if our parking lots were smaller because there were more people on bicycles?
What if traffic was less congested, and folks were more fit because they rode bikes and walked more often?
Just a few thoughts I had while contemplating this little parking lot in ann arbor.